Cowboy

  Montana Bounty Hunters: Dead Horse, MT

  Delilah Devlin

  Dedication

  I can’t express enough how grateful I am to my reader-friends, Fedora Chen and Laura Bowles, who have followed me through every Montana Bounty Hunters: Dead Horse, MT, story, helping me create the best stories I can.

  * * *

  Thank you again, ladies!

  About the Book

  MONTANA BOUNTY HUNTERS:

  DEAD HORSE, MT

  Authentic Men... Real Adventures...

  A lonely, bounty-hunting cowboy looking for one last great adventure may have found it in a girl with serious curves…

  Lucas “Cowboy” Brown, felt restless after he left the SEALs. The Texas Hill Country no longer felt like home, so he accepted a job from an old SEAL buddy looking to hire bounty hunters in Dead Horse, Montana. A fish out of water in a frozen pond, Lucas meets a pretty girl while guarding a prisoner in a hospital, and one day and one night later, he’s taking her back to his place in Dead Horse. Yeah, he’s moving fast, but he’s not letting this one get away.

  * * *

  Colleen Bradley has a checkered job history and a spotty relationship with her brother, but she’s sure, this time, she’s making the right decision. For as long as Cowboy wants her in his life, she’s going for it. When he’s injured, their relationship is strained, but she’s making friends in Dead Horse, and she’s found a job she thinks she’s born to do.

  * * *

  Together, Cowboy and Colleen throw doubts and inhibitions to the wind. They’re in for one helluva a fun ride.

  Contents

  Cowboy

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Epilogue

  Defending Evangeline

  Chapter 1

  Also by Delilah Devlin

  Cowboy

  Montana Bounty Hunters: Dead Horse, MT

  New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author

  Delilah Devlin

  Chapter 1

  Lucas “Cowboy” Brown had never been this cold in his life. Even lying on a blanket on top of a thick bed of leaves, the cold was sinking into his bones. Born and raised in Texas, he was sure his skin was somehow thinner than all the other hunters. How they managed to walk around in long-sleeved tees and light jackets, when he was already wearing insulated long johns, had him questioning his eagerness to leave his home state—especially with a cold Montana winter looming.

  Still, he liked the hunters he worked with now. They were solid, honorable people. The few bounty hunters he’d worked with when beginning his life as a bounty hunter in Texas had been a dodgy group of men. Always looking for ways to scoop a target out from under him rather than working as a team. After learning all he could from them, he’d struck out on his own but had found that working solo prevented him from going after the higher stakes jobs.

  When he’d left the SEALs, he’d headed straight home to the Texas Hill Country, feeling a little homesick, but it had only taken a few months for him to remember why he’d joined the Navy in the first place. He didn’t fit there. Yeah, his “handle” in the SEALs had been “Cowboy” because he’d liked wearing the cowboy hat and boots, but his heart just wasn’t in Texas. He’d drank beers with old friends and caught up with where they were in their lives, and then, other than the times he was on the hunt, he’d been bored out of his mind.

  His older brother had taken over running the family ranch and had made it known there wasn’t a place for him there. Bryan had two sons he would pass the ranch to when it was time and didn’t want to carve out any of the land for Cowboy to build his own house or try to raise his own cattle. Cowboy might have fought him for his birthright, but the few days he’d spent at the ranch had pounded home the fact he didn’t feel tied to his family’s land. He felt no pride or love for it.

  So, when he’d heard from a friend of a friend that Cage Morgan, a SEAL he’d served with, was looking to build a team of bounty hunters in Montana, he’d sent an email, which had landed him an interview. Without any fanfare or long farewells, he’d packed his bags and driven his pickup twenty-four hours straight from Kerrville, Texas, to Dead Horse, Montana.

  On the job for several months now, he had no regrets.

  Yeah, he was still living out of his suitcase at the Dead Horse Motel, but he didn’t need anything fancy. Not like his partner, Chase Kudrow, who was married and raising his niece.

  Hell, Cowboy wasn’t even seeing anyone. Hadn’t really had time. He was too busy hunting dirtbags and exploring this corner of Montana. He loved hunting and fishing, and spent most weekends doing one or the other, depending on seasonal restrictions. However, soon, he’d have to find something else to do with his spare time because the idea of freezing his balls off doing either one wasn’t appealing.

  “Hey, Cowboy.”

  Chase’s voice coming over his earpiece dragged him out of his thoughts. “You see any movement? The girlfriend’s out on the porch. She’s not wearin’ much. Haven’t seen him though.”

  Cowboy glanced toward the porch. “Don’t know how she can be dressed like that and not freeze her tits off,” he grumbled.

  “Those thermals I gave you not keeping you warm enough?”

  Cowboy grunted. “I’m worrying I might have to wear ski pants come winter.”

  Chase chuckled. “You’ll acclimate. Swear.”

  The front door of the house they were surveilling opened, and a man stepped out on the porch.

