Once Upon a Cowboy

by Maggie McGinnis

  “I’m going to adopt that woman.”

  Hayley shook her head. “Too late. I already did.”

  As they left the bedroom, Jess looked around the cabin, a peaceful feeling stealing in the same way it had every time she’d come out to Whisper Creek. The living room had a big, soft couch with lots of colorful pillows, and if she hadn’t promised Kyla she’d help with the guests all week, she could easily picture spending days on end settled in the cushions with a pile of romance novels.

  Maybe escaping into someone else’s story would help her stomach stop churning when she thought of her own past creeping in to rope her back.

  They pushed through the screen door onto the wide front porch with its double swing, and Jess sighed contentedly as she took in the sight of the big, new stable just down the hill, and the main lodge just up the pathway.

  “Miss this place, did you?” Hayley slung an arm over her shoulder as they started toward the lodge.

  “I never realize just how much until I’m here again.”

  “Cole tends to have that effect on women.”

  Jess laughed. “We’re back to that again? I was referring to the scenery.”

  “He qualifies.” Hayley shrugged. “I don’t suppose you know your face gets all rosy when you talk about him.”

  “Does not.” Jess put her hands to her cheeks, then snapped them back down. She was not a woman who went all blushy when confronted with a super gorgeous man. Even if that man was a cowboy. And furthermore, even if that man was Cole, whose—scenery—she’d been appreciating for two years now.

  Hayley laughed. “Totally does, but I won’t tell Kyla.”

  “The only reason my face is getting—rosy—is because all I can think about is the fact that he saw way more than just my dress once that hose hit me.”

  “And it will probably fuel his fantasies for weeks. I wouldn’t worry about it.” Hayley snorted. “He didn’t see any more than your little undies, I’m sure. And honey, if I had a body like yours, I guess I wouldn’t be too worried.”

  Jess elbowed her. “Easy for you to say.”

  “I know. I’m the one who’s about to be happily married off. I don’t have to be worried about all of this flirting and stuff anymore, right?”

  “Something like that.”

  Hayley turned to her. “I don’t know why you’re worried. You always had the flirting thing covered, even when you weren’t trying. Remember when you first got to college and you had that sweet southern drawl that all the guys loved, but you tried so hard to cover it up?”

  “Yes. Yes, I do.” Jess swallowed, but couldn’t quite get the sudden lump out of her throat. She’d tried to lose it, all right.

  Because that sweet southern drawl—as Hayley put it—had the unfortunate side effect of attracting all the wrong kinds of men.

  —

  “C’mere, honey. Gimme some sugar.” Mama’s manager was at the trailer again, drinking on the couch again. He was six-foot-two and probably weighed two-fifty under his designer shirt. The women who rented chairs at his salon all did their best to get his attention, but it was Mama who’d captured it.

  She wrinkled her nose, assaulted by his drugstore aftershave. “Sorry, Mel. No can do. Sadie and her mama are picking me up in a second to go to the mall.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “You ain’t got time for one little kiss on the cheek? I give your mama her job and I can’t get a little thanks?”

  “I think you get quite enough thanks from her.”

  She froze. Once again, her sixteen-year old mouth was one step ahead of her brain.

  “That so?” He rose up off the couch, way more graceful than a drunk man should be at two o’clock in the afternoon. “You gettin’ a little sass on your mouth, honey, and that mouth’s way too pretty to be talking like that.”

  She looked out the window, desperate for her Sadie story to be true. Desperate for there to even be a Sadie in her life, one with a mama who might be on her way to pick her up right now.

  “Sorry, Mel.”

  Apologize early—that was the best strategy. Then flee.

  She headed for the door, but before she got there, his hand was on her wrist. Around it, like a steel handcuff.

  Where the hell was her own mama, anyway?

  “Mama will be here any minute. Want me to get you a beer or something?” Anything to get away from his huge body, that aftershave.

  His other hand came up, touched her cheek. “You’re a pretty little thing, you know that? Way prettier than your mama, and she’s not bad to look at, either. Come on. Sit with me on the couch. Talk to me with that pretty southern voice of yours.”

