The Cowboy's Surprise Bride

by Macie St James

  “Good morning, mayor.” Colton gave him a nod.

  “Good morning,” the mayor replied.

  It was clear Mayor Cobb had no idea who Colton was, which wasn’t a surprise. Cedar Tree Ranch had once been a large part of Canyon Falls, but as more people moved in and time went on, they were becoming less and less relevant. It was one of the reasons Cedar Tree Ranch was holding a Pumpkinfest to stay in business.

  Colton helped the first group of passengers off the trailer, then gestured for the mayor and his entourage to climb on board. The mayor ignored Colton’s offer to help, and that action was mimicked by the nine people trailing behind him. As Colton headed over to get the next person in line, one of the mayor’s crew stepped down and rushed over.

  “The mayor would like to ride alone,” the guy, who looked to be about the same age as Mina’s campaign manager, said.

  For a second, Colton wasn’t sure what the guy meant. He thought maybe the mayor’s helper was asking Colton to kick off the rest of the entourage and literally leave the mayor up there alone. But then Colton realized the guy meant he didn’t want anyone waiting in line to join them. A private ride for the mayor and his crew.

  Yes, this was how he’d figured the mayor was. And it was exactly why he thought Mina could gain an edge with the younger voters. All these people waiting in line were seeing the mayor’s power move and hopefully taking note of it. The mayor loved to say he was for the people, but when it came down to it, he was one of those politicians who just wanted to hang out with other politicians and wealthy businesspeople.

  As Colton pulled away, he noticed the mayor standing and waving at all the people in line on the ground. The very people he’d cut in front of to get up on that platform. He was waving like he was in a parade or something.

  Would it be wrong for Colton to slam on the brakes and knock him on his butt? He decided it would. But it did give him a thrill to shout back that everyone should remain seated. The mayor, of course, didn’t sit down until he was good and ready. He wasn’t the type to be told what to do by a mere constituent.

  Once they were out of sight of people, the mayor sat his butt down and chatted up the woman sitting next to him. But as they neared the petting zoo, he was back up again, waving at a crowd that wasn’t even paying attention to him.

  “No contest, Mina,” Colton said, shaking his head. “You have my vote.”

  Unfortunately, even if Mayor Cobb was nothing more than a big bag of hot air, the old-timers loved what he said. He was all for promising the moon and delivering nothing, and for some reason, they didn’t notice. He just had to flash a bunch of numbers in front of them, and they were ready to put a check next to his name on the election ballot.

  The problem was, Colton wasn’t sure how Mina interacted with voters. He had clear memories of her being nice to everyone but him at parties, and it had always struck him how she seemed to make everyone else feel like the only person in the room. It had just always irked him that he seemed to be the only one not in the room, as far as she was concerned.

  If he ever saw her again, maybe he should just come out and ask her what that was all about. He could even couch it as being connected to her political career somehow. She could learn from how she’d made him feel in high school and make sure she never missed anyone when she was greeting her voters.

  Yeah, it was a stretch for sure.

  “Code Red. We have a Code Red.”

  That was Reilly’s voice blasting through the two-way radio and sounding not at all like calm, measured Reilly.

  “What’s up?” Colton asked into the radio, abandoning all radio communication protocol.

  “Mayor Cobb’s opponent came through the line a while ago,” Reilly said.

  A while ago? Why hadn’t someone alerted him sooner? By the time “a while” passed, Mina could make it all the way to the—

  “Hold up! Hold up! Hold up!”

  Those words were coming from behind him, shouted in the very booming voice Colton recognized as the mayor’s. Colton glanced back and saw the mayor was standing again, this time waving both arms in the air.

  Colton slowed to a stop, figuring once the vehicle was still, he could make sense of what was happening here. All he knew was the mayor had seen something and Mina was here.

  Mina was here.

  Okay, that was all he cared about at this point. The mayor could stuff it.

  The vehicle had barely stopped rolling before the mayor was off, waddling his way back toward the petting zoo. They’d just reached the very end of it, where a large group had gathered. Maybe the mayor saw a chance to kiss up to some voters and couldn’t resist.

  “Where is she?” Colton asked into the radio.

  No response.

  Colton pressed the button again. “Reilly? Harley? What’s going on over there?”

  Silence. He dropped the radio into its holster and turned around in his seat to figure out what was going on behind him. The mayor had reached the crowd, which wasn’t parting for him. Instead, they were all facing something in the middle.

  An all-too-familiar head of dark, shiny hair. That hair wasn’t covered by a cowboy hat or baseball cap, but she had pulled it into a ponytail. He couldn’t see below her head, there were so many people packed around her.

  She’d attracted a crowd. And the mayor didn’t like that.

  Colton heard movement behind him and realized the trailer was emptying of people. Mayor Cobb’s aides rushed past him and toward the gathered crowd. They were hurrying to do damage control, Colton assumed, because their boss was currently yelling about something Colton couldn’t quite make out.

  Colton jumped down from the tractor and headed in that direction himself. He didn’t know what he could do to help matters, but if the mayor was about to start some sort of altercation, he could at least calm everyone down.

  Plus, he felt compelled to be wherever Mina was. Some things never changed.

