The Cowboy Wins a Bride (The Cowboys of Chance Creek) Read online

  "No, I won't stop it," Jamie growled. "I've got everything planned out and you're not going to screw it up again! You're not going on any god-damned trip around the world, because you're going to stay here and become my wife." He rammed the ring the rest of the way onto her finger, then pulled her close, slid one hand around her waist and kissed her, hard.

  When he released her, she rocked back on her heels, too stunned to speak. Clapping from across the lawn alerted her that Ethan, Rob and Cab had witnessed this whole debacle – hell, they were in on it, too, weren't they? Heat surging into her cheeks, she shoved Jamie as hard as she could, and when that didn't work, she went to peel the ring off and throw it in his face.

  It didn't budge.

  "Shit." She pulled and tugged, but the ring refused to slide back over her heat-swollen knuckle. "Jamie, I'm going to kill you!"

  "You can do anything you want to me after we're married. Until then you'll shut up and act happy."

  What had come over him? Normally Jamie was laid back. He might laugh at Rob's antics, but he didn't participate in them. He'd picked a hell of a time to start. Outrage filled her until she thought she would burst with it. Of all the tricks he could think of to play on her, this was the cruelest one he could ever dream up. He'd already broken her heart once, but she'd gotten over it. Now he was going to pretend to care for her? Pretend to propose?

  "I'll bet I'll kick your ass before sundown." Trust Jamie to make her sound like she was seventeen again. If only she was. Things were simple back then. He crushed on her and she ignored him. She was too close to him then to see him for the catch he was. It took her years to realize Jamie was the one for her.

  By then it was too late.

  A few years back, she'd made a New Year's resolution to stop fighting with her mother and spend more time at the ranch. As soon as she came home to visit, though, it was Jamie who caught her attention. She hadn't been able to stop watching him. She loved the way he moved, the way he did his chores. The way he lavished attention on the Cruz ranch horses even though he was only a hired hand back then. The way he was always present, how he offered his two cents when her father asked him for it, and kept quiet when he didn't. How he attended to the day to day problems of running a ranch even when they weren't his job to solve.

  His words to her on those weekends were kind and teasing, and more than that. They started a fire within her she'd never felt before. When he wasn't flirting, he was fun, warm, intelligent, a man who thought things through before he allowed them past his lips. She wanted to work with him, ride with him, build a life with him based on their shared love of the ranch. She wanted to be with him, too. Watching his hands when he worked made her buzz with longing to feel them on her skin. She fantasized about his arms around her – his mouth on hers.

  Then one Friday night in early February, after another long, lonely week in Billings, she couldn't stand it anymore. She'd packed a weekend bag, driven the two hours from the city to Chance Creek, parked down the drive and crept past her parents' house to the path that led to Jamie's cabin. Swallowing all her pride, she knocked on his cabin door and prepared to confess her feelings for him – confess that she was finally ready to be his girl.

  But he didn't answer. And when she walked around to the cabin's back door, she saw why. He was too busy undressing Hannah O'Dell to hear her knock. Too occupied to even close the drapes on his bedroom window. She remembered all the other women she'd seen him flirt with over the years and finally understood.

  His attentions meant nothing – they never had. They were just the ramblings of a man who couldn't help but act interested in every woman in easy range. How had she fooled herself into thinking she was special? Now she knew she wasn't – not to him, anyway.

  The shock yanked her budding desire for Jamie and for ranch life up by the roots and tossed it to the wind, and she'd never allowed herself to consider it again. She'd redoubled her efforts at her job, and soon was promoted to lead designer at Ledstrom Designs. Then she began to date Daniel.

  "I'd like to see you try to kick my ass." Jamie leaned in, and for a moment she thought he might kiss her again.

  Wanted him to despite everything.

  "Don't think I can't." Seriously. Were they ten? If memory served, she'd scuffled with Jamie right about here one day when he'd squirted her with a watergun and she'd wrestled it away and beaned him over the head with it.

  "I'll be happy to prove you wrong after you agree to be my wife," Jamie said.

