The Cowgirl Rides Away (Bluebonnet, TX Book 1)

CHAPTER TWO: Zack

Bluebonnet, Texas: Just after New Year's

With shaky hands, Zack Boudreaux clicked his browser shut and sat back with a low, fretful groan at the sound of boots on his front porch.

Today was the first time since he'd placed that damned personal ad that he'd had a chance to check in, and the sight of all those responses filling his inbox had initially put him in a panic. He'd barely worked through a quarter of them before his eldest brother breezed in on a late-afternoon gust, slamming the front door behind him.

Tim always did have lousy timing.

"Where's Rene?" He pulled off his gloves and stuffed them in the pocket of his Carhartt work coat.

"In with Travis." Zack pointed a thumb toward the living room where his niece and son had spent the afternoon watching movies. This time of year, it was too cold and wet to do much else.  

"I need to get her fed. I got a date tonight." He smiled and waggled his eyebrows.

"When don't you?"

Tim wheeled around, surprise clear on his face. "Well, ain't we feeling sassy today. Jealous?"

"Whoever she is, I doubt she's worth being jealous over," Zack shot back.

"Whatever, man." He rounded up his daughter and then headed home. Zack sighed as he turned back to the task at hand—his email. Tim might have been the poster child for tall, dark and handsome, but his taste in female companions left a lot to be desired. This round definitely went to Zack. Rare, but not unheard of.

His chuckle faded as he tried to make sense of the replies he'd received.

He blamed his bad mood on Marina's Christmas card. Travis's mother had included a photo of his new baby sister—bringing the total to two siblings—and enclosed a letter asking if he was dating and how Travis was. He'd hesitated to write her back because it seemed pointless and cruel. She loved their son but could never be a part of his life. Even so, Zack knew he'd eventually give in and write her back like he always did.  

But it was her letter that had given him the idea of placing a personal ad. As if getting married and having more children hadn't crossed his mind, too. Searching close to home for a wife was out of the question. Boudreauxe's in Bluebonnet were like Kennedys in Massachusetts, without all the money and scandal. The last local girl he'd dated, at his mother's less-than-subtle suggestion, had started hinting at moving in on date three. He didn't do bars because he worked in one part time and he didn't get to San Antonio that often.

Fifty-eight replies in four days from married women, tramps who promised to act like virgins, non-virgins who were indignant for a wide variety of reasons, and men. Zack chuckled thinking of the angry notes he'd gotten for even mentioning the "V" word. Feminists had demanded his head and more than one man had demanded his Man Card. He hadn't literally meant a virgin. Even he knew how crazy the idea sounded. And God help him if his mother ever found out he'd placed a personal ad—or anyone else for that matter. Maybe trying to find a nice girl on the internet had been a bad idea.

Or, at least, he'd thought it sounded crazy, he thought as he stared at yet another email. From a virgin no less.

A twenty-six-year-old virgin who lived in Utah. Utah?

Zack groaned again, running his hands through his hair. He had an hour to eat, get changed, drop Travis off and get to the bar. He stretched and read Hope's reply again. She was willing to relocate and she was open to a long-term relationship. He'd just have to write her back later.