Inspired By The Creative Cowboy (Sage Valley Ranch Book 5) Read online

  Coming to a stop, he kissed her nose and grinned. “It seems only fair since that’s how I feel every time I see you.”

  “I think you’re being a little silly.”

  Julian shook his head. “Nope.” He set her down. “So, what’s this fun thing you’ve got planned?”

  She took a deep breath. “I have a friend who is a teacher at the elementary school’s summer art program. I told her I have a friend who is an artist and that I might be able to persuade him into giving a small art class.”

  He froze. “An art class?”

  “Uh, yeah?”

  For a second, she wasn’t sure what he’d say, but then he nodded. “Okay. I can do that.”

  Summer beamed. “I was hoping you wouldn’t be upset. I just thought…I don’t know, that it would be good for you to have a day off, and I know how much you miss Kenna. I know these kids will be much older, but maybe it’ll help.”

  Julian leaned down and kissed her. “Thank you for thinking of me. I think this’ll be perfect.”

  “I just…wanted to…” She shrugged and cast her gaze down. “I wanted to show you what you mean to me, and I know you love art and kids.”

  He pulled her flush against him and kissed the top of her head. “And you mean the world to me. Uh, could we maybe…take a walk after the class?”

  That sounded ominous, and her heart stuttered. She looked up. “Is everything okay?”

  “Everything is fine. Or I hope it is. I just have something I need to get off my chest.”

  “You can tell me now.” Because it was going to eat her alive otherwise.

  Palming her cheek, he said, “After, okay? I don’t want to be hurried, and if you told the teacher we’d be there, I don’t want to be late, especially if kids are expecting me. Can’t disappoint them.” He smiled.

  “You are too sweet for words, Julian Wolf.”

  “Only because you’ve rubbed off on me.” He winked, holding her car door as she got in and then shutting it. He jogged around and got in. “Okay, Boss Lady, let’s go.”

  She popped him on the bicep. “Stop that.”

  He just grinned like a Cheshire cat and laughed. That boyish charm had snagged her heart, and she’d fallen harder and harder for him.

  Once they got to the school, he seemed a little nervous as they signed in at the front office, but she mostly chalked it up to facing a group of kindergartners. Truth be told, she was a little nervous herself. One or two munchkins was one thing; a whole classroom full was another. She didn’t doubt for one second that Julian would charm them just like he’d charmed her.

  A chorus of little voices filtered out of an open door and grew louder as they reached it halfway down the hall. They stopped at the edge of the door, waiting for the teacher, Mrs. Whipple, to acknowledge them.

  Desks had been pushed to the back of the room so two long tables could take their place. The kids lined up on one side of each table so that they faced each other, and there was a space between the tables so someone could walk. Watercolor trays and paper sat by each student, with more paper stacked toward the outer edge.

  Finally, the dark-haired woman looked up and waved them in. “Come on. We’re excited to have guests today, aren’t we class?”

  With one voice, they all said, “Yes, ma’am.”

  Mrs. Whipple turned to them. “Why don’t you introduce yourselves.”

  “I’m Summer Brown. I work at Sage Valley Ranch.”

  Julian waved. “I’m Julian Wolf. I’ve been told you guys want to do a little art today.”

  The kids chattered a little too loudly, and the teacher hushed them. “What have I told you?”

  Again, in one voice, they answered, “We need to listen with our ears, and if we have a question, raise our hands.”

  “That’s right.” She laughed. “Mr. Wolf, I’ll let you take the lead from here.”

  Julian rubbed his hands together and walked to the middle of the room between the two tables. “Okay, art is supposed to be fun, and it can also be like words.” He pulled out his phone. “I’m going to play a song, and you guys just paint what you think the song is saying. I did this when I was your age, and I still do it sometimes.”

  One little boy raised his hand, and Julian pointed to him. “What if I can’t hear what it’s saying?”

  “What’s your name?”

  “Jason.”

