Cowboy’s Christmas Bridesmaid (Trinity Falls: Icicle Christmas #8)

21. Valentina

21

VALENTINA

A week later, Valentina stood in the high field of the Williams Estate, wearing her beautiful bridesmaid dress, and staring at the big brown horse she was supposed to be climbing onto.

The horse stared back at her, looking bored, which somehow made the idea of approaching it all the more terrifying.

The two of them were utterly alone.

In fairness, she had been supposed to get on the horse ten minutes ago when the other bridesmaids did, and warm him up walking and trotting along one of the trails before all meeting up together in the low field, so they could gallop into the wedding together.

She had encouraged the others to go along while she stretched her ankle, even though her ankle was feeling just fine. They had all swung up onto their horses and rode away like it was nothing.

Valentina was heartbroken to realize that in all the excitement and sorrow over her project for Radcliffe, and the confusion over her feelings for Tanner and Zeke, she had let herself forget about getting herself ready to hop on a horse today.

Valentina had never been the kind of person to procrastinate or be in denial. But it was clear to her as she stood in the wintry field, gazing at the beautiful, terrifyingly large animal, that she had lost herself.

Who am I without career success? I’ve lost my boss’s confidence, turned my back on the man I care about, and I’m about to lose my only real friend in Trinity Falls.

Emma had always been kind to her. How was it going to look when the other bridesmaids appeared, and Valentina was just missing?

Why do I keep letting my pride get in my way?

She still couldn’t believe that in the heat of the moment on Christmas morning she had told Tanner that she needed space .

To his credit, he had given it to her. She hadn’t seen him or heard from him since.

At the wedding today, she would have to face him again. It gutted her to imagine what it would be like to spend time with him here, and professionally at work, knowing that he’d let go of her friendship so easily.

But she had a more immediate problem literally staring her in the face.

I can do this, she told herself. I can do anything.

But when she approached the big animal, he snorted and tossed his mane, pawing the ground a little, and she found herself backing up again.

“What are we supposed to do?” she asked the horse quietly, wishing she could negotiate with it, like she did when she hit a wall at work with someone.

“You’ve never ridden before, have you?” a familiar deep voice asked.

She turned to see Tanner standing there, looking incredibly handsome in a suit with a woolen coat, smiling at her from under his trusty cowboy hat.

“I haven’t,” she admitted, gulping.

“And the others didn’t take time to teach you?” he asked, sounding annoyed.

“I told them I could ride,” she admitted, looking at her feet. “It’s not their fault.”

“You just assumed you could, didn’t you?” he asked.

“I did,” she said, looking up.

“It’s a fair assumption,” he said, chuckling. “I think you could do just about anything you put your mind to.”

She looked up at him, melting at his gentle gaze.

“I could teach you, but we don’t have a lot of time for a lesson,” he went on. “So I think we’ll just ride together.”

“Thank you,” she told him, relieved.

“I’m going to hold him while you mount,” he told her, heading for the horse. “Then I’ll get on behind you.”

She noticed that the horse snorted again, tossing his head up and down slightly as Tanner approached.

“Why is he doing that?” she asked nervously.

“He’s excited for you to ride,” Tanner explained. “He’s telling us he’s ready to get some exercise.”

“Oh,” Valentina said, feeling silly. It actually made a lot of sense. After all, the horse had been standing here with her, looking perfectly friendly the whole time.

Tanner showed her how to put her foot in the stirrup and swing herself up. Though the horse moved around a bit, she was able to get onto his back on her second try.

It felt good, but she was up so high, with nothing around her for support. It made her heart pound.

But a moment later, Tanner was swinging himself up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist to take the reins, and that all melted away.

She drank in the sensation of safety and warmth. She had daydreamed about having Tanner’s arms around her so many times, but she had never imagined how right it would feel.

“Okay,” he said, clearing his throat. “We’ll take it slow.”

He clucked to the horse, and immediately they were moving forward.