  She flinched. No way was she going to let him pull her to that couch.

  “Your mama’s at work, honey. I’m here to see you.” He touched her lip with his thumb, and suddenly she could see where this was going to end. There was nobody here to save her. She had to do it herself.

  She counted to three and closed her eyes tightly.

  And then she bit him.

  —

  “Do you remember how you used to listen to Kyla’s old Robin Williams CD, trying to learn how to talk fast like him?”

  Hayley’s voice popped Jess out of her flashback. Jess struggled to find her way back to what they’d been talking about. “Umm, I don’t know.”

  Hayley stopped walking, stepping in front of Jess. “Are you all right?”

  “No. I mean, yes. I’m fine. Tired, maybe. Sorry.” Jess took a deep breath. She needed to get a grip. Luanne’s call and the envelope from Grampy’s attorney were kicking off a whole set of hideous memories she thought she’d buried long ago, but in the past twelve hours, it had become abundantly clear that those memories were sitting just below the surface, bubbling, ready to pop out and send her back down very dark roads.

  “You sure?” Hayley’s eyebrows drew together.

  “I’m sure.” Jess pasted on a smile. It was Hayley’s wedding week, for God’s sake. She needed to get a grip and focus on the present. And the present included beautiful Montana, a glorious outdoor wedding, and her two best friends in the world. Later, when she was alone, she’d try to figure out what to do about the past that was trying to become her present.

  She linked arms with Hayley and pulled her toward the main lodge, taking a deep breath to refocus herself.

  “Come on,” she said. “I’m starving.”

  They climbed the steps to the main lodge’s huge porch, and Jess practically drooled when she smelled the lasagna Ma must have just taken out of the oven. “Oh, lordy. I’m in heaven.”

  Hayley held the door open. “Careful, or you’ll never want to leave.”

  Jess took a deep breath. “You don’t know the half of it.”

  Chapter 5

  “I assumed you’d want to ride Sky Dancer.” Cole handed Jess the reins on Monday morning as she entered the corral in riding pants, boots, and a navy blue shirt that outlined all of the parts he’d seen so clearly under her white dress yesterday.

  Her face brightened as she took the straps and pulled Sky Dancer’s bridle down so she could rub the mare’s nose. “Hi, baby! I missed you!” The horse tossed her head happily before ducking down to nudge her.

  Cole watched them for a second, unduly jealous of the damn horse for getting the benefit of Jess’s affection. “Do you ever ride back east?”

  “No.” Jess shook her head. “The only stables I can get to are overcrowded and small. And after riding trail out here, doing laps in a corral just isn’t the same.” She patted Sky Dancer’s neck fondly. “I can’t believe Kyla put me on horse duty this week. I totally thought I’d end up cleaning cabins or cooking spaghetti. This is much better.”

  “Ma’s got the kitchen handled these days, and she finally hired someone to do the cabins, so she’s not running quite so hard anymore.” Cole smiled. “Maybe by the time you come out next summer, we’ll be staffed up enough that you can have an actual vacation while you’re here, instead of being the unp
aid help.”

  “I’m happy to be the unpaid help, given that it comes with a gorgeous cabin, delicious food, and Sky Dancer here.” Jess laughed. “Though I’d be the first one to sign up for the other vacation package, too.”

  She walked around to Sky Dancer’s left and mounted expertly. He tried not to watch. “For this week, I’m happy to help.” She looked over at the corral where Decker was getting guests up on their horses. “So what’s our plan?”

  “Ridge Trail and picnic lunch at the little falls.” Cole swung his leg up over Scooby’s back. “Remember the route?”

  “One of my favorites. Is Decker coming, too?”

  “No. He’s got other stuff going on.” As usual. “Would you rather lead? Or hang back with the rookies?”

  Did he imagine the head-to-toe glance she gave him before she answered?

  “Um.” He saw her swallow. “I’ll lead. Just make sure I don’t get lost and head over any cliffs.”

