Page 32 of Cowboy Don't Go

What was wrong with her? And how long had it been since she’d even noticed a man’s . . . nicely curved ass?

Too long was the answer. It had been too darned long. Wasn’t thirty-one supposed to be the height of a woman’s feminine power? Somewhere, she’d heard that. And where was she? Single, living with her mother, standing in the yard of her struggling ranch, imagining how Cooper Lane’s lips would feel against hers.

Stop. That kind of dangerous thinking will get you exactly nowhere. And she didn’t want to kiss him for heaven’s sake. She didn’t even really like him.

Much.

God, she was out of practice.

From a distance, she watched him distribute the treats to all the new horses who had already come to accept his offerings without complaint or fear. Likewise, Ryan had made great progress with his filly just watching Cooper work with the others. Already they were working with lunge lines and several looked like they’d already had histories of being ridden.

In the cool of yesterday evening, she’d seen Cooper working with the bay mare in the circle pen while her son watched. The mare was running in panicked circles on the lunge line and Cooper had stood casually in the center, seemingly unconcerned with whatever the horse was running from, but calmly shifting the lunge line from one hand to the other, speaking softly, not buying into the horse’s fear. After a good little while, the mare slowed and walked directly up behind Cooper, stopping, covered with sweat and confusion, but looking for relief from the only likely source. Cooper.

Slowly, he turned to the mare, stroked her nose, and fed her a treat for doing what he’d wanted all along. The mare licked and chewed, a sign Shay recognized from being around horses her whole life as some kind of release of tension. Baby horses clacked their lips together when they approached an older horse, as if to say, “I’m just a baby, don’t hurt me.” Older horses similarly did this as if relaxing of tension in their jaws once the threat of danger seemed past.

At any rate, Cooper had a Zen way of being with the animals. It was almost as if some magical thing was happening between them. These were damaged animals that had been universally abandoned, given up on, and rejected by whatever humans had had them before.

And as the dun mare finished up and joined the others, the gray mare with the silver mane actually nuzzled Cooper’s chest, and he wrapped an arm around her head and patted her back. Shay thought, in that moment, that those horses might just follow him anywhere. And not just for the sugar.

Now, Cooper looked up to find her watching him again. He smiled. “Hey, there.”

“Hey, yourself.” She climbed on the rail of the paddock. “I see you’re making new friends.”

He patted the mare one last time and moved away from her. “You can’t ever have too many,” he said, smiling at her. “Especially on a night like this.”

They both turned to look at the sunset. “I’ve lived here my whole life and I’ll never get used to how beautiful it is here,” she said. “Did you miss this sky when you lived in Texas?”

“Texas has its own supernatural beauty, but this place . . . it gets in your blood.” He moved beside her at the fence. “I can see why you never wanted to leave.”

“It’s not that I never wanted to,” she admitted. “I did once. I thought there might be bigger things out there for me somewhere.”

“Bigger than this ranch?”

“Silly, huh?”

“Not at all. There is something to the old the grass is always greener saying. I never expected to be where I am now either. I guess I imagined something else altogether.”

As she recalled, their high school class had dubbed him Most Likely to Succeed. Then again, the horses in his care might argue that he had achieved just that.

“I guess dreams don’t always take a linear path. And most get detoured by reality,” she said. A fact they both knew all too well. “I’m not saying I regret anything. I don’t. I’m right where I should be. I have Ryan, my family, everything I need, right here. All the rest is just geography.”

He smiled the smile that made her heart stutter. “And now look. You’re building something to bring the world to you. It’s a big dream turned real.”

“With your help,” Liam said to Cooper, walking up behind Shay. “Your ideas have been really innovative and helpful. If this place succeeds, it will be in no small part because you were here to help.”

Shay couldn’t decide if she was relieved or annoyed that Liam had interrupted their conversation.

“Don’t you agree, Shay?” Liam prompted, putting her on the spot.

“I—Yes.”

Cooper patted the mare who was nuzzling his shoulder. “I was just about to go get some dinner started for my dad.”

“Wait,” Liam said. “Since I’ve got the two of you together, I wondered if you’d mind, Shay, taking Cooper for a ride to scout out parts of the ranch that would make for good trail rides tomorrow. We’ve booked a wedding for a couple of friends of mine here as well as their honeymoon later this month in one of our glamping tents down by the river. They’re so excited and have never been on horseback, but it was their big request. I want to make sure we get those trails set and start clearing them in case they need some maintenance before our guests come. Shay knows the ranch pretty well, and she can show you around.”

The thought of spending hours alone with Cooper was . . . well, she wasn’t sure at all what it was. “But . . . really?” Shay knew her cheeks were flushed. “I thought that was something you’d want to do. Knowing the ranch backward and forward as you do.”

Cooper stared down at his boots and said nothing.

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