Page 6 of The Bull Rider & the Wedding Planner

Cassie drove away. She didn’t look back. His heart was ground under her tires and into the dirty pavement.

He pulled off his hat and hit the brim against his palm. What had he done wrong? Too forward? Maybe his scars disgusted her, though he hadn’t even noticed her looking at his forehead. No, this reaction was deep enough, it couldn’t be anything recent.

She hadn’t come home for him. That was more than clear.

What kind of desperate loser was he? It was obvious she’d been done with him for years. He’d feared she’d moved on, but not to the point of a husband and a baby.

He slapped his hat back on his head, his face twisting in an unfamiliar scowl. He was a fool for Cassie Johnston, and apparently he meant nothing to her.

He should’ve learned that lesson years ago.

His brothers and everyone who watched him bull ride might be right. He was thick in the head and oblivious to danger. He’d rather take on Big Blue, the nastiest and most life-threatening bull in the circuit, blindfolded with both hands tied behind his back than have Cassie reject him again.

Sadly, he couldn’t even risk his life right now. No doctor’s clearance to ride, no protection details at the ranch to fight for, and Mama was still recovering from the scare of thinking he was dead, so he couldn’t do anything dangerous like rock climbing or flying off his favorite mountains in a wingsuit.

His faith in God, the beautiful Christmas season, and the bright Montana sky couldn’t even pull him out of this funk.

Everything was downright awful.

Chapter

Two

Cassie’s handstrembled as she clung to the steering wheel and listened to Presley chatter from her car seat about the ‘beautisul cowboy’ Easton Coleville.

She ground her teeth. Her four-year-old was friendly, but not usually with unknown men because of her fear of her own father.

Why did Presley have to be instantly drawn to the immature, flashy, flirtatious love of Cassie’s life? No, of her youth. She could admit Easton was a beautiful man, breathtaking truly. She wondered about the puckered, red scars she’d glimpsed underneath his hat on his forehead. Could a bull-riding incident have done that? Was he in pain? She longed to touch his scars and kiss away any pain like he used to do for her.

No! He was an accomplished womanizer, no longer committed to Cassie, and the last man she should be drawn to. She and Presley needed stability, loyalty, a safe space, and a manwho could take life seriously. Easton Coleville offered none of the above.

Though he did still get her pulse racing. She’d even caught a whiff of that mint, orange, and pine scent. Did he wear the same cologne? She pressed one hand to her heart. One simple look from those mesmerizing blue eyes, a kind word to her daughter, a few charming words from those insincere and tantalizing lips of his, and she was in hot water. Easton was even more enticing at twenty-eight than he’d been at eighteen. Dang him.

The new scars on his forehead only added to his dangerous appeal. She wondered what had happened to him. She wondered about his last six years.

Still riding bulls, risking his life, and living it up with his feminine admirers.

Maybe she really didn’t want to know about his last six years.

She drove to the Lillywhites’ ranch, relaxing a bit as she drove past the welcoming main house and to the small cabin she and Presley were staying in. The cabin was Lily Lillywhite’s, but Lily promised she spent all her time with her fiancé Sheriff Clint Coleville. The two of them were the stuff dreams were made of. If only Cassie could have a Coleville brother of her own.

No! The Coleville brother who’d captured her heart was not a steady, true, loyal cowboy like his brothers. Why did she have to fall for the player, the womanizer?

She and Easton were done, finished, cooked, destroyed—whatever she needed to tell herself to keep her heart safe. She would never have come home to Coleville and risked facing Easton, but her ex-husband Baxter had disregarded the restraining order, gotten inside her house, and had been almost to Presley’s bedroom before the police sirensscared him away.

He’d disappeared that night and then the notes had started coming, threats that he’d killed before and he’d do it again, that he’d murder Cassie and raise Presley up right. He’d gone from the accomplished, wealthy businessman she’d married to completely losing his mind.

The police couldn’t find him. They reopened his grandmother and wife’s tragic death cases, believing the way the once-classy and respected Baxter Churchill was acting showed he wasn’t who they all thought he was. Cassie was terrified that the evidence pointed to him being a murderer. Coleville was the only place she had to escape to.

When Easton had flipped out and punched Baxter six years ago, she’d yelled that she never wanted to see him again. She never had. Except for the one time she’d dared find him at a rodeo and had killed her own heart again. And of course on social media where his womanizing triumphs were displayed continually.

After Easton had stormed away, she’d gotten closer to Baxter. They had become best friends and he had been there for her. She’d thought her distinguished and wealthy boss was a thoughtful, generous, loving, and mourning widower who shared her passion for dream weddings and events. He claimed they were a dream team. When he proposed a year later, she went to find Easton at a rodeo, knowing she had to close the door on her lifelong love. She’d seen him after the rodeo with two women in his arms; one had kissed him while the other begged for her turn.

Heartbroken, Cassie had realized Easton wasn’t the man she’d thought he was. She had returned to Baxter and accepted his proposal. His kindness and patience lasted for about six months after their wedding. By the time the horror started, shewas already expecting Presley. She’d tried to stick it out for their child’s sake, but the control and emotional abuse had increased.

The divorce had flipped him out. Thankfully, it wasn’t long after that she was able to catch the threats on camera and get the judge to take away Baxter’s custody rights. Things had escalated from there. She adored her daughter and would do anything to keep Presley safe from her insane father.

When Lily called, explaining their wedding planner was newly pregnant and so sick she had to be on IVs and bed rest, Cassie wondered if it was heavenly intervention. Lily asked her to come stay for the month of December and coordinate her and Clint’s wedding along with Lieutenant Miles Coleville and the famous actress Eva Chevron’s wedding. It was an answer to Cassie’s prayers.

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