Page 2 of Lost and Found Cowboy

Open space around it?How long was this train? Like the Trans-Siberian Railway?

“What about one of the tractors?” he offered.

Her brow arched even higher, apparently either confirming or amplifying his earlier ‘idiot’ status. “My sister isnotarriving to her fairy tale wedding on a tractor.”

He tried to think of how a womanwouldwant to arrive to a fairy tale wedding.

“This is the first wedding I’ve ever been to, so I’m not sure what the hell a fairy tale wedding even means,” he told her. “Like a princess marrying a prince?” He tried to imagine his all-cowboy brother, who primarily wore jeans, boots, and T-shirts, in royal carb riding a gallant steed.

“You’ve never attended a wedding?” Lorna asked. “I’ve been to a million. And yes, every bride imagines herself as a princess.”

An idea suddenly came to him. “I know,” he said, reaching for a fresh pair of socks and his good cowboy boots and yanking them both on. “Follow me,” he told her, leading the way down the hall and out the front door.

The farmhouse was a large rambling two-story that sat nestled against a backdrop of tall mountains. The stone and wood exterior with huge windows looking out over the ranch gave it a cabin-type feel, and the long wrap around porch had been the location of many sunrise cups of coffee and sunset glasses of iced tea or cold beer.

The huge white barn with the Lassiter brand painted on the front sat across from the house. Corrals extended off either side, and two of his brother’s horses stood calmly munching hay as they watched Mack and Lorna race across the yard. White fences ran along both sides of the driveway, enclosing green pastures,and several hundred head of cattle could be seen dotting the grassland leading up into the mountainside beyond the house.

A chicken coop and vegetable garden sat off to the right of the house, neat rows of spring plants already showing tiny bits of growth. The ranch was well-taken care of, all the Lassiter men took pride in it and worked hard to maintain its upkeep.

This place had taken in three boys whom no one had wanted, and Mack wished he would have had a chance to meet the grandmother who had raised his brothers.

He was the only one who had been raised by their mother, but there were lots of ways to abandon a child, and Mack had come searching for the family he’d never known the summer before, not knowing if they would accept or reject him. His brothers, and their grandfather, Duke, had taken him into the fold as one of their own, and he’d fallen in love with the Lassiter ranch and the mountains of Colorado.

He just wished he wouldn’t have had to leave it, and the woman hurrying to keep up with him, so soon and for so long. But he was back for good now, and that was all that mattered.

He led Lorna down the alley of the barn then stopped in front of a stall holding a large white horse. “Would Leni arriving on a white horse count for like something from a fairy tale wedding?”

Lorna’s eyes widened, and her voice came out as a hushed whisper. “Wow. He’s beautiful. And perfect.” She turned her gaze back to Mack. “Where did he come from? Who does he belong to?”

“He’s mine.” He reached his hand over the stall door and the horse nuzzled his palm. “Lorna, I’d like you to meet Zeus. The best friend any guy could ask for.”

“Hi Zeus,” she said, giving the horse’s neck a pat. “You are beautiful.” She arched an eyebrow at Mack. “I never pictured you as a white horse kind-of-guy.”

He’d never considered himself one either. “I am most definitelynota white horse kind-of-guy, and I’ve never been accused of being one. And technically, Zeus is gray. He’s just such a light gray that he looks white. If that helps erase that image from your mind.”

She narrowed her eyes, as if trying to figure out something about him, then turned back to the horse. “He’s perfect. Leni will love riding up to the wedding on his back. Are you sure it’s okay for her to use him?”

He nodded. “Heck yeah. He—and I—would be honored.” He nodded toward the tack room just inside the barn door. “I can have him saddled and ready to go in about ten minutes.”

“Great. I’ll go find something to fancy him up a bit,” she said over her shoulder as she turned and hurried from the barn. “Be back in five.”

Mack had the horse saddled and ready by the time Lorna came rushing back into the barn carrying a tote bag overflowing with blue and silver décor.

“I don’t know how you’re planning tofancyhim up,” he said. “But I gave him a quick brush and hooked a saddle bag around the saddle horn in case Leni needs a place to hold her bouquet while she gets on and off the horse.”

“That’s genius. Do you think Zeus would mind terribly if I braided a few of these into his mane?” she asked, holding up a handful of silver and blue ribbons.

Mack laughed. “Nah. He’s pretty secure in his manhood. I think he can handle it.” He brushed out the horse’s tail as Lorna twisted ribbons and silk flowers into his mane, the silver and blue decorations blending perfectly with his light gray coat.

He tried to keep his focus on the horse, he knew they were under a time crunch, but he kept getting distracted by the scent of Lorna’s hair and the softness of her skin every time she brushed past him.

They’d spent quite a bit of time together when he’d first come to town, but they’d usually been in a group setting with the whole Lassiter clan. This might be the first time he’d been alone with her, and he was suddenly nervous.

He’d thought she was pretty from the first day he’d met her, but this afternoon, with her hair swept up and in the silky silver-blue dress that was the same color as her eyes, she was staggering.

And he couldn’t seem to think of a single intelligent thing to say.

They’d had a comfortable flirty rapport from the start, but it had seemed easier to tease and joke around with her when she was barefoot or wearing jean shorts and one of her funny T-shirts that usually read something about how much she loved reading and coffee.

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