The Cowboy Takes a Bride (22 page)

An urgent, uncontrollable command filled his head.
Go get her. Claim her.

Joe snorted, tugged on Miracle’s reins, and galloped after Turpin’s pickup. Mariah had no clue what she was getting into. Lee Turpin was as slick as a used car salesman, with a reputation for charming the panties off young women.

Um, once upon a time, you had the same reputation
.

Yeah, but that was a long time ago. Before Becca. Before he’d settled down.

By the time Joe reached Mariah’s place, Turpin was already out of his truck, up on the porch, talking to Mariah. His hound dog eyes hooked on her breasts. Joe fought off an overwhelming urge to sock him in the jaw.

“Joe.” Mariah raised a hand. “Hi, hello, good morning.”

Was it his imagination, or was she thankful to see him? Feeling edgy, he reined Miracle in beside the porch. “Morning, Mariah. What’s up?”

Turpin leveled him a cold stare. Joe returned it full volley.

“I called Cutter Construction and, um . . . Lee showed up.”

He could tell by the way she said it and her body language—hands folded across her chest, shoulders tilted away from Turpin—that she hadn’t known Cutter Construction was owned by Turpin’s father or that Lee worked for him as a contractor. Relief snuffed out Joe’s jealousy. She wasn’t dating Turpin. In fact, she didn’t even like the man.

“You need help buildin’ something?” Joe drawled, trying to act casual.

“I’m interesting in having a cowboy wedding chapel built along the property line between my place and yours.” She waved a hand, indicating the area. “That spot’s got the best road access.”

“A cowboy wedding chapel?” he repeated like a lunkhead.

“I can’t really host cowboy weddings without a cowboy wedding chapel, now can I?”

That statement gave him pause. “Wait a minute. You’ve decided to stay in Jubilee?”

“You said it yourself. You can’t afford to buy me out and the real estate market is in a slump. But you know what’s not in a slump?” Her brown eyes sparkled with excitement.

“Weddings?”

“Exactly. Did you know the filings for marriage licenses are up ten percent in Parker County?”

“I did not.”

“It’s true.” She nodded.

Joe tipped his cowboy hat. So she was here to stay? He wanted to believe it, but he didn’t see it. She didn’t belong here. Not in the long run. Not this intelligent, well-dressed, smart-as-a-whip city woman. “Running your own business isn’t easy,” he cautioned.

“Don’t listen to him,” Turpin said. “He’s just trying to scare you off.”

“Who asked you?” Joe glowered, wondering why he was discouraging her. Dutch would have loved the idea of Mariah making Jubilee her home.

“Mr. Turpin, your estimate is too high,” Mariah said to Lee. “I appreciate you coming all the way out here, but I think I’m going to have to go with a more economical plan.”

“I could go lower,” Turpin stroked his gaze down her body. “For
you.
”

The sexual innuendo in the other man’s tone had Joe’s hands springing into fists again.

“How much lower?” she asked, tightening her arms under her chest.

Turpin’s stare hung to the smooth curve of her breasts covered in a bright red sweater. “What are you willing to pay?”

“You’re not honestly considering hiring him,” Joe interjected.

“I need this done on a shoestring budget.” Mariah shrugged. “If Lee can help me . . .”

“I can do that,” Turpin said.

Joe drew in a slow breath. He wanted her to stay. One look at those soft lips, and messy desire rolled through him sizzling hot, molten fried. “You’re serious about this?”

Mariah’s chin notched up. “Yes, yes, I am. I’ve always been the kind of woman to bloom where I’m planted. I ended up here, it’s time for me to blossom.”

He liked her philosophy, even if he didn’t like the way she was going about it. He felt torn in two directions. Part of him ached for her to stay, but another part of him was scared as hell that she’d be the ruin of him. “You’re going to have people traipsing through my property all hours of the day and night consulting about wedding plans, disrupting my horses,” he grumbled, his contrariness fretting him.

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that,” she said. “I want to build a real road out here so my clients don’t have to bump through your cow pasture to get here.”

“You want to pave my land?”

“Not your land,” she corrected. “The easement.”

“He’s just pissy because things have changed,” Turpin said. “Joe doesn’t handle change well. Now about that price—”

“Shut up, Turpin. This is between me and Miss Callahan.” Joe muttered, his gaze pinning Mariah to the spot.

She notched her chin upward, clearly not going to back down, but her tongue flicked out to touch her top lip with uncertainty. She had a right to pave the easement for improved access to her place, but he wasn’t about to admit that. “I can do it without your permission.”

Joe glared, at a disadvantage. What was wrong with him?

Turpin moved a few steps toward Mariah, met Joe’s eyes with a taunting dare.

Don’t rise to the bait.

Turpin leaned in closer. So close that he was almost touching her. Aligning himself with her, and Joe knew Lee had nothing good on his mind.

She looked so tiny standing beside him and yet so fierce. Life could run her down. People could betray her. And still, she’d fight. But she looked so vulnerable that he felt his heart melt into a puddle of chocolate. He could no more hurt her than he could hurt a kitten abandoned on the roadside.

“I’ll do it,” Joe said. “Me and my ranch hands, we’ll build your chapel for free.”

M
ariah floated into Jubilee, an indelible smile on her lips. Joe had offered to build the chapel for free. She knew it was partially due to Lee Turpin standing on her front porch, but part of her hoped it was because he wanted an excuse to be around her. She’d seen the way he looked at her. Knew the way he made her feel.

It was both scary and exhilarating.

But now she’d made a commitment to stay in Jubilee, and while Joe might be offering his labor up for free, she still had to pay for supplies, and that wouldn’t come cheap. Plus the road needed to be paved and the horse barn transformed into a venue for wedding receptions. So she’d made an appointment with a banker at the First Horseman’s Bank of Jubilee. She planned on putting the property up for collateral.

