Page 60 of A Jilted Bride for the Cowboy

If only he could convince himself of that, when every molecule in his body yearned to smooth the way in front of her.

“—looking forward to listening to the wedding sermon,” Tate said.

“Huh?” Graham wished he could bite back the interjection. “Sorry, I wasn’t listening.”

“I could tell. What I said was, the last time I heard a good sermon on marriage was at Wally and Ashley’s wedding. I didn’t pay much attention. Too busy doing all the best man stuff, I guess.”

Graham had attended Tate’s older brother’s wedding as well. He didn’t have the same excuse for not remembering the details.

“And then Eli preached a doozy at Stephanie’s and my wedding.” Tate grinned. “I’ve listened to it a couple of times since from the recording. Either way, I’m looking forward to Pastor Smith’s take on the subject. Seems like a man always has a lot to learn about how to love a woman. It doesn’t come naturally to us.”

Graham blinked. “You make it look so easy.”

Tate threw his head back and guffawed. “Oh, I wish.”

“But…”

Tate shook his head, though the smile remained. “We didn’t know each other all that well.”

“True.” At least Graham had known Cadence for years. Except… had he really? They hadn’t even hung out, let alone dated.

“We had some stuff to work through, and I’m sure there will be more.” Tate let out a breath. “I want to be up for each and every challenge. I don’t want there to be any space between us for problems to fester, you know? Like what broke my parents’ marriage apart.”

“You put your foot down hard about office hours with Grandfather.”

“I did.” Tate smirked. “Which was a good first step, but there’s more, every day. Stephanie is complicated. But I bet she’s no more complicated than other women.”

Graham tried to wrap his head around what Tate was saying. “Do you wish you hadn’t married her?” If that were true, he didn’t want to know it.

“Not at all. I love her like crazy. I’m only saying it’s not a walk in the park, but it’s worth every single minute. And that I hope Pastor Smith has some good relationship tips I can take home from that wedding sermon. Maybe you’ll find some, too.”

What did his cousin think he knew? Everything was probably written all over Graham’s face, and it wouldn’t take much genius to have noticed that he and Cadence had spent a lot of time together in the first few weeks but that things had gotten increasingly awkward ever since.

Tate didn’t need to know about Graham’s botched proposal to realize there was trouble in paradise.

Had there ever been paradise?

For a few brief weeks, Graham had thought it might be a possibility. He glanced at his cousin. “Maybe so.”

* * *

“I’m coming, too.”

Cadence glanced toward the stable’s corridor to see Weston standing with his arms crossed and his cowboy hat tugged low.

“We’ve got it!” Paisley yelled from the next box stall over. “We don’t need a chaperone.”

Cadence cringed at the volume as she soothed Mirage’s restless wince.

“Ranger needs exercise, too.”

“Ride him some other direction.”

“No.”

Cadence sighed. Had she been looking forward to her roommate’s snoopy, pointed questions? Not really. Problem was, she doubted Paisley would be deterred by Weston’s presence. That girl had no filter.

Aside from the Sullivans, the Klines, and a few others who’d been at a wedding in town, everyone had pitched in yesterday to make operations run smoothly for their full house of guests. Even Maxwell’s construction crew had hung around and set up an obstacle course for the kids on the main lawn by the lodge, something Paisley would usually have done.

---