The Cowboy's Surprise Bride

by Macie St James

  “So, you two are dating now?”

  Everything seemed to freeze. The line stopped moving as people turned to look at the person asking the question—a middle-aged woman he didn’t even recognize. The crowd then turned its collective attention to Mina and Colton, who were still not standing far enough away from each other.

  Even Shawna had frozen after the question came across. Her camera was held in front of her and she was looking at Colton with an amused smile on her face.

  But the biggest shocker of all was Mina. Instead of stunned surprise, as he would have expected, she merely flashed a smile in the woman’s general direction. “I believe that’s personal. But thank you for your interest.”

  Then all went back to the way it had been minutes earlier. People continued loading onto the trailer, Shawna resumed snapping photos, and Mina went back to being the perfect subject of those photos as she shook hands and patiently listened to people.

  Okay, so maybe it wasn’t so urgent to tell Mina about the rumor. Maybe she knew about it already and didn’t mind at all. Maybe she was aware Robby had leaked the photo, which he’d taken on his camera while being paid by her.

  Maybe Mina had ordered him to leak it.

  “Wanna take over?” Clay had crept up behind Colton, jerking him from his thoughts. The distraction was welcome.

  “Yes!” Colton said.

  He needed to get away from this madness. Riding around the ranch on a trailer sounded like the perfect escape. At least nobody could ask him about his dating life while he was on his tractor, far out of earshot of pretty much everyone.

  “You take care of all this.” Colton gestured to indicate the crowd that was squeezing in to talk to Mina. It was looking a bit cramped over there.

  “Mina Baxter?” Clay said. “What’s going on with that?”

  Colton shrugged. “She’s running for office. They have questions.”

  “No, the woman asking if you two were dating.”

  Oh, crap. Clay heard that. Colton had hoped his brother was too distracted by helping the passengers off the trailer to hear. How was he going to explain this?

  He decided to go with the truth.

  “Apparently a picture of the two of us is circulating,” Colton said.

  Clay’s eyes widened, his eyebrows shooting toward his brow line as he stared at his brother. Colton assumed Clay knew he wasn’t the womanizing type, never had been, but it wasn’t like they sat around discussing Colton’s dating situation. For all Clay knew…

  “We’re not dating,” Colton said. “Nothing like that. Someone just snapped a picture at the right time and blew it all out of proportion.”

  “As in, ‘the public knows about it?’” Clay asked. “That’s pretty far out of proportion.”

  Colton shrugged. “I guess. It was shared in some group and a few people know about it.”

  Clay laughed. Actually laughed. What kind of brother laughed? Colton could have gotten angry over it, but he knew ribbing each other was part of their family dynamic.

  “I’m just going to go…” Colton gestured toward the tractor.

  Still laughing, Clay patted him on the arm and headed off toward the crowd, shaking his head. Fine by Colton. He’d get some space from this, busy himself with the ranch, and before he knew it, everyone would have forgotten about that silly picture. After all, people had far more important things to worry about than whether some political candidate and a rancher were a couple.

  6

  Minolton had blown up.

  It even had its own hashtag. Mina plus Colton equaled Minolton, their official couple name.

  It was childish and not at all professional, but it was working for her, just as she’d suspected it would when she’d encouraged Robby to share the photo with a friend who could post it on social media. She didn’t come out and ask him, but when they looked at the photo after her ranch visit and noted how romantic it appeared, she’d said it wouldn’t be a bad thing if he shared it with a friend.

  Robby was pretty good at taking hints, it turned out.

  Mina was more of a lurker on social media. She’d learned that while working in D.C. Don’t respond to the haters but pay attention to what people are saying. And right now, in the local group she’d joined under the fake name she used to remain anonymous online, they were talking about her and Colton.

  Who cares? someone wrote. This is about saving our town and you’re all ready to start sending wedding invitations.

  Mayor Cobb is right, someone else had written just below that. If she doesn’t win, she’ll leave town. A relationship will ground her. Give her a reason to care about us.

  This was one of those times she had to pretty much sit on her hands to keep herself from responding to the comments. Did nobody grasp the fact that she’d grown up in Canyon Falls? She’d cared about this town her entire life. Literally, the reason she’d moved back was because she missed it.

  “Big picture,” she said to herself as she closed her laptop and took a deep breath. People were saying good things about her relationship with Colton. That was all that mattered here. Now, time to plan her next move.

  Only she had no idea what her next move should be. She’d just pulled out a piece of paper with plans to start brainstorming the old-fashioned way when the door to the three-room office they were renting burst open and Robby came rushing in. In each hand, he held a cup of coffee, the Brandi’s Diner logo plastered across the front of each one.

  “Okay, it’s working,” he said. “So I have some ideas. Just hear me out.”

  Mina set the piece of paper down on her laptop keyboard and folded her hands in front of her. Robby was always full of ideas. He loved to spit them out, then wait to see if one or two stuck. In other words, the very kind of brainstorming she was about to do.

  “What’s working?”

  “Hashtag Minolton.” His tone indicated it should be obvious with anyone with a pulse. “It’s trending locally.”

  “Trending locally?” What did that even mean?

  “Everyone’s talking about it.”