  “Well, Jason, if you can’t hear the words right away, dip your brush in the water, pick a color, and close your eyes. You’ll be surprised what you can hear when you’re listening.”

  Tapping the screen on his phone, Julian said, “This is a sonata by Mozart. You guys ready?”

  Heads bobbed up and down with mumbles of yes.

  “Okay, go.” He hit play, and the song started.

  He stood still for a while, his head moving back and forth as he watched. Then he walked to the far end and made his way behind the row of kids on the left. “That’s really good. You should try orange,” he said to one little girl.

  “Orange? That doesn’t go with green.”

  “Try it and see.”

  The little girl eyed him a second and then brushed bright orange down the paper. “That does go together.”

  “You can’t be afraid of color.”

  “What if you get it wrong?”

  He smiled. “But what if you get it right?”

  Continuing his stroll, he spoke with each kid, giving them pointers and encouragement. Summer loved watching him. He was great at carpentry, but this was his element. Art was his passion, and she could tell by the way his eyes glittered when he spoke to the kids.

  Mrs. Whipple sidled up to Summer.

  “You’ve got a full class. I bet they can be a handful,” Summer said, fingering her necklace.

  “Well, they can be, but it’s not as full as normal. We’ve got two kids out with a bug, but that’s school. I wiped everything down this morning, but by the time something like that starts, it’s hard to get it stopped.” She paused a beat. “You know, when you said you had someone you wanted to bring by to teach art, I had no idea it would be Julian Wolf.”

  Summer jerked her gaze to the teacher. “You know him?” He told her he was passing through, that he’d never been to Sage Valley.

  “I was visiting family in Prairie West, about an hour northwest of Houston, this past Christmas. My daughter is an artist, and as a surprise, my husband and I treated her to a showing of Julian’s. His work was…well, it was beautiful. I know he had a critic who was harsh, but he is very talented.”

  Summer gaped as she slowly turned her gaze on Julian. “I had no idea.”

  Mrs. Whipple touched her arm. “I only know of him now because, after the showing, I started following him. He’s been pretty quiet since then. My Loranne loves him.”

  “I knew he was an artist. I just didn’t know how popular he is.”

  “Well, some of it comes from his family having money, but he’s got a name because of his incredible art.”

  Money? “His family?”

  “Oh yes. His family owns Wolf C&D Computer Distribution. I only know that stuff because of my daughter. She kinda has a crush on him. She’ll die when I tell her he taught my kindergarten class.”

  “Is that a big company?”

  Mrs. Whipple nodded. “From what I understand.”

  Swallowing hard, Summer stumbled out of the classroom and braced herself against the wall. He’d hidden the biggest part of himself from her. She was supposed to be getting to know him, but all this time…

  “Summer?” Julian’s voice came from behind her.

  “You didn’t tell me you were famous or wealthy.”

  His breath caught, and she turned around. By the pained look on his face, there was no denying it. “So, it’s true.”

  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about after this. I’ve wanted to tell you, but…”

  “You lied to me.”

  He shook his head. “No, I haven’t. I’ve been
myself this whole time. I’m just me.” He raked his hand through his hair. “I wanted someone to get to know me. Not Julian, the painter. Not Julian, the billionaire. Not—”

  “Billionaire?” She choked out the word. “Mrs. Whipple said wealthy. That’s…not just wealthy.”

  His shoulders rounded. “I just wanted to be me.”

  It felt like her world was unraveling. She’d fallen for a man she didn’t even know. A man who’d hidden parts of himself. She’d trusted him. What else had he hidden? He was a billionaire and a famous painter? Did he have a bunch of girlfriends and Summer was just a fling? And how stupid had she been to not see it? “Why couldn’t you just be honest? This is a lot to take in, and…I don’t know if I can.”

  “You can. I’m still me. Nothing has changed.”

  Her mouth parted as she tried to wrangle her emotions. “Everything’s changed.”

  With a shuddering breath, he stepped back. “I understand.”

  “I need some time to think, Julian.”

