Her Cowboy Lover (Pleasure Ridge Ranch) Read Online Free PDF

nothing you did. This just...I thought it would be different."
    Something in her voice, an audible pain, made him want to take this stranger in his arms and comfort her. "How so?"
    She walked toward the edge of the porch and leaned against the support post, her face still in deeper shadow. "I thought the anonymity would make it easier to be with someone, that I could pretend that the real world didn’t exist for a week, leave who I am out there behind and just enjoy an affair with no strings attached." She let out a long sigh. "Turns out it’s not so easy to leave the real me behind."
    He glanced toward the dark surface of the lake, visualizing the path that ran around its edge. "Would you like to go for a walk? It’s a nice night."
    She hesitated before answering. "It’s so dark, I’ll probably fall and break my neck."
    He extended his hand toward her. "I know my way around. I won’t let you fall. And I promise that nothing will happen unless you want it to."
    Again, she hesitated. But then she slowly descended the steps, and he got the impression she was still debating the wisdom of going off into the night with him. When she reached his side, she didn’t immediately take his hand. He didn’t push her, simply kept his hand extended until she finally placed her much smaller one against his palm. An odd sort of warmth flowed through him as he wrapped his hand around hers and guided her toward the lake.
    They walked for a few minutes before she spoke. "How can you see where you’re going?"
    "Just used to it. Not exactly a city lights kind of guy."
    She looked up toward the expansive sky. "I guess I was used to it when I was a kid. I grew up on a farm, and we’d go out and chase lightning bugs at night in the summer."
    "But you don’t live in the country anymore?"
    "No."
    She didn’t elaborate, and he didn’t ask questions he sensed she wouldn’t want to answer. When Lily stopped walking, he stood beside her but didn’t let go of her hand. And a part of him was oddly happy when she didn’t break contact.
    "I don’t think I ever realized the sky was this big."
    "Yeah. I can remember lying in the back yard with my dad when there were meteor showers, watching them streak across the sky." Connor hadn’t thought about that in ages, and he wasn’t sure why he did now. Was even more surprised that he’d shared it with Lily, but he found he wasn’t sorry.
    "Connor?"
    "Huh?"
    "Are you okay?"
    "Yeah, why?" What had he done to make her ask that question?
    "You just seemed to tense up."
    "Sorry." He nearly choked on the word. Damn, sometime in the last twenty-four hours, he’d started to fucking unravel.
    "He’s gone, isn’t he?" Her voice was soft, understanding, offering to listen without prying. Maybe it was the dark, the anonymity that she’d come here for, but he found he wanted to tell her.
    "Yeah."
    "I’m sorry. I can’t imagine losing my dad."
    "He was a farmer?"
    "Still is." She laughed a little, and he liked the sound of it. For some reason, he thought perhaps she didn’t laugh often. It made him feel a kinship with her. Odd how a cloak of darkness could make you feel closer to a person. "I like to tease him about how the chickens and cows are his best friends because he’s willing to get up at the butt crack of dawn to visit them."
    Connor smiled. "My dad was an early riser, too. Used to suck when I was a kid, but I ended up being just like him." At least until he’d started working all kinds of odd hours, often into the wee hours of the night. He missed the simplicity of getting up just as dawn was peeking over the horizon, brewing a strong cup of coffee, and going for a leisurely walk while fog still hugged the ground.
    "What did he do for a living?"
    "He owned and feed and tack store. I worked there until...until I went out on my own." He’d almost mentioned the rodeo, but that seemed a little too personal. "Want to walk some more?"
    "Sure."
    They passed a few minutes in silence, and they were