  He nodded. “As long as you don’t leave us in the dust.”

  She winked as she tapped her heels on Sky Dancer’s belly. “No promises.”

  Two hours later, they were settled on saddle blankets beside the falls, eating a picnic lunch Ma had packed early this morning. Though there were only eight people on the trail ride, as usual, she’d packed enough for double that many.

  Cole sat on a stump over near the horses, trying to fix a stirrup strap that had come loose, but he watched Jess as she lifted cold fried chicken to her lips and smiled at something one of the guys had just said. Today’s group consisted of four guys and four women, all from a church singles group outside of Boise, all hoping to make a love match sometime in the next week so they could get started on having their requisite 2.5 children.

  After just a couple of years of watching guests come through the ranch, Cole knew the type. He also knew that the fact that they were church singles was no guarantee he wouldn’t catch a couple of them sneaking down to the staff cabins late at night.

  Or putting the moves on a gorgeous, dark-haired woman who was clearly just being polite by laughing at their jokes. She was just being polite, right? Ben, who Cole had already pegged as a player, was moving in on Jess, but Cole didn’t think she was clued into that fact yet.

  As Cole watched, Ben’s body language spoke volumes. He was definitely interested in more than Jess’s conversational skills, and he wasn’t making any secret of it. Cole felt himself clenching his fists as the guy told an inane joke, trying to make her laugh.

  But then Ben reached out his hand to touch Jess’s elbow, and it was like a hot wire had hit her. Her smile faltered as she pulled her arm closer to her body, and Cole knew immediately that Ben had crossed an invisible boundary he didn’t realize existed.

  Before Cole even knew he was heading toward them, he was on his feet, determined to put some space between the two of them. He approached the small circle, motioning to her. “Hey, Jess? Can I get your help over here?”

  It couldn’t be his imagination how fast she jumped up, leaving Ben hanging. Or how her face looked relieved as hell. She followed him away from the guests, over to where the horses were grazing near the falls.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  She drew her eyebrows together, crossing her arms in a defensive gesture. “Yes. Why?”

  “I don’t know.” He shrugged. “You just looked like maybe you could use an extraction over there.”

  She looked over at the guests. “Extraction might be a strong word. He was okay.”

  “He looked like he was bothering you.”

  She shrugged, but the casual action didn’t seem completely genuine to him. “I was fine, Cole. I can take care of myself.”

  He tried to look into her dark eyes, but instead of meeting his, she looked off to her left, toward the falls.

  “Okay. I apologize. But watch yourself, okay? Just because he’s here with a church group doesn’t mean he won’t try to put the moves on you.”

  Jess smiled. Then her eyes grew serious in the beat of a second. “I have no intentions of getting cozy with the guests, Cole.”

  “I know.” Did he? “Just—watch yourself, okay? These guys aren’t always as clean and innocent as they pretend to be, just because they say grace before dinner.”

  “Okay.” Her voice softened. “Thank you for watching out for me.”

  “Anytime.” Cole shook his head and walked back to the guests, loading the picnic gear into the saddlebags as he pointed toward the falls and gave his oft-recited spiel about the Native American lore surrounding the rocky outcroppings above, and the iridescent water of the pools below.

  His mouth was saying the right words and his hands were pointing in the right directions, but his eyes weren’t on the falls at all. Instead, they were firmly glued to Jess, who had walked back to her horse and was leaning quietly against her flank, murmuring words Cole couldn’t hear.

  He blinked hard and rocked his attention back to the guests. They had eight relative novices on horseback, and as soon as they remounted, they’d be heading for the rocky part of the trail just north of the falls. His mind needed to be focused on guests and horses.

  Guests and horses.

  But God, what he wouldn’t give to have Jess leaning on him that way, to have Jess’s soft, mesmerizing voice in his ear.

  —

  “Okay, here we go. Promise you’ll love it?” Kyla paused her hand on the doorknob of the someday-spa that afternoon.

  Jess rolled her eyes. “It’s gorgeous, fabulous, and perfect. I can tell already.”

  Kyla laughed. “Okay, good. You may now enter.”

