The Cowboy's Stolen Bride Read online

  The Cowboy’s Stolen Bride

  By Cora Seton

  Copyright © 2019 Cora Seton

  Nook Edition

  Published by One Acre Press

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Author’s Note

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Excerpt from The Cowboy’s Forbidden Bride

  About the Author

  Author’s Note

  The Cowboy’s Stolen Bride is the fourth volume in the Turners v. Coopers series. To find out more, look for the rest of the books in the series, including:

  The Cowboy’s Secret Bride (Volume 1)

  The Cowboy’s Outlaw Bride (Volume 2)

  The Cowboy’s Hidden Bride (Volume 3)

  The Cowboy’s Forbidden Bride (Volume 5)

  Also, don’t miss Cora Seton’s Chance Creek series, the Cowboys of Chance Creek, the Heroes of Chance Creek, the Brides of Chance Creek, and the SEALs of Chance Creek:

  The Cowboys of Chance Creek Series:

  The Cowboy Inherits a Bride (Volume 0)

  The Cowboy’s E-Mail Order Bride (Volume 1)

  The Cowboy Wins a Bride (Volume 2)

  The Cowboy Imports a Bride (Volume 3)

  The Cowgirl Ropes a Billionaire (Volume 4)

  The Sheriff Catches a Bride (Volume 5)

  The Cowboy Lassos a Bride (Volume 6)

  The Cowboy Rescues a Bride (Volume 7)

  The Cowboy Earns a Bride (Volume 8)

  The Cowboy’s Christmas Bride (Volume 9)

  The Heroes of Chance Creek Series:

  The Navy SEAL’s E-Mail Order Bride (Volume 1)

  The Soldier’s E-Mail Order Bride (Volume 2)

  The Marine’s E-Mail Order Bride (Volume 3)

  The Navy SEAL’s Christmas Bride (Volume 4)

  The Airman’s E-Mail Order Bride (Volume 5)

  The Brides of Chance Creek Series:

  Issued to the Bride One Navy SEAL

  Issued to the Bride One Airman

  Issued to the Bride One Sniper

  Issued to the Bride One Marine

  Issued to the Bride One Soldier

  The SEALs of Chance Creek Series:

  A SEAL’s Oath

  A SEAL’s Vow

  A SEAL’s Pledge

  A SEAL’s Consent

  A SEAL’s Purpose

  A SEAL’s Resolve

  A SEAL’s Devotion

  A SEAL’s Desire

  A SEAL’s Struggle

  A SEAL’s Triumph

  Visit Cora’s website at www.coraseton.com

  Find Cora on Facebook at facebook.com/CoraSeton

  Sign up for my newsletter HERE.

  Chapter One

  “It’s time to sell the ranch.”

  Liam Turner nearly spit out the sip of champagne he’d just taken. It was awful stuff—he’d prefer a beer any day—but that wasn’t why he was choking on it.

  “Sell the ranch?” he repeated incredulously, turning to face his mother. They were standing in the Chance Creek Community Center near the edge of the dance floor, straining to hear each other over the classic rock and roll tunes the band had started to play. His sister, Maya, had just married Lance Cooper. The ceremony had gone off without a hitch. So had dinner and the traditional toasts to the bride and groom, who’d finished their first dance just a song or two back. There hadn’t been any fights or recriminating words—

  Yet.

  He couldn’t have heard his mother right. The Flying W had been in his family for over a hundred years, and even if Mary had made it clear how much she disliked the spread, and Chance Creek, this was drastic, even for her.

  She patted her dark hair, making sure none had come loose from her stylish twist. She wore a peach tailored dress you wouldn’t find in any store in this town. Her pumps matched her handbag. Several rings glittered on her fingers. Everything about Mary proclaimed she didn’t come from around here anymore.

  “It’s pulling you under. It’ll kill you like it killed your father,” she said.

  As far as Liam was concerned, she had no right to bring up William. She’d left his father—and all the rest of them—thirteen years ago. Had forced Liam to drive her into town the day she’d made her escape. New to truck ownership, he’d been bringing his beat-up old Chevy into the shop, and he remembered he’d been extoling its merits the whole way into town. Had she even been listening? Or had she already moved on in her mind to her new life?

  He’d dropped her off on the main drag, thinking she meant to shop a little and meet a friend. Instead, she’d hopped on a bus and kept going. Now she lived in Ohio.

  “Dad had a heart attack,” he pointed out.

  “Because the Flying W is bad news.”

  “Mom—”

  “I know you’re struggling to pay your bills. The land would fetch a fortune. You’d all be wealthy. You could live a life of leisure anywhere you wanted to go.”

  “And let me guess—you want me to go to Ohio.” Over his dead body. He already had a plan to increase the ranch’s profits. He just had to get things in order for the certification people who were coming next week. Shifting the ranch to organic processes wasn’t simple, and it would take several years, but he was prepared to take the first step.

