Page 1 of Cowboy's Christmas Girlfriend

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Will snorted harshly, fighting a sneeze. It was hot in the barn despite the winter outside, the air moist and fragrant with the musk of nervous cows. Dust floated like pollen, stirred up by the herd. It’d been a long morning’s slog, but the work was nearly done, just four cows in the crush waiting to be tagged. Will had waved off the ranch hands, sent them off for lunch. He and his best friend, Taison, could handle the stragglers.

“Okay, next up.” Will waved the all-clear and Taison opened the head bail. A red cow flounced through, freshly tagged and indignant. She shot Will a reproachful look on her way out the gate.

“Sorry, Bessie,” he said. Taison was already wheedling the next victim into position. The cow made a break for it, straight down the crush. Taison closed the bail on her, trapping her neatly. She bellowed, outraged, but then Will held her fast, stroking her muzzle as he slipped the halter over her ears.

“I gotcha,” he said. “Relax, you’re doing great.” He bent to disinfect his tagger. Taison leaned on the bail, staring out at the snowfall.

“So, anyway, for the wedding party, Kat wants it all couples. She says it looks weird, boy-girl down the line, then just boy on the end.”

Will blinked. “Sorry, what?”

Taison cleared his throat. “I gotta spell it out? Come on, man, you need a date for my wedding.”

Will tsked. “I don’t see how it matters. Besides, who would I bring? I’m supposed to just meet someone and ask her to your wedding?”

“Why not? Here, let me get that.” Taison took the tagger and moved to soothe the cow. “You’ve got options,” he said. “Penny at the feed shop’s had her eye on you for years. Or, hell, just go dancing. You’ve got those sweet moves, bound to get you some.”

The cow kicked and bellowed as the tag went in. Taison stepped clear and Will opened the bail. She trotted out, chin high.

“Seriously,” said Taison, “you’d be doing me a favor. Kat’s so stressed with the planning. You scoring a date would be one thing off her list.”

Will stifled a sigh. Had Mom put Kat up to this? Or had it been Aunt Nancy? Why was everyone so gung-ho to see him paired off?

“How about, uh, Samantha? That girl off the computer?” Taison asked. “Aren’t you two sort of dating?”

Will’s shoulders went tight. “Suzanna,” he said. “You didn’t tell Kat about her, did you? ‘Cause you know she’ll tell Sarah, and Sarah’ll tell Mom...”

Taison dunked the tagger in the bucket and stirred it around. Disinfectant fumes rose, stinging Will’s nose.

“Taison? Tell me you didn’t—”

“How’d you two meet, anyway? You still never said.”

Will stared, narrow-eyed. Part of him wanted to tear Taison a new one, both for running his mouth and for getting it all wrong. He and Suzanna weren’t dating. They got on, was all. She was easy to talk to, an ally. A friend.

“We’re not dating,” he said. “She was writing a book. She came on /r/ranching with all these rube questions, like what do cows eat? Are spurs still a thing? Everyone started teasing, feeding her BS answers to see if she’d bite. I didn’t like it, so I stepped in.” He chuckled at the memory. “Anyway, once we got past the basics, she’s actually...”

“What?”

“Good to talk to.” Will looked away, embarrassed. “I mean, when Apple got equine flu and I thought I might lose her, Suzanna was...there. Like, she switched off her research brain and just...just...”

“She cared?”

“Yeah. Yeah, she did.” Will’s face went hot. He didn’t like the way that sounded, all maudlin and soft.

“So, you know what I’m going to ask.” Taison’s grin turned impish. “You guys swapped pics?”

“A few days ago, yeah.”

“And?”

“And, I don’t know. She’s cute. What do you want me to say?” Was she pretty? Yeah. Did it matter? Hell, no. He wasn’t looking for romance—not with Suzanna, not with Penny at the feed shop. Not with the women Mom kept throwing at him. In the six years since Hannah’s death, his heart had healed—but that didn’t mean it was ready to get smashed again.

“Seriously, I’m jealous,” Taison teased.

“Jealous of what?”

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