Texas Tender Read Free Page B

had been intended to be the future of the ranch. But there wouldn’t be any future for the ranch if they didn’t sell him. Ironic.
    Unable to stand the inactivity any longer, Idalou took the slop bucket from the kitchen, left the house through the back door, and headed toward the hog pen where a sow nursed half a dozen piglets. At least they’d have meat for the winter. If either she or Carl had the time to gather berries and wild grapes, she’d make jam. Their father had planned to plant fruit trees, but had never gotten around to it.
    She had just emptied the slop bucket into the feed trough and turned back toward the house when she saw a rider approaching the house. It was impossible to tell anything about him with the sun in her eyes, but it had to be Mr. Haskins. Just her luck. She’dwaited inside like a proper lady for the last hour only to have him arrive when she was slopping the hogs. Why didn’t men get anything right? She couldn’t decide whether to stay where she was, go to meet him, or return to the house and wait until he knocked on the door.
    Deciding to meet him in the house, she hurried inside, washed her hands, checked to make sure she hadn’t dirtied her dress, then made last-minute adjustments to her hair in a small mirror on her bedside table. By then she heard his boots on the front porch. She opened the door and completely lost her ability to move or speak.
    â€œHowdy, ma’am,” the man said with a smile that practically obliterated the sunset. “I’m Will Haskins.”
    She knew he was real, but no man could look like that. It simply wasn’t possible.
    â€œI’m here to see about buying your bull,” he said when she didn’t respond.
    How could she think about anything as mundane as selling a bull when she couldn’t breathe?
    â€œYou did get my letter, didn’t you? Did I get the day wrong? Isabelle says I never can keep things straight.”
    She had to think, to speak, to do something besides stand there staring at him like she was a stuffed dummy.
    â€œAre you all right?” he asked. “I saw you out next to the hog pen when I rode up. Maybe you were in the heat too long.”
    â€œI am feeling a little dizzy.” She was feeling so weak she was about to faint.
    â€œMaybe you’d better sit down,” he said, eyeing their small parlor. “Would you like some water?”
    She had to get control of herself. She wasn’t a silly girl who would fall speechless at the sight of a handsome man. Instead, she was twenty, a woman of experience.There was no reason for her to act like a brainless ninny just because this man was twice as good looking as she’d ever thought possible.
    She allowed Mr. Haskins to lead her into the parlor and persuade her to take a seat on a small sofa. “I would appreciate some water if you don’t mind,” she said.
    â€œI’ll be back in two shakes of a coyote’s tail.”
    She didn’t take her first full breath until he’d left the room. It wasn’t his clothes, even though the tan shirt, off-white vest, and faded pants were clean and neat. It wasn’t his hat, which was almost new, or his boots, which had obviously been cleaned that morning. Nor was it the way those clothes fit his tall, muscular body. It was his face that had brought her nervous system to the edge of breakdown. If any man could be considered absolutely perfect, maybe even beautiful, it was Will Haskins.
    How was a woman supposed to think straight around him? She was only human. Men like him shouldn’t be allowed. She wouldn’t be surprised to wake up tomorrow and find she’d offered to give him the bull.
    â€œHere we are,” he announced as he returned to the parlor, a glass of water in hand.
    â€œThank you,” she said, taking the glass with an unsteady hand. “I’m sorry to make such a pitiful appearance. I assure you I don’t usually