  Mary looked at him over the edge of her champagne flute as she took a sip, then let her gaze sweep around the community center, which had been decorated for the wedding with garlands of roses and greenery. Liam bit back the words he wanted to say. He didn’t need this right now. While he’d begun to realize that his sister’s new husband wasn’t quite the villain he’d always thought him to be, he was still struggling with the fact that Maya was going to be a Cooper now. Coopers and Turners had been enemies for over a hundred years, and this was the second marriage between their families in the past few months. Now his mother wanted him to sell the Flying W?

  Never.

  “That’s exactly what I want,” Mary said. “There’s a wonderful property for sale out in Hocking Hills. A spa—right on a spring up in the mountains. It’s all up-to-date. Luxurious. Pools, sauna, hot tubs. A view to die for. The food is amazing. We could buy it and run—”

  “We?” Since when were they a we? Mary had abandoned him and his siblings when she left town.

  “You and your brother and sisters,” Mary amended. “It could be a family enterprise. I could be a consultant. A very hands-on consultant.” She had the temerity to smile, as if this was a foregone conclusion.

  “I’m not interested in running a spa.” He was a rancher. Would always be a rancher. It was in his blood. The Turners were one of the preeminent families in town, and he was proud to carry on their heritage.

  “Ranching is over,” Mary said. “You need to get out now while you still can—”

  Liam had heard enough. Had seen enough. Lance and Maya were still dancing, and soon a limousine would carry them back to the Flying W, where they would take up residence in a cabin on the property. Lance Cooper was going to live on his land.

  Next pigs would fly.

&n
bsp; “You need to make a change. All of you. Get out of this backward town, like I did,” Mary went on.

  “I don’t want to get out of this town.”

  “You’re not the only one with a say in this.”

  He was losing his cool and didn’t want to disrupt the wedding. He needed a way to get his mother off his back—now. When he spotted Tory Cooper—Lance’s sister—several feet away, he bit back a smile. Now there was a way to kill two birds with one stone. He could bait Lance and shut his mother down. He thumped down his champagne flute on a nearby table and headed her way.

  “Liam, I’m talking to you!” his mother called after him.

  Liam ignored her. He had to, or he’d say something he would regret. Nothing would ever make him give up the Flying W.

  He caught up with Tory and touched her arm, hoping his mother would give up and go harass someone else. He didn’t want Tory to know how riled he was, however, so he kept his words light.

  “I heard you’re sticking around for a while.” She had been home for only a few weeks, and no one had expected her to stay this long. Liam had always been intrigued by Tory Cooper, even back in high school, but she’d always been off limits due to the longstanding feud between their families. She was dressed in a pretty blue sundress and cowboy boots. The sun had tanned her skin, and her auburn hair hung in loose waves around her face.

  Could you still call it a feud when two of his siblings had married two of hers?

  Liam wasn’t sure.

  She shrugged. “Looks that way.”

  “Good,” he managed to answer, although why he felt relieved, he couldn’t say. Tory was nothing to him. Just the proverbial girl next door. “Then you’ll have time for a dance,” he went on. He didn’t wait for an answer. He needed to shake off his mother before she drove him over the edge. Mary had followed him, ready to renew their conversation. He tugged Tory toward the dance floor, catching sight of more than one surprised expression on the faces of the people around them.

  “Liam, what the hell are you doing?” Tory hissed. The beautiful redhead tried to pull away, but he tightened his grip. He’d apologize later. His mother had stopped pursuing them, but she was standing close by, arms crossed, expression sour.

  “Just go along with it,” he hissed back at Tory. “Ouch! Hey!” He jerked away from her. Tory had reached up, pinched his ear and twisted it like a schoolmarm in the old days punishing a recalcitrant child.

  She stood with her feet planted wide. “If you’re going to manhandle me, at least give me an explanation.”

  Liam corralled her back into his arms and kept moving until they were standing in the middle of the swaying couples. “It’s my mom.”

  “Mary?” She glanced over her shoulder, took in Mary’s obvious displeasure and laughed. “What did you do this time? You like making trouble, don’t you?” she added as they began to sway together.

  “You don’t know the half of it,” he admitted.

  To Liam’s surprise, she allowed him to guide her around the floor, relaxing a little as he did so. A woman he vaguely recognized approached Mary, and his mother was forced to greet her. Liam watched them as he navigated them between the other couples.

  “She wants us to sell the Flying W.” Too late he remembered Tory would probably think that was a terrific idea. Lord knew the Coopers hated his family—or they used to.

  The whole thing was getting confusing. He’d liked it better when the battle lines were drawn clearly, Turners on one side, Coopers on the other. Now their families were connected twice over.

  Unthinkable.

  Yet here they were.

  “Sell the Flying W? Are you kidding?” Tory asked.

  Her shock warmed him. Maybe he should have guessed she’d understand. Tory wasn’t like the other Coopers—

  Liam stopped himself. That was wishful thinking. Tory had always caught his eye, but that was just a physical attraction, nothing more. “I know, right?” Now his mother looked concerned. She bent close to the other woman—Leslie Falk, wasn’t it?—and was listening intently.

  “If she can’t see that you belong there, then she’s crazy,” Tory said.

