Cattleman's Courtship

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Trista flapped her hand, as if erasing the question. “Nothing. I’m just babbling.”

“You can stop babbling. I will do all that is in my power to be the best maid of honor ever.” Cara couldn’t stop a quick glance at the clock, figuring she could spare Trista a few more minutes. After all, they had a wedding to plan.

“What’s the first thing you need my help on?” Cara asked.

“Lorne and I decided we wanted an outdoor wedding so tomorrow night we’re checking a place out.”

“An outdoor wedding.” Cara sighed, thinking of the plans she had made. Her plan had also been an outdoor wedding on a hill overlooking the mountains on Nicholas’s ranch. “Where did you have in mind?”

Trista gave her hair another twirl. When she looked down, avoiding her gaze, a trickle of premonition chilled Cara’s neck.

“Nicholas said we could get married at the ranch.”

Her words fell like stones. No. She couldn’t plan someone else’s wedding at Nicholas’s ranch.

“And one other thing,” Trista said, clearing her throat. “Lorne asked Nicholas to be his best man.”

“Trista—”

“It’s not a setup,” Trista rushed to say. “Honestly. I knew you wouldn’t be crazy about the idea and you can turn me down if you want, but I really, really could use your help and I want you to be my bridesmaid. Though you’ve been gone for a while, you’re still my best friend. You’re the only one who gets me.” Trista sighed. “And you know how my mother is when she’s flustered. She’s no help at all and of all my high-school friends, you’re the only one I stay in touch with and the only one who is organized enough to help me out.”

Cara held Trista’s earnest gaze while her practical nature fought with her rising emotions.

Trista had been her dearest friend since she moved to Cochrane. All through college and vet school, Trista was the only one Cara kept in contact with. It was Trista who had listened to her long-distance sorrow when Cara ran away from Nicholas.

If her friend wanted her help, then Cara knew she had to get past her own problems and do this.

“Okay. I’ll be there.”

“Tomorrow night. Eight o’clock. We’re meeting at the ranch.” Trista got up then gave Cara a hug. “I know this could be awkward, but hey, it’s been three years and you’re moving on, right? Like you told me?”

Cara nodded her agreement. She had to make Trista believe what she had told her all along. She was well and truly over Nicholas. “Of course I am. It will be fine.”

But as she waved goodbye, her mind slipped back to that moment in the hospital when Nicholas had stood at her side at her uncle’s bed.

Fine was too small a word to cover the emotions that could still grab her. She’d tried praying, but it was as if God, as He had before, didn’t listen. Or didn’t care.

You’ve got to take care of yourself, her mother’s voice mocked her.

And you’ve got to guard your heart, her own memories told her.

Chapter Four

He’s built a new shed, Cara thought as she took inventory of the main yard of Nicholas’s ranch. And torn down the old one. The barn had gotten a new coat of paint and the fences of the corrals were painted, as well.

A faint breeze moved across the yard and Cara wrapped her thin sweater around her. Cara and her aunt had gone to the hospital to visit her uncle and as they were heading home Cara finally mentioned where she was going afterward.

She’d seen the questions in her aunt’s eyes, but thankfully Aunt Lori said nothing.

Cara walked farther, her eyes moving from the buildings to the fields and pastures. The land, broken by swaths of evergreens, flowed upward to the blue-gray mountains with their jagged, snow-covered peaks guarding the ranch.

She’d seen the place for the first time when her uncle came here to do a Cesarean on one of Nicholas’s purebred cows. Cara came to assist and learn what she could. Uncle Alan had walked briskly toward the barn, a man intent on his work while she had dragged her feet, unable to look away from the craggy peaks capped with snow. She had wondered what it would be like to wake up every morning and see this breathtaking view.

And for a little while, when she and Nicholas were serious, the wondering moved toward reality.

Don’t venture down that path, she reminded herself, pulling her thoughts back to the job at hand. Stay in the present, the now.

Cara glanced around the yard, dismayed to see that neither Trista nor Lorne had arrived.

She walked around the wooden fences of the corral, to see better, and as she did, the sound of hoofbeats caught her attention.

She looked toward the noise.

And her heart did a slow somersault.

A horse and rider moved toward her. Nicholas and Two Bits, she thought, recognizing the distinct blaze on the horse’s dun face.

Nicholas had his cowboy hat pulled low over his face and he looked toward the mountains, as well, away from Cara. He held the reins loosely, moving easily with the chestnut horse as it cantered toward the corrals. Dust covered Nicholas’s faded blue jeans. The tan shirt, with its cuffs rolled up, was also caked with dust.

