A Cowboy For Christmas Read Free Page A

. . . “There’s two guys working out here, Dale and Ivan.
You’ll run across them.”
    “ They live on the
property?” she asked, and the hint of panic in her voice surprised
him. So far, she acted as if nothing could run her off.
    He shouldn’t ask about it.
Besides, she seemed to be trying to cover for it now. “Dale does,
in a small house closer to the main road. You probably didn’t see
it through the forest over there.”
    In his side vision, he saw
her flick a look over at him. She’d trailed her gaze over him a few
times the day before, but he couldn’t tell if she liked what she
saw or not. It didn’t matter, but he liked to think she
did.
    “ Have you always been
around horses?”
    “ My dad made his living
from horses, and I always have, too.” He felt his shoulders relax,
though he hadn’t realized before how stiff he’d been. Maybe they
could manage this. “When we finish today, you might want to go
check out some books on horses. I’ll go over everything with you,
but it’d help if you can tell a bridle from a stirrup.”
    “ I’m not that
slow.”
    “ I’m just saying, I’d like
you to know what everything is. Horse breeds, grasses, a little
about horse care. Check into trail horses, since that’s what we
have here.” He glanced over. “That is, if you’re serious about
this.”
    “ I am.” Her voice wasn’t
haughty like before, but heavy. Maybe she did see what she was
getting into.
    “ This is Jack’s farm coming
up.” He pulled down a long gravel drive. Ready for them, Jack waved
and swung open the barn door, but he scratched his thick, gray
beard as he looked at Missy. Hopping out, Brent told him, “Jack
Wilson, this is Ben’s sister, Missy Nelson.”
    “ Ben had a sister?” At
Jack’s words, Brent gave her a look.
    She narrowed her eyes as
she stepped back. He knew that she wouldn’t be much help. Her
petite frame couldn’t be more than five feet five, and the bales
were stinking heavy. Still, she needed to see what they
did.
    Jack jumped up into the
truck bed and stacked the bales as Brent loaded them. He paused
after a minute to toss her a pair of gloves.
    “ I noticed you don’t have a
pair.” He waited while she slipped them on. “Want to help
out?”
    He threw another bale into
the bed to demonstrate and stepped back to let her try.
    Bending, she grabbed the
strings and pulled. “Holy crap!”
    He couldn’t stop the laugh,
but he managed to keep it silent. Too bad she caught him shaking
when she stood up.
    “ Would you like to keep the
steering wheel warm?” He grinned with the comment so she’d know it
was in fun.
    “ You jerk!” She glared.
“There are other ways I can help out on the ranch.”
    He sobered because her eyes
grew smoldering with anger. They looked amber, and entrancing. He
felt his breathing quicken.
    Turning, she walked to the
front of the truck and got back in the passenger seat. He went back
to work, shrugging at Jack’s puzzled look. They both looked in the
back window at her stiff shoulders and knew to keep silent as they
worked.
    “ That about does it,” Jack
said when he stacked the last one.
    “ See you, Jack,” Brent
waved and joined Missy in the cab to head back. With her arms
folded, she turned her body away and didn’t speak the entire trip
home.
    This wasn’t so bad, he
thought with a glance her way. If they could stay angry at each
other, he wouldn’t have to wonder about her.
    When they reached the
stables, he backed his truck up to unload the hay, but he didn’t
get out when he turned off the engine. “Listen, I’ll find you
something else to do.”
    She nodded.
    Trying not to grin again,
he asked, “It was funny, wasn’t it?”
    Her head turned. When her
gaze locked with his, the truck cab grew suddenly smaller. Talk
about one determined lady.
    He saw her Nez Pierce
heritage in her high, proud cheekbones and skin the color of red
baked clay. She had a face someone could stare at for
hours.
    But not