Pastor's Prize (Culpepper Cowboys Book 15) Read online

  Pastor’s Prize

  Culpepper Cowboys Book 15

  Kirsten Osbourne

  Unlimited Dreams

  Contents

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Also by Kirsten Osbourne

  Pastor’s Prize

  Book Fifteen in Culpepper Cowboys

  by Kirsten Osbourne

  Copyright 2016 Kirsten Osbourne

  Kindle Edition, License Notes

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  Introduction

  Rikki Dobson has spent her whole life living in her famous sister’s shadow. When she moves to Culpepper, Wyoming to recover from a harrowing experience, it’s the last place in the world she expects to find love. Working at a bakery with three loving women makes life easier, but she’s still afraid of the world around her. When Pastor Benjamin, the handsome new associate pastor sits beside her in church, she doesn’t know whether to be happy or frightened.

  Ben Norton isn’t looking for love. He’s happy with his new job as assistant pastor and counselor for a small church in Culpepper. He’s met the beautiful Rikki a couple of times, but it isn’t until he sits beside her one morning that he realizes there is something more to her than meets the eye. Will Rikki be able to overcome her fears? Or will the two of them spend the rest of their lives alone?

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  1

  Rikki Dobson pulled into the small church’s parking lot, snagging one of the last parking spaces at the very back. She would be late if she didn’t rush, but that was how she liked it. She didn’t want to have to stand around before or after church making small talk. Being around men frightened her. She’d had a very tough year, and she didn’t want to have to mingle and act like she was enjoying herself when she just wanted to get away as soon as the service was over.

  She found a seat in the back row and sat down just as the music started. She’d timed it perfectly. She stood and watched the words on the giant screen, singing along. She loved to sing, and she was very good at it, but she never did it in front of anyone.

  “Would you mind scooting over one chair?” a deep voice asked from behind her.

  Rikki felt a shiver run through her. It didn’t matter whose voice it was. A man was standing altogether too close to her. She turned and saw that it was Pastor Benjamin, the new assistant pastor. Well, not terribly new. He’d been in town since August, but that still seemed new. She’d been in town a few months longer than he had, and she was still a newcomer herself.

  Rikki moved over three chairs, giving him plenty of room, so she wouldn’t have to sit too close to him or anyone else. Having people in her space made her very uncomfortable.

  He gave her a questioning look as he set his things down and turned to the front of the church, his eyes going to the screen. He sang, his baritone voice sounding more like a rumble than a voice raised in song.

  Rikki kept her eyes on Brother Anthony through the whole service, carefully avoiding looking at Pastor Benjamin. Brother Anthony was an older man who didn’t seem to be able to do anything with decorum while Pastor Benjamin was…well…how did one describe Pastor Benjamin? He was sexy and took Rikki’s breath away. Was it wrong to think of a pastor as sexy?

  Brother Anthony’s sermon was about tolerance, and Rikki thoroughly enjoyed listening to the man talk on the subject. As soon as the service was over, she quickly gathered her things to make a rapid escape.

  She’d just shrugged into her coat when Pastor Benjamin asked, “Are you going out with a group for lunch?”

  Rikki shook her head, putting her scarf around her shoulders. “No, I’ll probably just go home for lunch.” She was truly surprised to hear her voice say the words. She was seldom able to get out an entire sentence in a social situation. At least she was getting better at being able to talk to people at the bakery while she was working.

  “You should come to Bob’s with me then. There’s no reason for you to sit home alone.”

  She frowned. “Thanks for the offer, but I don’t really do well in crowded places.”

  Ben studied the pretty girl in front of him, wondering why she looked so skittish. He’d heard rumors that something bad had happened to her but he had no idea what it was. “You won’t get comfortable in crowds unless you’re in them some. Isolating yourself will just make things worse.” He didn’t speak from experience, but he’d taken enough psychology classes on his way to his masters of psychology that he knew what he was talking about. Being a minister wasn’t just a calling for him. It was his passion…his everything.

  “Thank you, Pastor, but I know my limits. I’ve been here too long already.”

  Ben watched as she hurried out of the church. He knew little about Rikki, other than her name and that she never socialized with people after church. Suddenly he wanted to know more—no, he needed to know more.

  He saw Grace Wells, formerly Grace Quinlan watching him, and he nodded to her, slowly making his way through the crowd to her side. “What do you know about Rikki Dobson that I don’t?”

  Grace shrugged. “Everyone knows her story.”

  “Everyone? Meaning the whole town is gossiping about it?”

  “Everyone meaning she’s been talked about on the news and her story has been in all the papers—and not just the gossip rags.” Grace shook her head. “You really don’t know what happened to her?”

  Ben frowned. “I don’t know anything about it. Tell me what happened.”

  Grace sighed. “Do you know who Valerie Savoy is?”

  “Of course. Everyone knows who Valerie Savoy is.” Valerie was the star of a night time drama filmed in Texas. The show was called Lazy Love, and while he wasn’t an avid watcher, he’d caught a few episodes.

