A Place Of Our Own (Contemporary Cowboy Romance) (Texas Heat series: Book 3, Jim and Maddies story) Read online

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  ****

  AMELIA ROSE

  A Place Of Our Own

  Texas Heat - Book Three

  Dedication

  To YOU, The reader.

  Thank you for your support.

  Thank you for your emails.

  Thank you for your reviews.

  Thank you for reading and joining me on this road.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Recommended Reads

  Connect with Amelia

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Jim O’Connor loved Texas, with its wide open spaces, relentless heat, cold desert evenings, the endless starry nights, warm breezes filled with the scent of wildflowers, as well as its endless acres of grazing and spectacular landscapes. He also loved Maddie Dupont from the ranch next door. He’d known her since they were children, had gone through grade school and high school together and had even remained close during the years Maddie attended college in Amarillo.

  Sometime during their senior year, they’d fallen in love and Jim had expected they would eventually marry. The fact that it hadn’t worked out that way still threw him into a black mood, even though it was two years later. The worst of it was he knew he still loved her. He’d tried to forget her by hooking up with other women, but it didn’t work. None of them were Maddie and none came close to holding a candle to her.

  These days, he deliberately stayed away from the eastern boundary of the Circle O, where it adjoined the Dupont Ranch, so he would never run the risk of bumping into her. Jim preferred to avoid trouble instead of dealing with it after it happened so the western boundary was his preferred location, rather than the eastern boundary.

  As children, they used to play house in the old cabin located over on the eastern boundary and they’d frequently used it as teenagers to enjoy the endless delights new lovers always found so memorable. Back then, they’d thought they’d belonged together and the cabin evoked special memories of Maddie.

  Now, he needed to stay away from her because the memories were too painful. As insane as it sounded, he also avoided going into Clarendon at times when she wasn’t teaching at the local grade school. During the school summer break, when she was at home, he was virtually a hermit, frequently opting to camp out in an old cattle hut on the north western side of the property. That’s where he was now.

  He stood up from the camp stretcher and moved outside, stretching out the kinks in his broad shoulders as he moved through the rough doorway. He remembered to duck because he was tall and he hadn’t needed to learn that particular lesson twice after he had almost knocked himself out cold the first time.

  The hut was located under a shady tree but even so, he could still feel the inevitable heat that would develop during the day. A windmill pumped water into a cattle trough and he took the opportunity to sluice himself down with the clean water before the cattle got to it and before it heated up.

  Jim didn’t really understand how good looking he was. He’d inherited the ‘black Irish’ gene so unlike most of his brothers, he sported coal black hair rather than the browns and reds of his many siblings. Great Grandpa Seamus had been black Irish and good looking too, or so he’d been told, and Jim knew his tanned skin together with his tall, muscular build had left many a girl staring after him. Not that he’d particularly noticed but his brothers had always ribbed him about it. He’d had eyes only for Maddie. Always had and he figured he always would.

  The last two years had left him feeling washed out. He was depressed a lot of the time, moping around the house when he was there, generally annoying everyone else. The only company he really enjoyed was his own. Penny and Red, his parents, had tried to talk to him about it as it broke their hearts to see him like this. They had also began to suspect there were two choices looming for Jim. One was to forget Maddie and move on with his life and the other was to leave the Circle O. They didn’t want him to do that.

  They’d already bought out two of their children, Marlene and Moira, when they’d decided to leave and strike out on their own, and the ranch was now supposed to be jointly managed by Andrew, Joseph, Michael, Jim, and William but in reality, it was Andrew, the eldest, who had a firm hold of the reins. The other boys didn’t mind, as they worked and played hard and had no desire to leave, but it was different for Jim.

  Since his breakup with Maddie, when Andrew refused point blank to sell off part of the Circle O to Jim, he’d turned into a loner who didn’t want to be part of things anymore. Andrew also thought Jim wasn’t pulling his weight and docked his wages. Jim wasn’t impressed but suspected he was slacking all the same. If Andrew said so, it must be right. It all came back to Maddie in the end. She wanted to live with Jim in a place of their own because she felt she couldn’t live in the huge ranch house with all the O’Connors.

  She felt a woman needed her own kitchen. A husband and wife needed to be out from under the inquisitive noses of family, no matter how kind and generous they were. The O’Connors were a rambunctious lot too, particularly when all the brothers were together. As an only child, who’d been raised by her grandparents after her parents had been killed in a car accident when she was a small child, it had been too overpowering for her to consider moving in with Jim. She hadn’t wanted to start her married life with either of their respective parents. They were all great people but ultimately, it was a privacy thing.

