The Cowboy's Surprise Bride

by Macie St James

  The Cowboy's Surprise Bride

  Macie St. James

  THE COWBOY’S SURPRISE BRIDE

  Last Chance Ranch, Book 2

  Copyright © 2020 Macie St. James

  All rights reserved.

  No parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Under no circumstances may any part of this book be photocopied for resale.

  This is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and co-incidental.

  Cover Design by Danielle Doolittle | DoElle Designs | www.doelledesigns.wix.com

  Copyediting by Sara Burgess | TellTail Editing | www.telltailediting.com

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Untitled

  The Cowboy's Surprise Bride

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

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  The Cowboy's Surprise Bride

  by Macie St. James

  1

  One thing was clear. Mina Baxter had no idea who Colton Briscoe was.

  He was trying not to find it amusing. There had been maybe four people between them in the front row at high school graduation. Yet she’d been too stuck in her own head back then to notice he existed.

  “Mina Baxter,” she said, extending her hand. “Thank you for having us today.”

  He reached out to return her handshake. “Colton Briscoe.”

  Mina, now a mayoral candidate, looked completely out of place on this ranch standing next to the oversized wheels on their tractor. But that was exactly what the photographer wanted as he snapped pictures next to Colton.

  “Welcome to Cedar Tree Ranch.” Colton kept his tone as formal as he could. “We’re honored to have you as our first guest.”

  This all felt canned and silly, but absolutely necessary. Colton depended on this venture to pay his bills now that he’d left his soul-sucking job at a law firm in town to run the place. It had long been his dream to start his own business, so he was handling the marketing and community outreach part of things while his brothers took care of most of the day-to-day operational stuff.

  Mina looked over at the walled trailer they’d hooked up to the tractor. “I haven’t been on a hayride since high school.”

  Hay bales were lined up along the edges for seating, and they’d put a little padding against the walls for comfort. One of those extras he thought made their fall fest a little better than all the others in the area.

  “At old man Varney’s ranch,” Colton said.

  Mina’s eyes widened, and he suddenly realized how that made him sound. Like he was some kind of stalker. But back in high school, there had been two big ranches—theirs and the Varney ranch. Varney’s ranch put an amateurish hayride together every year from the time he was thirteen until a few years after they graduated. That was when all of Varney’s own kids were grown.

  “It wasn’t fall until you took a spin around the Varney property on a bed of hay.” He gestured toward his own trailer. “We’ve tried to make the ride a little more comfortable for everyone here.”

  “Progress. I can definitely get behind that.” Mina turned toward the camera. “Should we climb on board?”

  We? The plan, as far as he’d understood it, was to help her climb up on the hayride and step back, letting her crew take it from there. Maybe she meant the photographer was going with her.

  “Let’s get some shots of the two of you right here,” the photographer said.

  Colton had no problem with pictures. He’d had his fair share of photo ops while working at the law firm. He’d always hated the sort of networking events that included those kinds of photos. He would rather be behind the scenes, making everyone else successful, than standing in front of the camera himself.

  But the goal here was to get the word out about Cedar Tree Ranch and hopefully draw some crowds in. If that meant plastering his photo across every surface in town, he was all for it.

  “How about another handshake?” Mina asked.

  She thrust out her right arm, stiffly extending her hand to him. This time, though, she kept her body fully facing the camera, a broad smile on her face as the photographer waited for Colton to do his part.

  This was the problem with Mina, even way back in high school. Colton had been on the football team, pretty much constantly hanging out with the same people as Mina. He couldn’t count the number of times he was in the same room as her and she’d completely ignored him. Yet even now, standing on the ranch owned by one of the best-known families in town—back then, anyway—she acted as though he were a complete stranger.

  Mina was all show, no go. And he had a feeling that was going to come back to bite her in this election.

  Yes, Mina Baxter was running for mayor of their town, Canyon Falls. After graduating from one of the most prestigious universities in the country and logging a few years in Washington, D.C., she’d returned home to bring her political expertise to the “little people” of Canyon Falls. Unfortunately, that pretty much summed up the talk he’d heard around town. People saw her as some big shot who’d come home to take care of the “little people.”

  And it also meant she didn’t stand a chance against the current mayor, a longtime political figure in this town who sent the message that he cared about the people of Canyon Falls. Colton personally didn’t buy that, but the older folks around here sure did.

  Colton gave into the photo op, grasping Mina’s hand to complete the fake handshake. This time, he was all too aware of the feel of her dainty hand in his much larger one, probably because they were technically holding hands this time rather than shaking.

