Her Lone Cowboy

Read Her Lone Cowboy for Free Online

Book: Read Her Lone Cowboy for Free Online
Authors: Donna Alward
impossible for anyone to be sorry for you.”
    “Good.” With a cluck, he started toward the barn and the veterinary area at the front.
    She trotted after him. “Maybe it’s my way of saying thank you.”
    He kept walking. “Thanks for what?”
    Oh, he was infuriating! Why couldn’t he just accept her help without needing to know the reason? A reason she didn’t quite grasp herself. Was he right? Did she need a pet project? She remembered Jen’s words—how she was good at looking after everyone. And for one sad moment she considered that Jen might be right.
    Doing for others kept her from looking too closely at how lonely her own life was. And damn him for making her remember it. She searched her mind for a plausible reason she could give him. One that perhaps also held some truth.
    “For serving your country.”
    He smiled that tight-lipped smile again. “Right. Well, don’t bother. It happens. We were all pinned down during an insurgent attack. I was just the unlucky one that got hit.”
    That raised more questions than answers, but Lily knew topry further would get her nowhere. “You don’t think what you did was extraordinary?”
    He halted, dust rising in puffs from the tracks of his boots. “You know what I think, Lily? I think you’re so determined because you’re bored. This is farming area. Summer’s a crazy time. And here’s poor Lily with nothing to do, so she makes wounded Noah Laramie her course for extra credit.”
    The way he spoke made her blood boil, partly because of the insolence behind it and partly because she already knew it was just a little bit true.
    “You want to know the one thing I learned when I moved to Larch Valley? People help each other. It was an amazing concept to learn. When someone needs a hand, it’s there. How on earth do you think your brother got the Rescue Ranch started? I helped Jen then, too, and with renovating the bakery. Now if it makes you feel better to pay me, by all means. I certainly wouldn’t want to wound your male pride.”
    Noah started walking again, the horse trudging along behind, unconcerned with the arguing going on. “Ouch.”
    “It’s more than that, Noah. Has it occurred to you that you need to get fitted for a tuxedo? Shoes? That you have duties as a best man? What about a bachelor party? Have you thought about that?”
    She stood back with a satisfied smile at the blank expression on his face. “Ah, so you haven’t. Tell me, do I strike you as the kind of woman who wants her escort to show up in jeans and boots?”
    His nostrils started to flare. Well, good. Noah was pretty transparent, whether he thought so or not, and she seemed to get her own way best when she stood up to him. “Moreover, do you think Jen and Andrew want that, either?”
    “Andrew said he’s just pleased I’m home to see it.”
    “Yes, and Jen is planning her wedding. Her one-and-only wedding, Noah. Do you know what a wedding means to a woman?”
    “Everything.”
    Her stomach quivered. “Yes, everything,” she breathed, remembering the dress hanging in her closet. She’d never had the heart to get rid of it. “A woman wants her wedding day to be her fairy tale. All her dreams come true.” She wanted to help give that to Jen. The kind of wedding that Lily had never had. One with a happy ending. Proof that it could happen.
    “Is that why you didn’t say more at dinner the other night?” He angled his head, looking at her curiously. “Because I saw your reaction when the wedding talk started, remember? Why is that?”
    Lily squinted against the sun as she looked up at him. How did the conversation suddenly get turned around so that the spotlight was on her? “Jen is my friend. I would do anything for her. Even stand here and argue with your stubborn head. I consider it part of my maid of honor duties.”
    “I warn you, Lily. I’m not pleasant to be around.”
    “Tell me something I don’t already know,” she challenged.
    “I mean it,

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