Her Rugged Rancher Read Free Page A

erotic thoughts about Noah Crawford. He’s a loner. For all these years he’s been content to live in a line-shack. He doesn’t want a conventional life. And he especially isn’t looking for a woman who wants a family of her own.
    Disgusted at the nagging voice sounding off in her head, she mentally swatted it away and glanced over at the object of her thoughts.
    â€œI imagine Jett told you that he tried to talk me out of building the barn.”
    â€œHe mentioned it.”
    â€œHmm. I’ll bet he’s done more than mention it,” she said with a short laugh. “But as you can see, I don’t always take my brother’s advice. I wanted a place to keep my horses or whatever animals I might take a notion to get.”
    â€œWhat other kind of animals would you want?”
    The doubtful tone of his voice didn’t surprise her. People had all sorts of strange ideas about lawyers. He was probably thinking she considered herself above doing barnyard chores. Or maybe he thought the only things she knew about were depositions and plea deals.
    â€œOh, I think I’d like to have a few goats. I love the milk Sassy gets from her little herd. And I want to keep a few yearling colts around. Just for the fun of teaching them about being haltered and saddled—you know, basic training stuff.”
    â€œYou know about dealing with yearlings?”
    There was more disbelief in his voice and Bella refrained from shooting him an exasperated look. Except for what he probably heard through Jett, this man couldn’t know much about her.
    â€œNoah, I’m thirty-two years old. I know a little more than filing my nails and curling my hair. I’ve been around horses all my life. One of my best childhood friends lived on a horse ranch. We spent hours watching her father train and sometimes he allowed us to help. It was always fun. Now Sassy has the mustangs and I help her with them whenever my job allows me the free time.”
    She glanced over to see a stoic expression on his face. Which wasn’t surprising. The few times Bella had been in his presence he’d not just kept his words to himself, he’d also hidden his emotions behind a set of stony features.
    He said, “You might know the fundamentals, but exposing a yearling to a saddle and bridle is not for the faint of heart. It’s dangerous.”
    â€œDear Lord, Noah. The way you talk, simply living is a dangerous task.”
    â€œMaybe it is,” he muttered.
    She wondered what he meant by that, but knew better than to ask. Instead, she remained quiet and thoughtful as they walked the last few yards to the barn. Along the way, she listened to the jingle of his spurs and the faint flap of the leather chinks against his jeans. The sounds were those of a hardworking man and they comforted her in a way she’d never expected. She had no doubt that if he ever had a woman in his life, he’d certainly be able to take care of her, to protect her in all the ways a man could protect a woman.
    When they reached the big red barn, Bella opened the double doors, then gestured for Noah to lead Mary Mae inside.
    Once they were standing in the middle of a wide alleyway, Noah looked around him with interest. “You must’ve had the barn built of cinderblock for fire purposes.”
    â€œThat’s right. I’m sure that you know as well as I do that up here on the mesa, water is a scarce commodity. And we probably live at least twenty miles from town and the nearest fire department,” she reasoned.
    â€œI didn’t realize the barn was this big,” he remarked. “From the road it looks smaller.”
    â€œJett says I went overboard. But I wanted plenty of room.” She pointed to a hitching rail made of cedar posts. Beyond it was a room with a closed door. “There’s the tack room. Let’s take Mary Mae to the hitching post to unsaddle her.”
    At the hitching rail, he gave the