  Another problem with Mina was that she’d always had this effect on him, despite the fact that he seemed invisible to her. She’d moved to town in the sixth grade and had immediately slid into her friend group. She’d never been a cheerleader, but they’d pulled her into their clique, and she’d ended up on the homecoming court almost every year through graduation.

  “Shall we climb up?” Mina asked.

  Colton tried not to smile as he looked at her. She looked pretty out of place here with a big barn off to her right and a gigantic tractor wheel as her backdrop. Not many people wore skirt suits and high-heeled shoes on a ranch. He had a feeling the photographer was eating the contrast up.

  “I’m driving,” he said. “But I’ll help you up.”

  The forced smile on her face fell, and for the first time, he saw
the real human being behind the political facade. He’d seen that side of Mina many times in high school. She pretended she had it all together, but there were insecurities behind those crystal-blue eyes.

  “I’m riding up there alone?” she asked.

  “It’s perfectly safe,” he said. “We do require you remain seated at all times while the ride is in motion.”

  She smiled, and this time, her smile reached her eyes. “Like a ride at an amusement park.”

  “Exactly.”

  They just stood there, staring at each other, for a too-long moment. So long, in fact, that neither seemed to realize the photographer was snapping photos until the click of the camera suddenly broke through the spell.

  “Are there steps?” she asked, looking around.

  “No, but you can just step up right here. I’ll help you.”

  He pointed to the front of the trailer, which had been left without a gate so riders could get on board easily. The kids would need a lift up, but it was far easier than dealing with steps or a ladder, which could be dangerous themselves.

  “This part is safe when it’s moving?” She pointed to the open area.

  “If you’ll notice, the hay bales don’t come up this far. That’s by design. We also recommend all parents keep younger children close by. And we’ve leveled the path to make sure we won’t hit any holes along the way.”

  “Wow,” she said. “And when it rains…?”

  “We’ll have to go over it all again. At Cedar Tree Ranch, we’re committed to safety.”

  He realized even as the words were coming out of his mouth that he sounded like a brochure. He’d been working on his marketing-speak far too much. He needed to work on his customer relations skills a little more.

  “That’s great,” she said. “Make sure we mention that in the news release.”

  That was directed at the photographer, who obviously worked for her in some capacity. He was fairly young, so Colton assumed he was a political aide of some sort. Not that he knew anything about campaigning for office beyond the fact that some of his law school classmates had political aspirations.

  Colton looked from the man behind the camera to Mina, not sure which one of them he should thank. “Ready to get started?”

  Mina still looked a little too wide-eyed as she moved her gaze from Colton to the trailer. She was afraid to step up there, and he could see why. It wouldn’t be easy in a skirt like the one she was wearing. He supposed he could lift her up, but he wouldn’t dare do that without explicit permission. He might even need it in writing to avoid getting caught up in some sort of political scandal.

  “Ready to go!” she finally said with more excitement than he’d expected.

  She’d psyched herself up for this. In the space of only a few seconds, she’d somehow managed to get herself pumped to get on that trailer and take a ride around his property while seated on a hay bale. Again, he resisted the urge to smile.

  Once she was determined, it was officially no big deal. She grabbed onto the sides on the trailer with her right hand and easily hoisted herself up onto the bed. Somehow, she managed to make the whole maneuver look graceful, but the photographer-aide dude wasn’t snapping photos, he noticed, just in case.

  Once on the trailer, she suddenly had much more courage than he’d expected. She spun around and looked out over the top of the tractor. Her attention seemed focused on something in the distance.

  “Why can’t he drive?” She pointed off into the distance.

  Colton turned, but he already knew what she’d spotted. Hank, their one and only ranch hand, was coming toward them, no doubt exhausted from a morning of hard work. As if Hank didn’t have enough to do, now she wanted him to drive them around?

  “Hold on,” the photographer-aide said, rushing off toward Hank before Colton could even respond.

  That was Helper Dude’s job, Colton assumed. Mina pointed, and he made things happen. But this wasn’t Helper Dude’s ranch. This was Colton’s family’s ranch, and they called the shots here.

  Unfortunately, he needed Mina’s support, which meant not alienating them. He’d just learned they were going to send out a press release mentioning Cedar Tree Ranch’s commitment to safety, so how could he get pushy about who drove the hayride around for a few minutes?

  “It’s taken care of,” Helper Dude said as he and Hank walked toward them. “I’ll get a picture of the two of you before we start.”

