The Cowgirl's Forever Love

by Vivian Arend

  Lisa and Josiah stood at the side of the modest stage that had been built in the arena, preparing to go up on the platform to run through their spiel to convince people to open up their pocketbooks, and possibly their homes, to one of the healthy, happy, and ready-to-be-adopted dogs.

  Lisa held Ollie’s leash even though there was little chance of the dog wandering off.

  Decorations were everywhere, including helium balloons in the shape of farm animals, cats, and dogs.

  Josiah laid a hand on her arm, then poked a set of cue cards toward her. “I made some changes. Here’s your script.”

  She’d already taken them from him before she realized what he was saying. “But I thought we had it all figured out already.”

  “This script is better,” Josiah insisted. He stuck a finger in her face. “No improvising.”

  Lisa folded her arms over her chest. “Me? You’re the one who—”

  “Be right back,” Josiah tossed over his shoulder as he hurried behind the left-wing barrier.

  She glanced down at the stack of cue cards to discover he’d wrapped a dozen or more elastic bands around the pile. He’d twisted some and changed direction, so removing them wasn’t going to be easy. She began peeling them off one by one when Sonora slipped an arm around her waist and tugged her toward the stage.

  “Come on, Lisa. Time to shine.”

  Drat, Josiah, changing the rules at the last minute. Lisa followed Sonora, smiling at the faces turning toward them while frantically pulling elastic bands free and juggling Ollie’s leash. She didn’t want to drop the elastics to the ground where some animal would find them, so she slid them onto her wrist one after the other.

  While she worked, Sonora had stepped up to the microphone.

  “Welcome. We’re so glad you could come out today. You know like anything we do here in Heart Falls, we like to do it up right. A lot of you put in time to help make this happen and we sure appreciate it. But it’s not about us, is it? It’s about those sweet puppies we rescued. And all the other animals we plan to help over the years to come with your support.”

  There was a smattering of applause from the crowd standing in the arena. Some of them had pets on leashes as well and the entire group moved constantly as the animals explored.

  Sonora smiled down at the kids in the front row. “I think we need to hear straight from the dog’s mouth, so to speak. What do you think of that?”

  A far more enthusiastic cry went up, the kids jumping up and down.

  Lisa had finally removed the last elastic, the cards moving freely through her fingers. Thank God. She stepped toward Sonora because it was time for her and Josiah to begin, when a cry went up, laughter following hard on the heels of delighted squeals.

  Lisa spun to discover a human-sized dog was joining them on the stage. With long, floppy brown ears and big brown eyes, the person in a dog costume waved their arms in the air and then clapped overhead as the crowd got excited.

  When the dog rotated on the stage and wagged his tail, the walls echoed with laughter.

  Lisa blinked in confusion. This was not on the agenda.

  The dog wiggled its way over to her side, poking her gently in the arm with one big, furry mitten. “Your turn, darlin’,” he whispered.

  Oh. My. God. “Josiah?”

  He did an exaggerated stage bow before standing and nodding his head vigorously.

  She should have known. No way would Ollie have let anyone else get that close to her without reacting.

  She would’ve gaped at him for a little longer, but Josiah tilted his head in a move so reminiscent of Ollie, she slapped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

  Instead, she turned toward the crowd and lifted the first of the cue cards, trusting they would help get her through without making a mess of the event. “We’re here to fundraise for the shelter, which is going to help a lot of animals over the years. We’re also here to talk about how pets make things better right here at home. Let’s see what’s up with this very adventurous puppy…”

  She gestured toward Josiah as the card instructed her to, watching with amusement as he raced around the stairs pretending to sniff everything. He stomped back to her side and pretended to sniff her as the kids at the foot of the stage squealed with delight.

  When he pretended to run his tongue up the side of her face, Lisa squeezed her eyes together and grimaced, and giggles raced in from the crowd.

