The Cowgirl Rides Away (Bluebonnet Texas Book 1) by Amie Stuart

least I could walk in these shoes.
    Styling my hair consisted of twisting it up in a clip and pulling a few strands loose around my ears. I slapped on some makeup, then went back and tried it again, with feeling. Makeup had never been a big deal for me and normally, I kept it to a minimum.
    Jittery with nerves and still a bit queasy from my flight, I tried to distract myself flipping channels, but the controller kept sticking to my sweaty hands and I kept wiping them on the polyester bedspread. It was a vicious cycle.
    Nervous was a major understatement.
    I gave myself a mental peptalk on the walk downstairs: I'd competed against some of the toughest cowboys in the business; I'd ridden some of the toughest horses ever. I was smart, I was cute, I had a big ass. Stop that. Okay, I was smart.
    And a liar.
    I was supposed to be an accountant. I even chanted "Hope" all the way down, praying I wouldn't screw up and forget to answer to it.
    As I reached the bottom of stairs, I spotted Zack talking to the desk clerk who'd checked me in less than an hour before. And from the back, Zack looked good.
    Real good.
    I smiled, despite my weak knees, then tried to wipe the grin off my face as the clerk spotted me. She grinned back in the way women who share secrets do. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who thought he looked mighty fine.
    Zack's shoulder-length hair was pulled back in his customary ponytail and he had on a dark green T-shirt that stretched across his thick chest and hugged his broad shoulders.
    Wranglers.
    He was wearing Wranglers. Heaven help me. There's nothing better than a man in a pair of broken-in Wranglers. And his were. Snug, but not tight, and ass-huggin'.
    I sighed, sure that desk clerk read my mind—she must have, judging from the way her smile turned into a smirk. I continued across the lobby, praying I didn't trip and land on my face and that he didn't notice the slight limp brought out by fatigue and probably, nerves.
    Zack turned around, and my face caught fire. I felt as if I'd been caught staring. Which I had, but he was a remarkable sight, and the front showed mighty nice too. I resisted the urge to fan myself.
    He was a classic green-eyed redhead with the cutest set of freckles and a tan. Up close, I could see the flecks of gold in his eyes and his full lips beneath a tidy goatee a few shades darker than his hair.
    "Hi." I have no idea where that breathy little voice came from. It was nearly as bad as squeaking.
    I could hear the desk clerk mentally taking notes, and knowing small towns, had a pretty good feeling that the resident gossip mill would be hard at work this afternoon. Bluebonnet was, after all, a town of barely five-thousand. People talked, and when a strange women showed up out of nowhere, people noticed.
    Glancing at the desk clerk and then back at me, he asked, "Are you ready to go?" His voice shook the tiniest bit and I took a deep breath and reminded myself he was just as nervous as I was.
    "Yeah." I threw a smile the clerk's way and mumbled a goodbye.
    As we stepped outside, she hollered out, "Ya'll have a good time, and don't do anything I wouldn't do." When I looked over my shoulder at Zack, who was holding the door, his face was as red as mine felt.
    "Well, wasn't that nice," I quipped as the glass door closed behind him. I got a genuine smile for my efforts. One that reached his eyes, that drew up in little crinkles, and gave me a flash of teeth. He chuckled and held out his arm.
    I took it with a smile. That one gallant gesture won him triple the brownie points than his Wranglers had.
    "I know you've been traveling, but I thought we might drive up to Gruene for lunch."
    Arm in arm we walked toward an old Dodge pickup. It definitely wasn't on it's last legs but it had seen better days. "Green?"
    "Gruene—it's about thirty minutes away."
    What in the hell was I gonna think of to talk about for thirty minutes? "Sounds great!"

Chapter Eight
Zack
    Zack fought the urge to stare. He