  “Sure.”

  Summer hugged herself. “I don’t want to leave you trying to hitchhike back, but—”

  “I’ll find a way back. Don’t worry about it. I…I’m sorry.”

  Absentmindedly, she nodded. “Yeah, me too.”

  She turned and walked down the hall, and with each step, her heart grew heavier. The man she’d fallen for wasn’t…wasn’t real. Since the start, she’d known there was a chance she’d get her heart broken, but she thought it would be because he went back to Houston. She’d had no idea it would be because he lied to her. And the heartbreak was so much worse than she imagined.

  18

  Miserable. Julian was flat-out, pig-wallow miserable. The last two weeks, he’d spent most of his days working on the barn, hoping that Summer would, at some point, show up and talk to him. At first, he’d debated about whether he should try to seek her out, maybe explain again, but he’d decided against that. Instead, he’d given her space to sort it out. That is, if it could be sorted.

  The only thing that broke the monotony was the call he’d received from Mrs. Whipple at the beginning of the week. She’d asked him to come back and teach another class, and he’d been unable to say no. His heart wasn’t in it, but being at the barn wasn’t helping him either.

  He’d called to let Summer know, and it had gone straight to voicemail. That was when he realized just how badly he’d messed up. If she wouldn’t even take his call, there was no way she’d see him face to face. And hearing her bright voice had made his heart ache in ways he didn’t think possible.

  For the umpteenth time that morning, he sneezed and rubbed his eyes. He didn’t think it was time for allergies, but his sinuses had been going haywire ever since he woke up. Stopping a second, he stepped back and let his gaze roam over his handiwork.

  The barn was coming along. The roof was newly shingled, and the south wall was looking a sight better. The wall had taken the longest time. Some of the supporting beams were rotten and had to be replaced. Slowly, he’d finished it and worked his way around to the north side of the barn—the wall with the least amount of problems. Once it was finished, it would need to be power washed and painted. Then he’d start on the inside.

  Another thing coming along was his art. Or it had been. Each night, he’d leave Summer and spend a few hours painting. He’d felt more inspired while being with her than he could remember. He put as much of himself into them as he could, hoping that if he had the chance to show them, people would see his heart. Since she’d quit talking to him, he’d pushed himself to continue painting, but the results were just paint smears.

  “Julian?”

  He braced his hand against the barn wall and hung his head at the sound of Summer’s voice. Silently, he prayed that she’d come to talk. That he could find a way to make amends. Something. All he knew was that the last two weeks had taught him that he didn’t want to live without her.

  Straightening, he went back to work. “North wall,” he called. He’d play it cool. The last thing he wanted was to scare her off.

  She appeared at the edge of the barn, looking better than he’d ever seen her in white shorts and a little blue blouse. It was obvious she’d not planned to stay, which broke him a little. Still, he’d take what he could get. Seeing her just a few minutes was better than nothing at all.

  “Hey,” she said, stopping a few feet from him.

  “Hi.” His heart was beating a million miles a minute. He so badly wanted to hold her and kiss her and tell her how much he cared about her.

  She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. Keeping her eyes averted from his, she said, “Uh, I’m not staying.” She pulled an envelope from her back pocket and handed it to him.

  Julian stared at it. “What is this?”

  “That’s me paying you for the roofers.”

  He pushed it back into her hand. “No. I told you—”

  “And that was before I found out who you are.” Finally, she looked him in the eyes. “It dawned on me that you didn’t tell me who you were because you thought I might only like you for your money. I’m not like that. I would have liked you no matter what your bank account said. I’m not some gold digger or something.”

  He hung his head. “No. No, no, no, no. That’s not what I thought at all.”

  “Some part of you must have thought that; otherwise, you would have told me.” She handed the envelope back to him. “Take that.”

  Julian lunged for her as she turned to leave. “Summer, I never had any intention of taking any money from you. None. When the job was over, I was going to tell you to keep it. I did this because I wanted to be near you.”

