The Cowboy Lassoes a Bride by Kate Pearce (free ebook reader txt) 📕

arm through Sam’s. “I’m up for a challenge. Maybe I’ll move here after all. . . .”

Ignoring the siren scent of coffee drifting out of Yvonne’s café, Sam went to the post office and found out that they hadn’t received any rogue parcels. The woman in the back did promise to let Sam know if anything turned up, which was helpful. Worried, but trying not to show it, Sam went into Daisy’s flower shop, which was next door.

“Hey!” Daisy, who was small and curvy with long brown hair, greeted Sam with a smile. “I hear you were painting the town red last night. I’m sorry I had to work and couldn’t come to your bachelorette party. It sounds like it was a lot of fun.”

“It was fun—until Nate Turner stuck me in the slammer,” Sam said.

Daisy chuckled. “Poor old Nate. He gets all the worst jobs. It’s a good thing he’s such a nice guy.”

“He usually is—except he called HW to come and bail me out,” Sam said gloomily. “You can imagine how that went.”

It was Cam’s turn to laugh. “Yeah, he rescued you from jail, brought you home, helped you shower, and put you to bed. What a big meanie.”

Realizing she wouldn’t win because Cam was right, Sam turned to Daisy. “Did you want me to look at some flowers?”

“Yes! Come in the back and tell me what you think of this arrangement for your bouquet,” Daisy said. “I know you said you didn’t want anything fancy, but I wanted to make sure it would go with the design of your dress.”

Sam winced. “Well, as to that . . .”

She followed Daisy into the rear of the shop. The smell of flowers and greenery settled around her, making her think of a drenched rain forest. Daisy was also making the corsages for her attendants, and Cam was thrilled with hers.

After Daisy promised to have everything up at the ranch early the next morning, Sam took her best friend into Yvonne’s café for a cup of coffee, and possibly something sweet. There was no sign of Yvonne, but Lizzie was busy working the register and making coffee like a pro.

“Is Yvonne here?” Sam asked as she paid for the drinks and Cam’s strawberry tart.

“She’s in the back. Do you want to speak to her?” Lizzie asked. “She’s got a bit of a headache this morning, which she entirely blames on you by the way.”

Glad to hear that someone else was suffering, Sam sat down at the table and sipped her excellent coffee while Lizzie went to speak to the boss. She idly checked her phone as she waited, and Cam did the same.

“Oh, no,” Sam breathed.

“What is it?” Cam looked over at her.

“My dress,” Sam said. “It’s been returned to the shop. It just turned up there as undeliverable.”

“What?”

Yvonne joined the conversation. “What on earth happened?”

Sam continued reading the e-mail. “Apparently, the dress and box were badly damaged in transit, and the address label wasn’t clear, so the barcode wasn’t scannable, and by the time it got to Morgantown, the deliverer didn’t know where to drop it off, so he returned it to the store.”

Sam sat back. “Well, that’s that, then, isn’t it?” For some reason she wanted to cry, which wasn’t like her at all. Maybe the wedding was getting to her. “I’ll have to go with January’s dress.”

Yvonne sat down and took Sam’s hand. “We could drive to one of the bigger towns today, and try and find something there?”

“I doubt I’ll find anything I liked as much as those two dresses.” Sam said. “I looked everywhere before we went to the city. And to be honest, I’m not sure I have the heart to do this all again.” She found a smile somewhere. “It’s fine, really, and you can’t leave your business on a Saturday, Yvonne.”

“But I could take you,” Cam insisted, her brown gaze serious. “Just tell me where to go, and I’ll get you there.”

“It’s okay.” Sam met her friend’s worried gaze. “It’s just a white dress. No one is going to remember what it looks like anyway. Do you want to come up to the ranch with me so I can check out how everything’s going, and make sure January’s dress is going to work for me?”

“Of course I’ll come with you.” Cam nodded. Yvonne still looked worried as she rose to her feet.

“And don’t tell HW about this, okay?” Sam finished her coffee. “He’ll just want to fix everything for me, and I don’t want him worrying about anything.”

Yvonne didn’t look convinced as she went back into her kitchen, but Sam knew her friend wouldn’t say anything. HW was way too worried that she wouldn’t turn up. She didn’t need to give him anything else to fret about.

* * *

HW came out of the ranch house and went down the steps to greet Sam and Cam as they got out of Sam’s truck.

“Hey.” HW smiled at his beloved and her best friend. “Isn’t it unlucky for you to see me?”

Sam frowned. “Is it?” She kissed his cheek and gave him a bright smile. “Then maybe you’d better go away.”

“I’m not going anywhere.” HW kissed her back. There was something up, but he wasn’t going to mention anything yet. He’d learned with Sam that sometimes the less said the better because at some point she usually blurted it out all by herself.

“Everything okay?” HW asked casually as he held the screen door open for her and Cam to go past him.

“Yes! Everything’s great!” Sam said, avoiding his gaze, which really set his alarm bells ringing. “Is January around?”

“She’s upstairs with the baby. She said to tell you to go on up when you arrived.” He leaned against the doorframe as she and Cam took off their boots and coats and hung them in the mudroom. “You sure everything’s good?”

He caught the glance between the two friends and silently groaned.

“Everything is great!” Sam said enthusiastically. “Can you tell Avery I’ll be over to speak to