Lucky's Story: Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy (Montana Cowboys / Country Music Collection)

by North, Cara

  Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy:

  Lucky’s Story

  Chapter One

  Almost a year and a half had passed since the last baby was born. The time had been full of calm for the Johnson family. He was glad of that. Everyone around him seemed settled. Everyone, that is, except him.

  “One more dance.” Another random woman pleaded for him to stay.

  “Sorry,” Lucky said. “I’ve got an early morning ahead of me.”

  He had been working on the Johnson Family Ranch for well over three years now. He thought about his life and the years that had led him up to this point as he made the walk back to his cabin in the crisp twilight of the early evening. A decision had to be made. He saw Buck pulling into the cabin that belonged to the only Johnson sister, Jan. They were all friends again, like old times, except Buck and Jan were expecting a little one this summer.

  “Hey.” Buck said as he waved. “You hungry?”

  “I just ate.” Lucky replied. “We still on for Saturday?”

  “I’ll be there.” Buck nodded.

  The walk to his cabin, his home, was still a ways off. The sun was setting and the threat of rain had a thin fog crawling on the ground. He noticed something, or someone ahead on the path.

  The closer he got to the figure, the clearer the image was. A woman, wearing shorts and a t-shirt stood facing the fork in the path. One led to the secluded section of wide spaced family and exclusive cabins, the other to the smaller rentals and single rooms.

  “Can I help you?” he asked.

  She almost jumped out of her skin, making him jump too.

  “Hey…it’s all right, I work here.” He took a tentative step closer to her. She reminded him of a scared rabbit. A pretty one at that. She turned green eyes upward to meet his and her bottom lip began to tremble. She was about to cry, no doubt about it. “Are you lost?”

  She nodded.

  “I live right up there.” He pointed toward his cabin. “If you want, you can come with me and I will get you to where you need to go.”

  She shivered visibly. Lucky took off his lined denim jacket and handed it to her. She slowly reached for the garment and pulled it on. Still no words, still a frightened little thing. He held out his hand and when her fingers touched his he had to force himself not to pull back. They were freezing cold. “Come on. I’ll start a fire and warm you up first.”

  She let him lead her to his cabin without a word. He could hear her teeth chattering. Her fingers trembled and her arms gently shook in spasms as they made the short walk to his front door. He would need to start a fire and check for more symptoms of hypothermia. He may be getting her to the doctor rather than her rental.

  “There is a clean glass on the counter and the water jug is right there.” He pointed as he closed the door behind them. “I’ll get a fire going.”

  She went to the counter as he headed for the fireplace. He could hear the bubbles of the cooler once, then twice, by the time he had the wood ablaze she was on what he was sure to be her third glass. As he turned to sit on the bricks providing a short bench before the flames he watched her down the last of the water and refill the glass yet again. “Thirsty?”

  She nodded.

  “Come sit by the fire.” He gestured to the area next to him. She took a sip from the glass and started toward him. She sat on the bricks with a heavy sigh. She still had his jacket on. In the light, he could see how pretty she was. Not in a conventional way. Her hair was dark, almost black. Her skin was pale except the pink blotches on her cheeks, and legs. Her little nose was red at the tip and pink all around. “Better?”

  She nodded.

  “So…you don’t say much, huh?” He let out a laugh. “Now I know how it feels.”

  She started to shake her head again, but as her eyes closed her mouth opened. “I’m sorry.”

  A whisper sounded and he could see she was fighting some internal war with herself. Her eyebrows drew down, her throat worked. Those pretty lips parted again. “I got lost.”

  “Easy enough to do.” He spoke softly. He didn’t want her to shell up again. Hell, he really needed to figure out who she was and where she needed to go. “Are you a guest here?”

  She nodded.

  “You hungry?” He wondered if he got some food in her if that would help.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “Okay.” He smiled. One word was better than none. “You sit here and warm up. I’ll rustle us up something to eat.”

  He stopped at the couch and picked up a warm fuzzy blanket with wolves on it. Rafe’s kids had given it to him last Christmas. He offered it to her and she took it.

  Good Lord in heaven what have you gotten me into? Hope Inkwell had recently added Christian values back to her personal menu. It was easy enough to do at first. Where she came from her prospects were few and uninteresting. Those that were worth anything had been taken. One careless affair had left a family torn apart, a child without a mother, and Hope on the straight and narrow from that point on. So why did her gut burn hotter than the fire behind her the moment this tall drink of cowboy entered her life?

  The blanket trapped heat from the fire and soon she was warm enough to speak without her teeth chattering. “I went for a short hike and wound up taking a wrong turn or something. I’m not sure how to get back to my room.”

  “It happens.”

  “Thanks for letting me rest here a moment.”Not to park rangers. I should know better.

  “Well,” he said. “I work here, so I kinda have to take care of wandering guests. Is tomato basil and grilled cheese good?”

  “Absolutely.” She shifted away from the direct heat of the fire and settled to a nice warm spot nearby. “I thought my teeth were going to break if I let them keep chattering. It was so nice when I started out on my walk. Now it is freezing. Does the weather drop like that around here often?”