  “You mean on local social media?”

  He gave her a look. “No, in real life. Everyone’s literally talking about it. I stopped by the diner to grab some coffee and people just started shouting out questions to me. It was so weird. Oh, here.”

  He plopped her favorite iced coffee in front of her and then stepped back. She’d ask him to take a seat, but she knew when he was riled up like this, he needed to stand. He’d be dancing around in a matter of minutes, arms flailing as he made his point.

  “Your ideas?” She unwrapped the straw for her coffee while searching her desk for a pen. It was buried under her laptop. Robby had already started talking by the time she was ready to take notes.

  “—wedding,” he was saying. “Now hear me out.”

  Wait. She’d tuned out there for a second while looking for her pen. Had he just said “wedding?” And why did he keep saying “hear me out” like he was expecting her to object to what he was about to say?

  “It solves all your problems,” he said. “And it doesn’t even have to be legal. You just tie the knot in front of a small group of friends and family members, get that reporter-woman to cover it, and bam, Mayor Cobb has to find something else to pick on.”

  Mina set her pen down and leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. This was just ridiculous. She’d let him get through this so he could give his second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth ideas. Because he no doubt knew Idea Number One was going to be shot down.

  “And why on earth do you think Colton Briscoe would agree to this scheme?”

  “That’s where it gets good.”

  Sure enough, Robby was becoming very animated, the more excited he got. He was pacing the room, cup of coffee in hand. She was sure that coffee had to be sloshing around pretty well in that cup by now.

  “I researched our friend Colton, and the Briscoe ranch is in big trouble,” Robby said. “It’s sink or
swim with this fall festival. But it gets better because Colton has staked his entire livelihood on this ranch thing taking off.”

  Mina cocked an eyebrow. “That’s ‘getting better?’ I don’t think we should be treating Colton’s risks as something to be excited about.”

  “Maybe not, but it puts us in a great position.”

  “How so?”

  Robby moved closer, putting both hands, palms down, on her desk. “Right now, both he and the ranch are getting more publicity than they ever could have without you. They’ll want that momentum to continue through fall. Maybe even into winter. They could have a Christmas tree lot, a spring festival, horseback riding when the weather gets a little warmer…”

  Mina got it. Marrying her could help the ranch because it would put him in front of people throughout the campaign. But what if being fake married to her hurt his reputation somehow? There was no telling how many ways Mayor Cobb could drag their names through the mud before it was all over.

  She shook her head. “I don’t think I could put him through the headache of a political campaign. Next idea.”

  “You aren’t hearing me out,” he said. “There’s no such thing as bad publicity. We both know that. It’s all about brand awareness, and you’re tracking with the younger demographic—”

  “I am?” Mina sat up straighter in her seat. “Is that what the latest polls are saying?”

  He smiled. “Yep. Especially after this weekend. Your supporters are excited about the Mina they saw in yesterday’s paper. Laid-back, shaking hands with the people, posing with Colton in front of the hay maze exit.”

  Ah, yes, the hay maze picture. Mina had a feeling it was slated for the website photo gallery before hashtag Minolton-gate had happened. Once the whole town was talking about them, Shawna and her editor had apparently decided to blow the photo of Mina and Colton up larger than all the others on the front page of the paper, including a midsize one of Mayor Cobb posing with Colton’s brother, Clay.

  Mina just wished she’d been there to see Mayor Cobb’s face when he’d looked at the front page of that paper. He would not like Mina’s photo being bigger than his.

  “That’s great!” Mina said. “But it just shows that I don’t need some fictional marriage to win this election.”

  “Yeah, about that.” Robby paused. “Canyon Falls is growing, and that means more younger people are moving in, thanks to the bypass making it easier to get in and out of the city. But make no mistake—Canyon Falls is still mostly older generations. The over-sixty-five group makes up more than half the population, and you know what that means.”

  Mina sighed. “I have to win over some of them.”

  He wasn’t really giving her news she didn’t already know, deep down. She wanted to believe she could throw on some jeans and put her hair in a ponytail and talk about progress and bringing in more tech startups and the whole town would be behind her. She’d been in politics too long—and spent too much of her life in Canyon Falls—to believe that, though.

  “And you can do that by proving you have good reason to stick around Canyon Falls even if you don’t win,” Robby said and sat down in the guest chair, as though to say his work here was done. Mina could kind of agree with that. He’d left her with something to consider, even if he’d presented a very absurd idea.

  Yeah, Canyon Falls was where she’d grown up, and she loved the place. But Mayor Cobb wasn’t wrong about the fact that if she didn’t win, she was unlikely to hang out in this town. She’d have to decide what her next political move would be. Even if she did win, she’d log her four to eight years, then move on to something bigger. Perhaps the state legislature. She had dreams and goals that couldn’t be limited by the few political positions available in this tiny town.

  But marrying Colton Briscoe would establish roots, convince the locals she was in this for the long haul. The only problem was, that wouldn’t be fair to Colton.

  If, however, they went into this from the start with the understanding that it was a business arrangement, how could it be unfair? She’d get what she wanted, he’d get what he wanted, and nobody would be hurt in the end. She highly doubted she could talk him into it, but if she somehow could, this might be exactly what she needed.

