Page 78 of A Jilted Bride for the Cowboy

Weston grunted. “Do whatever you have to do for a paycheck, I guess.”

Did the man need to be so surly and keep everyone at arm’s length? And why had Paisley made it her personal mission to get him to relax and smile? It was a fool’s agenda, and Paisley was no fool.

Never mind. “I do need my paycheck, as do you and everyone else. So, if you wouldn’t mind…” She clicked the shutter. “I’d love some shots of you by the corral fence or up on Ranger.”

“I’m not riding this morning.”

“I know!” Cadence snapped her fingers. “How about if you stand talking to him?” She’d never seen the cowboy pleasanter than when he crooned to one of the horses.

“Fine, if it gets you off my back.”

“Definitely. I’ll only take up another ten or fifteen minutes of your time.”

“Good, because I’ve got things to do before this afternoon’s trail ride. Actual physical work.”

Sounded like he was sniping at the Sullivan cousins for having office jobs. But Bryce worked as the groundskeeper. It wasn’t like the guy never worked up a sweat or got dirt on him.

Weston exited the stable a few minutes later leading Ranger, then leaned on the corral fence beside the gelding. He even managed a neutral face, which was saying something.

She took some with her camera then, on a whim, some with her phone. “Thanks.”

He narrowed his gaze. “You’re finally done here?”

“Yes, sir.”

“There’s only one sir around here, and it’s not me.”

Cadence laughed. “Gotcha. But yes. Thanks for your time. Is there room on today’s trail ride? I haven’t been out for a while.”

“Sure. Whatever. I’ll need to stick some beginner on Mirage, but Enchantment is too much of a handful for most of the greenhorns.”

“Oooh, high praise! I love riding Enchantment. I’ll be back at two, then.”

“Suit yourself.” He turned away.

Cadence shook her head as she watched him lead Ranger away, their heads close together. She snapped one more pic for good measure, then rolled through her captures.

Hmm. For all his surliness, he’d done all right in this photo shoot. His most negative expression had been pensiveness. She could work with that.

In fact…

Her thumbs flew across her phone as she texted Paisley.

Hey, look who’s not super grumpy today!

And then she sent two of the best photos and waited.

It didn’t take long for Paisley to respond.

Yay for not grumpy. I wouldn’t have believed it if you hadn’t sent pix so I could see it with my own eyes. Couldn’t get him to actually smile, huh?

Cadence chuckled.

Nope. Not today. I’ll leave that to you.

She held her breath, but Paisley didn’t respond. Had she expected her to?

Cadence uploaded one to social media and tagged it with #ruggedcowboy #cowboycountry and #come4atrailride along with the usuals.

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