OLIVER: WESTERN CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE (Blackwater Canyon Ranch Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

her.
    “Then what’s the problem?”
    “I guess there isn’t one. I’d just expected something else.” She’d complete her disgusting task to prove him wrong, and then she’d leave as soon as possible. Tonight, after dinner, she’d peruse the want ads and see if she could find a job and an apartment in Cody. Her mother didn’t want her to touch the inheritance she’d received from Uncle Walt, but this was an emergency.
    For now, she’d suck it up and show the cowboy that she could do as good of a job as anyone else. “Show me what I need to do.”
    An entertained smile hit his lips, but she refused to acknowledge his humor. “Before you muck the stalls, you’ll need to take the horses out to pasture. I’m guessing you’ve never haltered a horse before, either.”
    She steeled her gaze. “No.”
    “We’ll start there, then. I’ll take care of the colt in the second stall, though. He can be a bit frisky.”
    “Why don’t you leave them outside all the time?” she asked as he handed an odd leather contraption and the rope to her. “Seems silly to constantly clean out their stables when it’s warm enough for them to stay out overnight.”
    “Wolves.”
    She widened her eyes. “They… get the horses? They come that close?”
    “They have in the past. Most of the trouble we have from them is in the winter when they come down to the lower elevations. But, Rachel likes to protect what’s hers if possible.”
    She supposed she couldn’t argue with that.
    At the first stall, she peered inside. A huge black horse snorted and stared back at her with large eyes.
    Oliver held out his hand and let the big beast nuzzle him. “First rule is never stand behind a horse. The best place is by his shoulder. Right, Cognac?”
    Daisy nodded in understanding. If she had her way, she wouldn’t be anywhere in the vicinity.
    Oliver slid the lock open on the gate and stepped inside, encouraging her to do the same. Tentatively, she joined him in the small space.
    “Halter,” he said taking the leather contraption from her. “Goes over his nose and then the top piece over his head. Buckle the strap on the side of his cheek, and you’re done.”
    She blinked, not giving him any encouragement.
    He handed a length of blue nylon rope to her. “This is a lead. Attach it to the lower ring on the halter. Not the upper one. You won’t have as much control of the horse if you do.”
    She turned her gaze upward, looking into the massive horse’s eyes. At this point, control was an illusion at best anyway. “Probably better if I don’t handle the horses. We haven’t been the best of friends in the past.”
    “No time like the present to make new friends.” If Oliver was hinting he and she should be friends, he was in for a big disappointment. Friends didn’t make friends shovel shit.
    She frowned and glanced at the rope.
    “Clip it right here.”
    “Hey there,” she said, holding out her hand for the horse to sniff. Brief memories of being astride a horse with her father holding the reins as he walked with them stirred in her mind. She’d enjoyed riding that time.
    It wasn’t until afterward when Rachel had tried to repeat the same with her that Daisy had fallen. That horrifying experience had been enough to make her never want to ride again.
    Granted, that was a long time ago, and she wasn’t the same scared little girl. She’d grown into a woman capable of handling almost anything, but the thought of mounting the tall animal terrified her.
    With her heart beating faster, Daisy clipped the rope to his halter and then tried to give it to Oliver.
    “You keep it so you can walk Cognac out to the pasture.” He laughed when she gave him a hesitant look. “Don’t worry. I’ll be with you. I’m not going to let you do anything stupid.”
    Oliver took hold of the other side of Cognac’s halter, and together they left the barn and headed for a nearby fenced area.
    Inside, Oliver removed the halter from the horse,