  “—Miss Baxter!”

  Colton missed the first part of that, but the way Mayor Cobb said her name, there was no denying he wasn’t happy with her. Some in the crowd had turned to look at him, and the youngish woman closest to him looked pretty annoyed.

  He saw that as a good sign.

  “Mayor Cobb, we should get back to the hayride,” a member of his entourage called out. He reached out as though to grab the mayor’s arm, but the mayor shot him a look that had him immediately backing off.

  Maybe it was the fact that people were starting to turn back to Mina. Maybe his helper’s words actually had gotten to him. Whatever the reason, the mayor suddenly took on a very sweet tone.

  “I’m here to meet these lovely people,” Mayor Cobb said. “If anyone would like to join me on this here hayride, we have extra room.”

  “Wait!” Colton said. “We can’t just—”

  Now Colton was at the other end of Mayor Cobb’s glare. Whatever he was about to say died away, not because he was afraid of Mayor Cobb in any way. It was because the mayor had started backing away from the crowd and nobody was following him. In fact, the crowd seemed to be dispersing.

  “I’ll join you!” Mina called out.

  That got the mayor’s attention. He spun to face Mina, but she didn’t get a glare in response. The word he was looking for to describe the expression on Mayor Cobb’s face was surprised.

  Mina didn’t wait for an invitation. She began walking straight toward Colton, a big, genuine smile on her face. This was exactly what he would have advised her to do. Everything from the dress jeans and knee-high boots she was wearing to the relaxed smile on her face said “approachable.” And approachable was one thing Mayor Cobb was not.

  “Me, too,” someone nearby called out. It was the youngish woman who had given Mayor Cobb her annoyed look.

  A few others grouped around that woman—Colton wasn’t sure if they were here with her or not—and Colton found himself leading a small group to the hayride. Mayor Cobb gathered his entourage and seemed to form a casual
huddle of sorts.

  Colton kicked it into a run to catch up with Mina. He had stiff competition for her attention, though. There was someone on either side of her.

  “Can you do something about the traffic lights in town?” the guy on Mina right was asking her as Colton got closer. “If you get stopped at one, you get stopped at all of them. It’s frustrating.”

  The woman on her left spoke up, too. “I hope you’ll do something to keep property taxes from going up. This city’s growing so fast, it’s making me nervous. We just bought a house last year, and we can’t really afford for our mortgage to go up even ten dollars.”

  Colton knew the best course of action for him was to hang back and let Mina work her magic. This was a campaign stop, after all. His job was just to make sure she got on the trailer safely. She was an old pro at it now, though, so she probably wouldn’t even need his help.

  What she did need help with was Mayor Cobb. One quick glance told Colton the mayor and his groupies had decided to join Mina. Or maybe they were coming to take their hayride back. Either way, Colton knew his job was to referee.

  4

  “Excuse me,” Mayor Cobb shouted as he approached. “I believe you’ve commandeered my ride.”

  Great. Drama. First, Mina had to battle the annoyance that her opponent was here today when her aide had cleared him as out of town. Then he’d come marching up to her when she was helping a child who had just fallen while chasing a peacock, acting like she’d somehow conspired to hold a political event without inviting him.

  “There’s room for all of us.” Mina stepped back to show that the trailer was, indeed, still empty.

  She supposed the gracious thing to do was let the mayor and his people board first, and that was exactly what she’d planned on doing. But he was raring for a fight.

  The mayor struggled to climb up onto the trailer. “Just hop right on board. No respect at all. This is exactly why I’m going to cream you in the polls.”

  Cream her? Who said that? What were they, playing high school football or something?

  She held her gracious smile and even extended her hand as an offer to help him up. He made a grumbly noise and waved her help away. Fine by her. She knew her gesture didn’t go unnoticed by the potential voters who were now crowded around the trailer, watching.

  “I look forward to seeing how that all shakes out,” Mina said, stepping back to make way for him.

  She waved for Mayor Cobb’s workers to follow him up, although he was still stuck trying to get enough leverage to hoist himself up onto the trailer. She wondered if maybe his workers were going to step up behind him and push him up by his butt.

  Somehow, he managed to get himself onto the trailer, prompting Mina to gesture all the more desperately. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck up here alone with this misogynist.

  But Mayor Cobb had other ideas.

  “Come on up, my friends!” he blared, speaking to the group on the ground.

  They weren’t gathered to listen to him give a speech or anything, but that didn’t seem to matter to him. He was giving a speech anyway.

  “It’s so nice of Miss Baxter here to take time out of her day to join us. It’s a family event, so not too many people without children here. I would have brought my own kids, but they’re grown and flown.”

  Mina realized she was staring at him like he’d lost his flipping mind. She was pretty sure he had. Did he think this little speech of his was going to work?

  But then she looked at the group standing on the ground, awaiting their turn to climb up on the trailer. A couple of them had kids in tow and the rest were young like her. They were watching him speak, probably out of politeness, but she wondered how much of what he said would stick in their subconscious.

  Mina gave the crowd her best smile. “That’s the great thing about Canyon Falls. People of all ages here. The younger generation like me is the next group to marry and have kids. You’re at a point where you’ve finished raising your children. There’s room for all of us.”