She marveled at the feeling of each step the big creature took. There was so much power coiled in his muscles. He could have torn across the field, leaping fences and disappearing into the forest if he wanted. Yet his ears were swiveled back, making it clear that he was eager to take direction from Tanner.

“Here we go,” Tanner said.

She could feel him squeezing his thighs around the horse’s belly, and then they were moving a little faster. At first, she felt herself being jostled and panicked that she was going to fall off.

“We won’t go faster than this,” Tanner told her quietly, giving her a gentle squeeze. “Not until it’s time to go down the aisle.

Then her heart was beating even harder, not out of fear, but from the awareness of his lips near her hair and his embrace, and the rest of the world ceased to matter for a little while.

“When we take it up to a gallop, it will actually be less bumpy,” he told her as they rode under a canopy of bare trees. “Even though we’ll be going faster. His gait will make it smoother.”

“Okay,” she said. “I can handle it.”

She was already getting used to the rhythm and the sound of the horse’s hooves clomping on the frosty ground.

“How did you know to come for me?” she asked after a moment.

“Natalie came to find me when you didn’t show up with the others,” he told her. “She was worried about your ankle.”

“Oh,” she said, surprised and grateful that Natalie had thought to send Tanner.

“You’ve got some good friends around here,” he told her gruffly.

“I guess I do,” she realized.

“As soon as I thought about it for a second, I remembered how quickly you refused the chance to ride a horse here on Christmas Eve,” he added with a smile in his voice.

She nodded. Looking back, that probably had been suspicious.

“So, when are you going to talk to Baz?” he asked.

“I did,” she told him, wanting to run from this conversation, but with nowhere to go. She had known he would ask, and he had a right to hear how it went, after helping her so much. “He said no.”

“He what?” Tanner sounded completely surprised and horrified. “Why?”

Somehow Tanner being so upset on her behalf made her tear up a little.

“He didn’t really say,” she said, trying not to give way to her tears. “He just said no . But all along he’s told me that he won’t let go of that land for commercial purposes, so I shouldn’t have been surprised. I knew it was a long shot, but I had to try.”

“Unbelievable,” Tanner muttered.

“It’s his land,” Valentina said. “And it’s his money, and his decision. I can rest easier knowing I tried to show him a viable option that would help the village.”

But it was harder to swallow than she let on.

“Here we come,” Tanner said as they trotted up a little hillside and spotted the wedding party and guests on the lawn in front of the castle. The other bridesmaids were on horseback in the little valley just below the lawn. “Are you ready to go faster?”

“Yes,” she told him, signaling to Natalie.

Natalie gave her horse a little kick and then she was rocketing up the hillside, followed by Caroline, Winona, and Melody. Their hair and dresses billowed as they flew toward the wedding.

“Lean forward on his neck,” Tanner murmured.

She did as she was told and then Tanner was squeezing the big brown horse’s belly, giving him a tap, and Valentina felt the stallion leap forward.

Just like Tanner said would happen, the horse’s gait was more fluid now. Valentina felt like she was flying as they followed the other four women up the hillside and across the lawn to a squealing and delighted Emma.

Emma looked so utterly beautiful and happy in her pretty wedding dress, and Radcliffe looked proud enough to burst, his eyes on her as she clapped and waved to her friends.

“Great job,” Tanner murmured in Valentina’s ear, distracting her from the strange emotion she felt watching her friend. “I’ll get off and then help you down.”

Tanner leapt from the horse with the grace of a dancer, and Valentina tried and failed to do the same, letting him catch her in his arms and help her get her feet on the ground.

Though the other bridesmaids held their horses’ reins as they lined up beside Emma, Valentina was grateful when Tanner led her mount away. She had actually enjoyed the ride a lot, but she still wasn’t sure about trying to tell the big beast what to do herself.

I did ride him though, Abuelo, she told her grandfather silently, wondering what he would have made of her needing so much help.

Then the ceremony began, and Valentina was lost in the sweetness of the intimate event. By the end, she found herself weeping with joy as the beautiful words were exchanged.