Accidental Mail Order Bride by J. S. Cooper
Chapter Fifteen
“I came here to ride.”I finally pushed Austin away from me, even though my body wanted me to hold him close.
“You can ride.” He winked one of the sexiest winks and looked meaningfully down at his crotch.
“You’re disgusting!” I rolled my eyes at him.
“I bet I’m still better than a psycho ex with ties to the mafia.”
“A gorilla is better than my ex.”
“And I’m better than a gorilla or …?” He gave me a half smile.
“You need to stop flirting with me, Austin.” I crossed my arms. “It’s so inappropriate.”
“Who said I’m flirting with you?” He had a blank expression on his face now.
“You can’t just go around kissing me every time you see me.”
“I don’t go around kissing you every time I see you.”
“Do you go around kissing every woman when you see them?”
“No. Only special ones.” He said “special” in a weird tone, and I poked him in the chest. “You sure love touching me, don’t you, Lucy?” he grinned.
“No.” I press my lips together to stop myself from saying anything else. He started laughing at me. “Are we going to go riding or not?”
“Well, what’s the other option?”
“Huh?”
“What’s my other option? You said, ‘Are we going to go riding or not?’
“Austin Hamilton, I swear—”
“You sound just like my mom.” He laughed as he cut me off. “Come on. Let’s saddle up.”
“Okay.”
He walked to a stall at the end of the stable and grabbed some items. I had no idea what he was doing. “Do you have a riding helmet?” he asked.
“No,” I shook my head.
“Okay. You’ll need one just in case.”
“Okay.” I didn’t ask him just in case what. I wasn’t that dumb. He was worried I’d fall off the horse.
“We’ll have you you use a Western bridal as well and an English saddle.”
“Um, okay.” I had no idea what he was talking about.
“You’ve never been on a horse at all, have you?”
“No,” I looked down feeling super embarrassed. “Though I once road a donkey at a Christmas nativity fair. I played the Virgin Mary.”
“Did you really?” His lips twitched and I knew he wanted to say something else, which would have served me right. I’d walked right into a rude comment with that tidbit of information.
“We’ll ride down to the log cabin. It’s an easy ride and a great view,” he said. I guess he didn’t want to make me feel any more uncomfortable than I already did.
“Awesome. I didn’t know you guys have a log cabin.”
“We have a lot of different buildings on site, actually. We have 7,000 acres here. That’s kind of why dad and Beau are so busy right now.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Some developers want to buy some of our land.” He frowned. “We won’t sell, but we are thinking about developing part of the land for a weekend spa or something like that.”
“Cool. You don’t seem happy about that, though.”
“It is what it is.” He shrugged. “We need more yearly revenue, but I like this being a private oasis for the family.” He looked me up and down. “And our guests, of course.”
“Do you consider me a guest or an interloper?” I half-joked.
“I don’t know yet.” His eyes bore into mine. He looked like he was thinking. “I haven’t made up my mind about you yet, Lucy.” He smiled. “Aside from the fact that you’re definitely a good kisser.”
“How do you think Beau would feel if he knew we’d kissed?” I glared at him.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged and his eyes searched mine. “I guess the bigger question is, do you want him to find out?”
I stared at him, not knowing what to say. Of course I didn’t want Beau to find out … but maybe I did. I didn’t even know.
“Let’s just go riding, Austin,” I said finally.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said in a no-nonsense voice, which made me laugh. “How does it feel?” Austin looked back at me as Sally and I followed behind him on the dirt trail.
“It’s pretty cool.” I couldn’t keep the enthusiasm from pouring out of my voice. I was really enjoying riding. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. “It’s so beautiful here,” I said as I looked around at the green pastures and trees.
“Yeah. That’s the Hamilton Forest to the right. It was named after my great-grandfather.”
“Wow, that’s so cool. Your family must’ve been here for years. The trees are so old and tall.”
“Yeah. They’re firs and pines. Once you’re a better rider, we can go ride through the forest. I’ll take you to Honka Waterfall.”
“That would be cool. I’d love to go and see a waterfall in all its natural glory. The only waterfall I’ve ever seen was Niagara Falls, and that was when I was in high school.”
