His Texas Wildflower Read Online Free PDF Page A

height to see Jake was studying her closely.
    â€œGertie didn’t have a will?” he asked thoughtfully.
    Color rushed to Rebecca’s cheeks, although she didn’t understand why his question should unsettle her. It wasn’t a crime to be an heiress, even to a run-down property like this.
    â€œUh—yes. Actually, Gertrude made me the sole beneficiary.”
    She began walking on toward the barn and he strolled beside her. A stand of aspen trees grew at the back of the yard and as they passed beneath the shade, the air was dry and pleasant. She suspected that by nightfall the temperature would be downright cool.
    â€œSo why don’t you stay on and make use of the property?” he asked. “Or do you already own something in Houston?”
    As they walked along, she stared at him. “No. I rent. In the city. I don’t have any use for property.”
    Was the man crazy? Why would he even think she’d want or need Gertrude’s old homestead? Even though she’d told him and his friends that she worked as a fashion buyer, he obviously didn’t realize the importance of her job. At least, its importance to her. He didn’t understand that her mother and friends would be shocked to see her spend one night on this ramshackle property, much less want to hold on to it for herself.
    But she kept all those thoughts to herself. She didn’t want to give him the impression that she was a snob. Because she wasn’t. She was just accustomed to a different life than this. That was all.
    â€œThat’s a shame,” he said. “With a bit of loving care this place could be a nice little home. But I guess a fancy lady like you would never settle for anything this simple.”
    There was no sarcasm or accusation in his voice. He’d simply stated a fact the way he saw it. And she wasn’t at all sure she liked the image he’d formed of her.
    Pushing a hand through her tousled hair, she wondered if she looked as bad as she felt. But that hardly mattered. When Jake Rollins had called her a fancy lady, he’d not been referring to her looks, but her substance as a person. She couldn’t remember the last time anyonehad noticed anything more about her than her outward appearance, the latest fashion she happened to be wearing. It was a jarring realization.
    â€œActually, I won’t be leaving tomorrow,” she told him, while trying to decide why she felt it important to give him that bit of information. “It will take me a few days to deal with everything and get the property ready to sell.”
    â€œWell, I hope everything turns out the way you want,” he said quietly.
    â€œI do, too,” she murmured, then quickened her pace on to the barn.
    The structure was built of lapped boards with a low roof made of corrugated iron. The outside had once been painted white but had long since faded to a tired gray. At one end, two wide doors stood open, allowing a shaft of waning sunlight to slant across a floor of hard-packed dirt.
    Inside, two female cats, one gray striped and the other a solid white, were lounging on a low stack of old hay bales. Nearby, a yellow tom was stretched out in the shade of a metal water trough full of rusty holes. Everywhere she looked, everything about the place seemed to have been long forgotten, as though her aunt had quit living years ago, instead of days ago. The idea saddened her even more.
    While Rebecca tried to get near the wary felines, Jake walked around the structure, testing the supporting beams for structural soundness. Perhaps he knew someone who was looking to buy a place like this, she thought.
    â€œThis morning the horse was standing out in that wooden corral. But the gate to it is open and I suppose he or she wandered away,” Rebecca suggested.
    â€œGrass is probably the only feed it’s been getting. Do you know how much acreage goes with the house?” he asked.
    â€œTwo hundred and ten