  Cowboy tipped up his binoculars, studied the man’s face, then pulled out the paperwork he’d been given by the office admin, Fig, before leaving the office that morning. The man in the picture had a full head of dirty curls. This guy was bald—freshly shaved bald. He could tell by how white his scalp was. “That our guy?” he asked, taking another look at the man.

  His features weren’t all that remarkable. His roundish face and average nose and jawline made him look like a thousand other men. And they had to be sure about his identity, otherwise they had no probable cause to charge into the house to drag him out if they had to.

  “Can’t get close enough to jump onto the porch behind him,” Chase murmured.

  “Yeah, no fuckin’ trees or bushes for concealment.” They were both lying on slight rises on either side of the house, which sat smack in the middle of a deforested ranch.

  As they watched, the man placed his hands on the porch rail, trapping the woman, who was dressed only in a strappy top and pajama shorts. She smiled, shoved down her bottoms, and jumped up on the rail. Then she opened her legs to let him step closer.

  Cowboy shook his head. That rail had to be cold.

  “Think if he gets busy, we can sneak closer?” Chase whispered in his ear.

  “Maybe.”

  The man whipped the woman’s top over her head and sent it sailing to the ground.

  “No, no, no,” Chase said. “Rhonda has strict rules about me watchin’ porn.”

  Cowboy grinned, because he knew Chase had left out the last part of the rule that said, “… unless I watch it with you.”

  The man opened his jeans, shoved them past his ass, then came in closer to the woman.

  “Soon as his dick gets happy, we move,” Chase said, his tone cheerful. “Only question left is whether we let him finish.”

  Toby Martin had skipped his date with the judge where he’d been scheduled to appear regarding charges that he’d committed a hit and run after damaging a gas pump, driven under the influence, and then resisted arrest. Plus, it wasn’t the first time Toby had been in trouble with the law given the fact he was a mean drunk and liked to pick fights.

  The bounty they’d get if they brought him in wasn’t big—they’d split $5,000—but there would be satisfaction because Toby was a dickhead who lived in Dead Horse, and they considered it a public duty to their home town to bring him in.

  While the man they suspected was Toby continued to enjoy a little fresh air tryst, Chase and Cowboy moved closer to the house, moving toward the rear of it so they wouldn’t be seen until it was too late for the man to dodge back inside.

  “I’m coming up to the corner of the house,” Cowboy said softly.

  “Same, man. On three… One, two, three!”

  Cowboy came around the corner with his weapon raised and leapt onto the porch at the same time as Chase.

  The man jerked back from the woman, his eyes widening and his gaze darting toward the door. This close, there was no mistaking his identity. They had Toby in their sights.

  “Fugitive Recovery Agents,” Chase shouted.

  The woman squealed and flapped a hand over her crotch and an arm over her breasts.

  Toby turned and took a step toward the door, but his jeans sagged to his knees, and he fell forward, just catching himself on his arms before faceplanting. He gasped loudly then gave a garbled shriek.

  “Toby Martin, we’re takin’ you to the detention center,” Cowboy said, coming closer as Toby tried to crawl toward the door.

  Cowboy set his foot in the center of the man’s back.

  Chase moved forward. “Ma’am, you need to hold still.
We don’t want you hurt.”

  “You shitheads!” the woman shouted and ran toward the door. “This is my house; you have no right—”

  Chase stepped in front of the door and pointed to the railing. “You can get dressed.”

  “I’m suing your asses,” she said, raising a finger and pointing at them both. “You’re nothing but fucking perverts!”

  Chase’s nose wrinkled. “I’m not the one fuckin’ on my front porch, ma’am.”

  “That’s my boyfriend. What I do with him on my fucking porch is my own damn business!”

  “That is the truth,” his partner said, his voice dead even as the woman’s had raised in pitch.

  Cowboy eased his foot off the man lying on his belly. “You can stand and pull up your pants, but make any funny moves, and I’ll put you back on the deck. Understand?”

  The man nodded several times, quickly. “I think I got a splinter in my dick,” he said, his breaths coming choppily.

  When he pushed up to his hands and knees, he glanced downward then let out another shriek that sounded strangely high-pitched for a man. “It’s broke. It’s fucking broke!”

  When he straightened, all three of the people standing around him stared down at his dick, which was bent at an odd angle in the middle.

  Chase and Cowboy grimaced.

  “Shit, we need to get you straight to the hospital, man,” Chase said.

  “Penile fractures are no joke,” Cowboy said, his balls drawing up in sympathy for the man’s injury.

  “Can you get your pants up?” Chase asked.

  “Oh man, oh man, oh man…don’t want anything touchin’ it,” Toby said, tears spilling down his face. “They gonna have to cut it off?”

  Cowboy coughed. “Nah. Pretty sure they have to peel back the skin and give you some stiches. Gotta do it quick so it’s not permanently…bent,” he said, waving a hand at the man’s dick.

  “What the fuck? Peel back the skin?”

  “You won’t feel a thing, Toby,” Chase said, his tone mournful. “But you gotta have surgery to fix it.”

  Toby raised his face to the two hunters. “You have to help me. I can’t lose my dick.” His gaze swung to his girlfriend. “I gotta have a dick.”

