Read The Cowboy Wins a Bride (The Cowboys of Chance Creek) for Free Online Page B

couples.
    “Where are we going?” She tried to tug free, but he gripped her tighter, probably guessing she wouldn’t make a scene. He nodded at friends and acquaintances as he dragged Claire across the lawn, around the back of the house and toward the stables.
    When she saw their destination, she dug in her heels. “No. No way.”
    “Come on, quit squirming. You’ve been in the barn before.”
    “Not in a hell of a long time.” She pulled him to a stop. “I don’t want to do this. Not now.” She wobbled slightly where she stood. Too much damn champagne.
    “Too bad. You’re going to do it.” Wrapping an arm around her waist, he practically shoved her into the stable, flicking on the light by the door.
    The pungent smell of the horses took her immediately back to the long days of her childhood spent mucking out stalls, oiling saddles, and curry combing manes. Overwhelmed by memories, she looked for Starshine. But no, the mare she’d ridden as a teenager in countless rodeos was long gone, sold by her father when it was clear she wasn’t coming home. Tears pricked her eyes and she forced them back. She missed her horse desperately when she moved to Billings. Cried for her every night for weeks. What had the mare thought when Claire disappeared?
    “Come see,” Jamie said softly, and led her down the center aisle. She heard the mounts shifting in their stalls, saw heads stretch over walls to see who had come to visit. Snuffling for treats. She hardened her heart. No way would she touch any of them.
    Jamie opened a stall at the far end and crooned to the grey quarter-horse within. “This is Storm,” he said, maintaining his soft cadence.
    “She’s beautiful,” Claire heard herself say. She was drawn forward against her will, wanting so badly to run her hand along her glossy coat. Storm turned and looked at her from one long-lashed eye.
    Claire was a goner.
    Later, she barely remembered stepping to the mare, barely remembered stroking her, pressing her cheek to hers, and feeling the acquiescence of the horse, the subtle shift that told Claire this animal would consent to bear her. She breathed in the warm, straw scent of the beast, and something unhitched in her heart, a little give like a crack in a dam. She ignored it, talking to Storm as Jamie saddled her, then took over from him, buckling buckles, tightening straps, her fingers going through the motions as if she’d never left the ranch.
    “Let’s go,” Jamie said, and wonder of wonders, she was in the saddle, riding Storm, her dress bunched up around her thighs, thankful she was wearing her old boots. She followed Jamie, who rode a bay gelding he’d introduced as Walter. Dusk had deepened into night while they were in the stables, but she didn’t care. She knew all the trails around the ranch as well as the streets of Billings. Besides, all she cared about was Storm. The way she paced, the way her muscles shifted under Claire’s own.
    To be back on a horse…
    Jamie headed northwest, past outbuildings, pastures and onto open range, winding through the rolling land for nearly half an hour before he came to a stop. Claire finally took stock of her surroundings and her heart squeezed. Damn it, she should have known.
    “No.”
    “Yes, Claire. You can’t let the past control your life.” He dismounted and turned to face her. “We’ll only stay a moment.”
    After a second, she, too, slid down from her horse and dropped the reins to the ground. Cautiously, she followed Jamie the final few steps to her parents’ gravesite. The Cruz headstones stood plain and matter-of-fact in the desolate ground. There were no trees to shade them, no flowers, no bench. Her mother and father laid to rest together for all eternity.
    “I came to the funeral,” she said.
    “Have you come back to visit their graves since?”
    “No.”
    “Why not?” Jamie moved to her side, but didn’t touch her.
    She shrugged.
    “Are you still angry at her?”
    She thought about