Six White Horses Read Online Free PDF Page A

indifferently, "but as you can see, I changed my mind."
    What a pity, Patty thought silently.
    As if reading her thoughts, Morgan darted her a knowing glance, showing his amusement at her dislike of him.
    A calloused brown hand clamped itself on Lije's shoulder. "Ya sold Blake that hoss yet?" Lefty Robbins asked gruffly.
    "I'm trying," replied Lije.
    "Hello, Lefty," Diana smiled, tilting her head to look up to the short, wiry cowboy standing behind her husband. Her blue gaze danced to the white cast on his left arm. "How did you break your arm this time?"
    "Ah, one of Morgan's buckin' horses squeezed my arm in the chute. My bones are gettin' so brittle, they break if ya look at 'em cross-eyed." His leathery face was cracked by a smile. "Hey, congratulations! I heard you're gonna have an addition to yore family, Lije."
    An incredibly proud light gleamed in the gray eyes that exchanged an intimate look with his wife. "That's right," Lije admitted.
    "Congratulations," Patty forced the acknowledgment through the tight lump in her throat. "I—I hope you have a healthy and happy baby."
    "Thank you," Diana returned sincerely, taking Lije's hand and holding it. "That's all either one of us is asking."
    "Instead of congratulatin' someone else," Lefty spoke up, "you should be getting-married and havin' one of your own, Patty. Don't you think so?"
    The corners of her mouth trembled as she tried to make them curve into a smile. "I'm afraid I'm not the marrying kind, Lefty." With Patty, it was all or nothing, and if she couldn't have Lije, nothing was what she wanted.
    "Well, Skinny, if you're not the marrying kind, are you the dancing kind?"
    Morgan Kincaid didn't give her a chance to reply as he pried her fingers free of the knots she had twisted them into and spun her out of the chair. Before she could plant her feet, he was pushing her onto the dance floor.
    "If you call me Skinny one more time, I'll break a beer bottle over your head!" she threatened in a hissing undertone, and tried to pull her arm free of his iron grip. "And I don't want to dance with you!"
    "I never asked whether you wanted to or not," he replied calmly, winding an arm around her slim waist. "You should be thanking me for saving you from some considerable embarrassment."
    "What are you talking about?" Patty demanded.
    Still holding her hand, he raised it with his to flick a finger on the end of her lower lash, touching the tear that trembled on the edge.
    "Right now you're so busy hating me that you've forgotten you were about to cry." His mouth moved into a complacent smile.
    "I was not," Patty denied. "And I should think you would have laughed if I had."
    "You can't see me as the knight in shining armor, is that it?" he mocked. The hand on her back forced her to follow his steps.
    "No I can't," she answered with obvious challenge as she kept her palm spread against his chest, trying to keep as much distance between them possible.
    "The truth is I wouldn't have cared if you'd embarrassed yourself or not." The ebony dark head was tilted to the side, a faint arch to one brow while the cold steel of his eyes contradicted the crooked smile on his mouth. "I am fond of your granddad, though. Since I'd already lost my bet, I was more concerned that your quivering 'stiff upper lip' would collapse and he would be left with the red face. Are you satisfied, Skinny? You were partially right."
    She believed what he said was true, but the last gibe jarred the boring cup of her anger. Snapping brown eyes burned a hole in the collar of his shirt, which was opened to reveal the muscular column of his throat.
    Gritting her teeth, she retorted caustically, "Don't call me Skinny! I've outgrown my training bra."
    "Have you?"
    The taunting edge of laughter was in his voice. He moved her slightly away from him, his mocking gaze insolently inspecting her torso with embarrassing thoroughness before it returned to the flaming heat in her face. "And stop looking at me like that. It's