  Aside from making Mina feel a little safer on that trailer, Colton wasn’t sure how it benefited anything to have him up there with her. When they’d called to ask about giving Mina a preview of the Cedar Tree Pumpkinfest, he’d pictured driving her around in his truck. Only when the later call came and an aide told him she wanted to get some photos did he realize he’d have to roll out the straw carpet for her.

  Colton started to protest, but he couldn’t think of a way to do so without coming across like he didn’t want to help. This was all about making Pumpkinfest a success, he reminded himself. Otherwise, he’d be back to working at a law firm fifty-five hours a week—if he could even get a job at another one. Canyon Falls wasn’t exactly loaded down with legal jobs.

  And that was why he found himself seated next to Mina on the first hay bale, facing the camera and waving as Hank fired the tractor up and started driving. Colton frowned as Mina’s helper started walking quickly, then running, to keep up with the moving vehicle.

  “Should we stop to pick him up?” Colton asked as he gave up taking pictures to launch into a full-out run.

  “How far are we going?” she asked.

  He was seated next to her, just far enough away to keep a professional distance. She had her legs crossed—probably necessary when being photographed wearing a skirt while seated—but sitting on a hay bale, it looked a little out of place.

  “I’m not sure,” Colton said. “I’m not the one driving, remember?”

  She looked over at him, eyes wide. “Does your driver know the route?”

  “He’s our ranch hand. And no, he has no idea. He’s helped out with Pumpkinfest, but not this part of it. Mostly just getting the petting zoo ready and setting up the hay maze.”

  Corn mazes took time to grow. Since they hadn’t come up with this idea until a couple of weeks ago, that meant no corn for the maze. They were improvising with stacks of hay bales this year.

  “Maybe we should stop and let Robby on board.”

  He assumed Robby was the photographer who was impressively keeping up with the tractor. Colton pulled out his phone and called Hank.

  “There’s a handsfree law in Canyon Falls,” she whispered as Colton waited for Hank to answer. “He shouldn’t be talking and driving.”

  Really? Really? They were on a ranch, without a single other vehicle or person in sight. She really thought the handsfree law applied here? Before he could come up with a clever response, Hank picked up.

  “Gradually slow to a stop,” Colton instructed. “We’re going to let Robby on board.”

  “Got it!” Hank said way too loudly into the phone.

  Hank’s definition of “gradually slow” was apparently not the same as Colton’s. Or maybe it was that he wasn’t used to the brakes on the tractor. Whatever the case, the sudden stop of the tractor threw Mina off balance, pushing her directly into Colton, which then disrupted his own balance. Seeing she was about to slide off her makeshift seat, he reached out and grabbed her. She flattened her hand against his chest to brace herself and looked up at him. Their eyes met and…

  Sparks.

  And that was the exact moment Robby stepped up onto the trailer and snapped a photo of them.

  2

  Mina knew exactly who Colton Briscoe was. In fact, when the aide mentioned Cedar Tree Ranch, Colton Briscoe’s face was the first thing that had flashed through her mind.

  Pretty much from the day she moved to town when she was twelve, she’d known exactly who the Briscoe brothers were. Every girl her age knew about them. They either had
a crush on Colton or his older brother, Clay. Some of her friends’ younger sisters were all giddy over the two younger Briscoe brothers, Jared and Reilly, but she hadn’t known much about them.

  She was all about Colton.

  Of course, she couldn’t let him know about it. That was how Mina was back then. If she liked a boy, she completely ignored him because she was terrified of what might happen if he didn’t like her back. When she did start dating, it was always a guy who liked her more than she liked him.

  Yeah, she’d been that insecure. In fact, she wasn’t sure she’d worked all that out yet, even with what she’d achieved in her career.

  And now, here she was, seated on a hay bale in some sort of accidental embrace with the boy who had starred in all her middle school daydreams. But the biggest issue was the click of the camera behind her.

  Dropping her arm, Mina spun around to face Robby. “What are you doing?”

  She knew immediately her tone had been a bit too brusque for Robby. He was doing this for college credit, which meant she wasn’t paying him nearly enough. But their election campaign funds were limited, and she had to budget every dime. She should probably avoid scaring off her campaign manager.

  “I just—it was—it made a good picture. I thought you’d want to save it.”

  Mina resumed her previous position, sliding her hands across her skirt to work out imaginary wrinkles. It was a nervous habit, and it all came down to this man seated next to her. Why did he have this effect on her?