For Love of a Cowboy Read Online Free

over to a booth where a couple had just seated themselves.
    “Thanks,” Willow answered and turned her attention to her plate.
    She would never normally have been capable of consuming such a quantity of food but the scrambled egg, hash browns, bacon, biscuits and gravy all soon disappeared. The sausage she wrapped carefully in a paper napkin and put in the side pocket of her bag. It would do for later, she decided.
    Willow paid for her meal and left the diner feeling decidedly more optimistic than she had when she’d walked in. It was amazing what a good meal could do for a person. Now, all she had to do was find somewhere to stretch her legs before she could look for the yarn store that had been listed on the Marietta chamber of commerce website, and hope like crazy that they wanted to buy some of her yarn.
    Thinking about her yarn reminded her of Booth Lange and how his jeans had stretched tight across his butt as he’d bent down to pick the skeins up from where they’d scattered. A shimmer of heat raced up her spine, making the tiny hairs on the back of her neck tingle with anticipation. He’d been a surly thing, but beautiful with it. Beneath that black Stetson his face had been carved perfection and that voice…It was enough to make a girl go all weak inside. She wondered what he’d sound like whispering sweet nothings in a girl’s ear.
    Determinedly, she shoved all thoughts of Booth Lange to the back of her mind. However he spoke to his lover, he certainly hadn’t used that tone of voice with her. No, for her he’d reserved annoyance and frustration with a liberal dose of barely suppressed fury. It was a good thing she was unlikely to bump into him again anytime soon.
    Willow sat down on a bench outside the handsome grey stone courthouse building and reached into her pack for her mother’s journal. She unwrapped the silk scarf she’d protected the book with then carefully opened the leather-bound journal and inhaled as the sweet scent of orange blended with patchouli drifted from the pages. Every time she smelled that signature scent, it was as if her mother was right there with her, guiding her along. Tucked in the front cover was an old map of Marietta, and Willow gave it a quick look before tucking it and the journal back inside the pack. Satisfied she had the image of the map clear in her mind, she rose and made her way north over the railroad tracks and then took a left turn, over the river, toward the fairgrounds.
    Even now, three weeks out from the fair, there was already activity going on. She stood a ways back, leaning against the solid trunk of a tree, and just watched as people came and went.
    “I’m here, Mama. And I’m going to find him,” she promised out loud.
    After a bit she noticed a small black cat picking its way over the grass toward her. She squatted down and held out her hand.
    “Hello, beautiful. Have you come to bring me luck?” she asked as the cat butted against her hand and started to purr. “I sure hope you’re better at it than that blasted deer yesterday.”
    Willow reached into her pack and found the sausage wrapped in the paper napkin. She broke a tiny piece off and offered it to the cat, who sniffed at it delicately before scarfing it down as if it hadn’t had a meal in forever. Willow laughed softly and scratched behind the kitty’s ears.
    “I know how you feel,” she said. “I was in the same state this morning. Ready to eat just about anything.”
    She broke off a bit more of the sausage and left it on the grass for the cat to eat. Would it be too early to head back to the garage by now, she wondered? A glance at the height of the sun in the sky was her only answer. Yeah, probably still a little early. She sat herself down at the base of the tree and smiled as the cat immediately jumped on her lap and did a couple of circles before tucking itself into a ball and settling down to sleep.
    “Hey, don’t get too comfortable,” Willow cautioned, but she