The Cowboy's Surprise Bride

by Macie St James

  She’d come up against men like Mayor Cobb many times. They’d looked down on her, made inappropriate remarks about her body, ordered her to run their personal errands… You name it. It was all good practice for running for office against Mayor Cobb.

  “Good morning!” Mina approached the waiting crowd. She figured the first people in line would be solely focused on getting on that hayride, and she was wrong about that. Pretty much everyone was solely focused on getting on that hayride.

  She concentrated on the little ones. One girl had a toy puppy that reminded Mina of her childhood dog, so they had a great conversation about that. Someone farther down the line called out to her and asked her a question…about the hayride. She figured it was a start.

  But Mayor Cobb was close behind. And he had no problem completely ignoring the fact that everyone was staring at the emptying trailer, hoping they could get out of this line and onto the hayride this time around. The mayor started shaking hands and thanking people for coming, as if he were the one in charge of this festival.

  Mina moved down the line, hoping to get away from Mayor Cobb. She noticed a trend. The older people seemed to look right past her to the mayor, while younger people were far more open to shaking her hand. It was no surprise—she’d long known she’d be challenged to get the older vote in this town—but it just made it clear to her how generationally divided Canyon Falls was becoming.

  “Do you need help?” Colton seemed to appear out of nowhere, right as the line was starting to move.

  Mina turned to look at the trailer, sure he was supposed to be over there. Instead, Clay was now helping people on board.

  “I’ll escort you around,” Colton said in a quiet voice so nobody nearby could hear. “Get you away from…this.”

  Mina didn’t ask questions. She nodded and followed him as he navigated around the long, winding line that had formed. Right now, getting away from the mayor of condescension and all his fans was the only thing that mattered.

  “I owe you a huge apology,” Colton said once they were several feet from the end of the line and still going. “I had no idea the mayor was showing up today. The call came into Harley and Clay, I guess, and they didn’t share with me.”

  “You couldn’t have known.”

  She assumed that also meant Colton hadn’t shared with them that she’d be coming, which was understandable. So why was she so disappointed? Some little immature part of her had hoped he’d run back to them, talking about his great day with her and how he couldn’t wait to see her again. Ridiculous on so many levels.

  Colton leaned closer, and his nearness made her feel all goose-bumpy. “I thought we’d go check out the haystack maze. I’d take you to the pumpkin patch, but that’s everyone’s last stop. Nobody wants to carry a pumpkin around all day.”

  Mina looked over at him, glad they’d finally slowed their pace now that they were far from Mayor Cobb and crew. She was running out of breath.

  “You grow pumpkins here?” She didn’t know much about ranches, but she did know they typically didn’t grow things like farms did.

  “We imported them,” he said. “Not enough time to start growing them, but we have plans to do just that next year.”

  “You’re already planning next year. Very bold of you.”

  “Even if nobody shows up after today, this ranch will survive. Whatever it takes.”

  The inflection in his voice told her so much. It told her just how important this ranch was to him and his family, which she’d already sensed. But it also told her how determined he was to succeed at this new business venture. And that, she’d found, was at least half of what it took to achieve your dreams.

  Maybe she should listen to that advice herself. Determination would get her through.

  “So just how hard is this maze?” She could see they were getting closer to it.

  “Just challenging enough to make it interesting for the parents while not making the little ones cry.”

  Mina laughed. “I suppose that’s a pretty good measure.”

  He shrugged. “It’s the first year, so we weren’t sure about our demographics. We considered the people who usually show up for the downtown fall fest and figured it would be like that. Lots of families with younger children, maybe some teens, some young couples looking for a way to enjoy the season…”

  Mina smiled. “Spoken like a true businessman.”

  She hadn’t realized it until just this second, but there had been a big stress ball forming in her chest when she was on the hayride. Now that she was away from Mayor Cobb, she could breathe again.

  “I’m actually an attorney,” Colton said. “I resigned to make this happen. Needless to say, failure isn’t an option.”

  Oh, wow. She’d had no idea. She’d just pictured Colton and his brothers sliding by on their parents’ money. Obviously, though, they needed to generate income from this ranch, or they wouldn’t have started up this fall festival, right?

  “Maybe you could run for office if this doesn’t work out,” Mina joked.

  He was shaking his head even before she finished. “No way. I don’t know how you do it. Sleazebags like Mayor Cobb—”

  “But that’s the thing. People are getting sick of guys like that running everything. They want leaders who actually will fight for them in the legislature. Or at the city council.”

  “That’s what I want. But there are a lot of people around here who are afraid of change. My brother Clay’s one of them.”

  They’d reached the entrance to the maze by that point. Mina stopped and turned to face him. She was almost afraid to ask. “He’s a Cobb supporter?”

  “I wouldn’t say that necessarily,” Colton said. “He’s just afraid of all the changes he’s seeing in town. Do you know we had an offer to buy this land? That’s how Clay met his girlfriend. They were going to sell it off to developers.”

  “Let me guess…multi-use commercial development?”

  “Probably just another subdivision.” Colton shrugged. “They’re all around here.”

