Elly: Cowgirl Bride

by Milburn, Trish

  “That’s an odd outfit for poker,” Dex said when he glanced up from his cards.

  “That’s because I’m not playing poker tonight. Got other plans,” she said as casually as she could.

  Dusty, Dex’s twin, made a sour face at his cards and tossed them facedown on the table. “Where are you and Janie off to now?”

  “I’m not going out with Janie.” She didn’t explain further, deciding that she’d at least make them work for every little scrap of information. Where was the fun in making it easy?

  When she noticed the suspicion on her brothers’ faces, she wondered if maybe her tactic was ill advised.

  “I’m going to a birthday party for Virginia Jackson.”

  Surprise tugged at Dusty’s face. “Really?”

  “Yes, really.”

  “Why?” Walker asked.

  Elly propped her hands on her hips. “Because she’s a nice lady. And because Will asked me.” Dang, she shouldn’t have said the last part. Already the guys were shifting in their seats, probably ready to forsake poker to escort her.

  Then she made the bigger mistake of meeting the gaze of the only brother who hadn’t spoken. Jesse eyed her with veiled disapproval, but not enough that it’d be obvious to anyone who didn’t know why she and Will had crossed paths again. Thankfully, his desire to keep the situation with their father quiet prevented him from questioning her like he normally would.

  “We playing or not?” he asked as he turned his attention back to the cards.

  Before the others could recover from the shock of Jesse missing an opportunity to make her feel like she was fifteen and completely ignorant of the male gender, she grabbed her coat and headed out the door.

  She didn’t slow down until she turned off the ranch road onto the highway.

  “THERE SHE IS.” Virginia Jackson gave an enthusiastic wave across the restaurant.

  Will was careful not to show how his heart rate kicked up at the knowledge that Elly had arrived. After impulsively buying two more of her photographs for his office that afternoon, he’d forced himself to go back to work and apply all his attention to the two cases he’d acquired besides Jesse Cody’s. He’d actually done pretty well—if you considered thinking about Elly half a dozen times an hour versus a dozen pretty well.

  His mom and Aunt Judith stood, his mom opening her arms to give Elly a big hug. “It’s so good to see you.

  I haven’t talked to you in forever.”

  Elly wrapped Virginia in a hug, like it was the high light of her day, then did the same with Judith. If that didn’t make him like her more, he didn’t possess a law degree. A bit more of the resentment—the resentment he’d harbored so deep he hadn’t realized it—slipped away.

  When she turned to face him, for a moment he reveled in the idea that she might hug him, too.

  “Hey, Will. Long time, no see.”

  He smiled while he told himself a hug between them would have just been awkward. “Eons,” he said, to which she swatted him playfully on the upper arm.

  Before she could take a seat, he pulled her chair out for her. He purposely didn’t meet his mother’s or aunt’s eyes. He’d been back in Wyoming about two seconds before they’d started trying to match him up with someone. If he’d thought tonight’s scenario through, he would have realized it hadn’t been his smartest move.

  Though as he seated himself across from Elly, he couldn’t be sorry. All the questions and matchmaking attempts were an insignificant price to pay for getting to spend the evening in the company of a beautiful woman. As unwise as that might end up being.

  They put conversation on hold when the waitress arrived to take their orders. But as soon as the young girl left, his mom patted Elly on her hands, where they rested on the table.

  “Honey, I’ve been following all your successes. Sounds like this could be your year.”

  Elly’s eyes brightened like a child’s right before opening a tantalizingly huge gift on Christmas morning. “I hope so. We’ve certainly been training hard.”

  “You’ll make it. I feel it,” Virginia said. She turned to Will. “A month from now, our Elly will be a national champion barrel racer.”

  Our Elly. He liked the sound of that.

  “We’ll see,” Elly said before he could reply. “It all comes down to how well we do in Denver.”

