Page 55 of Claimed By the Cowboys
I wanted to tell her thatshewas beautiful out here, but it felt corny—or like I was trying too hard—so I just smiled and kept my mouth shut.
Something about being out there with her, under the blue sky in the sunshine, was just restful. For the first time in… I couldn’t remember when, I actually felt at peace. Like I could relax.
As the golden sun crossed the sky, Piper and I lay on our backs on the blanket, looking up at the clouds while they passed.
“That one looks like a bunny,” she giggled, pointing at a cloud that appeared to have two upright ears and a cotton tail.
“That one looks like one of the ducks Maisie wants so bad.” I chuckled, pointing up at a beaked tuft of clouds.
“That one looks like… a cloud,” Piper offered in a serious tone before the both of us dissolved into unhinged laughter.
There was a long moment after we caught our breaths from laughing so hard, then it was Piper who broke the silence, her tone decidedly sober.
“When I was younger, I used to think I was cut out for the city—people everywhere all the time,” she sighed sadly, a smile on her lips that didn’t quite extend to her eyes. “I figured that way I would never be lonely.” Her voice broke slightly, but she continued. “Turns out, I ended up feeling very lonely, even when I was surrounded by people.”
“What about now?” I couldn’t help myself—I had to ask as I closed my hand over hers in the space between our bodies.
“Somehow, out here in the wide open quiet, with you and the rest of our pack,” She murmured, the fingers on her free hand moving gingerly to my bite mark-- “I feel more complete than I’ve ever felt.”
“Well, it’s hardly so poetic as all of that, but I do have a little somethin’ I’ve been wanting to give you,” I confessed before I sat up to rifle through the bottom of the saddlebag for the cowgirl figurine.
“It isn’t much,” I began sheepishly as a blush rose hot in my cheeks while Piper turned the little redheaded cowgirl over in her hands ever so carefully “but she sorta reminded me of you.”
To my surprise, the gentle pressure of Piper’s index finger on one of the cowgirl’s silver spurs produced the gentle tinkle of music box teeth plinking against a cylinder of raised notes.
One of the wooden tufts of grass by the cowgirl’s feet began to rotate slowly, revealing it as the winding mechanism for the secret music box—a jaunty if not slightly tinny arrangement ofYou Are My Sunshinebegan to play.
If that was not a damn sign, I didn’t know what was.
“Oh, Montana… this is lovely!” she whispered.
I gathered Piper into my arms and kissed her.
After lunch, we packed up our blanket and rode all the way up to the ridge before Piper started looking a little green around the gills.
“What’s the matter, sunshine?” I asked her, patting her hands atop the saddle horn comfortingly.
“I’m not feeling too hot all of a sudden.” She swooned, leaning back against my chest. “I’ve felt a little crummy on and off—probably just the bond settling in,” she laughed nervously, dabbing at her damp brow with the sleeve of her flannel.
“I know you haven’t been sleeping all that great.” I dropped my face beside hers to peck a kiss onto her cheek.
“Yeah, I can’t wait till we have a proper pack bedroom. I think I’ll start sleeping better when we’re all sharing a bed,” she admitted, relaxing in my arms as we rode tandem.
“Do you want to head back to the ranch and rest?” I offered, suddenly worried about Piper’s well-being.
“But I’ve been having such a good time,” she protested, though I could tell she was pushing her luck if she didn’t take care of herself soon.
“There’ll be plenty of time for us to ride together later,” I assured her. “If we get back in time, maybe you and Maisie can both go down for a nap together.”
Piper laughed. “Better get a move on, then, Monty,” she giggled. “My bed’s a-callin’!”
Chapter 26
Zeke
When Clay, Kota, and I came home with Maisie, I had expected Montana and Piper to still be gone on a spectacular tour of the valley. Instead, the two had already rounded back to the house, and Piper was sequestered away in her room for an uncharacteristic mid-afternoon nap.
“What happened?” Clay asked in a lowered voice once we set Maisie up with her brand-new coloring book and glitter markers, the four of us dads seated just out of hearing range for little ears.
