Cowboy Creed
By
Rhonda Lee Carver
Copyright © 2020 by Rhonda Lee Carver
www.rhondaleecarver.com
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without permission from the author, Rhonda Lee Carver, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages written in a review. For information, please contact Rhonda Lee Carver at [email protected].
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, incidents and dialogue in this work are from the author’s imagination and creation. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.
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This book contains material that isn’t suitable for anyone under the age of 17.
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BLURB:
Seconds chances come in their own time. For Mindy and Creed the flame remains.
Newly divorced and empty nester, Mindy Sage, decided that her hometown might be the perfect place to reinvent herself, or at least find the wild and carefree girl she used to be before she moved away.
She’s craving small town comfort, but the problem is, in Cooper’s Hawk, everyone knows everyone. Secrets can feel as tall and wide as the Montana mountains that backdrop the friendly, picturesque town where she’d left her heart in the hands of a handsome cowboy nineteen years ago.
Search and Rescue team member, Creed Hawke, understood more than anyone what saving a life meant, but who would save him from the one woman he’d never gotten over? He’d moved on—or at least he thought he had until those old emotions come tumbling back with the vengeance of a forest fire. He’s reminded of how much he’d loved Mindy, wanted her, swore to marry her. Why couldn’t he forget her? Resist her? Deny her his heart?
Because he’d fallen for her at ten and never came back up for air.
How can he forgive her for stealing his daughter from him? Is love stronger than the mistakes they’ve made? Or are they doomed before they find forever?
Cover Design:
Rhonda Lee Carver
Stock Photo:
Period Images
Table of Contents
Front Matter
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
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Epilogue
Back Matter
Bonus – Bighearted Cowboy (Book 5, first two chapters)
Chapter One
“RUN, MINDY. RUN! It’s coming.” The roaring of the twister as it barreled its way through the field engulfed ten-year-old Creed Hawke’s words.
Mindy wouldn’t have heard him anyway because she had all her concentration on the old beat up truck being sucked up by the massive swirling cloud from the field across the gravel road. She stood paralyzed with dirty, untied sneakers planted in the mud. She’d never seen something so scary and amazing all at the same time.
“What are you doing? Playing chicken with a tornado? Come on, dummy!”
A tug on her wrist made her turn around to blast her best friend a warning eye. “Who are you calling dummy, stupid?”
“You! Stop starin’ and start movin’,” he demanded.
Hearing a loud crashing of metal against dirt, she looked back to find the truck upended over on Hawke Farm where they’d been looking for a lost frog that morning. “Holy hot dog!” she muttered.
“We have to run!” Creed jerked her arm, almost making her fall.
He slipped his hand into hers and together they ran as the loud, freight-train rumbling ripped through Cooper’s Hawk. Mindy’s hair whipped around her face, stinging her cheeks. Dust particles blurred her vision and she squinted against the discomfort, but Creed kept pulling her along.
By the time they reached the rickety old barn her lungs ached and her legs were like limp noodles.
“In here. We’ll be safe inside.” Creed pushed her into the semi-dark space of the old barn. Her nostrils were assaulted by the strong odor of hay and decaying carcass.
“It stinks in here.”
“Would you rather die out there?” He led the way across the worn floor, kicking up a couple of beer cans with the toe of his shoe. “Let’s hide here.”
They hunkered down behind the tire of a rusted tractor. Their ragged breaths mingled together and they still clutched hands. Mindy wanted to be brave like Creed, but she couldn’t hold back the tears that came. They streamed down her cheeks as she hiccupped.
“What are you cryin’ ‘bout?” His pale blue eyes nailed her in accusation.
“I’m scared and it’s loud.”
He swung his arm around her shoulders. “It’ll be okay. We’ll be okay here. This place has lasted through a bunch of storms.”
“This ain’t no storm though. Mama said tornadoes are dangerous and if I ever saw one, I should run into the cellar.” She pulled her legs up to her chest and laid her forehead against her knees.
“Don’t be scared. Heck, this ain’t nothin’. I’ll never let anything happen to you. I promise.” He patted her head.
The roof of the
