EMMETT (The Corbin Brothers Book 3) Read Online Free PDF

apparently investing in a consultant.
    “You’re very boring, Corbin.”
    “It’s Emmett, actually.”
    “I know who you are.” Her dark eyes flashed with either mirth or loathing. “You’re all Corbins to me. To the whole town, too. Corbin stands for cattle, not horses.” I didn’t know if that was an insult or not. She delivered it so matter-of-factly.
    “We use horses on the operation,” I said. “All of it.”
    “Uh-huh,” she said flatly, clearly not interested. “What does that have to do with me?”
    “Your father has a breeding operation,” I said. “All I want to know is what you know about it.”
    “I know plenty,” she said. “How to tell when a mare is ready for breeding, how to test the stud, what kinds of pairs work, and what’s even better than a breeding operation if you’re looking to start dealing in horses instead of cattle. But if you want to know so badly everything about my father’s operation, why aren’t you asking him?”
    “I’m asking you,” I said. “You’re the one I passed a twenty to, not your father.”
    “He doesn’t give hand jobs, if that’s what you’re implying.”
    I shuddered. “I’m not implying that at all.” That would be the stuff of nightmares, and an image that soured my stomach.
    “So what? I don’t get why you’re asking me all this. If it’s my father’s operation, he’s the expert. Not me.”
    “That’s not what I hear.”
    “Oh yeah? What do you hear?” Peyton cut me off before I could even attempt to answer that loaded question. “People love to talk. It doesn’t mean they know anything.”
    “I think you know horses,” I said. “A lot more than what you’re letting on. I’ll remind you again that you’re the one I paid to talk to me about the operation. Can I have my money back if you choose not to hold up your end of the agreement?”
    She rolled her eyes extravagantly. “So dramatic.”
    “This is important to me.”
    Peyton checked her phone, showing me just how important I was to her. “What is it, then, exactly, that you want to know? I don’t have time to play games with you.”
    “I want to know how to get started,” I said. “I want to know schematics, numbers. How much land do you need? How much barn space? What kind of resources do you actually expend? How many hands do you need? Could it be viable for the Corbin-Summers Ranch?”
    “You really are looking to get in the horse business, aren’t you?”
    “This is all just research,” I said, guarded. That would be the worst thing in the world — for this nasty bit of gossip to make it back to my brothers and everyone else on the ranch. The last thing I needed was for Chance and everyone else to be on my ass about going behind their backs — and against their wishes — to get a breeding operation up and going. It would be taken as an act of betrayal. I thought I’d been safe with my Dax Malone encounter. He was in such a constant foul mood that I doubted he’d tell anyone about his close encounter with me. I wasn’t so sure about his daughter. I suddenly didn’t feel so safe.
    Peyton leaned very close to me. I could’ve rubbed noses with her if I’d been so inclined.
    “This is a secret,” she whispered, almost smiling.
    “No, it isn’t.” That was the best way to get the gossip really going. If this tiny town sensed a weakness in anyone — and secrets were an enormous weakness — the truth would eventually surface in all kinds of ugly ways.
    “Don’t worry,” Peyton said. “Your secret is safe with me.”
    “It really isn’t a secret.”
    “Don’t you think I can keep secrets?” She snorted. “I keep this whole town’s secrets. You wouldn’t be able to imagine what men are liable to say after they’ve had their taste of me.”
    “I … I guess not,” I said. “But this talk about horses … this is only to satisfy my curiosity.”
“Oh, the other ways I could satisfy you,” she sighed.
    “But that’s not what this