  A woman and two small kids approached. She was suddenly aware they were blocking the entrance and probably being generally annoying. Colton and Mina both stepped back to let them enter the maze.

  “It’s hard to stop progress,” Mina said. “If your city doesn’t grow, it starts to die. But strategic growth is important. Without the infrastructure to support it—”

  “Hospitals, police, schools.”

  “That’s it. See? You’re already on the right track. Maybe you can follow me as mayor.”

  Colton shook his head. “Let’s see how you handle this maze.”

  Mina hadn’t even considered the fact that Colton already knew the way. That meant she had to lead, and if there was one thing she wasn’t good at, it was directions. This should be interesting.

  5

  “Say cheese!”

  After what felt like hours, Mina and Colton emerged from the maze, laughing and stumbling and generally exhausted. He knew playtime was nearing an end. Clay had only stepped in to relieve him so he could separate Mina and Mayor Cobb and prevent a brawl from breaking out. Maybe there were a few minutes left to make a stop by the food area and grab a couple of apple ciders from the tent Brandi’s Diner had set up.

  But Shawna Slater cut into his immediate plans. Shawna was the overly ambitious reporter for the local paper. He called her the overly ambitious reporter because the paper had suffered so many cutbacks, he was pretty sure it was down to just her and the managing editor at that point.

  Without thinking, Colton did what he’d do for any photo op. He stepped toward Mina and put his hand behind her, stopping short of touching her back. Only respect for the future mayor of this town.

  Mina must have been acting on the same impulses because she didn’t hesitate. She leaned toward Colton and there they were, posing for a picture neither of them really wanted to have taken.

  “Thanks.” Shawna pulled the camera down and gave Colton a wink.

/>   He wasn’t sure what that wink was supposed to mean. Was she somehow trying to say they shared a secret? He hoped not because the last thing he wanted was for her to think he and the reporter had planned this somehow. Or that he, in any way, supported the press snapping a photo of them together.

  “I’m writing an article on your festival,” Shawna said. “I’d love to get a quote from you, Ms. Baxter.”

  And with that, any concerns he had about the press he and Mina might get from being pictured together vanished. Shawna was doing a story on this festival. They were getting actual publicity. This was a good, good thing.

  Not surprisingly, Mina perked up. “I’d love to give one.”

  “I’m going to get back to work,” Colton said. “Thank you for coming, Ms. Baxter.”

  It felt weird, treating her so formally at this point, but it also felt necessary. Keeping a professional distance in front of a reporter who had just snapped a photo of them together could only be a positive. Still, Colton couldn’t help but look back over his shoulder at her as he headed back to the hayride entry area. He told himself he just wanted to make sure all was going well with the photographer. It was nothing more than that.

  “Mr. Briscoe!” someone yelled as he neared the way-too-long line he’d left only minutes earlier.

  If these crowds kept up, they’d definitely have to look into tracking down another tractor and hooking up a trailer. They’d need to start making enough profit to cover the cost of it first, though.

  The greeting was coming from Jilly Newport, the teenage daughter of one of his former clients at the law firm. He didn’t really know her. They mostly knew each other in passing, through Colton and her dad running into each other downtown mostly.

  “Hi, Jilly,” Colton said, noting she was surrounded by people her own age. He felt like he should thank all of them for giving the fall festival a chance.

  “We saw your picture,” Jilly said, holding up her phone. The screen was dark, so he had no idea what she meant. “Go, Mr. Briscoe!”

  “My picture?” he asked. What, exactly, was he missing?

  Jilly grinned. “You and that mayor lady. Someone posted it in one of the local groups.”

  “Autumn Love at Fall Fest,” one of Jilly’s friends read off her screen.

  What? How could that picture possibly have made its way to any group already? Shawna had gone straight from snapping the photo to talking to Mina. Could she be finished and uploading photos already?

  Why? She’d want the scoop for her paper, wouldn’t she?

  But as Jilly’s friend held up her screen and Colton got a closer look, he saw it wasn’t about what Shawna had snapped. No, this was from yesterday, during their private hayride. It was the photo Robby had taken.

  This was not good.

  Where the photo outside the hay maze could have been just two professionals posing for a picture, this was something else entirely. The two of them were in what looked like an embrace, with Mina’s palm pressed flat against his chest and his hand on her waist. They were gazing into each other’s eyes like they were just seconds away from a kiss. It looked like a poster for one of those Christmas movies his parents always binge-watched.

  “Oh.”

  The word came out involuntarily. What else could he say? He needed to talk to Mina. He needed to talk to her now.

  “Excuse me for a minute.” He made an abrupt U-turn and headed right back to the hay maze.

  The hayride was nowhere in sight, so he figured he could talk to Mina and be back here before his brother even returned. If not, he’d catch up with his brother on the next go-round.

  Not surprisingly, Mina and Shawna were still standing where he’d left them, but that wasn’t a good thing. He didn’t want to discuss this in front of a reporter. The last thing they needed was more publicity about their apparently now-viral romantic moment.

  “Colton!” Shawna said as he approached. Mina’s back was to him. “We were just finishing up.”

  Perfect. “I just need to borrow Mina a minute. Some people want to meet her.”