  This was the reason why Jim and Maddie had broken up in the end. There was no way for Jim to buy his own place for a long time and it had been too difficult for them to contemplate getting married with no prospect of their own home on the horizon. Two years later, the pain of the breakup was just as raw as the day it happened and no matter how much beauty was contained within the boundaries of the state of Texas, Jim was depressed. He didn’t know how to throw off its oppressive blanket and didn’t have much of a mind to anyway.

  He was so absorbed with his woes, he failed to notice the impending arrival of Red, who was taking an early morning ride. “Hey, son, how are you doing? Beautiful morning.”

  Jim finished washing himself down, grabbed his towel off the bush where he’d placed it to dry, and turned to face his father. “Hi, Dad, what are you doing up so early?”

  “Oh, I felt like taking a ride before it becomes too hot.” Red stopped his horse, Midnight, by the trough, dismounted, and let the horse drink its fill. “Good boy, good boy,” he repeated while affectionately patting the horse’s neck.

  “I can see why you like it so much out here on your own, son. There’s something special about being alone with your thoughts in a spot like this. Great Grandpa Seamus liked it too and you remind me of him more every day.”

  “Well, you keep telling me how much I look like him,’ answered Jim. ‘Seeing as you’re here, would you like some coffee? I was just going to make some before I he
ad out to the boundary fence again.”

  “Thanks, son, I’d like that. Here, I brought some bacon and eggs too. I’d enjoy having some breakfast with you, if you have the time.”

  “Sure, I have the time. Bring it over here and I’ll start a fire.”

  Jim lit a small cooking fire and organized the coffee as Red fetched the bacon and eggs and placed them in a pan.

  “I brought you some of your Grandma Elaine’s home baked bread too. She hates to think you might be starving out here on your own.”

  Jim brought a couple of tin plates and mugs out from inside the hut and placed them on an upturned box that made do as a table. “Not much chance of that.”

  They sat companionably as the food sizzled in the pan.

  The silence was comfortable between them and Jim liked the way his father didn’t hassle him about wanting to spend his time out here alone. They tucked into the food when it was done, enjoying the way it seemed taste better outdoors, cooked over an open fire.

  “You know, son, I want you to know I understand why you want to be all the way out here. Andrew’s wrong, too, to be docking your pay. I know what he’s been doing and why he thinks he has the right of it. But, I don’t agree. You see, he doesn’t think riding fences is honest work.”

  “I know that, Dad. He’s told me often enough.”

  “Well, he’s wrong. It’s one of the most necessary jobs on a ranch and it's hard going with a ranch of this size. He’s a modern rancher and most of all, a modern manager. And don’t get me wrong, he’s doing a great job. But fences need constant checking, no matter what, because with no cows, we don’t have a ranch. Simple as that.”

  “Well, that’s what I figured too,” answered Jim, reaching for the coffee pot.

  “The truth is, son, Andrew couldn’t handle being out here like this all the time, so he’s decided in his own mind that it’s not worth doing. I’ve been going through the books and I see that he’s been paying you about half of what your brothers are earning for the last year or so. I want you to know, I don’t hold with what he’s doing but I need him to manage the place. I’m getting old. I’ll see you right though, and soon, too.”

  “Thanks, Dad. That’d be great. I couldn’t be bothered complaining about it, but it pisses me off all the same. You’d think he’d be grateful someone actually likes doing a job most boys dislike. But it’s okay. I know he’s doing what he thinks is right.”

  “Seamus liked doing it, too. Said it kept him in touch with the land,’ Red continued. ‘I know you love the land in the same way he did. Maddie does, too.”

  Jim stood up abruptly at the mention of her name. ‘I don’t want to talk about her, Dad. I can’t.’

  “It’s okay, son. I didn’t mean to upset you. Now I’m guessing you want to be on your way. Why don’t you let me clear up here and if it’s okay with you, I’ll drop by again for breakfast in a few days. I like the early morning ride before it becomes too hot.”

  “Thanks, Dad, I’d like that. I know I’m no fun these days but you know, if I can’t have a life with Maddie, the only place I can cope with myself is out here.”

  “I understand, Jim. If it’s any consolation, Maddie is struggling too. It’s like the light has gone out of her since you two split up. She always asks after you whenever I see her in town. Anyway, what’s done is done. Just know that your mother and I love you, son, and we always will. Now I’d better get going before your mother decides to send out a search party. See you soon, son, and take care.”

  “Thanks, Dad, I will.”

  Jim watched as his father mounted up, thankful he at least understood why it was necessary for him to be out here. It was the only thing that helped. And Maddie must be missing him. The thought left him with a warm glow, inside, for just a moment.

