Page 3 of Lost and Found Cowboy

Now, she just seemed way out of his league.

Not that it mattered. She’d specifically told him she only wanted to be friends before he’d left, so there was no reason to be nervous. But his palms were still sweating, and his brain was still refusing to give him any clever conversational crumbs.

“I’ll text Leni and tell her we’ll meet her by the front porch,” Lorna said, breaking into his thoughts. “I already told her the convertible was a no-show, but I promised she’d love this idea more.”

“I hope you’re right,” he said, picking up the reins and leading the horse out of the barn.

“My sister may be a rocket scientist and a total brainiac nerd. But she’s still a sucker for romance. And she’s going to love riding up to the ceremony on a white horse.”

Lorna was right.

The front door opened as they walked up to the porch, and Eleanor (Leni) Gibbs, the bride-to-be, stepped out in a beautifulflowing white dress. A huge smile broke across her face, and she opened her arms as she walked down the steps toward them.

“Mack, I’m so glad you made it.” She pulled him into a tight hug. “It’s so good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you, too,” Mack said, still not quite used to the easy affection shared among the Lassiter’s and their partners. All his brother’s girlfriends had accepted him, and the whole bunch of them had drawn him right into the family. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you. I couldn’t be happier to be marrying your brother.” She beamed a broad smile at him then turned her attention to Zeus. “Wow. He’s gorgeous. Where’d he come from?”

“He’s mine,” Mack told her. “I brought him back from Texas with me. You sure you’re okay riding him? He’s not quite as impressive as a convertible.”

“He’s perfect. Lorna was worried about the car not being here, but this is a thousand times better.” She leaned into him and lowered her voice. “And to be honest, I don’t care all that much abouthowI get to the meadow—as long as I get there. If you all wouldn’t have found a solution, I would have just taken these fancy shoes off and raced barefoot to the altar.”

“You’ll do no such thing,” Lorna told her as she spread a large blue tablecloth across the saddle. “I thought you could sit on this. I found it in Duke’s kitchen, so it’s something borrowedandsomething blue.”

Mack pulled the horse up to the steps and helped Leni into the saddle.

She hooked one knee over the pommel to affect a side-saddle position. “This is great,” she told him as he tucked her bouquet into the saddle bag hanging next to her. “I love it.”

Lorna pulled a blue button-down shirt and a navy tie from the depths of the tote bag and passed them to Mack. “I didn’thave time to track down your wedding clothes, so this was the best I could do. I found this stuff in Chevy’s closet.”

“It’s great. Thanks.” He pulled the shirt on and quickly buttoned it as Lorna fussed with Leni’s dress, spreading it out to lay perfectly around her legs and the saddle.

He ran into the house and grabbed the gray cowboy hat that had been left for him on the kitchen table then looked up at Leni as he finished knotting the tie he’d slipped around his neck. “Is this okay? I don’t want to mess up the look of the wedding. I can stay in the back if you want.”

“Don’t you dare,” Leni told him. “Chevy wants allthreeof his brothers standing up there with him. Lorna told me your outfit got mixed up with someone else, but this is close enough, and really, no one will care or probably even notice.”

“They won’t notice me because no one will be able to take their eyes off the gorgeous bride,” he told her, appreciating the comment about Chevy wantingallhis brothers with him enough to ignore the fact she’d just called his clothes anoutfit.

In his world, an outfit was his pickup and trailer,nothis clothing choice.

“Thank you. You’re sweet,” Leni said. “Now, if you two are done fussing around, let’s go get me married. The ceremony is starting any minute, and you’re supposed to be walking up the aisle first,” she told Lorna.

“All right, I’ll go, if you’re sure you’re okay,” Lorna said, still holding on to Leni’s leg.

“I’m fine. I trust Mack.” Leni smiled down at him. “He’ll take good care of me.”

Mack nodded, a rush of pride at her comment warming his chest. “Absolutely.”

“Okay, I’ll see you at the altar. I love you, Sister,” Lorna called over her shoulder as she hiked up her dress and hurried toward the meadow where the ceremony was set up.

Mack smoothed the front of his shirt. Of the four half-brothers, he and Chevy looked the most like each other and had the same build, so the shirt fit as if he’d bought it for himself. Ford and Dodge both had blondish hair, but Chevy and Mack must have gotten their dark hair from their mother’s side of the family.

Their mother had a lot of problems, like being a drunk and making the poor decision to name her four sons after the types of trucks that each of their dead-beat dads had driven away from them in—oh, and then abandoning three of them—but she was a gorgeous woman and had passed the Lassiter good looks to all four of her sons.

The ceremony was set up in the meadow with the best view of the mountains behind it, which put it on the other side of the barn and made it so the guests couldn’t see the house from where they sat. So, he and Leni had to walk around the far edge of the barn to get to it.

The light strains of piano music filled the air as they saw Lorna disappear around the side of the barn. Mack recognized the song as “It’s Your Love” by Faith Hill and Tim McGraw.

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