Free The Cowboy's Forever Family by Deb Kastner

the street from the park. She was getting her bearings around town and even becoming more used to the sounds and smells of country life. She didn’t know that she would have intentionally traded the conveniences of city life for Serendipity’s slower pace if she’d carefully considered the matter, but she’d made that decision sight-unseen the night she’d married Brody in a spur-of-the-moment Las Vegas wedding.
    She would have followed Brody to his childhood home in a second once they were married had Brody given her any encouragement to do so, instead of renting an apartment in Houston as they had. And now that she was carrying his baby, she wasn’t about to turn her back on her obligations. The way she saw it, whether she’d come home with Brody back when they’d first married or now, without him and grieving for him, she would have ended up in Serendipity.
    It was inevitable. She just wished it hadn’t happened in a way that left her feeling so alone.
    Baby Beckett picked that moment to jam his or her heel into her rib, a sharp, active and very real reminder that she wasn’t alone—and that she had the most important reason of all to make her life in the country work.
    Brody’s child.
    She started toward the interior of the building but her attention was drawn toward a large corral where she saw a gaggle of teenage girls hanging over the side of a split-rail fence, clearly and quite loudly vying for the attention of whomever was inside. Probably some cowboy strutting his stuff for the poor, impressionable teenagers.
    Some cowboy. She scoffed and shook her head, playing a hunch as she changed direction and headed for the corral. Slade was such a show off, especially to females. Even—or maybe especially—to the young, impressionable ones. And the old ladies who got a kick out of the handsome cowboy flirting with them. And women of every age in between.
    Except for her.
    It took Laney a moment to insert herself between two of the giggling girls before she could see who they were cheering for.
    Her gaze landed on a single dark-haired cowboy and her smile dropped like lead. Her breath froze in her lungs.
    It was Slade, all right. She’d expected as much. What she hadn’t been prepared to see was that he was crouched on top of a fearsome-looking bull, shifting his weight and adjusting the strap across his hand, which, as far as Laney could see, was the only thing between him and disaster.
    Or death.
    What was he thinking?
    Had he abandoned all sense? He’d recently lost his best friend in a bull-riding incident and he was
riding
again?
    What kind of fool even did that? He was certifiable. Crazy. Out of his mind.
    â€œSlade,” she called, not expecting him to hear her over the chatter of the silly girls who continued to egg him on. The animal snorted and butted at the metal gate and Slade appeared to be completely in the moment, his attention solely on the bull underneath him, but at the last second he lifted his head and his gaze met hers.
    Then someone opened the gate and the bull was loose.
    Laney couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move at all beyond tightly gripping the fence, not even caring when splinters pierced the soft skin of her palms. She was certain her heart had stopped beating.
    She remembered the first rodeo she’d been to, the one where she’d met Brody. She’d been impressed by the strength and athleticism of the bull riders and had been especially flattered when she’d been approached by one of them. Brody Beckett, with his fair good looks and charming smile, had simply swept her right off her feet.
    Time stood still as Laney watched Slade. This wasn’t even a rodeo. It was a guy on a bull in a mostly empty corral with only one cowboy there to spot him. How would he even know when his ride was supposed to be finished?
    More to the point, how did a man even stay on such an angry beast, even for one second, never mind