A Cowboy For Christmas Read Online Free PDF

she was
easy.
    “ Well, that was fun.” She
nodded and marched outside like she had important things to
do.
     
    * * * *
    She didn’t do bad at all in
the end, he thought as he watched her go. So why did she turn into
a stiff greenhorn when he brought Jeffery out? He wouldn’t have
thought he could make her nervous . . . or that he could calm her
down like that.
    He’d gotten an aching
erection while he watched her breathe with her eyes closed. As far
as he could tell, no one saw. Boy, he’d never hear the end of
it.
    “ That little lady’s got you
already.” Dale’s voice boomed from behind him. Brent turned, giving
the robust man a hard look.
    “ I can’t send her away.” He
yanked his gloves off and stuffed them into his jean pocket. “I
explained it to you.”
    “ You said she’d be helping
out around here. Looks like she don’t know a lick about horses.”
Dale shook his head like this was one of the worse offenses
committable.
    “ She’s learning fast.” Was
he defending her?
    “ What about our work?” Dale
pressed.
    “ Hey, I’ll handle it.”
After a pause, Brent added, “I saw you and Ivan watching her
today.”
    “ Yeah, you aren’t the only
one.” Dale seemed to think it was funny. He had a mustache, black
like his hair, and he always had a half smile on his
face.
    It wasn’t that he wanted
her, Brent just didn’t want anyone saying something suggestive
about Missy. “Listen, you’re right about how much work we have to
do around here.”
    “ So leave the drooling to
you?”
    “ This isn’t funny.” At
least, only in a really irritating way. “I’m not drooling over her.
I’m showing her what we do around here so she’ll see she isn’t cut
out for it.”
    “ Oh.” Dale gave him a
conspiracy-style nod before going into a good belly laugh. Brent
turned and strode away, straight for Ben’s house.
    But it was Missy’s house
now. Everything felt out of whack with Ben gone. With Missy around.
No joking with Ben, riding together, talking about next year and
their dreams for their ranch.
    How was he supposed to feel
about the woman?
    He banged on her door twice
and waited, but she didn’t answer. He knew she’d gone inside, so he
cracked it and called her name.
    A muffled noise came back.
Irritation made him itch all over as he wavered at the
door.
    Cursing himself, he quietly
walked across the front room to the hallway. She’d made a good dent
in the mess, he saw, by stacking boxes and papers in the corner.
“Missy?”
    “ Brent?” she called from
the bathroom. He heard either surprise or panic in her voice. “Do
you mind? I’m taking a bath.”
    “ Oh,” he tried to remember
why he came. “I need to talk to you.”
    “ Now?” She sighed. “Well,
you’re here. Start talking.”
    “ For a city girl, you don’t
have much class.” That didn’t sound as funny out loud as it had in
his head.
    “ I’ve got a surprise for
you, cowboy. I grew up in a small dirt town.”
    She did? She didn’t look
like it, though she didn’t exactly talk like city dweller, either.
“My men spent all day watching you instead of working.”
    “ So talk to them, not
me.”
    He opened his mouth, an
argument in mind, but just then his mind came up with a picture of
Missy on the other side of the door . . . in the bathtub . . .
surrounded by pretty pink bubbles. A nice hot bath sounded pretty
darn tempting at the moment.
    “ Are you still there?” she
asked through the door.
    “ Uh, sorry. I was thinking
about what I’d say to Dale and Ivan.”
    “ Hmm, I bet.”
    Now what? He tried to think
up a comeback, but what could he say to a naked woman in the
tub? Can I join you? He spun around and headed out.

Chapter Three
     
     
    The darkness, the cold, but
mostly the quiet didn’t make for a good evening as Brent stood with
Dale outside the stables. He thought about inviting him up to the
house, but while he thought about it, Dale excused himself to go
home. He wanted to see his