Wish Upon a Cowboy Read Online Free Page A

direction. It still didn't explain why she'd come to him.
    "I came as quickly as I could," she said.
    "To marry me."
    "Well, that, too," she continued. "But first to meet you. You could hardly marry me if you didn't even know I existed."
    Irritation swept through him. He didn't have time to deal with a feebleminded female. He had a ranch to run. Roundup to prepare for. His temper began a slow boil.
    Thunder rolled again in the distance and he looked over his shoulder to see dark clouds gathering over the peaks of the mountains. Rain or snow—you never knew in Wyoming—by nightfall, he figured.
    Mac shot a glance ahead to where Elias still sat on his horse at the edge of the herd. The old coot hadn't moved an inch. Sure, Jonas thought. When I need him, he's just sitting there like some kind of statue.
    A chill damp wind swept down on them from the mountains, heralding the coming change in weather, but it sent a ripple of uneasiness down Mac's spine.
    "So here I am," she was saying, and he looked down into that dazzling smile of hers. "And if it's all right with you, I think we should be married fairly quickly, all things considered."
    All things considered, he thought he should just turn this horse around, drop her back in the middle of the herd, and forget he'd ever talked to her. But since he couldn't do that, he tried to reason with her.
    "Lady—"
    "Hannah."
    "Fine. Hannah."
    "Normally, we wouldn't use our Christian names so early in our acquaintance, of course," she gave him a smile that staggered him. "But then, these are not ordinary circumstances, are they?"
    "You could say that…" Keep her calm, he told himself. No sense getting her all worked up. He wasn't sure how to deal with light-minded people, but he figured prodding her temper could only make things worse. How, he had no idea.
    "It's a lovely place you have here," she said. Turning her head to admire the scenery, a soft smile curved her mouth. He watched as she lifted her gaze to the nearby mountains.
    Mac saw the same awed wonder he always experienced at that magnificent view shimmer on her features, and felt an odd sort of fleeting kinship with the woman. At the very least, she knew good land when she saw it.
    "I like it."
    "What a wonderful thing to wake up to every morning," she stared at the Rockies, her voice hushed as though she were in church.
    It was indeed, he thought, briefly staring at the snowÂcapped mountains. This valley, this ranch, was everything he'd ever wanted.
    "A man with a home as nice as this needs a wife to care for it."
    Old memories rose up, threatened to choke him, then receded again, back into the dark corner of his heart where he'd managed to corral them.
    "I could be very helpful," she said, watching him.
    "I don't need help."
    "Oh, everyone needs help sometimes," she said and let her gaze drift from his to stare into the distance. "Actually—"
    "Look," he interrupted sharply. "Hannah, isn't it?"
    "Yes."
    He looked down at her and silently reminded himself that she was, no doubt, a loon. When he spoke again, his voice was kinder than before. "You don't want to marry me. Hannah."
    She laughed gently and Mac found himself enjoying the sound. Oh, no question about it, he'd been too long without a woman. Time to head on over to Jefferson and spend an hour or two with one of Sal's girls.
    Shaking her head, the blond finally said, "It's true. I was against the marriage, at first. But Aunt Eudora convinced me this was the only way."
    So there was a crazy aunt in on this, too.
    "And why would she do that?" he asked, though he had a feeling he'd regret it. "Well, you are the Mackenzie, after all."
    Like that explained anything. And why did she insist on saying his name like she was speaking in capital letters?
    "What's my name got to do with this?" Even as the words left his mouth, though, the answer came to him. "It's my ranch, isn't it?" he asked. "Somehow this aunt of yours, if you really have one, has decided that marrying me will