  His girlfriend wasn’t giving him any reassurances. Every time her gaze dropped, she turned a little green.

  “Well, we can’t just stand here,” Cowboy said. “You gonna give us any trouble?”

  Toby shook his head. “No, sir.”

  Working together, Cowboy and Chase removed his pants.

  “Get a blanket from inside,” Chase said to the woman.

  She darted inside and ran back out seconds later, seeming not to notice she was still naked. Shoving the blanket at them, she said, “I think I’m gonna throw up,” and disappeared back inside.

  “Shelly, ain’t ya gonna come to the hospital with me?” Toby wailed after her.

  Cowboy was pretty sure that was the last Toby would see of the woman. “Man, we have to get you to the car. Can you walk?”

  Toby’s face screwed up, but he nodded.

  Chase held one arm and Cowboy the other, and they half-carried him down the steps, whimpering all the way. Once they got him to Chase’s SUV, they helped him climb into the back then handed him the blanket.

  “You’re not gonna put me in cuffs?” Toby asked.

  Cowboy shook his head. “No, man. You might want to hold it to keep it from bouncing around too much. We’ll get you there as quickly as we can.”

  * * *

  The local clinic in Dead Horse wasn’t equipped to handle the emergency, so Cowboy ended up riding in the ambulance with Toby, while Chase followed. Before they left, Chase contacted Cage to see if they could hand off the prisoner to the police in Bozeman, so they could keep an eye on him until he was released and could be taken to the Detention Center. They were still waiting on an answer when they pulled in front of the ER.

  A team of people in scrubs waited to transfer Toby to a gurney, and Cowboy followed them inside.

  The doctor frowned at Cowboy. “Unless you’re family—”

  “I’m a bounty hunter, and he’s my prisoner. As soon as he’s able to leave, he’s going to jail.”

  The doctor watched as Toby cried, not wanting to pry his hands away from his dick to let the team have a look at the injury. When they finally got him to do so, Toby wailed, “That shit’s blue. Why’s it blue?”

  The doctor looked at Cowboy again. “He’ll get an MRI, and then he’ll head straight to surgery.”

  Cowboy raised his hands. “I’ll be in the waiting room. I’m guessing he’s not going anywhere.”

  Minutes later, Chase joined him, taking a seat beside him. “That was some weird shit,” Chase muttered. “I’m just glad the TV crew wasn’t already here to film it.”

  “Good thing Lacey wasn’t anywhere near it either,” Cowboy said, then glanced at Chase.

  They both grinned. “Yeah, she’d have had dick pics up on the website.”

  “Toby’s dick would get more clicks than the clip of Animal chasing that bear.”

  Chase’s phone chirped, and he swiped the screen and put the call on speaker. “Got you on speaker, Cage.”

  “How’s Toby?”

  “Man, he’s got a broken dick. How do you think he is?” Chase’s face was screwed up in look of fierce disgust.

  “They’re taking him straight up to surgery,” Cowboy added.

  “So…” Cage drew a deep breath. “Did either one of you have hands on him when he fell?”

  “Nah,” Chase said. “He was running for the front door when he tripped over his own pants.”

  “Well, that’s good news. Didn’t want to give him grounds to sue. Even if he’s a dirtbag, a jury might be sympathetic. Bad news is, the PD doesn’t want to assign officers to watch him…”

  Cowboy blew out a deep breath. “So, we’re on Toby duty for the foreseeable future.”

  “Yeah, guys. Sorry about that, but he’s yours until you take him to jail.”

  Once the call ended, Cowboy shrugged. “Man, if you want to head home to be with your family, I’ve got this.”

  “You sure?” Chase asked. “You’ve had as much sleep as I have.”

  Cowboy shook his head. “I don’t have a wife and kid who want to see me at breakfast.”

  “Yeah, you need to do something about that.”

  Cowboy grunted. “I’ll get right on that.”

  Chase glanced around. “Lots of nurses here, bro. Maybe you’ll meet someone.”

  Cowboy raised an eyebrow. “You know you just sounded like an asshole. Not all the nurses are female.”

  “And the doctors here are about half and half. I know. But doctors are damn bossy. You want a bossy woman?”

  Cowboy shook his head. Remembering the nurses he’d met while in the service, they were plenty bossy, too. Not that he’d minded much. “Go home.”

  Chase raised his fist. Cowboy bumped it with his.

  “When you want me back?”

  “Have breakfast with the family. Come in when you want. I’ll be okay. It’s not like I haven’t pulled all-nighters before.”

  Chase pushed up from his chair then clapped his shoulder. “They got closets all over the place,” he said, jogging his eyebrows up and down. “If you meet a cute nurse…”

  Cowboy plucked his hat off his head and swatted Chase with it. The last thing he’d be looking for was a quickie in a closet. He figured he had a little over an hour to catch a nap before he’d need to find out where Toby was.

  Besides, after witnessing Toby’s injury, he’d find it hard to look at his own junk without wincing. Yeah, shuteye was what he needed. Definitely, not a woman.

  Chapter 2