Free The Cowboy and the Princess by Lori Wilde

Jubilee. What are the people like?”
    “It’s about as perfect as a town can get. The people are friendly, they help each other, but they’re very focused on their horses.”
    “That is good for your business.”
    “It is,” he said. “We’re almost to Jubilee. Tomorrow you can find out about it for yourself. We should be there a little after midnight. The rain has slowed down our time.”
    “This will be fine.”
    “You got arrangements? A place to stay? Friends you can call?”
    “No,” she admitted, feeling stupid. She should have made better plans. But she was so afraid that too much planning would lead to her immediate capture.
    “Where are you going after this?” he asked.
    “I do not know.”
    That answer didn’t seem to bother him, as if he understood not having plans. “You can spend the night in my trailer.”
    “Thank you for your generous offer, but I do not know if that is a wise idea.”
    “Where else are you going to stay?” he asked.
    She didn’t answer because she didn’t have one.
    “I know the trailer is small and there’s only one bed, but you’re welcome to share it.”
    Annie swallowed the gasp that rose to her throat. “You are asking me to sleep with you?”
    Although she felt scandalized, she had to admit that she held a secret desire to make love to a cowboy before she was bound to Teddy forever. She was supposed to stay a virgin until her wedding day. It was the way things were done. She had always done what was expected of her, but part of her yearned for just one out-of-the-box experience before she committed to a lifetime of a loveless marriage.
    Just once she wanted to feel something real. She wanted great sex like the kind she saw in movies and read about in books. She wanted to spread her wings and fly just a little bit. She wanted to know what great sex felt like, and instinctively, she understood that Brady could provide such an experience for her. She wanted her own version of Roman Holiday.
    But she barely knew him. Had not expected to find the opportunity for sex with a good-looking cowboy so soon in her adventure. And as much as she might want it, she wasn’t ready for it.
    “I’m saying you can sleep in my bed and I promise I won’t touch you. No hanky-panky. Just sleep.”
    “What if—” She stopped, cleared her throat.
    “What if?”
    “I wanted to do more than sleep?”
    “I don’t think that would be a good idea for either of us.”
    “I thought men always wanted sex.”
    “I might want sex, Buttercup, but I don’t have to have it. Especially with a woman who’s keeping some mighty tall secrets.”
    “Not even if I want to?” She reached over and touched his thigh, shocking herself.
    “You’re playing with fire,” he said. “Watch out or you just might get burned.”

Chapter Four
    You might be a princess if . . . you can’t sleep when there’s something hard in your bed.
    B rady took Highway 51 to Tin Top Road and traveled ten more miles to Green Ridge Ranch. At this hour of the morning, the ranch lay in darkness. He bumped over the cattle guard, the trailer rattling as they went. He parked in the graveled driveway a quarter of a mile from the ranch house.
    Joe Daniels, the owner of Green Ridge, was a good friend. Recently, Joe had married Dutch Callahan’s daughter, Mariah, and they had a baby boy named Jonah. The same Dutch Callahan who’d picked Brady up on the side of the road when he was fifteen, running away from his childhood as fast as he could. Dutch had brought him here to Jubilee. Given him a job and a place to live. Back then Joe’s father had owned Green Ridge, before he’d retired, sold the ranch to Joe, and moved to the neighboring town of Twilight. That was fourteen years ago. Every time Brady came to Green Ridge, he thought of Dutch, who’d worked there as a trainer. Everywhere he looked he saw his mentor. In the buildings, the fences, the vast stretch of land.
    Annie had fallen asleep, her head lolled on the