  “Yep.” He had his back to her. She let her eyes roam the view of his backside. He was tall, blonde, a classic v shaped torso reserved for insanely gorgeous and fit men. His waist wasn’t narrow by any means but compared to the width of his shoulders he obviously worked out. Long legs hid under denim jeans that fit oh too perfectly.

  He turned with two plates in hand. A bowl of soup centered on each one. She cautiously moved to the table where he sat the food. Aa the smell of tomato soup and grilled cheese hit her nose her stomach roared. Her face blushed. He didn’t comment or seem to notice though she knew it was impossible for him not to have heard it. Grateful for his discretion she sat at the table.

  Thinking the best way to distance herself from him immediately and get those thoughts of how amazing he smells or looks right out of her head she asked, “Do you mind if I say grace?”

  Damn him he held a hand out to her across the table.

  She stared at it a moment until he said, “You don’t grace family style?”

  Sure she did, she just wasn’t expecting him to. Her hand slid into the large palm of his hand and relished the warmth, the roughness, and the gentle way he closed his fingers on hers and waited.

  “Dear God,” It came out a little different than she had intended but she recovered and continued, “Thank you for the meal and the man who has provided it, amen.”

  “Amen,” he said.

  She looked up at him and noticed the quirked eyebrow. She quickly filled her mouth with grilled cheese to avoid saying anything to him. His blue eyes were bearing right into her soul. He pushed his food around on the plate, stirred the soup, but didn’t t
ake a bite.

  She, on the other hand, was ravenous and had eaten her sandwich and half the soup in no time. “You’re not hungry?”

  “I ate right before I found you,” he admitted.

  “Then…”

  “I was afraid you wouldn’t eat if I didn’t make enough for two.”

  He was right. She would have felt awkward.

  “You want this sandwich?” he pushed his plate towards her.

  Feeling a little embarrassed she decided it was better to be honest, that was her new thing, right?

  “Yeah.” She blushed.”It’s so good and I was starving. I should know better, but I’ve had so much on my mind I just haven’t been thinking straight lately.”

  “I’ve been there.” He pushed back from the table and stood. He lifted his shirt showing an impressive tan, abs she could lick honey off of, and a wicked scar he pointed at along his side. “Bull got me. That was when I realized I needed a break. I wasn’t focused.”

  He dropped the shirt back down ending the impressive show of delectable flesh. “You don’t look like a rodeo clown.”

  “Hey,” he said offended. “Some of my best friends are clowns.” He laughed. “No, I’m not fast enough for that job. I rode bulls, horses, roped, wrangled, all that good ole’ cowboy stuff. I had sponsors, I had fans, I had ladies trying to get on each of my arms when I walked through a place, but I was just living for the moment then. Now, I know what I want.”

  The heat of his gaze touched her face and seduced her instantly. She may as well have been naked for all she thought he could see with that look he was giving her. She cleared her throat and asked, “What’s that?”

  “Everything,” he smiled and her flesh warmed. She was ridiculously smitten by this cowboy and that was nothing but trouble!

  “You don’t ask for much then, huh?” She tried a genuine laugh but it came out a bit chopped.

  “Not really,” he said as he took a long breath and let it out. “Not when that is what I plan to offer, to the right one, of course.”

  “Of course.” She could feel her eyebrows signal the frown on her face and quickly corrected it with a half genuine smile. “I think I’m ready to figure out where I’m supposed to go now.”

  “All right,” He nodded, stood. Picked up a cell phone and looked at her expectantly. “You’re name.”

  He laughed a little and she could feel the burn of heat across her face as they flushed with embarrassment. “Of course, I’m Hope, Hope Inkwell.”

  “Well,” he quirked his eyebrow at her again in that too interested and surprised look he had. “Nice to meet you Hope, I’m Lucky.”

  “Oh I don’t know about that.”She was blushing again.

  “I do.” His lips revealed a perfect set of white teeth before saying, “My name is Lucky. I have five sisters, and I’m the baby. When they found out I was a boy, my dad said I had to be named Lucky, because he was damn sure lucky to get a boy from my momma.”

  They shared a laugh. He called someone on the phone and when he finished the call she suddenly regretted the fact she had to leave.

  “I can take you in the truck if you want, I just need to put the fire out,” he said. They both shifted their gazes to look at the blaze in the fireplace. It was so cozy there in his cabin. The old Hope would have done something to stay. The new Hope needed to go.

  “I’ll be fine.” He gave her directions and refused to take his coat back stating she would need it for the walk and could drop it off with any of the guest services by letting them know it was his.

  He waved from the doorway and she could feel the heat of his gaze on her back as she made her way down the path to the fork in the road again. She went towards the single rooms and decided she would not be giving his jacket back to anyone, but him.

  Chapter Two

  If he didn’t know better he would have sworn…”Shit!”

  “I got her,” he yelled to Rafe and Jack who were already jumping on the horses to go after her.

  The black hair was what gave her away. The screams for the animal to stop as the horse headed for the path they were going to take on this trail ride anyways were understandable. She was backwards. Trail Walker did not care. He wasn’t a fast horse, but he loved the rides and he wanted nothing more than to get his person to the trail. Without guidance, he would head off on his own. At least he was predictable and not really running. He liked to trot.

