Crazy for Cowboy Read Online Free PDF Page A

rescue, recommending an over-the-counter medication that was delivering everything it advertised. He hadn’t sneezed once.
    “Now we’re in fer it,” Sam grumbled.
    Brandon eyeballed his instructor. What the heck was he talking about now? “I beg your pardon?”
    “Doctor Em’s comin’ this way.”
    Doctor M? It sounded like a character from a James Bond movie. Or someone Mike Myers created to combat super spy, Austin Powers. Brandon turned, but instead of finding a balding, fifty-year-old villain, he saw the pretty brunette from the restaurant.
    He’d spent most of the night dreaming about her. And when he wasn’t dreaming, he lay awake thinking about her, in a way that made it extremely difficult to get back to sleep.
    His mouth went dry. Damn, she looked even better in real life. Especially in that pair of faded jeans. Though it wasn’t exactly the outfit he’d fantasized her wearing the night before.
    “Women. They think they got the whole world on a string.”
    Brandon nodded in agreement. This lady sure had him dangling.
    “That’s why us men-folk have t’ stick t’gether ‘n’ look out fer one another.” Sam chuckled and shook his head. “This one’s a female vet. Have ya ever heard the like?”
    “Is that what she does?”
    “Yup. Treats the horses. We got a jumper boardin’ here ‘s been hurt.” The older man spat a gob of chewing tobacco onto the ground. “It’s not a job fer a woman, if ya ask me.”
    Brandon disagreed. He couldn’t think of a more attractive combination: beauty and brains. He wasn’t sure what kind of education someone needed to be a vet, but he was positive there would be some science courses along the way. Biology, Chemistry—those were subjects that he’d barely passed in high school. Give him an English course and he could pull off a ninety average, no problem. Put him in a math or science class and he was a typical artsy. But he’d always admired the kids who excelled in those topics.
    “Mr. Saveloy! Houston!”
    “Who’s she callin’?”
    Brandon tugged at his collar. It suddenly felt a whole lot tighter. “Uh...that would be me.”
    “I thought yur name was Brandon Hollister.”
    “It’s a long story.” And one that Brandon was ready to set straight. If Emily was going to be around the stables while he was taking lessons, he was bound to run into her again. “I met her yesterday at Eduardo’s, the restaurant where I work. I had on my costume for the movie. I was kind of playacting and—”
    “She thinks yur some cowboy fella named Houston Saveloy?”
    “That’s right.”
    Sam projected another stream of brownish saliva onto the grass. “Saveloy, huh?” He cocked his head to one side. “Isn’t that some kinda dried up ol’ sausage?”
    Brandon winced. “Let’s not get into it.”
    And there wasn’t time. Emily had crossed the distance between them. “Hi, Sam. Mr. Saveloy.” She nodded her head to them and smiled. It was a cute lopsided grin, as if she didn’t quite trust herself to give into it all the way.
    Brandon smiled back. “Hi, Emily. Sorry I didn’t hear when you first called but … ah … there’s something I need to tell you about that. You see I…”
    She was gazing up at him, her lovely gray eyes sparkling. She certainly wasn’t making it any easier. Did she have to look so enticing?
    He cleared his throat and tried again. “The reason I didn’t notice when you called me...this is quite amusing, actually. It’s because...”
    He saw the puzzlement in her eyes as she waited for him to finish his sentence. He took a breath to do just that but another voice answered instead.
    “He’s deaf in one ear.”
    Brandon shot a glance at Sam. The older man was beaming contentedly, revealing a gaping hole at the front of his mouth where a couple of teeth used to be. “It’s from an ol’ bronco ridin’ accident, right Houston?”
    “Huh? No. The problem is…” Brandon felt Sam’s bony elbow nudge him in the