6-Pack Wrangler (Six-Pack Cowboys Book 2) Read online

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  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

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  6-Pack Rancher

  Copyright Em Petrova 2019

  Ebook Edition

  Electronic book publication 2019

  All rights reserved. Any violation of this will be prosecuted by the law.

  Aria has never made decisions for herself—it seems life makes them for her, which is how she’s become a star on the hit western TV show REDEMPTION FALLS. Now it seems she’s landed herself with a fiancé she doesn’t exactly want. No way is she getting hitched, so it’s high time she does something about it. But she didn’t plan to be a runaway bride—it just sort of happened.

  Wheeler is not only laid up with a broken foot but his horse is on watch with a tough injury too. Hobbling to the barn is a trial and his work as a wrangler is off limits. When he goes out to attempt morning chores, he finds a beautiful woman asleep in his barn. Discovering she is a famous actor from the show filming nearby is even less shocking than her plea for him to keep her hidden. Letting her stay on his fixer-upper ranch is an easy yes when she proves she knows how to tend his injured horse, and just looking at her alluring curves does a whole lot for his low spirits.

  Aria can’t hide forever, but she’s reluctant to leave her cozy retreat. The hunky—and stubborn—cowboy provides no pressure as well as a much-needed listening ear. Besides, here on his ranch she finally feels she’s doing something she enjoys and making decisions, even if they aren’t all for her. After an opportunity falls into Wheeler’s lap, she can’t let it pass by. But now she isn’t sure if she took the leap for him or for herself. What if it ends up benefiting both?

  Titles in this series:

  6-Pack Rancher

  6-Pack Wrangler

  6-Pack Wrangler

  by

  Em Petrova

  Chapter One

  A damn fine day. Or it had been before Wheeler’s mount had wedged his foot in the V of a branch and gone down in one quick, thousand-pound rush.

  Brush was flashing past his eyes, and then he was face down on the ground with the horse half rolled onto his leg. But that wasn’t his concern as much as feeling the stirrup around his boot and knowing that his foot was busted.

  “Fuck,” he ground out, pushing onto his elbows and twisting to look at the horse. The animal lay on its side, and a swift glance at its hoof revealed it was still caught in the branch that had been their demise.

  That branch could possibly end the horse’s life.

  Wheeler reached down to grab his calf. Bracing a hand on each side, he attempted to pull but without engaging the leg muscle and causing more pain to his foot. He tugged with both hands and dug his free foot into the soft earth to scoot away from the horse’s body at the same time.

  Pain hit him and he grunted, but he’d had worse, like once getting kicked in the thigh so close to his man parts that he’d been sure he’d be singing soprano for the rest of his life. From that, he’d earned a hell of a nasty bruise on his leg, and it’d taken a month to return to the natural color of his skin.

  One more shove backward and he should be free. He planted his heel and pushed hard. His backside slid across the ground, and he yanked his leg at the same time. His boot slipped out of the stirrup, but that left it throbbing and already swelling in his boot.

  No matter. He had his wits at least, and he had to make sure the horse would survive this fall.

  He sure as hell hoped so, because he and Gusto had been a team for the last six years and he’d hate to lose a good mount. With his pain sensors blaring, and Wheeler ignoring them, he shifted to look at the horse. Its eyes were wide and staring with agony, and it was starting to froth a bit around the mouth.

  “Easy, boy. Easy now. That’s it.” He rubbed a hand along its neck and got onto his knees. His foot dragging across the ground made him cuss, and he bit back a yelp of pain. He couldn’t frighten the horse more than it already was.

  Half afraid to check its leg still caught in the broken limb he hadn’t seen before it was too late, he first reached for his shotgun.

  He hoped to hell he wouldn’t need it. But if it came to that…

  Yeah, he’d pull the trigger and end Gusto’s suffering. Then he’d probably cry like a baby all the way back to his place and it wouldn’t be from his own broken bones.

  “Easy,” he crooned to the horse and moved to its leg. The swelling was alarming, already alerting him to the severity of the injury.

  With a hand on Gusto’s side to reassure him, Wheeler slid his fingers along the horse’s fetlock. Closing his eyes, he used his sense of touch to root out broken bones. He blew out a breath through his nostrils and moved back up the leg, before sliding down it again and feeling his way.

  Thank God, it wasn’t broken. But it was bad enough, possibly a torn tendon that could still put the horse out of commission.

  Only way to find out was to get him free of the branch and onto his feet.

  If Wheeler could get on his own feet first.

  Tucking his discomfort into a corner of his mind that he couldn’t readily access, he disentangled the branch from Gusto’s leg and threw it like a frisbee far into the ravine they rode the edge of. A few more feet in that direction and they would have fallen over the side. Riding was always a bit of a risk in these Washington mountains, and he knew that. Today he was getting a harsh reminder.

  “C’mon now, boy. Up.” He lurched to his own feet and grabbed the reins. With the toe of his boot barely grazing the ground, he felt all too keenly how bad his foot was. He shoved the sensation away and focused on Gusto, staring down at his leg, which the horse did not gather beneath him in an attempt to get up.

