A Cowboy For Christmas Read Online Free PDF Page A

called in
a mellow voice. She remembered, from her reading, to lean forward
to keep on top of the monster.
    She sucked in air like she
was drowning. Since she had to keep both hands on the reins, she
couldn’t rub her chest like she wanted. Brent’s laughter sang out,
startling her almost as much as the horse had.
    When he was serious again,
he said, “Calm down, take him around.”
    On her first trip around,
he walked a few steps from the horse. If he was nervous about her
riding Jeffery, it didn’t show. Thankful for his calmness, she felt
herself relax. They came along side the two men who still
watched.
    “ Howdy, ma’am,” one said,
touching his hat.
    “ That’s Dale,” Brent
introduced him, “And the tall one’s Ivan.”
    She glanced over and
nodded, but that was all she could do at the moment.
    Brent told the men, “You
two should be working, not gawking.”
    Jeffery moved away so she
didn’t hear their responses. With the sun shining brighter than
before, she grew warm. This was work, but it wasn’t as bad as she
imagined. She’d dreamed the night before that she fell off while
Brent watched. So far, so good.
    She rode Jeffery around
again. As she approached Brent, he told her to stop the
horse.
    “ Huh?” Yeah, he was being
mean. She tugged on the reins, but as gently as she could. She
didn’t want to tick the horse off again.
    Jeffery stopped.
    Brent, next to them, nudged
back his hat to look up at her. She gave him a sweet smile. “That
wasn’t hard.”
    “ You’re done?”
    That was a trick question,
but she did want back down on the ground.
    “ Yeah, I want down from
here. Are you going to help me?”
    A smile tugged on his lips.
What else could she do? She’d rather ask for help than land on her
butt trying to get off by herself.
    “ You want my help?” he
asked as he held her gaze. “That means I’ll have to touch
you.”
    The word ‘touch’ rolled off
his tongue as if he’d said ‘caress’. She knew he teased about her
reaction to his rear swatting, but she wouldn’t react this time
around.
    She asked, “Afraid of my
cooties?”
    She made light of his
comment, but her body was on a completely different wave length as
she thought about his hands on her. Listen
up , she thought to herself, he’s a man, just a regular guy working a
ranch . A regular guy with a sexy, quick
grin, and a voice that could soothe her rattled nerves back from
the edge.
    “ Grab the horn and swing
your leg back over.” He stepped close, ready to ease her down. She
gripped the pommel and pulled her leg over. Just then he pressed
his hand against her hip. “Easy now.”
    That was not - was not! - the place to
touch a woman while telling her to take it easy. She felt her
traitorous body jerk and could only pray he didn’t
notice.
    She slid against him the
entire way down, and fell back into his chest. He hadn’t moved, so
she couldn’t either. Her heartbeat jack hammered into overdrive as
her back pressed into him.
    Could be worse.
    Could be her front pressed into
him.
    “ I . . . I, ah, need a
bath.” I need out of here! His arms encircled her and she couldn’t look away
from his bare forearms. Lightly tanned. Strong.
    “ A bath?” he asked as if
he’d been thinking about it.
    She recognized the bedroom
voice. “I’ve never been on a horse before. It tends to make a
person sore.”
    He eased back, holding the
reins still, and gave her room to step away.
    “ Would you like to see how
to take the tack off and cool down the horse before you go?” he
asked with a hand on her shoulder to guide her back a
step.
    “ Sure.” She walked beside
him into the stable yard, glad for the space between them. This
touching didn’t mean anything. At least it shouldn’t.
    She didn’t say much while
she helped him, but her mind ran around in self-defeating
circles.
    How could she have
accidentally mentioned Russ and what happened at her old job? After
that, Brent had turned on the charm. Now he thought