  He found himself nodding. Funny that Tory got it, considering she’d never cared for Thorn Hill, her family’s spread. When her father had gone to jail thirteen years ago, she’d left for Idaho with her mother and siblings. Enid had dropped her children there with her sister, Joan, and run off with a married man. That hadn’t worked out for Enid, and eventually she’d settled on her own in New Mexico.

  Liam knew Tory had left her aunt’s home as soon as she was able. She’d moved to Seattle, become a massage therapist. She’d run her own business. Next she’d put herself through college, and now she was preparing to attend law school. Fancy stuff for a small-town girl. It had always gotten to him how different their families were—and at the same time how alike. Both their mothers had left. Both their fathers had died. Now they were all trying to find their way in a world where it wasn’t easy to make a living.

  “How long are you staying?” He needed a return to normal conversation. He’d sort out his mother’s ultimatum later when he was alone. Tory had showed up last month when her older sister, Olivia, had married his older brother, Noah, and had stayed ever since. Liam didn’t know what to make of it. As far as he’d heard, she’d refused to return after her dad went to jail. Even after Dale died, she’d kept her vow.

  His mother was still talking to Leslie. Catching up, he supposed. Mary had grown up here, as had his father and Tory’s parents. Mary would run into lots of old school friends if she stuck around in Chance Creek.

  Liam hoped she’d skedaddle back to Ohio fast if she kept talking about selling the ranch.

  For one thing, it wasn’t hers to sell. She’d left his father, after all. The ranch had come down through his family and had been passed to Liam and his siblings when William died. His parents must have come to some kind of settlement years ago, so Mary had a lot of nerve pretending she had any say in the matter now.

  “I’ll be here awhile, looks like,” Tory said. “Three years, at least. I’ll live at Thorn Hill while I go to law school in Billings. It’s a bit of a commute, but I can’t beat the price.”

  “Guess not. Think you can stand being back here that long?”

  “Guess I’ll have to.” She smiled up at him, and her face transformed. She had always been pretty, but with her features lit up like that, Liam thought she was stunning. “Can you believe I’m going to be a lawyer?”

  “Sure.” He knew why she asked, though. He had to admit he saw Tory through a certain lens—a Cooper lens. A filter that didn’t allow for the kind of success she was talking about. But then, even though his family was respected, no one seemed to think he could pull off getting his ranch certified organic. More than one person had laughed in his face at the very idea.

  He’d find out if he was on the right track late next week when the inspection happened. Officials would check what he’d done so far and go through all the steps he’d have to take to get certified. He couldn’t help worry they’d see something right away that would disqualify him from completing the process before he even got started.

  He hadn’t slept right in days. Couldn’t keep his thoughts from racing when he thought about the upcoming inspection. What if it didn’t work out?

  “You’ll be a good lawyer,” he managed to say to Tory. She probably would be, he thought. She was tenacious. Small but fierce.

  “What are you smiling about?”

  Damn pretty, too, Liam thought. If she wasn’t a Cooper, and if her brother hadn’t just stolen his sister—

  But she was, and Lance had—and everything was piling on him at once. As soon as this wedding was over, he was getting out of here. His truck was packed. He’d head to his favorite place—get a couple of days of peace before he had to face the music next week.

  “I’m smiling at the way life likes to jerk people around.” He took in his mother still talking to Les
lie.

  She nodded. “You can say that again.”

  “What’s her story?” Liam asked before he could stop himself. He jutted his chin in Leslie’s direction. “Seems awful chummy with Mom.” He remembered who he was talking to. It was doubtful Tory had any information he didn’t have; she hadn’t lived in Chance Creek for years.

  “She’s probably telling your mom about the hospital,” Tory said.

  “What about it?”

  “You know it’s probably closing down in a year or two, right?”

  Liam’s step hitched, and he had to move fast to cover it up. “Closing?” Hell, that wasn’t good. The town needed its hospital.

  “A friend of mine is a nurse,” Tory explained. “She’s already looking for work in Bozeman.”

  “Does Leslie work there?” His thoughts were spinning. He’d read an article about this type of thing recently. When a hospital closed, the pharmacy closed next. Specialists moved out. Jobs were lost. The whole town suffered eventually.

  “Leslie uses the dialysis unit. It’s on the chopping block first. She’ll have to go to Bozeman several times a week if the hospital closes it.”

  “That’s rough.”

  “Your mom is being pretty patient with her,” Tory remarked. “Were they good friends back in school?”

  “I don’t know.”

  The song ended, and Tory stepped away. “See you later. Thanks for the dance.”

  He almost asked her for a second one before he remembered Turners weren’t supposed to dance with Coopers. He’d done this once before—danced with Tory to get back at Lance. If he kept at it, people would think they were a couple.

  They definitely weren’t a couple, and he definitely wasn’t sweet on Tory Cooper. So why did the night suddenly feel flat when she disappeared into the crowd?

  It was just that he was struggling with his future, he decided. So much was up in the air. The thought of being alone tonight, faced with imagining what could happen next week, made his chest tight.

  If only Tory was escaping Chance Creek with him.

  He nearly chuckled at that thought. He was looking for companionship from a Cooper?