  “Let’s go, boy. If I can do it, so can you. Up!” He pulled on the reins and slapped him in the flank.

  The horse rolled onto its haunches, and Wheeler looked him in the eyes. “We got this, you and me. Up now.” One more tug had the horse shoving upward. Wheeler bent to examine its leg in this position, ignoring his own precarious balance. He steadied himself by leaning into Gusto’s side and felt along the tendons again. Yeah, swelling like a bee sting to the face, and now Wheeler had to figure out how to get them both safely down the mountain. There wasn’t any cell service up here—no use trying.

  “Now for the real test,” he muttered. No way could he ride the horse in this condition, so that meant he was leading him down on foot. “We’re both in for a world of hurt.”

  He drew Gusto forward, watching his gait to make sure the leg wouldn’t buckle. He bore the weight, thank God, but with a pronounced limp that would definitely do more damage to the leg by the time they reached home.

  He took hold of the saddle, leaning on it by way of a crutch, and took a limping step of his own.

  Fuck, that hurt. Good thing his boot was tight—it held together the bones almost like a splint. Didn’t mean it felt good, though.

  After a dozen steps between them, Wheeler realized it might be nightfall before he reached the ranch and got medical attention for either. Unless by some crazy miracle the mountain allowed cell signals to pass and he could make a call to his buddy King. But he wouldn’t hold his breath.

  Or he would, as he took the next step and the next. After a mile, he was getting into a groove. Hobble, lean on horse, grit tee
th against pain. Repeat. Gusto seemed to be holding up better but horses were like that—tough to the end. Wheeler’s eyes burned with a tear of appreciation for his horse, and then he blinked it away.

  He paused to let the animal drink from a mountain stream, and he took a swig from his thermos in the saddle bag. Too bad he didn’t have any wrap for the horse’s leg. Although, he did have a blanket and some jerky. If he needed to, they could sleep rough on the mountain.

  No, they could make it to his ranch. The small outdated house that had been his grandparents’ had never sounded so inviting.

  All the way across uneven ground, he feared he’d fall and break something else, or Gusto would go down and not get up again, and he would need to resort to the shotgun. But that didn’t happen.

  When the glimmer of moonlight shone on the new metal roof of the house, Wheeler felt like letting out a cheer. If he had any steam left in him, he would.

  He got the horse to the barn and knelt to tend its foot. Wrapping it tight enough to support, but not so tight it cut off blood supply, was all he could manage right now, and he still needed to make it to the house without the horse for support in order to make a call from the landline.

  Being remote seems like a good idea until you get into trouble.

  Navigating the saggy porch steps gave him the resolve to rebuild them the minute he was able, and by the time he reached the kitchen and the phone, he was panting with exertion and a fair amount of pain.

  He punched King’s number. It was suppertime and his friend might be in the middle of dinner with his pretty little wife, but this moment was what made King a good friend.

  “King,” he said the moment he picked up.

  “What’s wrong? Your voice sounds rough.”

  “I got trouble. I need the vet for Gusto. He’s in the barn. And a ride for myself to the ER.”

  “Shit. Be there in a few. Sit tight, man.”

  “If I sit down, you’ll have to throw me over your shoulder to get me to the truck. I’ll be in the barn with the horse.”

  * * * * *

  Aria went to her closet and pulled some of her favorite tops off hangers. With these slung over her arm, she headed back to the bed and her open suitcase. She folded each top meticulously and placed it in the bottom and then circled back to her closet.

  “Why don’t you leave the packing to your assistant?” Jason’s voice came at her in the depths of her closet.

  “How would she know what I want to wear during times I’m not in wardrobe?” she called back.

  For a week since Jason had learned she was heading to Washington and the set of Redemption Falls, he’d been in a funk. Pouting like a little boy who wasn’t getting his way. Well, he’d have to get over it. He was an actor too and as professionals, they did their jobs without complaint. And there would be no complaint from her anyway—she was headed to the mountains. For a Montana rancher’s daughter, she couldn’t be happier to return to something more familiar than streets lined with designer clothing shops and A-list parties.

  She came out carrying several pairs of her jeans, some leggings and her favorite feminine tuxedo she had worn to one of the last awards shows. There, Bellarose Abbott had won big time for her role on Redemption Falls and some said this was Aria’s year, but since she was only a side character, playing the cousin of Bellarose’s character, she didn’t think so.

  Dumping all the garments on the bed, she slanted a look at Jason, who perched on the edge. In jeans and a white T-shirt, with the perfect scruff of five o’clock shadow, he was as hunky as they came. Women flocked to Jason Lee wherever they went, and it wasn’t because he was an action hero. His boy-next-door looks had every female—and plenty of males too—drooling over him.

  “Aria. You’ll be gone for months. How will we keep this alive?”

  She pressed her lips together. “Other people do. We have to learn to work with our careers and relationships.”

