Page 57 of Cowboy Stolen Kiss for Christmas

Laura exchanged vows with the man of her dreams and pledged herself to him for the rest of her life. He was the one. He was worth it.

Ames sealed their promises to each other with a tender brush of his lips against hers. “And to think this all started with a stolen kiss,” he teased.

But it was so much more than that. They both knew it.

Two weeks later

Ames and Laura squeezed in a honeymoon at the coast. Then he flew them back to Pinetop to participate in his and his brothers’ last week of performances for the year at Castellano’s. They stayed so busy cramming in last-minute lunches and dinners with her parents and other friends around town that Flint felt like he was still exercising the horses and doing most of the preparations alone.

Not that Ames didn’t deserve to be happy, but still…

Flint clapped on his Stetson as he exited the dressing room, trying not to dwell on the real reason he was so irritable. Tonight’s show held an extra note of finality for him, since their next performance wouldn’t be until March. The idea of not seeing Lucy for that long made him feel every way but the right way.

She’d all but stopped talking to him after the wedding, and the new level of distance she’d placed between them was killing him. He would do anything to change it, but it wasn’t something he could do on his own. If Lucy truly didn’t want to date him, there was only one course of action left. He was going to have to let her go.

The thought was eating away at him, stealing his peace and poisoning his existence. He didn’t want to face a future without her in it. He craved her smart mouth too much. Maybe it was a dumb reason to fall for a woman, but her insults always made him feel more alive. Special. Like he mattered.

“Dude,” one of the new wranglers hollered up the aisle at him. “Isn’t that white trailer in the parking lot yours? ‘Cause it needs to be moved ASAP. It’s blocking the entrance ramp.”

Flint scowled in surprise. Though it was true that the horse trailer he and his brothers owned was white, they kept it parked at the far end of the lot. Whatever trailer was blocking the ramp wasn’t theirs. Just in case, though, he headed toward the exit to have a look at it.

To his consternation, the white trailer parked at the top of the ramp was indeed theirs. What in the world? Unable to explain how it had gotten there, Flint hurried up the ramp. Since he’d left the building coatless, he intended to get to the bottom of the mystery as quickly as possible. Surely, there was a reasonable explanation.

When he reached the top of the ramp, his first observation was that the rusty, dented pickup it was hitched to didn’t belong to the Carsons. His second observation was that an identical white horse trailer was parked on the far side of the lot where it always was. His shoulders relaxed. The one parked in front of him wasn’t theirs.

Feeling even more mystified than before, he stalked around the trailer, approaching the driver’s door of the truck from behind.

Before he could peek through the window, the door swung open.

“Whoa!” He had to dance out of the way to avoid being hit.

Lucy Lee hopped down to the ground, looking grim. Her eyes landed on him and rounded with uncertainty. “What are you doing here?”

His eyebrows rose. “Making sure our horse trailer wasn’t blocking the entrance ramp. They’re pitching a fit about it inside.” He waved at the trailer. “What’s going on?” Why was she driving it? Did it belong to her?

“Don’t ask.” Her voice was flat.

“Already did.”

“It’s a long story.”

“One I unfortunately don’t have time to hear,” he growled. “They’re about ready to call a tow truck.” Tonight’s show would begin in less than two hours.

“You think I don’t know that?” She glared at him as she moved around him and tried to pop open the hood. Despite multiple attempts, it didn’t budge.

With a huff of impatience, he nudged her out of the way and popped the hood for her.

“I could’ve done that,” she muttered, peering beneath it. She puttered over the battery.

He glanced away, trying not to think about how hot she looked beneath the hood of a truck. She’d made it painfully clear that his hopeless attraction to her wasn’t going anywhere.

Her sigh of despair still managed to tug at his sympathies.

Swinging his head back in her direction, he barked, “Something I can do for you?” She might not want his help, but it sure looked like she needed it.

“I don’t know.” She bristled at his tone of voice, waving a hand vaguely at the tangle of equipment beneath the hood. “It won’t start.” She drew back a leg and viciously kicked the bumper.

Flint was unable to hold back a snicker. “Want me to try to start it now?”

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