  Lucky caught up to them and grabbed the reins bringing both his horse and hers to a stop. “So, I guess you decided to saddle up and ride on your own, huh?”

  “I was talking to the lady next to me and forgot what foot I put in. I know how to ride a horse.” She closed her eyes tight and fought back tears.

  “All right,” he offered his hand out to her. “Turn around and ride.”

  “After everyone saw me…”

  “Hell yeah, why not? You fall off, you get back on. You get on backwards, you just turn around.” He couldn’t explain it, but he needed to see her eyes. Make sure her broken little spirit wasn’t completely crushed from the embarrassment. He understood how hard it could be. He was thrown from these creatures for a living not long ago. He leaned closer to her and lifted her face towards him by tucking his fingers under her chin and guiding her. His heart crushed as tears streamed down her cheeks. He had five sisters, he wasn’t known for getting overly concerned about women crying. They cried all the time for all kinds of reasons. These tears should have been like any others, but they weren’t. “Hey,” he whispered. “You need this. You need this ride and Trail Walker will do right by you, just give him a second chance. I promise.”

  She sniffed. Nodded. Placed her hand on his arm and began to adjust herself properly in the saddle. She cleared her throat and straightened her back. Once she was ready, he handed her the reins. The rest of the riders were catching up to them by that point and Jack took the lead. Trail Walker fell in line and Lucky waited until the end of the tourist line to side next to Rafe.

  “Good recovery,” he said.

  Distant, thinking only of that blasted woman and her tears he tried to focus. “Yeah.”

  “Who is she?” Rafe asked. He knew something was up, Lucky couldn’t hide that.

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Lucky made a clicking sound and his horse picked up the pace to leave Rafe and his snooping behind. They had a ways to go before lunch in the field. It was going to be a long morning.

  ***

  Hope watched as Lucky tied his horse to the established posts at the picnic area. They had it all planned for the tour group. The horses were pampered during the four hours they were given to lunch and hike the nearby trails. New hands were there in t-shirts with the ranch symbol on the front and their name on the back. The words casual, moderate, and strenuous emblazoned on white cards held above their heads let the hikers who did not want to brave the Montana trails alone sign up for the respected walks.

  Lucky still hadn’t made it to the chow line where a feast was prepared for them. It was exceptional for the middle of nowhere. Surely he was hungry like the rest of them, but every few steps he was accosted by someone new. At the moment he was surrounded by a bridal party, she knew because their t-shirts identified them as bride, maid of honor, and bridesmaid, three of them, respectively.

  Alone, feeling better that she had stayed and stuck out the ride though she really wanted to get off that horse and crawl into the nearest ditch for at least a year, Hope had been lingering, hoping she would get the chance to accost him in the buffet line, but he wasn’t getting any closer to it, so she took matters into her own hands.

  “Lucky,” she smiled at him and the smile he returned was better than the one he gave to everyone else. He seemed almost relieved to see her. His eyes sparkled then opened in surprise as she pushed the plate balanced precariously on top of a plastic cup filled with ice tea towards him. “I thought you might like to have something to eat.”

  The crowd around him slowly let him through. Hope heard
one of them say she wished she had thought of that. A slight laugh escaped. Whether he heard it or not he kept his discretion and accepted the offering. “Thank you.”

  ‘You’re welcome,” she said. “It was the least I could do.”

  “Let’s grab a seat here, under this tree,” Lucky shifted their walk away from the crowd and the tables towards a large tree providing a lot of shade. “You’re nose is pink, and not from cold or crying. You have sun block?”

  Taking a seat next to him she let out a sigh of exasperation. “Nope. I didn’t get a chance to grab my backpack. I’m sure it’s in lost and found by now.”

  “I see why your folks named you Hope,” he said it serious enough but his cheek lifted his lip giving away a hint of humor.

  “It’s after my grandmother.” Hope looked out towards all of the people. She was named after an honorable woman. Her family had thrown that at her when the scandal got out. What else was there in a small town but gossip? She had tarnished her family name and disgraced her namesake because she had fallen for a man who had told her he was free again, but in truth was taken.

  “I think it’s a nice name,” he rocked into her shoulder. The bump almost splashed her tea from the cup. “I wouldn’t have teased if I knew it was a legacy and not because you seem to have the worst luck of anyone I know.”

  Hope kinda laughed at that. “Yeah, well, I guess we can’t all be…Lucky.”

  He laughed. “You’re right about that.”

  Hope was certain it was the robust sound of his laughter that caught the attention of the other staff members. Two tall, similar looking cowboys made their way towards them.

  “Ugh,” Lucky growled. “This can’t be happening.”

  “What?” she was suddenly nervous. “Are you not allowed to eat with guests or something? Who are they?”

  Preparing herself to defend him against whatever the other workers had to say Hope stood up and dusted herself off. The cowboys still smiled and whispered as they came closer.

  “They are the owners of the ranch, I’ve known them all my life, they are like my brothers, and I will never hear the end of this.” Lucky stood and leaned casually, coolly, against the tree.