A Cowboy's Claim Read Online Free PDF

was open to a relationship, but he was curious. “You?”
    She shook her head. “Who’s got time, right?” A shadow covered her blue eyes. Then she blinked and it disappeared.
    â€œIs your ex making it tough for you to date?” He wasn’t an expert on relationships, but he was a guy and he knew firsthand that guys could be jerks.
    â€œNot in the way you mean.” She opened her mouth to explain, but the waitress appeared with their drinks.
    â€œFood should be up in ten minutes.”
    Against his better judgment, Vic prompted Tanya to confide in him. “I’m a good listener if you want someone to unload on.”
    â€œI don’t want to bore you with the details.”
    â€œNothing about you is boring.” Damn . Like an inexperienced poker player, he’d just shown his hand. Tanya was too easy to talk to and he hadn’t had a meaningful conversation with anyone in months. Each day he spoke to numerous people—convenience-store clerks, rodeo personnel and waitresses—but they were just words.
    â€œBeau said he’d always dreamed of marrying the girl next door.” She sipped her tea. “Then after I caught him cheating—which I later came to find out was actually the fourth buckle bunny he’d slept with behind my back—he admitted that I wasn’t exciting enough for him.” She snorted.
    Holy hell. Beau Billings was a bigger fool than Vic first believed. Tanya McGee didn’t have a buckle bunny body, but that didn’t make her any less hot in Vic’s eyes. “His loss.”
    â€œThanks.” She blew out a soft sigh. “Beau’s a sore loser. At first he tried to talk me out of filing for a divorce, insisting we should start a family. That being a father would keep him grounded.”
    Family . The word made Vic nauseated. His only brother died years ago, killed by police during an armed robbery. Vic’s older sister by one year had committed suicide after she was raped by a gangbanger and discovered she was pregnant. His younger sister by ten years had gotten pregnant at seventeen and ended up in jail for prostitution, leaving his mother with custody of her only grandson. “Do you want kids?”
    â€œNot with Beau, that’s for sure.” Her gaze softened. “But yes, someday I’d like to have a family of my own.”
    Vic didn’t care to talk about family—he hadn’t had a good experience with his. “I thought Slingshot might come through for you this afternoon. That horse can run.”
    â€œI’m not crazy for thinking Slingshot has it in him to win, right?”
    â€œMaybe after a year of competition he’ll get his legs under him.”
    â€œI wish I had that long,” she said.
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    Tanya nodded to the waitress heading their way with the food. After they were left alone, she said, “If I don’t win in New Mexico, my stepfather’s pulling his support. But I’m not ready to give up on Slingshot yet.”
    â€œThen keep competing.” He bit into his burger, taking a small bite so his chewing wouldn’t distort his face, not that Tanya ever stared at his scar—it was as if she couldn’t see the puckered flesh dissecting his cheek.
    â€œEasy for you to say when you place in the money at every event.” She waved a hand before her face. “I’m not throwing in the towel yet. I have enough in savings to last through the end of the month if we don’t win next time.”
    â€œWhat did you do between your divorce and returning to the circuit?”
    â€œI train Mason’s Appaloosas.” She snuck one of his fries and dipped it into the circle of ketchup he’d poured on his plate. “I consider myself a good trainer, but every technique I’ve tried with Slingshot has backfired.” She swallowed another bite, then said, “I worry that it’s me. That Slingshot