Nicholas pulled Two Bits up short, then, with a subtle movement of his hands on the reins, turned his horse toward her. As horse and rider came near, Cara steeled herself. Seeing Nicholas on the horse, in his natural environment, resurrected a wave of nostalgia and unwelcome emotions.

Two Bits whinnied and Nicholas glanced up, a quick movement of his head.

In that moment, their eyes met and Cara felt it again.

That connection she thought she’d moved beyond. The attraction she thought she’d pushed aside.

“So, what brings you here?” he asked, pulling up beside her, curiosity edging his voice.

Had she come on the wrong day? Had she misunderstood?

“You come to check on Duke?” he continued.

“How is he?” she asked, seizing on the question as she tried to get her bearings.

“Good. I have to give him another shot tomorrow.” Nicholas seemed to sense her puzzlement as he pushed his hat farther back on his head. “But you didn’t come for Duke, did you?”

“Trista said we were meeting here to talk about the wedding. Her and Lorne’s wedding, that is.” Cara clamped her mouth shut, angry at the flush staining her cheeks. She took a step back so she wouldn’t have to crane her neck to look up at him.

Nicholas frowned, then, in one fluid motion, got off the horse. He pulled his hat off and hit it against his pants, releasing a cloud of dust. “Today?”

“That’s what I understood.” She was fairly sure she hadn’t gotten the date wrong. Yesterday Trista had called her twice to confirm.

He ran his hand through his thick, dark hair, as if trying to dredge up the memory, his gray eyes looking confused. “I forgot completely about it.”

Cara watched his hands, then swallowed, forcing herself not to take another step back.

“They’re not here yet,” Cara said, “but I’m pretty sure we had agreed to meet here today.”

“And you came because you’re the maid of honor,” Nicholas said, a faint edge to his voice.

The hairs on the back of her neck rose up at his tone. “I hope that’s not a problem?”

Nicholas shot her a frown. “Not unless it is for you.”

“It’s been three years. Long enough to have moved on,” she said, thankful she sounded so casual and in control.

“And you have,” Nicholas added.

His comment made it sound as if she had caused the breakup.

However, she could be an adult about this. She was only around for a while and then moving on.

“Looks like you’ve been busy with some improvements to the ranch,” she said, striving for an airy tone of interest.

“Dad and I did a bunch of painting last time I was home. I’ll have enough money to do some reno on the house when I come back from my next job.”

Next job. A good reminder to Cara about where his priorities lay.

The growl of a diesel truck broke into the moment and with relief Cara looked around to see Trista clambering out of Lorne’s truck.

“Hey there,” she called, waving as she strode toward them. “Sorry we’re late. Lorne had a flat tire on the way here.”

Lorne, a tall, slender young man, his baseball cap shoved over dark hair, followed Trista, his walk an easygoing lope.

“Hey, bud,” Lorne said, sending a grin Nicholas’s way. “Were you out riding?”

Then before Nicholas could answer, Trista heaved a heavy sigh. “Don’t tell me. You forgot.”

Nicholas’s gaze flicked from Trista to Lorne then back to Cara. “I did. Sorry.”

“Honestly, Nicholas. How many messages do I have to send you?” Trista complained.

“I was out riding fences the past couple of days.”

“I told your dad.”

“I got the message. I just forgot. Sorry.” Nicholas slapped his hat against his ripped pants, releasing an other cloud of dust. “Give me twenty minutes.”

“I’ll put Two Bits away for you,” Lorne said, taking the reins of the horse from his friend as he shot a frown at his friend. “You might want to rethink the wardrobe.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be right back.”

Trista shook her head as she watched Nicholas jog toward the farmhouse. “That guy never changes. This ranch is his everything, that’s for sure.”

Which was something Cara had to keep in mind if she wanted to keep her heart whole.

Ten minutes later, Two Bits was rolling on his back in the pasture with the other horses, looking ungainly and undignified but happy. Cara laughed at the sight.

Then Nicholas joined them, shoving the tails of his plaid shirt into his blue jeans.

“Sorry. Again,” he said, pushing his still-damp hair away from his face. A fan of pale lines radiated from his eyes, which were steel gray against his already tan skin. The eyes of a man used to squinting at the sun, looking out over pastures and hills.

“I know I forgot all about today, but I thought about the wedding and I had a few places in mind for the ceremony,” Nicholas said, dropping a clean hat on his head. “One of them is close by, the other we’d have to drive to.”

“Let’s check the close one first,” Trista said, pulling out a digital camera.

“It’s over here. Past the barn and down the hill a bit.”