Everything That You Are Read Online Free PDF

authority he’d come to admire during his time on the ranch.
    Oh no. Anyone but him. Kaden cracked open his lids and peered up at the face looming over his, lined with concern.
    Sure enough, Henry Connel , his boss, stared down at him, or rather at the damage done to his head near his right eye. His temple throbbed with his heartbeat, and judging by the frown that now creased the older man’s brow, it probably looked as bad as it felt.
    If he’d been able to, he would have kicked himself for letting this happen. This was the best job he’d ever had and he had to go and ruin it by getting into trouble. It seemed inevitable with him, and usually he learnt to accept it as his fate, but this time, he truly regretted failing the older man. Henry had been nothing but kind and honest with him since taking him on.
    “Come on. Let’s get some ice on that shiner before it swells up any more.” Henry extended his hand to help Kaden up, but he flinched away from it out of reaction. The frown on the cowboy’s face deepened, and he mentally cursed himself for making the situation worse than it already was.
    “That’s okay, sir,” he whispered, then cleared his throat. “I can manage. I’m sorry about the trouble. I can leave by tomorrow if that’s…” Kaden slowly raised himself onto his hands and knees, the pounding in his head threatening to cause his stomach to retch. Fortunately, there wasn’t any food in it. There normally wasn’t.
    “Leave! What the hell for, that piece of shit?” Henry pointed to an area of the floor just out of Kaden’s sight, and he carefully swivelled his head in the direction of his boss’s finger. Lying unconscious on the ground with more bruises on his face than Kaden could count was Jim. The man looked like he’d gone a round with a professional boxer.
    A small smile broke out on Kaden’s face and he turned back to look at his boss with a whole new level of respect. The guy may look old, with his sun-tanned, leathery face and greying hair, but damn he could pack a punch! Kaden started to laugh despite the gravity of the situation but the pain in his head quickly ended that idea.
    He gradually got to his feet, using the wall for support, while Henry kept an arm out to steady him if he needed it. He refused to look again at his attacker, but the feelings of shame over what had almost happened and the anger at himself for getting into trouble again settled in his chest like stones. This wasn’t the first time he’d caused ‘distraction’ in some of the other workers Henry employed.
    “I don’t want to cause you any more trouble, sir. I’ll be out of your hair…”
    “Boy, you didn’t start any trouble. There will always be jackasses like him,” he nodded to the still unconscious form of Jim lying some distance away, “thinking that they can get away with anything they want. Fortunately, there will also always be bulldogs like me to put them in their place. Besides, you’re a true horse whisperer. Men like him are a dime a dozen. You, my boy, are more valuable than anyone on this ranch, my wife excluded of course.”
    Henry flashed him a toothy grin. “You leave now and I’ll have to tan your hide, too.” That managed to bring a full smile to Kaden’s lips. “Besides, there’s no way Cheryl would give up her little protégé. Missy’s as good as the daughter she never had.”
    Kaden let out a breath of laughter, but when he pushed himself away from the wall, he would have toppled over again but for the swiftness of the arm rounding his waist to steady him. This time, he let his boss keep hold of him and steer him slowly out of the barn.
    Henry took him up the path to the main house, bypassing the little bungalow he shared with his sister at the back, for which he was grateful. He didn’t want Missy to see him like this. Before they reached the back door, though, he glanced up at his employer’s grim face and said, “Sir?”
    “Yeah, son?”
    “Remind me never to get