She kissed him.
There was no room for thought as her lips feathered over his. She pressed in closer, and he dropped the boot, which fell with a soft thunk. His other hand slid around her waist.
He hadn't kissed anyone since Sarah Myers in the fifth grade, and this was nothing like that.
He moved wrong, and their chins bumped, breaking the kiss. But Mia only smiled and reached up to kiss him again. Her lips were incredibly soft, and she tasted like coffee and mint, and he never wanted to stop kissing her.
But of course, they eventually had to stop to catch their breath.
She didn't let go of him, and he was no fool. He pressed her close to his thudding heart, mind and adrenaline racing.
"Mia?"
She hummed from where she was tucked against his chest.
He didn't know quite how to get the question out. "You said—you said that the next time you kissed someone, it was going to be the man you wanted to marry." Okay, that wasn't a question at all, but who could think after those passionate kisses?
She didn't tease him. She moved slightly away, just enough that she could tilt her face up and see his.
He felt vulnerable even putting the suggestion out there. It seemed ludicrous. That someone like her would want to marry someone like him.
She reached up with one hand to cup his jaw. "I think you can safely consider that kiss my proposal."
Her proposal.
A hot burn started behind his nose. He had to be sure. "You want to marry me?"
She nodded, her eyes taking on a shine that might be happiness or might be tears.
He squeezed her close again, burying his face in her hair just in case some of the emotion overwhelming him snuck out as tears.
He didn't even realize he was shaking until he felt her hands brush calming strokes down his back. Never in a million years had he imagined this happening.
After she'd kissed him again, just to make sure he understood exactly what she was proposing, they sat side-by-side on the top step with their hands linked and her head on his shoulder.
Somehow she'd found out about his custody issue. Or non-issue. "If you want to fight for custody of your stepbrothers, the palace can help with obtaining the best attorneys."
He exhaled. And finally admitted to some of what had been running through his head all weekend. Or maybe for weeks, since he'd met with the principal. "It feels wrong to say this, but...maybe it's time to let them go. Robbie and Sam don't want to be with me. They've proved that over and over."
It felt a little like giving up, but with Mia looking at him like he hung the stars, it soothed the wound somewhat.
She reached up and bussed his cheek with a kiss, leaving a cinnamon-burn sensation behind as she nestled back against his shoulder. "So what do you want to do? Rebuild your dad's legacy here? Or...there are universities in Glorvaird. I know we could find the best veterinary program for you there."
Possibilities stretched before him. Limitless, with Mia at his side. He didn't even know what to think, what to start dreaming about first.
He had the best dream, the brightest star, right here with him.
She seemed to understand, because she grinned up at him, a smile both mischievous and light. "You don't have to decide right now."
And she kissed him again.
Epilogue
One week later
"Are you sure you really want to do this?" Alessandra's teasing question turned Mia's head from where she'd been staring at the flower-adorned front of the small Las Vegas wedding chapel.
But her sister wasn't asking her. She was asking Ethan, who stood tall and handsome at Mia's side in his borrowed tux—and the new pair of dress boots she'd made him purchase to wear with it.
"Mia is notoriously grumpy in the mornings," Alessandra went on. "And you don't even want to know about her shopping habits."
Ethan looked to Mia, and his gaze didn't waver. "I'm sure I'll never find another woman as special as Mia."
Her heart thudded, and she shared a quick glance with Alessandra that expressed aw!
From slightly behind and to one side of her sister, Gideon made a face. Mia forgave him for it, because she knew he could be just as romantic as Ethan—after all, she'd overheard his romantic sentiments to her sister even before she'd met the man.
"I'm a little less certain that this is the kind of wedding Mia deserves," Ethan said.
Mia slipped her hand into his, edging closer. "We could do a fancy wedding in Glorvaird with five hundred in attendance—people you don't know and who'd only be there to be seen. It would take months to plan, and there'd be a million little details."
Over Alessandra's shoulder, Gideon groaned.
Mia didn't look away from Ethan's face. "But I don't want to wait."
His gaze crackled with intensity, and he smiled a slow smile. "I don't want to wait, either. If you're sure."
She was.
With Alessandra on her side, she'd talked to Eloise at length about Ethan's situation. She technically didn't need permission to get married, but she also didn't want to make things more difficult with father, considering he might not be with them for much longer.
Finally, her sister had agreed that because of the media storm that always followed Mia around, a Vegas wedding wouldn't do irreparable harm to the royal family's reputation or diplomatic connections.
Ethan had made peace with losing custody of his brothers, though Mia knew he still felt guilty, as if he'd let them down—which she found ridiculous. She kept that opinion to herself.
After much thought and prayer, Ethan had decided that while the dairy farm was his dad's legacy, it wasn't his dream to rebuild. They'd already begun looking for a buyer. Once the transaction closed, they would relocate—with Peanut—to Glorvaird.
Mia knew Ethan would make a fine prince. His finer qualities, his loyalty and goodness, would win over the hearts of her people, just as he'd won her over.
She couldn't wait to take him home. But first...
The rented minister beckoned them to the front of the small chapel. Gideon, who wore a suit, and Alessandra, who wore a simple wine-colored shift, walked arm-in-arm down the aisle first, leaving Mia and Ethan to follow.
She'd chosen an off-the-shoulder floor-length satin sheath and held a simple bouquet of roses in a deep red that matched Alessandra's dress.
