Christmas With the Mustang Man Read Free Page B

dazzling beauty by any stretch of the imagination, but she was pretty. Or at least she would be if she’d smile, Dallas decided. Apparently she took that lack of expression from her father, too.
    At the stove, the girl deftly donned a pair of quilted mittens and lifted the pizza from the oven. After she placed the baked concoction on the stove top andswitched the control knob to the off position, she walked over to the table and stood stiffly at her father’s shoulder.
    â€œDallas, this is my daughter, Hayley. And, Hayley, this is Dallas Donovan. She’s driven all the way from New Mexico to purchase a few of our horses.”
    Dallas rose to her feet and offered her hand to the girl. Hayley seemed a bit surprised to be greeted in such an adult manner, but after a slight hesitation, she placed her small hand in Dallas’s.
    â€œIt’s very nice to meet you, Hayley,” Dallas said. “Do you help your father with the horses?”
    The glance she slanted at her father said she wasn’t sure how to answer that question. “Sometimes.”
    â€œWith school going on I suppose you don’t have much spare time,” Dallas remarked.
    â€œNot much,” the girl replied. “I’m in seventh grade now and the math is awful.”
    Dallas chuckled. “I never did like math. My dad grounded me once because I made a D. After that I had to study or sit home for the whole school year.”
    Hayley’s expression perked up as she seemingly decided that Dallas was human after all. “Do you have any kids, Ms. Donovan?”
    â€œPlease, call me Dallas,” she said with a smile for the girl. “And no. I’m sorry to say I don’t have any children.”
    â€œThen you’re not married?”
    â€œHayley! Quit asking personal questions! It’s not polite and you know better,” Boone admonished.
    Shaking her head, Dallas sank back into her seat at the table. “It’s all right. Your daughter is curious. There’s nothing wrong with that,” she told Boone, then looked directly at Hayley. “No. I’m not married. What about you? Do you have a boyfriend?”
    Hayley giggled and Boone shot the child a strangelook, which made Dallas wonder if the sound of his daughter laughing was a rare thing, or was it the idea of Hayley having a boyfriend that caught his attention? Either way, Dallas felt totally drawn to the girl.
    â€œNoooo,” Hayley exclaimed, her cheeks a bright pink. “I’m only twelve! Well—I’ll be thirteen in four months. But Dad says that’s too young for a boyfriend.”
    Glancing over at him, Dallas noticed that Boone Barnett’s expression had returned to resembling a piece of hard granite, which only proved that he didn’t quite understand a young girl’s dreams and feelings.
    Ignoring him for the moment, Dallas said, “Oh. Well, I just thought there might be a boy at school that you liked. You know, like best friends.”
    The girl’s gaze instantly dropped to the floor. “The middle school I go to only has about ninety students altogether. So there aren’t that many boys to pick from. But there is one that I like,” she mumbled, then looked directly up at Dallas. “His name is Jeffery. And the rest of the girls call him a nerd. But I like him ’cause he’s polite and smart, not dumb jerks like most of the other boys.”
    Dallas tossed her a smile of approval. “He sounds like a winner to me.”
    Hayley looked up, her eyes widened with surprise. “Really?”
    â€œSure. Manners and brains. That’s the combination I’d pick.”
    Hayley cast her father a subtle look of triumph, but he said nothing on the subject. Instead, he told his daughter, “You’d better cut the pizza before it gets cold.”
    The girl appeared as though she wanted to say more, but at the last moment decided not to press her luck.
    As Dallas