  “Supporters?” Shawn straightened a little. “I’d love to snap some photos of that.”

  “It’s not really photo-worthy,” he said.

  “Still, I’ll tag along if you don’t mind,” Shawna said. “Unless you two need some time alone. I can walk well behind you to give you some privacy.”

  What the—?

  Mina turned to look at him, but she didn’t look as confused by what Shawna was saying. Maybe she didn’t see Shawna’s comments as some sort of insinuation that romantic things were going on here. Or maybe he was reading too much into things in light of what he’d just seen. There was too much going on today for him to be able to make much sense of things.

  “That’s fine,” Colton said. “No need for privacy. We’ll just…go.”

  But go where? The only place he knew to take Mina was the hayride line, which was where two young girls were probably eager to tell her all about the photo they’d seen. If he tried to speak to Mina outside of Shawna’s earshot, she’d hear and think there was something romantic happening.

  He gave it his best shot. Colton moved quickly ahead, hoping Mina would keep up with him and Shawna would fall behind. Maybe they’d chalk it up to him just being a fast walker. He was hopeful when he noticed Mina easily matching his long strides, but when he turned to look back for Shawna, she was right there, sliding in between the two of them.

  “Mina was telling me you plan to have a real pumpkin patch next year,” Shawna said. “It’s awesome this is becoming an annual thing. Canyon Falls has needed something like this. My sister had to drive an hour to get to the nearest one.”

  Colton grunted, realizing he sounded noncommittal. But his mind was racing as he tried to figure out a way around the mess he’d gotten himself and Mina into.

  “Have you been on the hayride yet?” Mina asked Shawna. “I got a special preview yesterday.”

  Colton winced. That was a sore subject at the moment, but Mina couldn’t know that. Why? Because he hadn’t gotten the chance to brief her on it before they had to put on a show for the town reporter.

  Shawna shook her head. “The line is way too long. Unless maybe you could squeeze us in as VIPs.”

  Mina slowed a little. “I’ve already had my ride. But I’m sure as a reporter, they’d make room for you. You could get some great up-close shots.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t want to break line,” Shawna said.

  Colton jumped at the opening. “It’s not breaking line. You’re working.”

  And it was the perfect excuse to get rid of her. He could escort her onto the next ride and pull Mina aside to tell her what people were seeing on screens all around town by now, no doubt. He’d never have to figure out how to hide the fact that there wasn’t a team of Mina supporters waiting for her to return. It was a win-win.

  “First, I’ll get some shots of you interacting with the crowd,” Shawna said. “We already grabbed a few of Mayor Cobb in line. I’d love to make sure you each are represented, at least on the website where we’ll post the photo gallery.”

  There was nothing Colton could say to stop that from happening. There were photos of Mayor Cobb. Mina would want to make sure there were photos of her, too.

  Mina slowed to a stop a few feet away from the crowd. “Who was asking for me?”

  Nobody had noticed their approach. All eyes were on the tractor and trailer that were now coming around the road that ran in front of the barn.

  “The line has moved,” Colton said, even though it hadn’t. Jilly and her friend were in the same place, their backs to them, thank goodness. Calling attention to them might mean having them reply with some comment about the photo they’d shown him.

  That was the last thing he needed right now.

  Shawna stepped around to stand in front of them. “Just start interacting and I’ll start shooting.”

  Colton breathed a sigh of relief. She was letting him off the hook here
without even realizing it. But Mina wasn’t.

  Mina looked at Colton. “I’d rather go straight to the people asking for me. They might have some good questions.”

  Darn.

  “Let me look for them.” Colton began walking toward the crowd.

  He deliberately skirted the end of the line and headed toward the front, hoping Jilly wouldn’t say anything this time. She didn’t. He made it to the area where the line snaked around, and there were four layers of people. That meant Jilly couldn’t even see him, let alone call out to him.

  Mina appeared beside him, forcing him to realize he needed to take action. Now. He waved her over.

  “Hi, everyone!” Colton called out. “I’m Colton Briscoe, one of the ranchers at Cedar Tree Ranch. I have a very special guest with me. Mina Baxter is running for mayor. Do we have any voters here in the crowd today?”

  There were a few woos and some claps. But mostly, no reaction. Again, people were more focused on the approaching hayride than the political stuff going on right in front of them.

  Colton gestured toward a man standing two rows back on the end. “Rob, you said you have some questions about that historic house you bought.”

  Rob was just far enough back that he wouldn’t make it onto the hayride this time around. But he also hadn’t said he had any questions. Colton was gambling on him not mentioning that and just being excited to talk about that house of his. He’d certainly bellyached plenty about how the property taxes were too high on a house that was falling apart.

  “Now’s your chance,” Colton said, gesturing toward Mina.

  He got lucky there. As the line started moving, Rob directed all his attention to Mina, which meant he didn’t say a thing about the fact that he’d never mentioned having any questions for Mina. It was a gamble that had definitely paid off.

  But just as Colton was relaxing and letting Mina answer Rob’s questions, things got really, really sticky. Colton was actually planning to go ask his brother if he wanted him to take over when someone in the crowd yelled something that stopped him in his tracks.