From This Moment On Read Online Free PDF Page B

poodle. But people’s fascination with horses? She didn’t get it. Those beasts were huge and dangerous.
    “You said something back there.” Trace had already given Matt his coffee, and he was leaning against the railing watching her as she joined them. Well, sort of joined them...by stopping a good six feet away. “Sorry, I didn’t catch it.”
    “Oh, it was nothing.” She cradled her mug with both hands and sipped from it, sweeping a gaze toward the barn and stable.
    “You haven’t been out here before, have you?” Matt asked, and Trace laughed.
    She could see why he thought it was a joke. They weren’t that far from the walkway, but still farther than she’d ever ventured. The area between the front door and where she parked the truck on the side of the house, now that was her turf.
    “No,” she said, and had to clear her throat and try again. “I haven’t.”
    A pair of hired hands left the barn on noisy ATVs so no one bothered to say anything. Trace drank his coffee, watching her, his brows puckered in a slight frown. She hoped he wouldn’t ask why she hadn’t been to the corral, because she didn’t really want to answer in front of Matt. He didn’t know about her fear of large animals. It had only started after she’d watched him compete in the Houston rodeo last year.
    He was a professional bull rider, with fancy belt buckles and millions in prize money. Nothing intimidated him. He’d been calm and cool sitting on top of that fifteen-hundred-pound bull. She was pretty sure his eight-second ride had knocked a year off her life. That had been the first and last time she’d gone to a rodeo.
    Matt kept glancing toward the stable as if he were waiting for someone. Trace apparently preferred to stare at her. It made her nervous, and she pretended not to notice, but what annoyed her most was that she would’ve liked the chance to check him out.
    He wasn’t dressed all that differently from when he came into the bar. If he owned more than one pair of pants that weren’t jeans she’d be shocked. And he seemed to like T-shirts. He wore them all the time, even in this chilly morning air. Twice he’d come into the Watering Hole wearing cool Western-cut shirts. But the other guys gave him so much crap about it she knew it wasn’t a normal thing. The cowboy boots and Stetson seemed to be daily requirements.
    When the ATV engines had faded and they could be heard again, Matt spoke first. “Do you know if Wallace is awake?”
    Nikki shrugged, feeling a bit defensive. No reason for it because Matt never criticized or pushed. He accepted her refusal to have anything to do with the man.
    “How’s he doing?” Trace asked.
    Matt shrugged. “Depressed. Not even interested in drinking, if you can believe that.”
    “I believe it,” Trace murmured.
    “Yeah.” Matt sighed. “Right.” He knew Trace understood because his own father had died of cancer years ago. And Nikki knew this only because Matt had told her.
    It got quiet after that. She wondered if Trace was thinking about his father. The McAllisters were a close family, but she didn’t know anything about Trace’s relationship with the man. Or much about Trace, really.
    The night Matt had gotten beaten up was the only time she’d spent alone with Trace. She’d had a bit too much to drink and he’d driven her home. He’d been a perfect gentleman, not even trying for a good-night kiss, though she knew he really wanted to.
    She wasn’t used to guys like him. He’d kind of rattled her at the time. But when she thought about it, all he’d really done was show restraint. And only because she was Matt’s sister.
    Trace’s mouth curved into a slow, sexy smile.
    She blinked, her insides fluttering with the realization that she’d been staring at him as if he were a hot fudge sundae. And he was loving it.
    “What are you doing here anyway?” she asked, wishing she could just disappear. “Don’t I see enough of you at the Watering Hole? You