  "Ha ha hardy har har." She turned to Ethan and the rest of them lined up on the far side of the lawn. Raising her voice she called, "Very funny, guys. Now you've had your practical joke, can we get on with getting ready for the wedding? I don't need this shit today." She tugged at the ring again and winced when the diamond's setting pricked her.

  "Hey – did she say yes?" Ethan hollered from across the yard. Claire was going to kill him.

  "I'm not joking, Claire. I'm part-owner of the ranch now. I intend to breed horses and help Ethan and Autumn with their business. I want you here with me."

  Something inside Claire snapped. She didn't need this kind of baloney on a day that already had her emotionally wrung dry. Her mother and father should be here at Ethan's wedding, but they were gone, killed in an accident last August. She hadn't had the chance to set things all the way right. Hadn't seen either of her parents for months before they died, and it was all Jamie's fault.

  "Quit fooling around," she said, trying to brush past him. He wouldn’t let her go.

  "Jamie – what'd she say?" Ethan hollered again.

  Tears pricked her eyes and she blinked them back. She was not going to cry. She couldn't. Not in front of all of them.

  Jamie's tone softened. "I'm sorry, honey – I meant to do this right. Just…stop, Claire and listen to me. I'm as serious as I've ever been. You know I've wanted this all along. I worked and saved so I could become a man worthy of you. I'm building a house, I'm going into business. I have everything I need, except you. Claire, will you be my wife?"

  He actually dropped to his knees as if he was going to propose for real, except if he was serious, he would have mentioned the word love somewhere in the last ten minutes. She blinked harder, her throat aching with the injustice of it all, until she thought she would scream. Maybe Jamie was a god-damned flirt who couldn't even take marriage seriously, but that didn't mean everyone was that way. Some other man might actually want to marry her. She was hanged if she was going to let her first proposal be a damned joke.

  She glanced at the rest of the pranksters standing across the yard. Was Rob Matheson filming this mock proposal with his phone to use against her later? Was Ethan in on this, too? A tear spilled over.

  Damn it!

  She kicked Jamie square in the chest, her rage lending her strength. Over he went, landing flat on the ground. "Get off your knees and get the hell out of my sight. I don't deserve this, Jamie."

  "Hey!" Jamie lurched unevenly to his feet and swayed, one hand raised to the dirty footprint on his white shirt. "What are you doing?"

  "Telling you exactly what I think of your little joke."

  "It's not a…"

  "Stow it!" She was shouting now. She didn't care who saw them or if Rob got it on film. "I wouldn't marry you if you were the last man on earth."

  He stiffened, glared at her, all trace of softness gone. A chill ran down her spine at the intensity of his gaze – she couldn't remember ever seeing Jamie this angry before. When he spoke his voice was calm. Implacable.

  "Wanna bet?"

  CHAPTER TWO

  Five hours later, Jamie stood next to Ethan under a latticed trellis watching Autumn process along the aisle between the rows of guests, as radiant as a movie star in her striking wedding gown. He knew Ethan could barely breathe for love of her, and he was happy for his friend, but try as he might he couldn't keep his eyes on Ethan's bride.

  Instead, his gaze kept sliding over to a certain sister-of-the-groom who sat in the first r
ow, her flowered sundress and cowboy boots a whimsical combination that was a far cry from the dark, severe suits she normally wore these days. She sat ramrod stiff on the plastic seat, her black bob shaking with every move of her head. She was still furious, but he could tell she was trying to put on a good show for Ethan and Autumn's guests. It wasn't working. That fake smile could cut someone if she wasn't careful.

  He'd blown it. All his careful plotting and planning were smoke up a chimney now. Forget about planting the seeds of friendship in her mind. Forget about getting her involved in the guest ranch operation, and soliciting her help designing the interior of the log house he was building on his plot of land. Forget inviting her to ride the horse he'd hand-picked for her and taking her all over the land and reminding her just how much she loved this place.

  He had intended to walk her step by step through a process of falling back in love with the ranch, with horses, and with him.

  Instead he'd demanded she marry him and shoved the ring on her finger with all the suaveness of a caveman bludgeoning his woman.