  His mom waved off Elly’s modesty. “Girl, I’ve been watching you ride since you were no taller than this table. Sam used to say you and a horse seemed to become one when you rode.”

  Will tried to ignore a twinge of hurt, something he’d never shared with anyone. He could imagine his father saying something like that about Elly with awe in his voice. Sam Jackson had loved all things rodeo, had yearned to make the big time himself. But his bronc-riding talent had taken him only as far as small, non-PRCA rodeos.

  And though he’d never voiced it, Will suspected his father had been disappointed that Will hadn’t chosen that as his dream himself. Will couldn’t have followed it anyway because of his severe allergies. Sometimes he’d gotten the feeling his father saw him as weak, as a poor reflection of himself. Sure, they’d had a decent relationship, but it hadn’t been really close. They couldn’t have been any more different.

  “Okay, enough about me,” Elly said, breaking into Will’s memories and meeting his gaze. “I’m not the only talented person at the table. I heard you were top of your college class when you graduated.” She smiled and lifted an eyebrow. “Not bad for someone two years younger than everyone else.”

  He soaked in how she smiled when she said it, like he wasn’t some sort of oddity walking around with an oversize brain. When she looked at him now, he felt like she really saw him. So different from when they’d gone to school together. He noticed his mom and aunt shift into matching “we’re going to tell a tale” positions.

  “You’ve done it now,” he said under his breath.

  Elly’s expression shifted to one of confusion. “What?”

  She found out over the next few minutes as the two women enumerated his many academic accomplishments, both as an undergrad and while in law school at the University of Colorado. A couple of times, Elly met his eyes and smiled in amusement. He gave her what he hoped was a look that promised well-planned retribution.

  “He was asked to join a big law firm in Denver, but he came back home.” Virginia beamed with pride.

  “It’s the Park County nightlife,” Elly said. “It’s hard to resist.”

  Will laughed. “Nightlife isn’t even on the radar. I’m more concerned about keeping clients coming through the front door.”

  “Oh, don’t worry,” Virginia said. “Once word gets around about your practice, they’ll be lining up down the street.”

  His mom, bless her, had a very inflated idea of his attractiveness as legal counsel. His age and the newness of his law degree could cause people to second-guess his ability. He’d just be happy to pay the bills and have enough left over to eat. The last thing he should have been doing was buying expensive artwork, but he’d eat ramen noodles and macaroni and cheese for a year before he’d part with Elly’s photographs.

  His mom looked on the verge of more bragging when he spotted their waitress approaching the table with a large tray. He’d never been so happy to see a plate of food arrive.

  “Saved by steak and potatoes!”

  Elly laughed as his mom and Judith scolded him.

  “We’re proud of you,” Judith said.

  “I’m your mother, I’m old, and you just have to put up with it.”

  “I know.”

  Elly, perhaps taking pity on him, steered the conversation away from him by asking, “So, what have you two been up to lately?”

  As they all ate, his mom and aunt filled Elly in on their activities with the local quilters’ guild and their weekly trip to see a movie.

  “We’re considering taking a little trip somewhere,” his mom said. “Hey, maybe we should go to Denver and watch you ride. That’d be ex
citing.”

  “We could see her when she makes the National Finals Rodeo,” Judith said.

  His mother looked at him. “And Will could go, too. Oh, this is going to be so much fun.”

  “So your allergies don’t bother you anymore?” Elly asked.

  Great, she remembered one of his weaknesses, the thing that had kept him from going to the Cottonwood with his dad more often.

  “Oh, he doesn’t have to worry about those anymore,” his mom said.

  “Better living through pharmacology,” he said.

  “He’s quite the outdoorsman now. Always going climbing or kayaking or some such. Even rides a horse now and then.”

  “We should go riding sometime,” Elly said.

  Will felt like he’d slipped into an alternate reality. But in any reality, he loved the idea of riding alongside Elly, showing how he wasn’t the weak, dorky kid she’d once known. But he decided on a noncommittal answer. “Maybe.” He didn’t want to seem too eager and revert back to that geeky Billy the Kid. That’s not how he wanted her to see him at all.

