A Cowboy at Heart Read Online Free PDF Page A

his sheep to face the wolves alone, did he? Had Fader Miller’s grief over Samuel become so bitter that it overshadowed his God-given duty?
    A flush warmed her cheeks at the rebellious thought. Who was she to question God’s anointed leader? Forgive me, Almighty One . She looked again at the ugly line, the Englisch fence that stretched from east to west across the neatly plowed field. And please bless Jonas with a peaceful solution .
    “There!”
    Maummi Switzer’s shout drew her attention from her prayer. She looked in the direction the gnarled finger pointed. An Amish buggy top the hill. Jonas had finally returned home, and he was not alone. Beside the buggy trotted a horse, with a man astride the animal’s back in the manner of Englischers . A light-colored oblong hat rested on his head, and his trousers were the color of baked bread instead of black, as was proper for an Amish man.
    The old woman shielded her eyes with a hand. “Who rides with him? Is it Emma’s Luke or Rebecca’s Colin?” Excitement lightened her voice. “Are there others in the buggy with Jonas?”
    Had Rebecca or Emma returned with their father for a visit? A pleasant thought, but as the travelers neared, Katie could make out a single black-clad figure seated on the buggy’s bench. “No,” she told the woman gently. “Jonas rides alone.”
    Maummi Switzer’s shoulders slumped, but then she brightened. “No matter. We will offer refreshment to the men to wash the dust of the road from their throats. Come, child, and fetch for me lemonade from the cellar.”
    Katie gathered the folds of her black skirt tightly around her legs so as not to brush against the plants unnecessarily and followed Maummi Switzer out of the garden. Thank goodness for the invitation to help. She didn’t want to appear too eager to hear the news lest she be mistaken for a gossip, but her curiosity had been piqued, and she couldn’t bear the thought of leaving before discovering the details.
    The men arrived as they neared the Switzers’ front porch.
    “Neither of my girls’ Englisch husbands,” Maummi Switzer mumbled more to herself than to Katie. “’Tis the cowboy.”
    Katie stepped up on the porch to stand beside Maummi Switzer and watch their approach. A worried frown sat heavily on Jonas’s forehead, and the gestures with which he halted Big Ed and climbed down from the buggy’s bench were stiff. She turned her gaze toward the horse and its rider.
    Jesse Montgomery sat easy in the saddle, his movements as he reined his mount toward a shady spot beneath thickly leaved tree branches seeming to be at one with the animal. With no discernible movement on the reins in his hand, he brought the horse to a stop and swung his leg over. He hopped to the ground with the grace of one who had done it hundreds of times before, and crossed the grass toward the house with a smile on his face.
    “Afternoon, ma’am,” he said to Maummi Switzer. “You’re as pretty as ever. Been too long since you’ve been out for a visit.”
    “The road runs both ways.” Though a scowl accompanied the comment, Katie detected a note of warmth in the often peevish voice. If Maummi permitted him to call her “pretty,” she must favor the man.
    “Yes, ma’am, it does.” He approached the porch and stood looking up at her from the shade of his brim. “If Luke wouldn’t keep me so busy planting and tending that sorry bunch of cattle he calls a herd, I’d have more time for visits.” His gaze slid sideways to connect with Katie’s, and he snatched the hat off his head. “Pleasure to see you again, Miz Miller.”
    During the moment in which their eyes met, warmth crept upward toward Katie’s cheeks. Jesse’s rugged good looks and charming manners had always tended to unnerve her on the few occasions when she’d made the two-hour trip for a friendly visit with Emma, her best friend from childhood. Not that Amish menweren’t equally charming, but something about the half