  “You know Rikki is her kid sister, right?”

  Ben’s eyes widened. “I wondered why she looked so familiar!” Rikki looked a great deal like her older sister. He thought for a moment and then sighed. “Wait, didn’t Valerie’s kid sister get kidnapped earlier this year?”

  Grace nodded. “Yes, she did.”

  “That explains a lot. I assume Rikki is the sister who got kidnapped.”

  “Yeah, she is. She’s had a really hard time since. In fact, she moved to Culpepper so she could get away from people in her town always talking about her. She works at the bakery with my cousins and me.”

  “I’ve seen her sister here a few times, but she’s not a regular church-goer.”

  Grace smiled. “She’s regular when she’s in town. They film three weeks on and one week off. She’s always here on her weeks off.”

  “Oh.” Ben frowned. “I need to learn more about the people here. I got to Culpepper and jumped into counseling with both feet, but I haven’t really taken the time to get to know the people who don’t need counseling. I should do that soon.”

  “Rikki needs it, but I doubt she’
ll go. She told me that she did a little bit of counseling before she left Iowa for Culpepper, but she didn’t feel like it helped her so she stopped it when she moved here. She seems to be getting better in very small increments. She doesn’t jump every time we laugh any longer.”

  “Sounds like she’s having a rough time of it.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I should reach out to her.” As the associate pastor and designated counselor of the church, it fell to him to worry about the mental health of the congregants.

  “I saw the two of you talking a little while ago. That’s the most I’ve ever seen her talk to a man outside the bakery.”

  “What do you mean? She can’t totally avoid talking to men.”

  Grace shrugged. “And yet she seems to. I’m sure she’s talked to Roy Williams a bit, but he’s probably the only one. She sneaks into church at the last second and leaves as soon as it’s over. She’s afraid of men.”

  “And you say she works at the bakery?” Ben asked, knowing he needed to at least reach out to the girl.

  “Yup. She comes in at ten and stays ’til we close at six. She’s been a good employee, and she’s learning to ice the cakes beautifully.”

  “I’ll come by tomorrow then.”

  Grace nodded, her face full of skepticism. “I’m not sure she’ll like that, but it’s probably a good idea. She needs someone to talk to her about her fears.”

  Marcus Wells, Brother Anthony’s grandson, walked over then, his eyes full of love as he looked at his beautiful wife. “Are you ready to go?”

  “Yup. Are we heading to Bob’s Burger Barn?”

  “Of course. I can’t remember where we ate on Sundays before he opened that place.”

  “At the diner, of course.” Grace nodded to Ben. “It was good talking to you Pastor Benjamin.”

  “Call me Ben.” He’d had enough of being called Pastor Benjamin by everyone in town.

  “All right, Ben. Have a good day, and I hope to see you at the bakery soon.” She slipped her hand into Marcus’s and the two of them headed for the door at the back of the church.

  Ben watched them go, a look of longing on his face. He wanted what Marcus and Grace had. He’d wanted it for a long time, but things hadn’t worked out for him.

  Rikki drove to the Culpepper ranch on autopilot. Why had Pastor Benjamin been talking to her? Had someone told him that she needed counseling? She did, and she even knew she did, but she didn’t want it. Shouldn’t it be her choice whether or not she had her head shrunk?

  When she got to the ranch, she parked beside Linda Culpepper’s blue SUV. Getting out of her small car, she hurried to the door as if someone was chasing her. She hated being outside around her car. It made her feel so exposed! She knew it was crazy, because there was no one lurking in the bushes on the Culpepper ranch to kidnap her and throw her into the trunk of a car, but she couldn’t get the fear out of her mind. What Curtis had done to her would forever be in her mind.

  She accidentally slammed the door against the wall in her rush to get inside, and Linda came out of the kitchen, smiling. “I’m glad you’re home. Lunch?”

  Rikki struggled to slow her breathing down. This was the hardest part of going on after the kidnapping—remembering that there wasn’t someone out there waiting to hurt her. “Lunch sounds nice,” she finally said, when she could. Linda would understand though. She’d been her confidante and friend since Rikki had moved in with her a few months before. She still lived at her sister’s ranch in her little garage apartment the week out of the month Valerie wasn’t filming, but the rest of the time, she was there with Linda. She felt safer with another woman around.

  “I made soup.” Linda walked to the kitchen and dished up two bowls of soup, carrying them to the table. “Would you get out the silverware?”

  Rikki walked into the kitchen and pulled the utensils from the drawers. She helped out around the house some, but Linda had always refused to let her pay any rent or help with groceries. It made Rikki feel guilty, because she made a decent wage at the bakery and had no other expenses.

  “Pastor Benjamin invited me to go out after church today,” Rikki said, surprising herself. She rarely volunteered information about her day, usually waiting for the older woman to ask questions before divulging information.