  Chapter Two

  Maddie Dupont had felt relieved when the summer break began. She needed a rest from the endless demands of the children entrusted to her care at the grade school in Clarendon. She’d seen the children off, grateful to be able to spend some time at home with her grandparents. They weren’t getting any younger and she wanted to help out on their ranch. There were no hired hands anymore and she’d felt relieved, for once, that their ranch wasn’t a huge holding like the Circle O next door.

  She was sitting on the front porch with a cup of coffee, looking wistfully across the paddock to the old Circle O cabin. There was a time when she’d spent a lot of time in there with Jim O’Connor, the love of her life. If she was honest with herself, he still was the love of her life and the fact that they weren’t together now was all her fault. She’d thought it was best if they didn’t see each other anymore, seeing as though they would never be able to afford their own place.

  At the time, she couldn’t face living with the O’Connors and the truth was, she still felt that way. She and Jim would have been like a fish out of water in their household. She wanted her own place, where she and Jim could be free to be themselves and not constantly involved in the endless squabbles that came with a very large family. Rather than drag it out, she’d thought ending things with Jim was the best way to deal with their thwarted dreams.

  But it hadn’t worked out that way and for the last two years, she had been miserable. She knew now that Jim was the only man she would ever love. If she wasn’t over him after two years, odds were she never would be. At the time, she’d had no idea she would still be feeling like this two years later and from her conversations with Jim’s dad, when she saw him from time to time at the Dairy Queen in Clarendon, Jim was not coping either. He was so depressed that finding a solution under his own steam was long gone.

  She’d grown up with Jim and they’d been inseparable, best friends, for longer than she cared to remember. When they’d become lovers during senior year of high school, it had seemed like they would be together forever, or that’s what they’d both thought. But she’d gone and spoiled it.

  She wanted to be working on the ranch too, not teaching grade school. That was meant to be a stopgap until she and Jim had been able to buy their own place. Now it looked as though she’d be stuck teaching grade school forever just to make ends meet. The Dupont ranch was mortgaged to the hilt and could no longer pay its own way. Small cattle holdings were just not viable anymore and couldn’t compete with huge ranches like the Circle O.

  Her grandfather came out to sit with her on the porch. “Another beautiful day, Maddie.”

  “Yes, it is,” she answered quietly. “It’s a pity we won’t be able to see to many more of them out here. You know we have to sell up. If we don’t, there won’t be enough money to buy a house in town.”

  “Let’s not talk about that on such a lovely day. It’ll all work out.” Her grandfather was ever the optimist and didn’t like to face problems head on. He was a bit like Jim in that respect.

  “But it won’t. A run down ranch won’t sell for much. I still wish you’d let me take over. Do you have any idea how much we could make if we changed over to Angora goats? The market is huge and this place is the right size. We can’t make a go of it with cattle anymore, you know that.”

  “Oh, Maddie, ever the dreamer. Whoever heard of running goats on a ranch? Ranching’s for cattle.”

  “If you’d let Jim and I buy this place two years ago, it wouldn’t be mortgaged any more. That’s how profitable Angora is.”

  “So you kept saying. But we’ll never know, now will we? I’ll see out my days with cattle.”

  “Not for much longer. We can’t afford to pay the mortgages after the summer. You only have a few short months left to enjoy it Grandad, so make the most of it.”

  Maddie stood up and went inside, wishing her grandfather wasn’t so stubborn. She couldn’t make him understand why they had to move away from the type of ranching he’d been doing all his life. There was good money to be made in boutique ranching these days. In fact, it was likely the only way for a small holding to remain viable.

  Her grandmother, Jean, was still in bed, so Madd
ie made a breakfast tray for her and took it in to her. Jean Dupont was pleased to see Maddie, but could tell from the expression on her face that she’d been talking about goats again with her grandfather. “You should give up, Maddie. He’s never going to change his mind.” She accepted the tray gratefully.

  “Well, the least he could do is start thinking about selling the place because we need to be settled in town by the end of summer.”

  “You’re right, of course, but he finds it hard to let go. He’s been working this ranch all his life and struggles with doing anything different than what he’s always done.”

  “I know that. But time is running out and he needs to begin thinking about what you need too.”

  “Well, I’d like to stay here.”

  “That’s what we all want but it isn’t going to happen if we keep running cattle. The bank will throw us off as soon as look at you and we’ll have no choice at all.”

  “I know what you’re saying about the goats, Maddie. It makes sense and I know you and young Jim would never have suggested it if it wasn’t viable. I could learn to like goats and I know for a fact they’re easier to manage than cattle. All I can do is keep trying to convince your grandfather.”