Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
“Yes,” Charley answered, sounding stoic even to herself. “My mother.”
“Let’s head on over to the Lodge and celebrate Triple C Ranch-South finding its rightful owner with supper,” Cash suggested and led the way outside.
Turning on the porch light, when they’d exited, he locked the door and handed Charley two keys.
“It’s all yours,” he told her, just before his cell signaled a text.
“Tracy says the special tonight is slow-cooked roast beef and mashed potatoes covered in homemade gravy with fresh-snapped green beans and strawberry shortcake.”
“My kind of supper,” Sully said as he untethered Storm from the hitching post.
“Sounds so much better than the fast food and frozen dinners I’m used to,” Charley said, holding the key to her heart. If Cash were any indication, the Coopers must be onboard with her inheriting the cabin and land. Charley knew she would never forget this special moment.
“Come on.” Cash sent a text before taking the reins to Captain. “I told Tracy we’re on our way,” he said and mounted his horse.
“Storm and I can give you a ride, Charley,” Sully offered and saddled up on the stallion.
“I can drive my car,” Charley said, but pictured riding behind Sully on his horse. Seeing the two men on horseback, she felt like a fish out of water or a city girl out of her element. How sad that she’d missed growing up out here in the country and knowing her father, the other Coopers, and…Sully.
“More fun on horseback, city slicker,” Sully said with a challenging grin. When he looked over the top of his sunglasses at her, she fell into the two deep green pools of his eyes.
“Why not?” Charley said. She was long overdue for country life. “I’ll grab my purse and lock my car.” She did so and hurried to Sully and his stallion.
“Ever ridden a horse?” Cash asked her.
“Never,” Charley admitted with a laugh.
“At least she’s got on britches and doesn’t have to ride sidesaddle,” Cash said to Sully and then chuckled. “Another good story Tracy can tell her.”
With a nod and chuckle, Sully told Charley, “Okay, slip your left foot into the stirrup and grab my hand. Give a little jump on your right foot and I’ll hoist you up behind me.”
Charley took a breath and missed the stirrup.
On her second try, she stuck her foot into the stirrup and noticed how masculine Sully’s cowboy boot was especially in comparison to her ballerina slipper-style shoe.
He extended his hand, and grabbing it along with a little hop, he indeed hoisted her up and behind him on the horse.
Wow! He’d made that easy. His booted foot replaced hers in the stirrup, which she couldn’t reach now anyway.
“Woo hoo!” Charley exclaimed triumphantly.
“Hold on,” Sully said as Cash headed Captain down the gravel road ahead of them.
“To what?”
“Me.”
“Okay,” Charley said. Her left hand rested lightly on his belt, and her right hand touched the holstered gun. She moved her right hand a little higher on his waist.
“You’ve never ridden on the back of a motorcycle either. Have you?” he asked.
“No. How did you know that?”
“You’ll see,” Sully said and nudged Storm into a trot behind Cash. When Charley slipped to one side of the horse’s rump and then the other, she quickly wrapped her arms around Sully’s tapered waist. Over his shoulder, he said, “That’s how I knew.”
“Do you have a motorcycle too?”
“A Harley. If you can dismount Storm without falling flat on your fanny, I’d be happy to take you for a spin.”
Taking in Sully’s broad back as well as the splendid countryside, Charley kept her arms around him as they trotted toward the main road.
Cash was already on the other side of the highway.
Traveling west in the direction of Pikes Peak, Charley soon saw Cash dismount at the combination hotel and restaurant, well-known across Colorado and beyond.
Under a two-story portico, a lovely pregnant redhead and strawberry-blond little girl emerged from the building to greet him.
The German shepherd with them barked a greeting at Cash who scratched his head.
Then Cash scooped up the child, gave her a toss in the air, and kissed her cheek.
Wrapping an arm around the woman, he tugged her to him and kissed his wife’s lips.
Charley found herself smiling at the happy family of three who were about to become a family of four.
She wondered what it would feel like if Sullivan Custis were to swoop her into his arms like that and kiss her.
Where had that thought come from? From being wrapped around him as he sat between her spread legs atop the horse?
Maybe. Sully reined in the big bay near Captain behind a split rail fence on the left side of Coopers’ Lodge.
“In case I want to go for a Harley spin,” Charley unexpectedly flirted with Sully and quickly added, “not saying I do, but to keep from falling flat on my fanny, how should I dismount?”
Holding out his hand, Sully said, “How you mounted in reverse.”
“Okay,” she said and took his hand. He let her slide her foot into the stirrup and swinging her right leg over the horse’s hindquarters, she landed on her right foot and pulled her left foot out of the stirrup. With a grin, she said, “You owe me a motorcycle ride.”
As Sully dismounted, Charley backed up to give him room just as a vehicle roared by on the main road. Surprised at the noise, she twisted sideways so fast she went stumbling backward. But Sully grabbed her arm and kept her upright.
Frowning past her to the road, he asked, “Wasn’t that the guy we just dealt with at Triple C-South?”
