Page 1 of Boston (Coral Canyon: Cowboys #12)

CHAPTER

ONE

B oston Simpson couldn’t wait to get back to his apartment, even though it was only a studio, and loosen this tie. Abandon it in favor of a T-shirt and his pair of cowboy boots, so he could go horseback riding in this glorious summer sunshine.

“Have you met her yet?”

Boston looked up from the digital checklist for an upcoming wedding at the Silver Sage Mountain Lodge and Resort. He’d been working here for four months now, after stepping in to help with several issues during Harry and Belle’s wedding and getting noticed by the customer service manager.

“Not yet,” he said to Julie, the woman who did his job when he wasn’t at the lodge. They worked well together, and Julie was always willing to coordinate with Boston to trade shifts. They had each other’s backs with their boss too—a woman named Mae Silver.

This lodge had been in her family for three generations, and it hadn’t taken much to woo Boston away from his job in Jackson Hole. Silver Sage paid better, had better hours, and was far closer to where Boston really wanted to live: Coral Canyon.

He missed Cash, but his cousin trained for the rodeo relentlessly. If he wasn’t at the gym, he was at the arena, training with his coach. And if he wasn’t there, he’d be working with his horse.

Boston had enjoyed living with his cousin, and they still texted every single day. He’d gotten up and gone to church with Cash, and the two of them had helped each other stay strong—and sane—without the support and strength of their families.

He looked at the list in front of him, and he typed in today’s date for the follow-up email for the facility rental, though he hadn’t sent it yet.

He currently managed the wedding details for Adam and Joey, Boston’s cousin. He’d specifically asked to have this wedding, though he’d never done one before.

Joey and Adam had booked the lodge and grounds for their wedding in September, though they weren’t renting the whole she-bang the way Harry had done.

Of course, Adam wasn’t a mega-country music star celebrity who needed to keep his nuptials off the Internet. Joey wanted something nice that she didn’t have to think too much about, and that fit Silver Sage to a T.

In fact, Boston had been tasked to think through and coordinate all the details—and he loved it.

Joey and Adam , he typed out on the laptop he’d been assigned. You are ninety days from your event, and we can’t wait to have you at the Silver Sage Mountain Lodge and Resort for your wedding!

At this time, most couples book a slot on the grounds for their engagement pictures or bridal photos, and with summer here in Wyoming, it’s a great time to pose for the perfect picture for your event.

We have a list of professional photographers we can provide for you, should you desire that, and if you’d like to book a photo shoot at Silver Sage, in one of our beautiful gardens, the orchard, or the gorgeous National Forest, please click this calendar and choose the time that works best for you.

Boston pasted in the link for the photography calendar, and quickly typed out the rest of the email about the costs, and what facilities would be available on picture day.

I’ll be following up next month to make sure we have your final menu solidified and we’ll schedule a walk-through with a mock-up of your event then too, to ensure we have time to make any changes you want to make your special day absolutely spectacular.

He typed his name and sent the email he’d said he’d already sent, and leaned back in his chair.

He glanced over to Julie, who’d buried herself in her computer too. “Have you met the new boss yet?”

Julie looked away from her work instantly. “I saw her come in, yes.” Her bright blue eyes shone with all the tea, but she didn’t spill it.

Boston grinned at her. “And? Don’t hold back.”

“She was wearing stilettos,” Julie whispered the last word like it was dirty. “And skin-tight jeans, and a tank top that looked like it had been made of feathers and clouds.”

Boston grinned and grinned, reaching up and stretching his arms high above his head. “So she’s a total city girl.”

As suspected.

To Boston, it wasn’t a suspicion. Mae’s oldest daughter had moved to and had been living in Miami for the past decade, and what Boston spent his time speculating about was whether Cora would know what she was doing.

Her mother had told the staff here at Silver Sage that Cora had been running a hotel in Miami, and she’d know how to manage all the pieces of the lodge.

Boston wasn’t so sure about that, because Silver Sage was a hotel, yes.

But that was only part of what the lodge was.

They hosted several events every month, and they led outdoor wilderness camps and expeditions.

They had acres and acres of grounds that had to be maintained, and nothing he could even imagine in Miami looked like the sprawling, wooded facility that was Silver Sage.

They had three separate gardens, one of which held seventeen sculptures done by a local artist in Rusk, and a beautiful apple orchard, though they sat a bit too far north to grow as many as the orchards that lined the highway that ran from Coral Canyon to Dog Valley.

“She carried a huge bag too,” Julie said. “Like, as a purse, and she had three people helping her with her luggage.”

“You would too, if you’d moved here from Florida.

” He didn’t know anything about the Silvers, as Mae had two daughters—twins—and they were several years older than Boston.

They also hailed from Rusk, a tiny community about an hour north of downtown Coral Canyon, with this land about ten minutes from both Rusk and Dog Valley.

“Hey, did you still want to meet Ottie?” Julie asked, and Boston sighed heavily.

“I don’t know,” he said. “You’ve set me up with three women now, and I’m starting to think you don’t know me at all.”

“Hey.” She nudged him with her elbow. “I know you, and Ottie’s fun.”

“You said that about LucyAnn too,” he said. “And she took one look at me and immediately made up an upset stomach.” He chuckled, though that had not been a fun night.

