The Cowboy's Virgin Baby Momma
ChapterOne
Austin
“Get the fuck out of here before I blow your head off,” Old Man Nelson bellowed from his front porch, aiming a shotgun at Austin Carson’s face.
He had no trouble recognizing the antique weapon. It was the same beast his granddaughter, Paige, had used to scare the coyotes from the chicken coop two weeks ago. Though she’d accidentally almost filled him full of buckshot, what she’d actually done was brand herself in his brain.
Austin hadn’t stopped thinking about her since. His head was filled with fantasies of Paige wearing a whole lot less than an oversized T-shirt and a look of panic. His insta-lust-meter had been pegged in the red for days. If she’d been anyone but Raymond Nelson’s granddaughter, he would have already fucked her out of his system…numerous times. Austin wasn’t suffering only a physical draw to Paige but an emotional one as well.
He didn’t know many women who’d give up their lives and move to the outskirts of a tiny Texas town like Haven to take care of an aging grandpa, like Paige had. Especially one as hateful and nasty as Raymond Nelson. Then again, Austin’s dad always said, Blood is thicker than water. It was in this case. There was no doubt in his mind that Paige loved the surly old prick with her big, caring heart.
Biting back a curse, Austin shoved down his foolish obsession with Paige and his annoyance with Colton—for being too busy to deal with the cranky old bastard now that his high school sweetheart was living under his roof—and raised his hands. “Settle down, old man. I didn’t come here to get shot; I came here to talk. We got a problem.”
“We ain’t got nuthin’. The only problem I have is you being on my property.”
“If you want to keep your property, you need to put that gun down and listen.”
“You threatening me, you cocky little prick? I ain’t gonna let you steal my land like your great-great-grandpappy did. Now get the hell off my property.”
He didn’t steal it you senile old fuck. He got it fair and square.
Austin didn’t have time to rehash ancient history. He was on a mission to save his ranch, his other neighbor Colton’s, and yes…even the prick who was aiming a shotgun at his head.
“I’m not here to debate some ancient—”
“Austin?” Paige’s sweet voice floated from the doorway as she stepped onto the porch beside her grandpa and pinned him with a quizzical stare.
Austin’s heart swelled and raced as the wind swept her silky red hair from her neck, exposing an ivory canvass he ached to paint with hot kisses, while her thin cotton dress clung to every dip and swell of her curvaceous body. He clenched his jaw and swallowed the ball of lust lodged in his throat.
Austin politely tipped his hat. “Miss Paige.”
“Don’t speak to my granddaughter. And stop looking at her like that. She ain’t a piece of prime beef, you dirty pervert,” Raymond growled.
Austin blinked, breaking the carnal connection with Paige. If the old man actually knew how twisted he really was, he’d pull the trigger.
A pink hue stained her cheeks as she glanced at her grandpa and blanched. “For the love of… What on earth are you doing?”
“Getting ready to fill this land-grabbing son of a bitch full of lead.”
“You will not.” She gripped the muzzle and shoved it toward the ground.
“Look, I didn’t come here to cause trouble, Mr. Nelson. I just need to find out if you really agreed to sell your land to that lawyer from Washington, DC.”
“Sell the land?” Paige gasped in disbelief. “What lawyer? What are you talking—”
“Who said I was selling?” Nelson snarled.
“The lawyer. He said—”
“That’s your first mistake, sonny. Never trust a lawyer. They lie. The only thing I told that scum-sucking bottom-feeder is the same thing I’m gonna tell you…fuck off.”
“Wait.” Paige held up her slender hand. “The same lawyer called both of you?”
“Colton, too,” Austin informed.
“Why?”
“He wants to buy all three of our ranches.”
“Stop talking to him, Paige,” Nelson scolded. “He’s the enemy.”
“We’re not at war, Grandpa,” she scolded before gliding her hazel eyes Austin’s way. “And do what with them?”
“I don’t know. He said he has a client who wants to buy them and that Raymond agreed to sell his spread.”
“That’s a bald-faced lie,” Nelson snarled.
“Grandpa, go inside and sit down.” Paige ran a calming hand down his arm. “You just got home from the hospital yesterday. This much stress isn’t good for you.”
“I’ll go in when I’m damn good and ready,” he curtly countered. “Besides, I ain’t leaving you out here with the spawn of Satan unsupervised.”
As Nelson raised the gun toward Austin’s head again, panic crawled across Paige’s face. “Go.”
Austin didn’t want to get killed, but pride wouldn’t let him turn tail and run, either. “Stop being so stubborn and listen to reason. If we, you, me, and Colton, don’t stick together and come up with a plan, you’re liable to lose your land, old man.”
“The only thing I’m losing is my patience. I’m telling you for the last time, get your ass off my property or I’ll bury you in a shallow grave behind the chicken coop.” Nelson cocked the hammer of his shotgun.