  She lifted the next cue card. “He doesn’t need bright lights or faraway places to be happy. There’s tons to explore right here in his own backyard.” Lisa kept smiling, but she turned toward Josiah, lowering her voice in the hopes it wouldn’t get picked up on the microphone. “I am so getting even with you for this.”

  Out of nowhere, Josiah pulled out a fake microphone of his own. He lifted it deliberately until it was right in front of his oversized canine mouth.

  All the kids leaned forward in anticipation.

  “Woof.”

  Lisa had checked the next card. “If any of you don’t speak dog, I’ll interpret for you. He said this puppy hopes to stay right here in Heart Falls. But more importantly, he wants to stay with the people he loves. That’s what every dog wants most.”

  Josiah had lowered the mic and was pacing along the front of the stage. He peered here, and there, as if trying to spot the perfect person.

  With one paw held over his brows, he twisted. Looking, looking—

  Kids were waving and pointing and making suggestions, but it wasn’t until he was once again facing Lisa that anything happened.

  Josiah threw his arms in the air and jumped before rushing to her side to poke his head against her, tail waggling the entire time.

  She was laughing so hard it was difficult to read the card. “Every puppy has to decide what’s important to them and that’s a lot easier to do when you’re with someone you love.”

  Josiah barked. Not just once, but a dozen times.

  Ollie barked back.

  The entire room exploded with laughter.

  “What did he say?” the kids shouted.

  “Josiah or Ollie?” some joker quipped.

  Lisa flipped to the next card. She read the whole thing quickly before glancing up at Josiah. “He asked if I loved him. Because if I did, he’d be willing to go anywhere with me.”

  A collective awwww rose from the audience.

  “So, do you?” It was her niece Sasha, of course. Front and center, Emma by her side, their fingers tangled together. “Do you love him, Auntie Lisa?”

  Lisa folded her arms over her chest. The next cue card had been blank, with nothing but ???? over the entire surface.

  She knew what she was going to do, but Josiah deserved to suffer a teeny bit for surprising her. Or more, for once again surprising her and stealing her thunder, because talk about getting her socks blown off.

  If she’d thought of it first, she totally would have done this. Maybe without the dog costume, though.

  Lisa turned to face the audience. “Do you really think I should admit something like that to a man dressed in a dog suit?”

  Sasha and Emma weren’t the only ones who nodded their heads vigorously.

  Beside her, Josiah pulled off the head of his costume, sneaking over to wrap a furry paw around her waist. “The dog suit is what made this perfect for you and me. I know you’re a sucker for big brown eyes and a perky tail.”

  The microphone was on, but Lisa didn’t care. “You goof.”

  “I am a goof. I’m also adaptable and brave enough to stand here in a dog costume and announce that I love you, Lisa Coleman. No matter where that takes us or what we end up doing, I want to be with you.”

  “Is this part of the auction?” someone called from the back of the room.

  The crowd turned toward him, fingers pressed to their lips. “Shhhhhhhh.”

  Lisa glanced at Josiah. She glanced at the patiently waiting, before turning back and nodding. “Fine. You win. I love you too.”
>
  Josiah picked her up and kissed her, right there in front of everyone, as Ollie barked enthusiastically. Catcalls and whistles rang out, and when Josiah put her back down, it felt as if her feet were still floating above the stage.

  He winked. “I believe this means you owe me at least four hundred dollars because you will definitely be around by the end of the summer.”

  “Double or nothing?” Lisa offered.

  A laugh escaped. “We’ll donate it to the fund. And with that—” He twisted toward the audience. “Time to get down to business. We have all sorts of exciting things to auction off and once we’re done, I get to take my new owner home and celebrate, so let’s get to it.”

  Another rumble of laughter echoed back and as they slid into the real portion of the event, Lisa realized she felt very much at home.

  Still uncertain, but somehow that was okay.

  If Josiah was willing to get up on a stage looking like the Big Red Dog and admit he loved her, she figured there was pretty much nothing he wouldn’t do to make her happy.