“I think I’m going to pass on any more blind dates,” he said. “There’s got to be a way to meet women in other ways, right?”

“Sure,” Julie said.

“How did you meet Calder?” he asked.

She grinned at him mischievously. “My sister set me up with him…on a blind date.” She laughed, and Boston joined her, though he shook his head.

He groaned as he stood up. “Well, I have to go ride the Wicker Road Trail for that group I’m taking out tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Julie went back to her computer. “Walk real slow past Mae’s office, and text me if you catch sight of her.” She made Cora Silver sound like a zoo animal, and Boston didn’t go down the hall toward Mae’s office at all.

He turned in the other direction and headed to the staff living quarters—a nice, two-story building that sat out of the way, out of sight of the guests, where he had a one-bedroom, one-bath unit on the second floor.

The sunshine outside helped Boston breathe a little easier, and he really loved the mix of his job from inside, desk work to outside, get-dirty work.

He walked along the immaculately kept gravel road, moving past the guest lodges and cabins, listening to the sky be blue and the wind whisper through the pine trees. Around the corner and past the tall Ponderosa pines waited the staff quarters.

Boston sighed and smiled just seeing the building, and he couldn’t wait to get to the stables, which waited with the horses on the other side of the road.

He stepped into the air conditioning of his little space, relaxing and settling into the peace that always came with going home. As he unknotted his tie, he pulled out his phone.

I’m riding the trail for tomorrow’s group , he sent to the stable manager, a man named Cotton. Who should I saddle for that?

He stepped out of his slacks and stuffy shirt and into his regular cowboy clothes. He hung his dress hat on a hook and picked up the cowboy hat he wore when riding or working outside.

He sprayed sunscreen on his arms, so he could tell his momma he had, and he grabbed a bottle of water and started drinking it on the way over to the stables.

I’m at the stable , Cotton said. I can go over tomorrow with you. The group is one of our Gold Status Groups, and I don’t think you’ve worked with them before.

Boston’s pulse bumped a little harder, and he wondered why he’d been assigned to this ride with a group who surely someone else had worked with.

He found Cotton driving a wheelbarrow toward their compost pile, and he joined him with a, “Howdy, Cotton.”

The older man smiled. Cotton was nearing forty, and he was one of the strongest, kindest men Boston had ever met. “Howdy, Boston.” He dumped the straw and waste he’d cleaned out of a stall and reached to shake Boston’s hand.

“Who do we have tomorrow?” he asked, needing this pit in the bottom of his stomach to be filled.

Cotton cut a look over to him. “The Silvers.”

The hole fell out of his gut, and Boston sucked in a breath to fill it. “I’m gonna need the day off.”

Cotton laughed, but Boston wasn’t kidding. “You’ll be fine with them. Mae’s riding, with her daddy and her daughters.”

“Is it some sort of test?” he asked, wondering if it was for him—or for Cora, who’d been called home to run the lodge reluctantly.

Boston didn’t want to make judgments on the woman, because he wouldn’t like it if someone came to learn about him through rumors and a single staff meeting where his daddy gave the highlights of his life.

His mother had taught him not to gossip, that doing so was like dipping his hand in tar and then trying to change a pillowcase without getting it dirty.

Impossible.

She’d told him that gossip and rumors didn’t serve anyone but their own ego, that they made him soiled in his soul, and Boston had tried to keep his hands clean as much as possible.

“Have you met Cora?” he asked.

“Sure,” Cotton said easily, but everything he did came out easy and calm. “I’ve got a list of horses for you to have ready. She likes Marigold.”

“Oh, I love that horse,” Boston said. “Goldie is really calm.”

So it wouldn’t matter that Cora hadn’t been home in a year and hadn’t ridden the horse in probably longer. Any of the horses here were used to strangers riding them once and never meeting them again, but when Cotton asked, “Who do you want?” Boston cocked his eyebrows.

“I can have anyone I want?”

“Anyone but Two Wolves,” Cotton said. “He did a ride this morning, but everyone else has been grazing and getting fat.” He threw Boston a grin. “So yeah, choose anyone you want.”

“Coach,” Boston said without hesitation. He loved the pretty bay with a gentle-giant spirit.

“Coach is yours,” Cotton said as he moved over to the wall and lifted a clipboard off the nail there. “Your paper is here for the other horse assignments. Darren will need the stool, and Mae wants you to bring water and snacks and be ready to do a campfire and make lunch.”

Cotton handed him the paper. “Everything you need is here, and the chefs know. They’re expecting you in the morning.”

Surprise streamed through Boston, because he’d never done that on the Wicker Road Trail either. But he simply said, “Okay,” and looked at the paper. On the back, a map had been included, and the spot for the campfire clearly marked.

“Thanks,” he said to Cotton, and then he went to saddle his horse.

As he set out, everything inside him relaxed and soft now, Boston started thinking through where and how he could meet someone he might find interesting enough to date. He lived and worked full-time here, and he spent his free time driving down to Coral Canyon for family event upon family event.

Birthday parties, cousin nights, get-togethers for coffee and dinner and dessert. The Young family was huge, and Boston wanted to maintain and keep building those relationships.

It was the whole reason he’d snapped up this job closer to home.

But as he tipped his head back and drank in the blue, blue sky, he prayed, “It would be nice to meet someone special, though, Lord. So guide my feet to that, if it be Thy will.”