The Bachelor Cowboy (The Wyoming Cowboy #6) - Jessica Clare Page 0,1

the ones he’d been in over in Alaska, there didn’t seem to be a ton of single women. They all seemed to be married or ancient. Becca had a cute friend that wore glasses, and he’d tried to get her name . . . but every time he’d looked in her direction, she’d given him an utterly disinterested glance, so he figured she wasn’t into cowboys. Jack knew when he wasn’t wanted, so he hadn’t pushed things.

Even so, he had a limit. “I’m supposed to date someone?”

“No, not exactly.” Becca shook her head a little too quickly to make him comfortable. “Like I said, it’s for charity. You show up in your cowboy gear and anyone that bids on you is bidding on your services. You can mend fences or milk cows or whatever it is cowboys do.” She waved a hand in the air.

Milk cows? He tried not to laugh. Jack wondered if Becca even knew what Hank did all day long. “You . . . do know we have beef cattle here, right?”

She shrugged. “It’s for charity, Jack. And you’re so cute. The girls will eat you up.” She set the cookies down and clasped her hands under her chin again. “Please? Sage is desperate.”

He pointed down at the paper. “This says it’s a Valentine auction. You sure it’s not supposed to be romantic?” Much as he liked women, he drew the line at a twenty-year age gap. Or thirty. Or fifty. He shuddered at the thought.

“Like I said, they’re buying a big hunky cowboy and his services. That’s all.”

“So why can’t you get Caleb to do it?” His brother was serious with his girlfriend, Amy, but it wasn’t like they were married. And if it was true that it was just an auctioning of skills, he didn’t see why it had to be him.

“Because Caleb will say the wrong thing,” Becca exclaimed, snatching the paper back from him. “You know how he is.”

That he did. Jack still liked to tease Caleb about all the ways his tongue seemed to trip him up when it came to women. Or people in general. Or the public. Caleb was just . . . shy. Which made no sense, but there it was. He still liked to tease his older brother about how he’d accidentally called one of Jack’s old girlfriends “loser” instead of “Louisa” because his tongue just didn’t work right when Caleb got shy.

It was amazing that the man had found someone as understanding (and pretty) as Amy.

Now Jack was the lone unattached Watson brother and it wasn’t a situation he was used to. Normally he was the one with the endless string of girlfriends, the one that always had a phone full of numbers and plans for a Friday night. Even in the remote wilds of Alaska, he always had girls waiting for him to come back to town, and he was never lonely.

Painted Barrel was different, though. Jack had been so focused on helping Uncle Ennis get the ranch running that he hadn’t really spent too much time in town this past year. Wouldn’t do any good to get attached to town life—not that Jack was the type to get attached anyhow—when they’d just be heading back to Alaska in a few months. But then Hank had met Becca. And Caleb had fallen for a schoolteacher.

And suddenly no one was planning on going back to Alaska except Jack. But seeing as all his family was here, going back to the lonely, one-room cabin in the middle of nowhere seemed pointless. Jack was a people person, and if there were no people, he’d go stir-crazy in a week. Before, he’d always had his brothers.

So now Jack was looking at staying in Painted Barrel and in Wyoming.

He wasn’t sure how he felt about that just yet, but he’d given himself some time to think, and he was thinking maybe he’d get a little land of his own, start ranching on his own. Hank and Caleb were content to work with Uncle Ennis and run the Swinging C, but Jack liked the idea of having his own place. He’d eyeballed some land in the area but hadn’t come to any decisions yet.

It seemed like a big move to make, and he wasn’t sure he was ready to do it just yet. He supposed it’d be smart to get to know the townspeople, and he guessed that showing up at an (ugh) auction and volunteering might be a good way to