  Somehow this relationship would work because she’d be doing her best to make him happy too.

  Lisa leaned down and cut the strings on a batch of the balloons fastened to the front of the stage and watched as cats, dogs, pigs, and horses floated over the crowd to the sound of loud cheering.

  It was late by the time the auction was over and the last piece of cake had been consumed. Sonora gave them both huge hugs before she left. The shelter went quiet with just the night watchman remaining when Josiah finally took Lisa and Ollie home.

  Home. Which was going to be wherever the two of them were.

  The three of them, he corrected himself, because it appeared Ollie was going to be a permanent part of their world.

  Neither of them spoke much until they reached his room, satisfaction at their successful completion of the auction offering enough adrenaline to get them there. There was anticipation as well because it was time to make some things very clear.

  But first…

  Josiah pointed firmly at the bathroom. “Shower. Get comfy. Meet me back here when you’re done.”

  Lisa went willingly, smiling over her shoulder at him as she carried her gym bag into the master en suite bathroom.

  He hurried to get cleaned up in the guest bath, then grabbed the food he’d asked Zach to prepare for him earlier in the day. By the time Lisa appeared, decked out in soft flannel pyjamas and smelling like a spring day, Josiah was waiting for her in front of the fire he’d started.

  Lisa pressed herself against him briefly in a full-body hug before slipping from his arms and attacking the sandwich tray. “Sorry, but I’m starving.”

  Josiah chuckled as he all but inhaled his own sandwich. “We earned these.”

  Ollie had finished inhaling her own food only moments earlier and was batting puppy eyes at both of them, desperately hoping for crumbs, no doubt.

  Ten minutes later, they reclined against the pillows Josiah had arranged and Lisa let out a huge sigh of satisfaction. “God, that was delicious.”

  Joshua offered her the plate of cookies. “Eat. You’ll need your strength for later,” he warned.

  Lisa nibbled on a chocolate chip cookie, eyeing him with amusement. “I love you, Josiah Ryder, but you confuse the heck out of me.”

  “I love you too, and I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  She leaned toward him. “When I asked for a couple of days to think, you said you weren’t going to toss anything at me that might make me feel coerced.”

  “Ah, now I know what you’re talking about.” Josiah rested his arm along the couch seat to play with her hair.

  “I’ll say it again to make sure you hear it. I love you, but explain to me how getting me to confess that up on stage in front of the entire town isn’t at least a teeny bit coercive.”

  “If you hadn’t already figured out that you wanted to stay with me in Heart Falls, I wouldn’t have done it,” Josiah promised earnestly.

  Her jaw dropped. “Really? I mean, wait— I mean, how did you know? I hadn’t said anything yet. I mean I was going to, so you’re right, but how?”

  Josiah cupped her chin in his hand so he could stroke his thumb over her lower lip. “You didn’t say it with words, Lisa, but you’ve been saying some variation of it over the past few weeks. And the past couple of days, it’s been in your eyes…”

  He touched his fingers to the corner of her temple, her skin silky soft under his caress.

  “You have this expression that shines so brightly when you’re content and happy. I’ve seen it when you’re with your sisters. When you’re helping with your nieces or holding Tyler.”

  “You’ve been watching me that closely?” She was whispering, turning her face to his hand and cuddling against his palm. “I like that.”

  “I know, because you get that same light in your eyes when you look at me. When you’re here at my side. Not plotting or planning or working at something, but just being.” He leaned in and stroked his lips over hers. “We belong together. We’ll figure out the rest of it, I promise.”

  Lisa caught his hand and pressed a kiss to the palm before wiggling back. “I was going to tell you tonight. That I want to be with you and that I want to stay in Heart Falls. But I also want to travel, so yeah, I kind of want it all.”

  “Then that’s what we’ll do,” Josiah assured her. “We’ll start here in this house, if that’s okay with you, then we just need to figure out what trips we want to take. It doesn’t mean we have to be gone for long periods of time. Heck, we can start by visiting my family. They’re conveniently tossed around the world.”