She could see what Ethan thought of her in his eyes as he looked at her as if he couldn't tear his gaze away.
There was no doubt in her mind that this was right. Ethan was her one true love, and she knew they'd be blissfully happy together. For life.
#
"They look happy," Gideon whispered in Alessandra's ear as they witnessed Mia and Ethan speak their vows. They'd foregone the typical maid of honor and best man placement to stand together near the bride and groom.
And Ethan and Mia did look happy. He hadn't known Mia well before this trip—still didn't consider himself close with her—but Alessandra had expressed several times that she'd never seen her sister more settled and at peace.
Love did that for you.
For those few tense days when he'd been in the midst of investigating the Triple H theft, he'd questioned whether his and Alessandra's love would be enough to hold them together. When he should've been holding on to her. After the dust up with Dan, he and Nate had sat down and worked out some security measures for the ranch's finances and worked through some of the communication issues they'd had when Gideon had been gone to Glorvaird for weeks on end.
He hoped they could still make the transition work, for both his and Alessandra's sake, and for the Triple H.
There was still the issue of the royal family's overall security. Although nothing had happened in several months, and the threats they had received had been garden-variety and harmless, he wasn't convinced that the threat was over. If Alessandra's aunt was truly unhinged, danger could lurk around the next bend.
And he'd just gotten an email this morning from
one of his contacts regarding Alessandra and Mia's half-sister. His guy had found a last known alias and an address. The information was several years old. It wasn't much to go on, but it was better than the nothing he'd had before.
Alessandra had been sequestered with her sister in their shared hotel room all morning, so Gideon hadn't had a chance to tell her yet. He could only hope this led to something positive.
What if the missing half-sister wasn't what Alessandra was building her up in her mind to be?
He wouldn't let his girl get hurt, but how did he protect her from this family issue that had been years in the making, since Alessandra had been a little girl?
All he could do was be there for her.
She glanced over her shoulder at him, eyes moist and shiny.
He leaned slightly closer, so he could whisper to her again. "Do we really have to invite five hundred people to ours?"
Her smile widened.
He'd go through the circus act of a big wedding. Heck, he'd walk through fire if she would just keep smiling at him like that, for the rest of their lives.
#
Pieter might technically be a prince, but he'd never met his royal cousins. The crown princess and her two sisters lived in the royal palace in the heart of Glorvaird, while Pieter, his mother, and his older brother Henri had been forced out of the kingdom. They resided in a villa in nearby Regis, a small territory close to Glorvaird.
It was a comfortable living, at least financially. The king of Glorvaird had been unable to sever his mother's inheritance, though he'd done everything in his power to ruin their lives.
Pieter and Henri had been dealing with their mother's eccentricities alone, ever since they'd been young boys.
But lately, things had grown worse.
Pieter had one love—bicycle racing. He wasn't good enough to ride in the Tour de France, but he'd hired on as a driver to follow and assist the team. In the weeks he'd been absent, apparently his mother had hired assassins in some hare-brained attempt that made sense only to her to claim the crown. Henri had gone incommunicado. Disappeared.
His mother's plot had been a mess to clean up and had cost more to keep quiet than he'd like to think about.
He was tired. Tired of dealing with his mom's mental health problems on his own. Tired of being rejected by a country that was in his blood.
He wanted to be acknowledged by the royal family. And a small part of him wanted to hurt them like he'd been hurt by the abandonment he'd suffered his whole life.
He just had to discover the best way to enact revenge.
It wasn't hard to follow his cousins' movements via the American media. Except for Eloise, who never seemed to leave the palace.
Could he insert himself in his cousins' life, without revealing his true identity? He'd need to be close to find out what could truly cause them pain.
After all, he'd learned from his mother, the master of pain.
Thank you for reading COWBOY CHARMING. This book is actually the one that gave me the idea for the entire Cowboy Fairytales series. I wanted to do a Cinderella story but turn it on it's head so that the hero was actually the Cinderella character. Do you think it worked out? I'd love to hear from you!
There's more to come in THE TOAD PRINCE, the next book in the series. Don't miss it when it comes out later this summer.
I'd love to interact with you via my website www.lacywilliams.net or Facebook. Thanks for reading!
-Lacy
The Toad Prince sneak preview
Coming summer 2016…
THE TOAD PRINCE
Book 3 in the Cowboy Fairytales series
He's on a mission for revenge...
Prince Pieter of Glorvaird has never met his royal cousins, but he's determined to find a way to hurt them the way he's been hurt. Which is the only reason he finds himself traveling a stretch of Texas highway where he finds a stranded young woman—a beautiful one. The last thing he needs is a distraction from his mission, but McKenna is guileless and nothing like the women who chase his title. He is instantly drawn to her.
Hometown girl McKenna Cline has hedged all her bets on becoming rodeo queen. Four events are all that stand between her and the scholarship she needs to start living her dream of attending law school. She accepts Pieter's offer of help and can't help falling for the man who puts off confidence but has a vulnerable side too.
When the rodeo princess kisses the toad, will he become the prince he was born to be?
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Copyright © 2016 Lacy Williams
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means - photocopied, shared electronically, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, or other - without the express permission of the publisher. Exceptions will be made for brief quotations used in critical reviews or articles promoting this work.
The characters and events in this fictional work are the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, is coincidental.
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