  She pushed open the door, and Jess felt her own eyes go wide as she stepped into the big open space. “Oh my God, Kyla.”

  “You like it?”

  Jess stepped slowly into the middle of the room, breathing deeply. To her left, a wall of windows looked out on a glorious stand of firs outlined against the deep blue sky. To her right, a matching set looked out toward Whisper Creek’s rolling meadows and the northern Rockies in the distance. The afternoon sun slanted through the western-facing windows, making the hardwood floor practically glow.

  She slipped off her shoes, curling her toes against the warm, polished wood as she spun in a slow circle and breathed in the mixed scent of fresh lumber and drywall. From every spot in the huge room, you could see calming forest, big sky, and the majestic mountains in the distance. It was an unbelievable spot, and she’d never seen anything like it before.

  “So?” Kyla’s voice sounded concerned. “You’re not speaking. Is that a good thing? Or a bad thing? What do you think?”

  Jess stopped turning. “It’s magical.”

  “I knew you’d love it!”

  “It’s beyond words, Kyla. The light, the views, the fresh air—if I didn’t know better, I’d think I’d died and landed in heaven’s version of—well, heaven.”

  Kyla walked over to a pile of lumber and set down the notebook she seemed to carry with her everywhere these days. “I made Cole stop working on it until you could get out here. I wanted you to see the space like this, with no walls, so you could give us your ideas about how we should best configure the space.”

  Jess spun around again. “Do there need to be walls?”

  “Unless we want toilets right there against the back, yes, I think we’re going to need some walls.”

  “Good point.”

  “So I have an assignment for you.”

  “You have an assignment for everybody these days.”

  “You’ll like it. Promise.” Kyla swung her hand in a circle. “You do the yoga thing, the spa thing. You know how this stuff works. I totally don’t. So I need your expertise. I want to know what you would do with the space, if it were going to be your spa.”

  Jess sighed. “You know, this vacation is turning out to be such a challenge. First I’m supposed to ride my favorite horse for half the day, while hanging out with the most gorgeous man on the planet, and now? Now I have to spend ti
me here in this glorious, heavenly space that I already never want to leave?”

  “So the ride went well this morning?”

  “The ride was—good. Really good.” She couldn’t help but smile as she thought back to Cole playing knight in shining leather when Ben had started flirting with her. The way he’d stalked over like he was some version of Prince Charming protecting her from evil made her feel strangely warm inside.

  Kyla’s eyebrows went up. “Day one, and we already have a really good.” She made a mark in her notebook. “Score!”

  “Kyla.”

  Kyla laughed. “Sorry. I’ll be good.”

  Jess breathed deeply again, feeling a smile take over her face as she looked around the room. “I’d be elated to help with this spa. Once you get this set up and running, and get pictures of it up on the Whisper Creek website, you won’t be able to handle all of the reservations. I swear, it’s the most gorgeous space I’ve ever seen.”

  Kyla grabbed her into a fierce hug. “Thank you! I knew it was a good idea. Decker wasn’t sold on it for the longest time, but I knew it. ‘It’s a dude ranch,’ he says, ‘not a spa ranch.’ ”

  “That’s because he’s a guy. And because he loves horses. Also, has he ever actually been to a spa?”

  “Can you imagine Decker in a mud bath?” Kyla laughed affectionately. “Or doing yoga poses?” She picked up her notebook and checked her watch. “I need to head out to do a couple of errands. Do you want to come?”

  “That would mean leaving this room, right?”

  “Yes, but you can spend as much time as you want in here afterward. The key’s up in Ma’s kitchen whenever you need it.” Kyla squeezed her shoulder. “I’m going to go check in with Hayley, but I’ll be back in half an hour and we can head out. Until then, just—figure out my spa, okay?”

  After Kyla had headed back up to the main lodge, Jess walked the perimeter of the huge room, breathing deeply and taking in the view from all angles. It would be criminal to put up walls, but she could visualize exactly where they should go so they didn’t interrupt the sight lines of the rest of the space.