  “We need to talk to Colton.” She took a liberal sip of her coffee and thought for a second. “Preferably early in the week, before the ranch gets busy again.”

  “Things are probably pretty dead today. Everyone’s back at work and school. He’s counting the receipts from the weekend or whatever, seeing how much your visit helped business, regrouping to decide how to keep the crowds coming.”

  Mina stood. “In other words, it’s a good time to approach him about doing something to keep generating publicity?”

  Robby smirked. “Exactly. Follow me.”

  Normally, Mina led the way, but she found she wanted to follow Robby, particularly if he was taking her to Colton. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she longed to spend more time with him. As much time as possible. That was something she hadn’t expected when she decided to make Cedar Tree Ranch a stop on her campaign tour.

  Grabbing her iced coffee and phone, Mina rushed to catch up with Robby. They were halfway to the car before she realized she didn’t have her car keys, but Robby volunteered to drive, which was fine by her. She needed some time to process what they were actually about to propose.

  Colton wouldn’t go for it. No way. Heck, for all she knew he could be in a serious relationship—or married. But she’d assume if he had a wife somewhere, someone would have mentioned it in all the attention they were getting for being in a “relationship.” She also assumed if he were married, he’d be wearing a wedding ring, but plenty of ranchers kept themselves bare-handed while working.

  As they turned into the long driveway, Mina was surprised to feel her heart rate speed up considerably. Was she actually nervous? This hadn’t happened Saturday when she showed up for the festival, but she hadn’t planned on seeing him on that visit. She’d assumed he’d be too busy with the festival to even talk to her.

  Today, though... Today, they were here specifically to see Colton. Unless he was away for some reason, she was guaranteed to see him. Today, they were asking him to pretend marry her.

  Which was kind of like a proposal, wasn’t it? No wonder she was nervous.

  By the time they got out of the SUV and headed up toward the main house, Mina was smiling about the whole thing. It was probably a nervous smile, but at least she had a sense of humor about it all, she figured.

  Colton didn’t live in this house. She knew that much. Clay had moved into the main house when he came back home, and his girlfriend was living in an apartment above Brandi’s Diner. Everyone expected Clay and Harley to get engaged any day now, but Mina assumed Harley wasn’t going to move in with him until he put a ring on it. Whether Harley was old-fashioned or not, Mina saw that as a good plan.

  “Do you think anyone’s here?” Mina whispered after Robby knocked and stepped back. She assumed ranchers would be out doing…whatever it was ranchers did. It wasn’t hanging out at home on a Monday morning, waiting for someone to stop by looking for a guy to pretend marry. But if someone answered the door, that person could hopefully direct them to where Colton was at the moment.

  “Probably not,” Robby said. “Maybe we should—”

  Before he could finish the sentence, the door opened and there stood Colton. He seemed just as surprised to see them as they were to see him.

  “Colton!” Mina asked before really stopping to think about it. “What are you doing here?”

  “I could ask the same,” he said, but he didn’t look angry or annoyed. In fact, he had that warm smile she’d found charming from the day she’d first seen him.

  “We just wanted to talk some business.”

  Robby’s words cut into whatever was going on between Mina and Colton. She couldn’t have put a name on it if her life had depended on it. Their gazes had just met and held, and her sto
mach was now doing flip-floppy things.

  “Sure.” Colton’s face took on a professional, slightly more distant expression. Maybe that was a good thing. It could mean he would be open to the business proposal they were about to issue without making it personal.

  He held the door open for them, stepping aside while they entered. But Mina found herself holding her breath as she breezed past him, hoping he wouldn’t somehow notice how nervous she was.

  Colton stepped past them to lead them into the kitchen. “Do you want some coffee?”

  It was a big, high-ceilinged kitchen with cowboy decor all around. Mina found that amusing. Whoever lived here obviously had gone with the whole ranch motif. It fit the Briscoe family as she knew them.

  “Sure.” Mina suddenly realized she’d left her iced coffee in the car. She didn’t really need more caffeine, but it might help her get through this.

  “I’ll take a cup, too,” Robby said. “Do you live here?’

  “My brother Clay does.” Colton headed toward the coffeepot. “My house is a few miles around the bend.”

  Mina took a seat at the table, and Robby followed. She figured that was better than standing awkwardly in the middle of his kitchen, watching Colton pour coffee.

  “We’d love to see it,” Robby said.

  Mina flashed him a look. What was he doing? They hadn’t even explained to Colton why they were here. He’d be understandably confused.

  “Sure.” Colton walked toward the table with a mug of coffee in each hand. “Creamer?”

  “Yes, please,” Robby said.

  Mina nodded. What was happening here? Colton wasn’t taken aback that they wanted to see his house? He wasn’t even asking why they were here.

  “I’m really grateful for everything you did to help get the word out about Pumpkinfest,” Colton said. He opened the door to the refrigerator, retrieved the creamer, and came back to the table. “I don’t know if every weekend will be like that, but a school group called this morning asking if they could bring the entire fourth grade over Wednesday afternoon. I’m pretty sure that’s all thanks to the press coverage.”