Her Bareback Cowboys Read Online Free PDF

upon row of saddles, reins, stirrups and other leather paraphernalia hung on the one wall. Against the other wall, bales of hay were stacked to the roof, while the ones in front displayed gaping holes like a first grader’s missing front teeth. Wade and Maverick stood side by side, each with his hand on the leather seat of a saddle.
    “You have to use this one.” Wade tapped on the saddle in front of him. “It’s wider and might aid you in keeping your balance better. It wouldn’t do for us to have a re-run of the Houston rodeo and have you topple off the horse. You might just break your neck instead of just dislocating your shoulder. I don’t want to return to Texas with a crippled friend just because you decided to play macho man.”
    Maverick glared at him. “Dammit, Wade, you’re not going to let that go, are you? I still want to kill the bastard that didn’t tie the flank strap properly.”
    “No use crying now. You should have made sure then and now your punishment is to use a safer saddle.”
    “My shoulder has nothing to do with my ability to ride a horse,” Maverick grumbled. “You know I can handle it.”
    Wade grinned. “Can you? How’s your shoulder doing without the painkillers?”
    Maverick shrugged. “I haven’t tried it and the pills are working so why find out?” He sighed. “Okay, I’ll use this saddle for one day and if I’m fine, I’ll try the other one.”
    Wade nodded and lifted the stirrup to examine it further. “Fair enough.”
    The yellow light filtering through the dusty windows added an old-world quality to the air and Adrian lifted the camera to her eye. She caught Maverick running his hand lovingly over one of the saddles, a pensive look on his normally smiling face. Wade stood with one hand on his hip and the other on the stirrup of a saddle. She took the photo as he turned his head to glance at her.
    Satisfied that the photos depicted the men struggling to choose between the array of products, Adrian acknowledged Wade’s glance with a nod. She caught her lower lip between her teeth while she swung the camera between the men, snapping various shots of them in different positions.
    Why did every photo look better than the previous one through the viewfinder? And why couldn’t she decide what she wanted? This was so not her. She had an eye for finding excellent compositions and never doubted her own choices. So what was her problem now?
    Adrian closed her eyes and took a deep breath as realization hit her. The photos perfectly illustrated her indecision about the men. Maverick promised a carnival ride with fun and laughter foremost on his mind, while Wade reminded her of a river, calm on the surface but with enough hidden currents to surprise the unwary. Both drew her like a bee to a honey trap. She didn’t dare give in to the attraction she felt toward them—not with a chaperone that could enter the premises at any given moment.
    Adrian retreated out of the door and strode toward the wooden beams of the corral. She rested her arms on the middle pole and stared out to the hills beyond, forcing her mind to calm and her thoughts to settle. Within minutes, she had identified numerous locations for photo opportunities.
    She pictured the men riding over the hilltop at dawn, their Stetsons pulled low over their eyes and their bodies silhouetted against the rising sun. The empty arms of the weeping willow at the creek provided the perfect milieu for pictures of them relaxing with the horses.
    Someone touched her shoulder and she jumped.
    Maverick frowned at her. “You look serious. Anything you’d like to share?”
    “No, I’m scouting the available locations.” She nodded toward the stables. “Seen anything you like?”
    With his smile firmly in place again, he draped his arm over her shoulders and walked her toward the house. “The quality of the saddles look good, but the lassos haven’t been worked. We’ll have to spend much of this week softening them.”
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