  “Why don’t you sound concerned about it?” He caught her wrist mid-fold, and she looked up into his eyes. Blue eyes that had melted her panties off at the start. But now…

  Well, the distance would do them good. At least in her mind. It would give her time to figure things out.

  Like how she had gotten herself a live-in boyfriend in the first place, when she hadn’t asked for one. He’d just sort of shown up with a bag and hadn’t left. That had been four months ago.

  She let him reel her closer. His expensive aftershave hit her nose, and she let out a sigh. He moved her to stand between his legs and placed his hands on her hips.

  “I’m going to miss you so much.” His gritty voice was something he was known for and used in every action movie to hook the women into paying good money to see him.

  “I’ll miss you too.” She said it automatically, but did she feel it? Yes, she definitely needed that distance.

  He pulled her closer, staring into her eyes. “We’ll Facetime every day.”

  “Of course.”

  “And text each other whenever you aren’t on set.” It was too bad that Jason was between jobs at the moment. Otherwise, his time would be consumed and this wouldn’t be an issue. Who knew the tough guy he was known for being was so damn clingy in real life?

  “Yes, we’ll text.” She patted his shoulder in reassurance.

  “Then when you come back, you can start planning the wedding.”

  She froze, eyes wide and her heart making no sound at all.

  It must have stopped.

  Great, he’d killed her with a marriage proposal.

  Wait—a what?

  She unfroze her eyelids and managed to blink at him. “A… wedding?” Her voice came out faint, and she felt she might do just that, with her head spinning like this.

  “Yes!” He grabbed her up and tossed her down on the bed, hovering over her with stars in his eyes.

  Oh God. How do I get myself into these situations?

  She hadn’t set out to be an actor—she’d begun on the other end of the camera, handling the horses on set. Then at one point she’d been a body double and bam! A role was written into the show for her and now she was on the other side of the camera, when all she had wanted to do was work with horses.

  But how could she turn down an opportunity that millions of people would jump at?

  Months later, her assistant told her Jason Lee had called, and Aria’s response had been, “That’s nice.” And when she’d been informed he was taking her out for dinner tonight at the elite new club in Hollywood, what was she to say?

  Then the moving in… sharing a bed and a closet. Ugh. Now a wedding?

  She didn’t know what to say—her vocal cords had taken a nap. Or were in a coma.

  “The minute you get back to California, you can get started with the plans. I have some time and can be checking out venues. I’ll send you some pics and video so you get a good idea before you even begin.”

  Lord help me.

  She just stared up at Jason, which he mistook for shock. Well, it was after a fashion.

  He chuckled. “Why do you look so stunned, sweetheart? You know you mean the world to me. I love you and you love me. Why not make it official and while we’re apart, you’ll have something to look forward to.”

  “It’s just that…” She raised a hand to his shoulder. “I’m not entirely sure I want to plan a wedding.”

  “Then we’ll hire someone.” He leaned in and kissed her hard.

  With the discussion ended, she managed to finish packing even while in a daze.

  Now she sat on a plane, staring out at the blanket of clouds. Far below was a world where people knew what they wanted and how to get it. She knew what she wanted, but then something else came along and she sort of went along with it.

  This was Aria’s biggest fault, and one that she needed to get therapy for as soon as possible or be forever tied to an actor she didn’t love.

  “Can I get you anything, Miss Bloom?”

  She looked up at the flight attenda
nt in first class. “Um, some Evian please.” On second thought… “And a scotch and soda.”

  “Of course. Are you comfortable? Would you like a hot towel?”

  “Not right now, thank you.” She offered a smile, and the woman returned it before moving off to the next person.

  Aria stared out the window and wondered what her daddy would say when he read the headline about her engagement, which Jason would surely spill to the media and Aria hadn’t exactly agreed to. Crap, how was she ever going to explain this to anybody? The people on set would want to hear details, she’d have interviews, Jason would be texting photos of venues…

  She wanted to throw up.

  How had a Montana girl with countrified dreams of competing in national horse competitions even become an actor and now have a famous fiancé?

  She was just about to drop her face into her hands to stifle a wail, but the attendant returned with her scotch and soda. She took it with a polite smile but dropped the mask the moment she wasn’t the center of attention anymore. She brought the drink to her lips.

  Well, she could commit herself to day drinking even if she couldn’t commit to marriage.

  Chapter Two

  Aria stood at the edge of the field, the wind ruffling like fingers through her loose brown hair as she stared off at the mountains. Yes, it was home.

  Funny thing was, she was meant to be acting a scene. The cameras were rolling, the producer was staring at her intensely to make sure she gave the performance he wanted from her. But she’d just been beaten over the head with the realization that it was the mountains that felt like home, not the state and when a tear zigzagged down her cheek, it was real as hell.

  She was crying for the beauty of it all and grateful for the sanctuary Washington was offering her from the hell that hadn’t yet broken loose around her.

  How was it possible Jason hadn’t said a word? The story of their engagement wasn’t out. She had spent two weeks now perching on horseshoe nails, just waiting for the world to blow up in her face.