  She jerked away. “And if any of that was true, you would have been honest with me from the get-go. But you weren’t. You lied. I trusted you with the deepest parts of myself. My hopes and dreams, and you…played me.”

  “I didn’t lie. At any point, you could have looked me up. The only reason I waited to tell you was so that you got to know me. Julian. I’m just a guy who loves to paint. My family has money. But me? I’m a regular guy. If I wasn’t, do you think I’d be working on a barn to impress a woman?”

  Squaring her shoulders, she said, “Well, color me unimpressed, then. A lie by omission is still a lie. From this point forward, you are an employee. That’s it. When this project is finished, I’ll pay you, and you can be on your way.”

  Being kicked by a horse and tossed over the side of a mountain would have hurt less. “I’m sorry. I know I messed up, but I’m still me. I’m still the man who is wild about you.”

  “Maybe, but I’ll never know that, will I?” She stepped back. “I’m sorry, but I just can’t see you anymore.”

  This time, he let her go without a fight. He should have listened to Zach. Should have told her the second he wanted more than just one date. He’d waited, and now he’d lost her. All because he was stupid.

  He kicked a rock lying by his feet and went back to work. Regardless of how mad she was at him, he was still finishing what he started. She may not trust him anymore or want anything to do with him, but he still cared about her. Nothing was going to change that.

  19

  “I’ve been calling you and calling you,” Nanna said as she drifted onto the back porch of Summer’s townhome and sat in a patio chair across from her.

  Summer crossed her arms over her chest. After finding out Julian had lied about who and what he was, she’d moved back to her townhome to give herself some space to think. All it had done was make her angrier. “I really don’t want to talk.”

  “I gathered that when you wouldn’t answer your phone.” Her grandma paused. “Lexi says you were short with her too.”

  Yeah, Summer had been taking her hurt and anger out on people. Seeing Julian a few days ago had lit that fire again. At first she’d been hurt, but as the days passed, she’d grown furious. He’d lied to her, and worse, she’d fallen for his act hook, line, and sinker. “I wasn’t trying to be. I’m just…”


  “Hurt and mad and trying to figure out where to go from here?”

  Summer only nodded. If she spoke, she’d cry, and she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to stop if she started.

  “Sweetheart, tell me what happened. All of it. Top to bottom.”

  With a sigh, Summer started off slowly, telling Nanna how they’d met, about the time she’d spent with him, and how he’d made her feel, along with who he and his family were. Things she’d googled since Mrs. Whipple had filled her in.

  Nanna listened, mostly giving nods or little grunts of agreement as Summer spoke. When Summer was finished, her grandma remained quiet. The silence stretched while the afternoon sun sank lower on the horizon.

  Finally, Nanna cleared her throat and said, “I can see why you’d be angry. You thought you were getting to know this sweet man, and he hid things from you. He’s a little famous, his family is beyond wealthy—a dollar amount we’ll surely never see—and whether he likes it or not, that’s a big part of who he is.” Glancing at Summer, Nanna let out a heavy sigh. “He fooled me too.”

  Summer shook her head. “You couldn’t have known. None of us could have.” That wasn’t exactly true. A little googling when she found out he’d had a gallery showing would have probably told her most of what Mrs. Whipple did. “Although, I could have looked him up.”

  Nanna scoffed. “You shouldn’t have to use the computer to get to know someone. I bet he lied about everything.”

  “I don’t think he lied about everything. He just wasn’t forthcoming with some key pieces.”

  “You have a good reason to be angry.” Nanna threaded her fingers together and set them over her stomach. “No good was coming from that man.”

  “Well…”

  Continuing, Nanna said, “Probably thought he could sweep you off your feet and then just leave you without another thought. Wealthy men like that can have any woman they want. You’re better off without him.”

  That wasn’t Julian at all. “No, I don’t think so. I read one article that was from right before his first gallery showing. This reporter woman dated him just so she could get the inside scoop on his family. He was pretty young and didn’t see what was happening.”