  He was an idiot. But Rob was a bigger one for not telling him what he'd done: leaving that note in Claire's bathroom, making sure she was furious before he ever had a chance to open his mouth. He knew now that she interpreted every word he said this morning as a personal attack rather than a proposal. He had a lot of ground to cover if he wanted to get things back on the right track.

  But he was determined to marry her, and now that he'd broached the topic he wasn't stepping back. Claire would bolt for Billings the second the wedding was over and who knew how quickly she'd shut down her business and leave for her tour around the world.

  He needed more time with her – time to do all the things he'd meant to do before popping the question.

  How could he keep Claire on the ranch for a few weeks – maybe even a month – so he could convince her this was where she wanted to stay? How did you get a stubborn, unreasonable, competitive terrier of a woman to admit she's wrong and you're right?

  He glanced at Rob, standing next to him in the line of groomsmen. Rob rubbed his thumb and first two fingers together – a not-so-subtle reminder that he thought he was going to win their bet.

  That stupid bet.

  He stiffened, a crazy idea forming in his mind.

  Jamie began to smile.

  * * * * *

  Ethan and Autumn took turns repeating their vows. They exchanged rings. The ceremony wound down.

  Claire did her best not to look at Jamie, but she couldn't help it – he was standing right up there with Ethan, Rob and Cab. As Ethan's best man, he stood beside the groom. Rob came next, his blond hair glinting in the sunshine. Cab was last, having walked Autumn up the aisle, standing in for the father she hadn't seen in years. With the backdrop of ranchland sloping down toward the creek, and mountains in the far distance, the wedding looked straight out of a fairytale. Claire's heart ached at the thought of leaving all of this behind again.

  For the first part of the ceremony, Jamie's face was stony and she knew he was still angry. Because she'd ruined his game? Certainly not because he'd been serious. As the ritual came to an end, however, some silent message passed between him and Rob. Then Jamie smiled suddenly – a wicked, triumphant smile.

  It made her insides flip, and then tighten with the realization that she'd been right – Jamie and Rob were in cahoots. Once again she tried with all her might to pull the engagement ring off her finger, inadvertently nudging Autumn's friend Becka, who sat beside her. Becka peered down at her hands to see what she was doing, and Claire quickly covered up the ring. What was Jamie planning now? Had he decided to humiliate her further?

  Why?

  Because she'd left his house last Saturday and driven home rather than spend the night with him? Was he that pathetic? Did he really need her particular notch on his bed post to feel like a man?

  She glanced at the thin silver watch on her wrist. Five hours at least until she could make a break for it. No matter how badly Jamie behaved she couldn't ditch Ethan on his wedding day. He was depending on her. Her gaze slid back to Jamie. He was still smiling.

  The former hired hand had been full of surprises lately, and she didn't want to guess what he'd do next. He must have saved every penny he earned since he came to work on the spread. And done incredibly well with his investments.

  Maybe she shouldn't have been surprised he wanted to buy into the ranch. He respected Alex Cruz, her father – worshipped him, in fact. He stuck closer to Alex than even Ethan did, and that was saying a lot. She guessed Alex was the father Jamie wished he had, instead of the dour man who pressured him through four years of business school when all he wanted to do was live and breathe horses.

  Jamie was born a cowboy the way other people were born athletic, or smart, or pretty. Every move he made around horses was a symphony of understanding of the beasts. Claire always appreciated that about him, because she loved horses, too. Adored them.

  Of course, she hadn’t touched one in thirteen years.

  Damn her mother. Damn Mack. Damn Jamie, too.

  Jamie – sensing her agitation, perhaps – lifted an eyebrow.

  She fought to keep her ragged emotions in check. The cowboy had soothed the jangled nerves of many a mare with a touch or a murmured word, but he wasn’t soothing her at all. Instead, she felt all too exposed in her thin, cotton sundress – a new, pretty one she’d bought especially for the wedding since her usual severe suits didn’t fit the occasion. She felt silly, too, in her old cowboy boots, but she knew the combination would garner a smile from Ethan, and after this last year, she'd do anything to make her brother smile.