  She nodded. “I’d like to meet them, and that sounds like an awfully good idea. The being away for little periods of time and exploring new things while having a home base here. I don’t actually want to be gone for too long. Not with Tyler so little and I don’t want to miss the chance to get to know Julia while she’s in Heart Falls. We have no idea where she might end up.” She wrinkled her nose. “It could be expensive, but we can figure that out. Travel cheap, save up for trips.”

  “We can afford it.” Josiah tugged her closer. “In the category of things that we didn’t talk about yet because there wasn’t a reason to, I have a trust fund that drops money into an account every year. Not millions, but enough.”

  Utter shock slid over her face. “A trust fund? Get out. From who?”

  “My great-great-aunt was a very successful stage actress with no immediate family of her own. She left her money to her brother’s descendants in trust. We’ve reached the stage where my brother, sisters, and I are the only ones receiving money and it looks like it will last for quite a long time. So we don’t need to worry about funds.”

  Lisa looked as if she was fighting to wrap her brain around that one. “Really.”

  He nodded earnestly.

  She frowned. “But you’re making Sonora pay for supplies. She told me.”

  Josiah understood where this was coming from. “The clinic runs as a business. It needs to pay its own way and run on its own merit or it doesn’t run. That was a decision I made when I started it, not because the clinic isn’t worth putting effort into, but because it is worth the effort. I don’t ever want to let my work ethic slacken because we don’t need the cash flow.”

  She thought about it for a minute, then agreed.

  “But just to reassure you, I always planned to match Finn’s donation to the rescue center, anonymously.” He had her in his lap. “I like to be generous. You’ll get to be as well, but there’s something to be said for working for your accomplishments.”

  “Makes sense.”

  Just as he was reaching for her to begin the most interesting and hands-on part of the evening, Lisa took her turn to mystify the heck out of him.

  She snuck off his lap and into the chair in front of the window. Legs curled under her, she offered him a blinding smile. “Oh, wait. Let me get something ready for you.”

&n
bsp; An instant later she’d pulled out her phone and started playing music, looking up at him expectantly.

  Josiah eyed her in confusion. “Yes?”

  “I’m waiting,” she said.

  “I noticed. For what?”

  “Your Magic Mike strip routine. You said the only way that would happen is if pigs flew.”

  Hysterical. “Pigs flew today? I think I missed it.”

  She cued something on her phone and then passed it over.

  He swore. She’d taken a shot of the balloons drifting over the crowd before he’d begun the actual auction. There amidst the other animals…

  Floating pigs.

  “You cheated,” he said. “That’s why you volunteered to be in charge of picking decorations.

  She pressed a hand against her chest, jaw dropping as if in shock. “Moi? Cheat?” Her expression softened. “You don’t have to, but I’m just saying, if it’s something you’d like to do, you’re not going to find a more appreciative audience anywhere.”

  Josiah faked a long-suffering sigh. Seems she had a dramatic streak as wide as his. Still, the joy in her eyes wasn’t something he could deny and there were parts of his background he did enjoy.

  So…

  He turned up the music and placed her phone on the table at her elbow, slowly stepping away.

  Lisa clasped her hands and laughed, her smile growing wider as he swung his hips and attempted to make taking off his T-shirt sexy. Her gaze drifted over his torso, her tongue slipping past her lips. Lips glistening, pulse beating at the base of her throat.

  When she popped up on her knees and tossed aside her pyjama top, suddenly the whole stripping idea got a lot hotter.

  Josiah took his time, enjoying the show he was getting in return, because when he finally dropped his pants, Lisa had also lost her clothes.

  She joined him, completely comfortable as she swayed naked in his arms.

  “You’re going to miss my best moves, watching from so close,” Josiah teased.

  “Trust me,” she offered back with a gasp as he cupped her breast, then stole down to suck her nipple into his mouth. “I don’t need to see them to appreciate them.”