Rope My Heart A cowboy second chance romance

Chapter 1

Lila Mae Thompson tightened her grip on the reins as she rode across the sun-drenched plains of Whispering Pines Mountain, North Caroline. The wind swept through her auburn hair, carrying with it the scent of wildflowers and pine. Her heart pounded with a mix of excitement and trepidation. She had returned to this land of memories and heartaches with a mission to save her family's ranch. Yet, deep down, she knew there was another reason she had come back—a reason with piercing blue eyes and a rugged charm that time had only deepened. Jackson "Jax" McCoy, the cowboy she once loved and left behind, was still here, and their unfinished story was about to be rewritten.

Only, the way she left a few years ago after college would he still be interested? Lily Mae patted her horse’s neck a beautiful tan mare called Princess and shook her auburn hair over her shoulders. She honestly thought that by moving to the big city that her feelings for Jax would play down but being back here having to come home to help her folks out on the ranch and to set up her local rodeo charity event brought back all those feeling she had for the boy that she had loved since was all of six years old.

“Hey Girl.” She heard her daddy’s voice as he rode towards her on his Arabian stallion, Hercules. “You had a nice ride out on Princess?” Her father with his green eyes with crinkles around his tan skin from too much time out in the sun, gave his youngest daughter a winning smile. He was her heart.

“It’s good to be back daddy. So good. I missed Princess. Being back just for the odd weekend or on the holidays well it isn’t the same.”

“No it is not and your mother and I are so happy to have you back and what with the charity rodeo event your planning, well we are so proud of you, Lily Mae. So damn proud.” She honestly thought her father’s chest was swelling. A little lump formed in her throat.

“How is Jax?” The words were out before she had time to rein them back in. Her father chuckled.

“Still carrying a torch for that young man are you Lily Mae?”

“No. Of course not. It’s been six years, I left when I was eighteen daddy a lot has happened since then. I’ve been running a successful event business and working my way up that corporate ladder. I’ve dated.” She didn’t need to give her father the details of her dating life. So far it had proven uneventful and unsuccessful.

Not that Lily Mae hadn’t been dating just nobody could do to her what Jax could with his big cowboy hands and well not to mention other parts of his anatomy. She shook her head.

“He’s fine, busy as ever here on the ranch. Looking to buy himself a plot of land and start up on his own with the money his folks left him. Sad story that indeed.” Her father told her.

Lily Mae had heard how his folks had been hit by a truck on the interstate about a year ago. His father had been killed on impact, his mother had lasted a few days in the hospital but the injuries were too much for her. Lily Mae suspected that knowing the love of her life had died instantly, Jax’s mother didn’t want to carry on life without him and gave up. Leaving Jax behind, the eldest of the three kids they had.

Jax being the eldest now at twenty-four, the same age as Lily Mae and his younger brother, Ralph who would now be twenty-two and Rose their kid sister. Lily Mae guessed that Rose would be around eighteen or nineteen now. She used to babysit her when Rose was a little girl at times and the boys were out doing their own thing. It helped Lily Mae save to go to the city and start herself a new life there in events working her way up until she became a manager.

Now her folks needed her here to help out as her daddy could only do so much in a day and also she needs to get this charity rodeo event underway that she promised her manager she could handle. It’s a big call but if anyone can do it, Lily Mae is the girl to get it done.