Her own wedding planning business.

Mariah’s pulse quickened at the thought. She’d always wanted to do this, but she’d been too comfortable working for Destiny. For the first time, she considered that getting fired had been a blessing. That gave her a shivery feeling of fate.

Now, she was positively euphoric. Joe was going to help. Her dream was within her grasp. She walked into the bank, marveling at the smell of money, at the gleam of the golden fixtures, at the slow, lazy turn of the overhead ceiling fan, at the photographs of horses on the wall. In her mind’s eye, she could see the chapel filled with wedding guests, a cowboy groom and cowgirl bride exchanging vows.

It felt good. It felt real. It felt right.

The receptionist greeted her, told her to take a seat, and gave her a loan form to fill out. A few minutes later, she called Mariah in to meet with one of the loan officers.

“Come on in, Ms. Callahan.” The woman behind the cherrywood desk waved her inside. She had a thick mane of black hair with a ruler-wide stripe of pure white surfing the right side of her midpart, making her head look a bit like a lopsided skunk. “I’m Nancy Hickok. Yes.” She laughed. “I’m distant kin to Wild Bill.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“You’re Dutch Callahan’s daughter.”

“I am.”

“I’m so sorry to hear of his passing. Dutch was quite the character.”

“Thank you.”

“Please take a seat.”

Mariah sat.

“May I?” Nancy held out her hand for the loan form.

Mariah passed it over to her, suddenly feeling nervous and self-delusional.

Nancy studied the form for a long moment. “You’re employed as a waitress at the Silver Horseshoe.”

“I am.”

“You’ve been working there for less than two weeks.”

“I have.”

Ms. Hickok frowned. “You want to start a wedding planning business.”

“I do.”

“Do you have a business plan?”

“Yes.” She reached in her purse and drew it out. She’d written up the business plan the night before.

“Very good.” A smile replaced Hickok’s frown. She read the plan. “Oh, this is excellent. You have experience in the field of wedding planning.”

“I worked for the best wedding planner in Chicago, Destiny Simon.”

Hickok blinked at her; a few strands of the white streak broke loose from the pack and trailed across her eyebrow. “If you worked for the best, then why did you leave?”

Hot seat question. Mariah rubbed her palms against her thighs.
Great, show her just how nervous you are.
How best to answer? “I . . . um . . .” She cleared her throat, scrambling for a good response. Briefly, Mariah closed her eyes. She was sunk. “I was fired,” she admitted, her earlier euphoria gone like air from a balloon.

“I see.”

“Will that affect my ability to get a loan?”

“No.”

Mariah let out a pent-up breath.

“But I simply can’t give you a hundred thousand dollars.”

“I’m putting the cabin up for collateral.”

Nancy’s laugh rolled off the office wall. “Dutch’s cabin?”

“Yes.”

“Honey, that thing is termite-riddled and falling in, and that paltry land isn’t worth much either.”

“How much could I get?”

“Ten thousand tops.”

Poof! There went her dreams. That’s what she got for getting her hopes up.

“There’s nothing else I could do? What if I throw in Dutch’s truck too?”

“I’m afraid not.”

“I have no recourse at all?”

Nancy settled back in her chair, stroked her pencil between her two fingers. “Have an upstanding member of the community cosign the loan for you and maybe I could go fifty thousand.”

O
kay, all right, this was the universe’s way of telling her that she wasn’t supposed to stay in Jubilee and start a wedding planning business. Ultimately, this wasn’t what she really wanted anyway. Planning cowboy weddings. She belonged in the city. Everything was settled. Joe planned on buying the land back from her and she could let him off the hook about building the wedding chapel on her property. The man had enough on his plate getting ready for the upcoming Triple Crown Futurity without adding her to the mix. Besides, she knew he only agreed to do it to keep Lee Turpin from coming around.

Yes, it was a sign. Wait things out. Pursue her dream later. It made the most sense. If it made the most sense, then why did she feel so disappointed?

She started Dutch’s truck, planning on heading back to Stone Creek, when her cell phone rang. “Hello?”

“What are you doing right now?” Clover asked.

“Nothing.”

“Great, could you come by the bar? I’ve got something I need to show you.”

“What is it?”

“Just swing by,” Clover said, and then hung up the phone.

The bar didn’t open until five
P.M.
so Mariah wasn’t expecting to see a conglomeration of vehicles in the parking lot. Her curiosity piqued, she parked, got out, and went inside.

“Surprise!” chorused a dozen voices.

Mariah startled. Blinked at the people assembled. A banner strung over the bar said: “Welcome to Jubilee, Mariah.” “What is this?”

“It’s a surprise party, welcoming you into the fold.” Clover grinned and gave her a hug. “You’re part of our community now and we were hoping you’d join the Jubilee Cutters Co-op. Let me introduce you to some of our members.”

With a hand around Mariah’s waist like she was family, Clover guided her around the room, introducing her to everyone. A lot of them she’d met waiting tables at the bar, and effervescent Prissy, she already knew.

“I’m so happy you decided to stay here and build a cowboy wedding chapel I could bust.” Prissy hugged her hard. “You won’t regret it.”

“How did you find out about that?” Mariah asked.

“It’s Jubilee. It’s hard to keep a secret around here. And FYI, Lee Turpin is a huge gossip.”

“Thanks for the heads-up.” Yeah, so much for that. She’d be gone soon enough now that the loan had fallen through.

Someone pressed a glass of punch into her hand. Someone else herded her toward the hors d’oeuvres. The entire group was bubbling about the upcoming futurity and the chances of Joe’s Miracle winning it. Most felt confident he was going to beat Lee Turpin and Dancer.