  His skin warmed when he let himself think about exactly how he did want her to see him.

  ELLY HAD A GREAT TIME at dinner, much more so than she’d even anticipated. Virginia and Judith were adorable in how they tag-teamed to be the Will Jackson fan club. And he was cute because of how embarrassed it made him even though he tried to hide it.

  Wicked smart, a devoted outdoor sports enthusiast, quite frankly gorgeous, and she suspected the kind of man who moved back to Wyoming to help out his widowed mother and aunt despite his claim he wanted to try a small-town practice. Why on earth did his mother and aunt feel they had to market him? Why hadn’t some smart woman snapped him up already?

  The idea of him with another woman didn’t sit well with her, as irrational as that seemed.

  She didn’t realize she was staring at him until he looked up from paying the check and met her eyes. Though she should have broken eye contact, she didn’t. This new Will Jackson fascinated her, had gotten under her skin more quickly than any man ever had.

  “This is just gorgeous,” Virginia said as she admired her framed moose photo again. “Elly, honey, you are a woman of many talents.”

  She shifted her eyes away from Will to his mother. “I’m glad you like it.”

  With dinner finished and long hours ahead the next day, Elly acknowledged the fact that she needed to go home. Though she’d much rather stay here and find out more about Will the man than go home and no doubt have to face Jesse. She sighed inwardly.

  “Much as I hate to leave good company, I need to be getting home.” She shifted and grabbed her purse.

  “It’s about time for all of us to vacate the premises,”

  Virginia said as she scooted her chair back.

  The four of them headed for the door, but Virginia and Judith detoured toward the restroom.

  “You two go on,” Virginia said. “We’ll be out in a bit.”

  Elly wasn’t fooled in the least. She knew attempted matchmaking when she saw it. She chuckled a little as she headed out the door ahead of Will. She didn’t say anything as they walked toward the line of cars at the edge of the parking lot. When they reached hers, she turned and found Will closer than she expected. Her breath caught for a moment before she convinced her lungs to function properly again.

  “Thanks for dinner. And thanks for inviting me.”

  “You’re welcome. Sorry they went on and on.”

  Elly laughed. “They’re sweet. It’s nice to have people who love you enough that they’re willing to sing your praises in embarrassing detail.”

  He gave her a crooked smile, and in the half light of the parking lot she thought she’d never seen a sexier face on a man. He’d be shocked if he knew how much effort it was taking her to keep from stepping forward and kissing him.

  That thought shook her. She broke eye contact and opened the door of her car. “Well, thanks again.”

  He nodded, and she got into the car before she could act on her uncharacteristic impulses. The fact that he watched her drive away didn’t help, making her wonder if he’d been thinking similar thoughts. Had Janie been right about that crush? Could such a thing, if it ever existed, have survived all those years?

  She shook her head as she pulled out onto the street. Will Jackson wasn’t a good idea right now, not when he was in the middle of determining whether she had another brother and what that would mean to her family.

  But the urge to turn around and give in to her impulses dogged her all the way back to the ranch.

  Chapter Four

  Will dreamed about Elly all night after their dinner, then several times again the next night. Sweet dreams where she simply turned and looked at him with a beautiful smile. Dreams where they were riding horseback through the mountains, side by side. And then there were the dreams that left his heart pumping and other parts of him demanding satisfaction.

  He shook his head as he drove toward the Cottonwood Ranch, scolding himself for not being stronger in the face of her temptation. He’d changed so much in his life. Why couldn’t he cure his attraction to her like he had his allergic reactions? If only there was an anti-infatuation pill.

  How was he going to face her and not think about the dreams he’d had the night before? Would his inner dork come out and cause him to turn ten shades of red?