  But the damn engagement ring made her feel most conspicuous of all. It wouldn't come off – her knuckles were swollen from the heat. She tugged at it again.

  Under the lattice archway, Autumn lifted her veil and Ethan leaned in to kiss her soundly on the mouth. The crowd cheered and clapped as the kiss went on and on, and when the happy couple pulled apart, Autumn was flushed and Ethan grinning ear to ear.

  They will be happy, Claire thought, surprised at how sure she felt. They really are in love. A pang of deep loneliness followed that thought. Would she ever experience that kind of connection?

  As the wedding party filed out, Jamie stopped next to her chair, bent down, and before she could push him away, he leaned in and kissed her cheek softly. “Look at them,” he said in his husky, velvet voice. "We could be like that." He kissed her again. There was nothing she could do about it and he knew it – not in this crowd. Not without making a scene. She was trembling with rage when they stood up along with everyone else as Ethan and Autumn paced up the aisle together.

  Jamie took her arm. "I like the way that ring looks on your finger. I hope you never take it off. You'll need a wedding dress like Autumn's before too long," he murmured as the crowd surged around them. "Better start looking."

  She confined her answer to an unladylike snort, turning the ring around so only the band showed. "Fat chance."

  "Wanna bet?"

  Those two words again. That knowing look. What did it mean? And why did his low, confidential tones make her hum all over?

  Before she could question him, she realized Autumn’s mother was watching her with raised eyebrows.

  Right.

  Since she was the only other remaining member of the Cruz family besides Ethan, and the marriage was taking place on the Cruz ranch, it was her place to keep this shindig going smoothly.

  “Okay, everyone,” she called out in what she hoped was a happy, steady-sounding voice. Heaven knew she was a master at masking her emotions. “The barbecue will be ready shortly and the bar is open. Please help yourself to appetizers and drinks and we’ll call you to dinner in a few minutes. Thanks for coming and celebrating with us!”

  Autumn’s mother headed over to check on the buffet table, and Claire knew she was off the hook for the moment – at least as far as her wedding duties went. Autumn and Ethan disappeared into t
he Big House for a moment to themselves. Once they returned, the wedding party would have to take photos while hors d'oeuvres were served to the waiting guests. The bulk of the crowd meandered slowly toward the area of the lawn where tables and chairs were set up for dinner, stopping to chat with each other and exchange news. Claire knew all the guests, of course. How could she not, growing up in a small town like Chance Creek – population 7865? That’s why she moved to Billings – for the anonymity a city afforded you, even a relatively small city.

  She knew her father and brother didn't understand why she left home and why she didn't come back. No one but her knew about her mother or what she'd done. First Aria had made fun of her schoolgirl crush on Mack, the man who trained the Cruz ranch horses. Claire had put up with that, spending every possible moment in the stables or corrals watching the much older man work with the animals. But when she came home early from school one day and found Aria and Mack in the barn – together – she couldn't stand to stay.

  The apology she hoped for never came. In fact, nothing changed between her and her mother even after she moved out. Just like always, Aria Cruz came and went from the ranch like a hummingbird – beautiful, lively, and incapable of standing still. Surely she spent more time in Europe than she ever spent at home. How her father bore her escapades she had no idea.

  Claire tried to push away her memories as she moved toward the photographer, noticing Autumn and Ethan had reappeared and were heading his way, too. But how could she not think of her mother – both her parents – on her brother’s wedding day? As for weddings in general, if she had her way she'd never go to another one.

  "First we'll take pictures of the bride and groom," the photographer said as he led the wedding party to an open-air pagoda her mother had had built on the property years ago. As she watched Ethan and Autumn pose on the pagoda's steps, she knew she'd never be the one wearing a wedding dress. Whatever romantic notions she'd once had, her mother, Mack, Jamie and Daniel had long beaten out of her. Daniel's betrayal had nearly killed her. Just when she'd convinced herself she was over Jamie, and pinned her hopes on him instead, he'd taken all her money and left town with another woman.