“Oh, well then, yeah, we’ll definitely have to go,” he said and smiled before facing the front again.
I patted Sally’s neck as I bounced up and down in the saddle, following behind. The ride was gentle, but I had a feeling my thighs would be aching in the morning.
“We’re a few miles from the cabin,” Austin called back. “Why don’t you tell me more about yourself?”
“Like what?”
“Like what makes you tick? Did you have a job before he came here? How’d you end up with someone like Mikey?”
“That’s a lot of questions,” I laughed. “Will you tell me more about you if I tell you about me?”
“Of course,” he said. “That’s only fair.”
“Well, I did have a job, but it wasn’t anything fancy. I worked in a boutique with my best friend, Olivia.”
“Oh, okay. Selling stuff?”
“Yeah. It was a retail job. I mean, that’s not what I wanted to do with my life, but it paid the bills. Kinda.”
“I’m guessing it didn’t pay that well?”
“No, not really.”
“What is it you really wanted to do?”
“Honestly? I always dreamed about being a photographer.”
“A photographer, wow.” He actually looked a little impressed. “Did you bring your camera with you?”
“I did actually.” I didn’t know what else to say. I was kind of embarrassed talking about my photography. I was very much an amateur, but it’s always been my dream to be a professional, though I wasn’t sure how I’d make a living from it.
“Do you do nature, people, weddings, what?”
“To be honest, I’ve not really done much photography, nothing professional, you know? Just a couple of friends, christenings, one wedding. I like to go in the city and take photographs of the different buildings.”
“Well, we don’t have many buildings here, but we do have plenty of nature and landscape and animals.”
“Yeah. I’d love to see some bison and some elk and maybe even some bears.”
“I don’t know that you want to see a bear up close.” He laughed.
“No, I don’t need to see it up close. I have a telephoto lens.”
“Then maybe one day we’ll go out and we’ll take some photos.”
“That would be cool. If you have time, of course.”
“Yeah, I have time. In fact, I like to do a little bit of photography myself.”
“Really?” I was surprised and glad that he couldn’t see my face.
“Yeah. You didn’t expect a cowboy to be into photography?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t really know what to think about cowboys.”
“You’re really new to this life, aren’t you? You had no idea what Montana would be like.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“What made you come here, Lucy?”
“I told you why I came.”
“No, but what really made you come? I mean, I understand you being upset about your mom and the whole Mikey thing, but this is such a big move. There must’ve been something that pushed you.”
“You’re going to laugh at me if I tell you.”
“No, I won’t.”
“Yes, you will. I’d laugh at me.”
“Try me. I promise I won’t laugh.”
“I watched this TV show called Yellowstone. Have you heard of it?”
“Who hasn’t heard of it?” he laughed. “Kevin Costner put Montana on the map with that one.”
“Well, I watched the show and it made me think maybe it wouldn’t be so bad going to Montana.”
“Really?” He sounded surprised. “You watched Yellowstone and you thought, ‘Wow, I’d love to go and be among all that craziness’?”
“It wasn’t just about the drama and the craziness. It was just seeing the space, you know? I’m from the city, and I love the city and I love being around people and I love the hustle and bustle, but I just needed space. I needed space to think, I needed space to be … I just needed space to understand myself.”
“I can understand that,” he said softly, so softly that I could barely hear him. “You know, when I need to think, I just go for a ride down to the log cabin, down to the river, and I’m just here. And for thousands of acres, I’m by myself, aside from the birds and the bees and the bison and the elk and the owls, and I feel that I’m one with God, you know?”
“That’s an amazing feeling.”
“Yeah. Sometimes I need it. I love my family, but they sure are a lot.”
“It must be nice to have a big family, though.”
“I can’t lie. It’s amazing. We’ve all been here for so long now, but sometimes you just need time to breathe … I can understand why you came here to just think.”
“Thank you.”
“I don’t know if Beau is going to be the answer to your prayers, but I guess it’s worth a try, eh?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“And then if it doesn’t work out, you’ve always got me to kiss.” He smiled.
“Well, thank you, Austin. Thank you so much.”