  As Mina spoke, her gaze landed on Colton, who was helping the group who had followed Mina over here climb on board. He smiled at her, and it encouraged her to keep going, even when her confidence had been shaken a little.

  But Mayor Cobb wasn’t giving up that easily. “Canyon Falls isn’t a small town anymore, Miss Baxter. As a town grows, it needs a more experienced leader, one that can take it to the next level.”

  “The best thing about growth is that it brings in a new demographic,” Mina countered.

  She looked around at the group of people now taking their seats on the hay bales. Somehow, Colton had managed to squeeze everyone in, despite the fact she was pretty sure they weren’t supposed to ride with this many people.

  She looked around at the group on the hayride. “How many people here grew up in Canyon Falls?”

  Seven people raised their hands. No surprise. All but two were from Mayor Cobb’s entourage. Mina took her seat at the front. Mayor Cobb remained standing.

  “But the people who grew up here still live here,” Mayor Cobb pointed out. “We’re just adding new people, and they don’t know this town like I do.”

  “Didn’t you just say your own kids had ‘grown and flown?’” That question came from someone seated halfway down the row of bales on Mina’s side.

  Bam! Mina raised her eyebrows and leveled her gaze at Mayor Cobb, waiting to see how he’d respond to that. At the same time, Colton fired up the tractor, drowning out whatever he was about to say.

  Not that having to yell would stop him. He yelled even when the tractor wasn’t going. In fact, his volume seemed to be stuck on yell.

  “My kids love this town. They come back whenever they can.”

  Mina could argue with him, but what would be the point? Anyone listening would hear how absurd he sounded. It spoke for itself.

  “See, Miss Baxter isn’t a resident of this town,” Mayor Cobb said.

  “Really? Because I have a mortgage that says otherwise.”

  He waved his beefy hand in the air dismissively. “Anyone can set up residence and run for office. You aren’t settled here. After this campaign is over, you’ll be on your way.”

  They were nearing the spot where people were standing in line. Mina could see them off in the distance. The last thing she wanted was to have this debate in front of the whole town.

  “I grew up in Canyon Falls,” Mina argued. “My goal was always to get back here. I fully intend to stay here long after my term as mayor is over.”

  Mayor Cobb laughed. “And do what? Your degree is in political science. Mayor is the best-paying political position in town.”

  It was a bit creepy, how much this man had peered into her past. She knew it was his job, but it wasn’t quite as easy to pull information on him. At least not yet. She had her aide working on it, though.

  “Maybe it’s not all about money to some of us,” Mina fired back.

  “Ooh.”

  That came from a few people on the ground. The voices called Mina’s attention to the fact that they’d arrived at their destination. Since they were still shouting to be heard over the tractor, their discussion probably sounded more heated than it actually was to the new crowd. Or maybe it sounded exactly as heated as it was. Mina couldn’t tell at this point.

  Mayor Cobb stood to address the line of people waiting to board. “Canyon Falls needs leadership that understands this community. Nobody gets that like someone who has lived here for the past half century.”

  The crowd on the ground erupted into cheers, immediately bringing Mina’s insecurities to surface. Insecurities that were always right there, waiting to emerge. The key was to make sure nobody else knew about them.

  Pasting a confident smile on her face, Mina stood and turned to wave. She wasn’t met with boos, so she figured that was a good thing. And she told herself not everyone was cheering for Mayor Cobb, even though the noise had been fairly loud. There was enough of a mixed crowd below tha
t Mina knew she would be wise to just concede this impromptu debate to the mayor.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, the mayoral candidates decided to join us.”

  Intense relief rushed over Mina at the sound of Colton’s voice. It felt like she was in a sea of sharks and she’d just spotted shore. She looked over at him, found him smiling at her reassuringly, and smiled back.

  Now she could face the crowd.

  Being closest to the front driver’s side put Mina at an advantage. She could hop off first. Which meant she could go interact with the crowd before Mayor Cobb got there. Otherwise, he would have waddled his way over there and used his entourage to block her from getting access. Mina had learned that from the first event they’d attended together.

  Colton reached out to help her exit, and Mina gladly slipped her hand inside. She found herself bizarrely wishing he’d follow her to the area where the line had formed, her hand in his the whole way. That might make this a little easier.

  As she landed solidly on the ground, their gazes met and held, and she felt that old, familiar flutter in her stomach. As much as it would make her uncomfortable in any other situation, right now her lifelong crush on him was a welcome distraction from the drama that was going on all around her.

  “Thank you.” Her voice sounded strangled.

  He nodded his head. “You’re welcome, Ms. Baxter.”

  She knew exactly why he was emphasizing “Ms.” It was as if he knew that every time the mayor called her “miss,” it felt like a jab. It was probably the condescending way the mayor said the word, like he wanted to stress the fact that she was only in her twenties and he was in his sixties, therefore much, much more qualified for the job.

  Releasing Colton’s hand—reluctantly—Mina turned to face the crowd with her best future-mayor smile. She’d worked with some of the best-known career politicians during her time in D.C., first serving as an intern while in college, then as a legislative assistant.