Charley had glimpsed the silver Mercedes. “Yes, sorry. He must have been waiting, hoping you and Cash would leave me behind and alone.”
“I pegged him as stupid.” Sully shrugged with an easy smile. “I owe you a Harley spin.”
“Barely,” Charley said. “I almost fell down a second time today.
“Yeah, but you dismounted well, for a city girl.”
“Thanks to a…country boy.”
Sully’s grin was both so cocky and at the same time so charming, Charley felt her cheeks grow hot with a blush. A blush? That was a first. She turned her head away from the sexy, oh yes, so very sexy man as Cash, with his family and the German shepherd, approached.
“Charley, this is Tracy Cooper, my adoring wife you’ve heard about,” Cash said.
“Hello Tracy,” Charley said.
“Hi Charley, hi Sully,” Tracy, the beautiful redhead, replied.
“Hi Tracy,” Sully replied.
Then, smiling at the child in his arms, Cash said, “This sweet girl is our three-year-old Carly, named after Uncle Clarence Carl Cooper.”
“Tracy and Carly, it’s such a pleasure to meet you,” Charley said and wiggled her fingers at Carly who smiled.
With a nod at the dog, Tracy said, “This is Dude. He started out as my dog, but if he could talk, he’d tell you he belongs to Cash.”
“I think Dude’s favorite person is Carly,” Cash said with a chuckle.
“Nice to meet you, Dude,” Charley said and then smiled at Tracy. “Tracy, I’ve heard wonderful things about you from Cash.”
“Oh, I can imagine,” Tracy said with a tinkling giggle. “He usually starts off with how I almost ran him over the day we met.”
“Yes.” Charley laughed. “He said you’d tell me all about it.”
“At least he’s letting me give my side of the story,” Tracy said with a grin at her husband.
“Charley, you have the trademark royal-blue eyes of the Coopers.” And with that, she looped her arm through Charley’s as if they’d known each other forever, making Charley feel like family instead of an outsider.
“Come on everybody, supper’s waiting on us. ”
Cash locked the gate, as the horses grazed in a green pasture beside the Lodge.
Sully opened the door of the Lodge, which housed not only the restaurant, but a bar and twelve guest rooms. Tracy let go of Charley and led the way through the welcoming lobby, where guests were registering at the front desk or enjoying the fireplace as they relaxed on leather furnishings.
Leaving the lobby behind, Cash directed Dude into an office, which Tracy said was hers.
The dog trotted across the large room and past a desk to curl up in a comfy-looking dog bed.
From there, Charley and Sully followed the Coopers into the dining room, which was Western chic with framed scenes of cowboys and cowgirls, along with wagon wheels and longhorns mounted on walls.
Chandeliers with old-fashioned lanterns hung from the high ceiling above tables covered in snow white tablecloths and decorated with matching lanterns lit with candles.
“This is all so beautiful,” Charley said. “The Lodge has been on my bucket list.”
“Thank you. Cash had the vision for Coopers’ Lodge,” Tracy said as she led them to a rectangular table set for five in a semiprivate alcove. “I just help him run the place.”
“She’s being modest. Tracy not only runs it without my help, her and her grandmother’s homestyle recipes keep business booming here in the Lodge,” Cash replied. “And more than a few folks come just to collect her autograph on one or more of the children’s books she writes.”
Tracy glowed at his compliment and replied, “Cash fills Coopers’ Lodge year-round by keeping the dude ranch hopping.”
Business was obviously booming as every other table in the dining room was occupied.
Sully scooted out a chair for Charley and then sat on her left.
Cash had done the same for Tracy and placed Carly between them before taking a seat across from Sully.
The meal indeed tasted like home cooking and Charley could see why people came from near and far to sample it.
As conversation easily flowed, Charley was delighted to hear the tales as to how Tracy had nearly run over Cash the day they’d met and how Cash had scooped Tracy up and onto Captain sidesaddle that same day.
Perched in a booster seat, and at only three years old, Carly was a perfect little lady at dinner with admirable table manners.
After the strawberry shortcake, with scoops of vanilla ice cream, Cash, Tracy, and Carly escorted Charley and Sully to the front door.
There, Carly mentioned her Cooper cousins with love and asked Charley if she knew them.
“I’ve not met everyone in the family yet,” Charley said, taking Carly’s little hand in hers. “But if they’re anything like you, I’ll love them.”
“Oh, you’ll meet all of them,” Cash said with a chuckle.
“And you’ll love them all just like I do,” Tracy assured her with sincerity.
“Thank you for dinner,” Sully said, since the Coopers wouldn’t hear of them paying.
“Yes, thank you both so much for—” Charley’s voice broke but she swallowed and finished firmly. “Everything.”
“Ready to ride?” Sully asked her.
“Ready,” Charley replied. Then, with hugs to the Coopers, she said, “See you soon.”
Holding Carly, Cash asked her, “What do we say on the Triple C Ranches?”
The little girl grinned and said, “Sooner than later.”
“See you sooner than later,” Charley promised with a warm smile.