  “He did? You didn’t want to go?” Linda gave her a knowing look that made Rikki wish she could show the whole world how wrong they were about her. If they were wrong, she would do it in a heartbeat.

  Rikki sighed. “You know I think I wanted to go a little bit. It’s the first time I’ve even been tempted.”

  Linda smiled at her. “I think that’s a really good positive step. Maybe you should have said yes.”

  “Maybe. Not this time, though.”

  “Pastor Benjamin is a handsome man.”

  Rikki blushed a little, shrugging. She’d thought the same thing just a short while before. “Is he? I didn’t notice,” she fibbed. She was noticing a man for the first time since the kidnapping, and she wasn’t sure she liked it. It was odd to notice a man when she was afraid of them. How could she be thinking in terms of how nice he was to look at when she was supposed to be hiding under a rock?

  “You did notice!” Linda said, her whole face lighting up. “You need to go out with him if he asks again.”

  “He was just asking me to go out with a group.”

  “Did he say that?”

  Rikki shook her head. “Well, no, but what else would he want with me? I’m messed up in the head and everyone knows it. I’m nobody’s prize.”

  “You need to see yourself the way the rest of the world sees you, Rikki. Wasn’t Valerie voted one of Hollywood Magazine’s most beautiful women of the year? You look a lot like your sister!”

  “Yeah, on the outside we do look the same. People can see the darkness inside me though.” Rikki sat at the table and picked up her spoon, taking a bite of the soup. “This is delicious.”

  Linda obviously knew it was pointless to continue the conversation, because she sat down and ate as well. “I’m going out with Roy tonight. Are you going to be all right home alone?”

  “As long as I know you’ll be back, I’ll be fine.” Rikki knew she’d be locking all the doors as soon as Linda left, and she’d be frightened the whole time, but she had to learn to be alone sometime. She was simply grateful for the opportunity to live with someone while she learned how. She could easily have stayed with her mother in Iowa, but the whole town suddenly felt different—dangerous. She hadn’t been able to go back to work at the grocery store—the scene of her kidnapping—since the incident.

  “Feel free to fix yourself anything you want,” Linda said unnecessarily. Rikki knew she had the freedom to do anything she wanted in the house.

  “Thanks.” Rikki concentrated on her meal after that, not wanting to think about the evening ahead. She hated being alone—almost as much as she hated being in a crowd.

  Ben made a point to stop by the bakery for lunch the following day. He knew they did a brisk business in the mornings, but he’d heard that they were rarely busy at lunch time, because Bob’s Burger Barn tended to draw a large lunch crowd.

  He walked into the bakery for the first time, looking around him. He was amazed at the small business. Four women worked there, all of them visible from the front of the building.

  Stepping up to the display, he smiled at Rikki, who was manning the counter. “I’ve heard really good things about the kolaches here. Would you recommend the sausage or ham? Or the plain cheese?”

  “I like the ham,” Rikki responded, feeling a lot more comfortable with a counter between them.

  “Give me three of the ham then.”

  “Do you want them warmed?” she asked, removing three of the savory pastries and setting them on a paper plate.

  “Yes, please.” Ben leaned against the counter as he watched her efficient motions. She had obviously performed the service hundreds of times. “I’d like coffee to go with that as well.”


  “Of course.” She walked to the coffee pot and picked up a mug, before looking at him. “Is this for here or to go? I guess I should have asked that.” She blushed at her error. What was it about the man that turned her into a bumbling fool? It wasn’t just that he was a man, because she didn’t blush for most men. Only him.

  When she set the food in front of him, and gave him his total, he pulled his wallet out. “Why don’t you join me?”

  Rikki’s eyes widened in surprise. She shook her head, refusing without thought. She couldn’t sit with him while he ate.

  From behind her, Grace called, “It’s time for you to take a break, Rikki. Join him!”

  Rikki turned and glared at Grace, but followed her instructions. She poured herself a cup of hot chocolate and grabbed a muffin before following him. They went into the dining room, and she sat at one of the small tables, doing her best not to meet his eyes. She hoped he didn’t realize that Grace was trying to play matchmaker, because it seemed very obvious.

  Ben looked around the small, immaculate dining room. “You’re not busy,” he said, stating the obvious. He needed to make her comfortable if he was going to get her to open up to him. She wasn’t his client, so he wasn’t sure why it was so important to him, but it was.

  “Not at this time of day. We used to have a small lunch crowd, but since Bob opened his place in town, it’s pretty quiet here at this time of day.” Rikki broke off a piece of her muffin top and popped it into her mouth. The orange flavor exploded on her tongue, and she thanked God that Patience had decided to experiment with some new recipes. This one was a winner. She made a mental note to tell the other girl after lunch.

  Ben took a bite of his kolache, closing his eyes as he savored the taste. “This is fabulous. Do you help make these?”

  She shook her head. “Nope. Those are all Patience. I’ve learned to help with the icing of the cakes and cookies, but I haven’t been given the task of baking the kolaches yet.”