  The entrance to the ranch came into view. He slowed then waited for a dualie pickup hitched to a new trailer to pull out of the ranch road. He waved at the driver and glanced at the truck’s door as it passed. Longstreet Ranch—Billings, Montana. Looked like the Codys had sold a couple more quarter horses.

  Once the ranch road was clear, he made the turn through the large metal gate under the giant arch of elk and deer horns and tried for the millionth time to figure out what he was going to say to Elly when he saw her. If he saw her. There was no guarantee she was even at the ranch, though he certainly hoped so.

  When he arrived at the old homestead, he parked and ran up the front steps. He knocked but no one answered. He’d raised his hand to knock again when he heard the sound of hooves running. Will walked to the end of the porch and looked out across the ranch. No running horses in sight. But then he noticed the big door open at the end of the practice barn.

  He listened closer and realized he recognized the rhythm of hoofbeats as those of a horse rounding barrels. Instead of turning toward the ranch’s main office to see if Jesse was there, he gave in to temptation and headed toward the barn. He used to love to watch her ride, and he doubted that had changed, either. But now he wouldn’t make a fool of himself by breaking out in a fit of sneezing.

  When he entered the barn, he spotted her immediately.

  She stroked the big black horse’s shiny neck as she steered the animal out of the end of the arena. Will watched as she lined the horse up for another go at the barrels. As she kicked the animal into a full-on run, Will held his breath as she flew across the starting line and headed for the first barrel. Despite the fact she’d spent her entire life on a horse, he couldn’t help the moment of fear when he saw her speed, the difference in size between her and the animal she rode. His heart beat hard as she urged the horse tightly around the barrel, her inside boot nearly dragging the ground.

  She rounded the first barrel, giving it a good shave as she remained in total control of her powerful beast. Barrel two danced a little as she circled it, but it stayed upright. As she flew by, she was nothing but a blur of blue denim and green shirt, her braid flying out behind her. She and the mare seemed like one animal as she rounded the last barrel and raced back to the starting gate.

  A glance at the time caused her to whoop. Elly leaned forward and hugged the horse’s neck then guided her into a cooldown walk around the outer edge of the arena.

  Elly had been so much in her own world that she hadn’t noticed him until they were halfway up the side where he stood. When she smiled, his heart leaped for an entirely different reason.<
br />
  “You sure that horse doesn’t have wings?” he asked as he approached the fence circling the practice arena.

  She laughed, a musical sound with a hint of mischief. “Now that might come in handy.”

  The horse sniffed at him, so Will reached over the fence and let the animal smell his hand. “Don’t think you need wings. You were already flying.”

  “I’m going to have to if I want to win in Denver.”

  He looked up at her flushed face, at the wisps of hair that had escaped her braid. “Do you have to win there to get to the Finals?”

  She shrugged. “Depends on how everyone else does, but I want the win to be on the safe side. Not to mention, I have different bets with every one of my brothers that makes winning imperative. If I don’t win, they’ll be impossible to be around.”

  “What kind of bets?”

  “Let’s see. Money, a month of cooking, something totally embarrassing I’m not about to share.”

  He laughed as he reached up and gave her horse an affectionate scratch on her forehead. “What’s her name?”

  “Pepper. I’ve had this pretty girl about four years now, since I had to retire Cranberry.”

  He remembered the roan mare. He’d probably seen Elly astride that horse as much as he’d seen her off it.

  “She’s a powerful animal.”

  “Yeah,” she said as she ran her fingers through Pepper’s coal mane. “Feels like riding a stick of dynamite sometimes, but it’s like we’ve got one brain. She responds so well to my commands, sometimes I swear before I do more than think them.”

  “Are you nervous?” he asked.

  Her forehead scrunched. “About what?”

  “Being this close to the Finals? You’ve worked toward this for so long.”

  A moment of surprise passed across her face before she broke eye contact. “No, not really. Not guaranteeing what I’ll feel like when I get to Denver, but not now. I just focus on practicing really hard.”

  “Your brothers in the hunt this year?”