Texas Two-Step: Cowboy Shuffle Read Online Free PDF Page A

came to them. He closed the computer and turned toward the bedroom, intent on waking extra early in the morning so he could check his account for her response.
     

Chapter Three
    Ellen woke after sleeping like the dead and stumbled to the kitchen. Of course the coffee in the pot was old as well as cold. That was the only problem with sleeping late when Wes woke early. He made the coffee, but it was undrinkable by the time she woke. She debated for a second on whether to microwave the remnants in the pot or brew a fresh batch. Finally, laziness won and she poured the leftover liquid into a mug and set the microwave for two minutes.
    While she waited, she wandered over to the computer and booted it up. Might as well check her dating profile for new messages, even though so far it had been quite a mixed bag of responses. At first she’d been excited to have anyone at all view her profile and send her a message. It was like a boost to her ego for each and every page view and a double boost for every private message. Then she realized something—some men just wrote to every girl on here. Other men made her kind of suspicious. They were just too perfect. There were even a few she strongly suspected were more than just exaggerating about themselves, they were outright lying.
    They could be married for all she knew. There was no one official from the site checking on those things. This was probably a really bad idea. Then again, she personally knew of three women at the hospital who found their current mates on this very site. That gave her hope. And given her recent dating drought, it kind of seemed like this or nothing.
    Ellen was surprised to see three new messages had arrived in her inbox since she’d shut down and gone to bed last night. One guy was from another country. Yeah, not much hope of that relationship working out. Another message was from a guy who wouldn’t take no for an answer. She’d already written to him and very politely said she didn’t want to meet him in person quite yet, not until she’d gotten to know him better. When he kept pushing and got kind of nasty about it, she’d decided to start to ignore the scary man. His last message had been so rude she deleted this one without even reading it.
    “Sorry, but no thanks,” she mumbled to herself, taking great satisfaction from hitting the “block user” button.
    The microwave binged and Ellen rose to get her blessed caffeine. She may need it to get through whatever surprises the final message held for her.
    Finally with the coffee fixed the way she liked it, she sat back down and with a bracing breath, opened the third and final correspondence in her inbox.
    Dear Griffin Girl,
    I read your list of criteria in a man and I can tell you this, my grandfather as well as his collie both meet all of your requirements. However I regret to inform you Gramps has been happily married for over fifty years to my grandmother and the collie—well, we won’t go there. I, however, am available now, so let me tell you about me.
    First of all, I know I can make you laugh. (In fact, I bet I have already. Come on, admit it.) I consider myself a real man, meaning I can hunt or fish for food for your table, but I’m not afraid to put on an apron and cook it as well. (Okay, maybe the apron is a stretch, but I have been known to tuck a dishtowel into my belt while in the kitchen.) I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty. I can, for example, fix a car one minute then do the dishes the next. I’ll admit I’ve been known to get into a scrape here and there because I have no qualms about knocking a guy off his feet if he doesn’t treat a lady right. However, I also have no qualms about carrying a lady’s purse while we're shopping if that’s what she wants me to do. I love horses and dogs. Cats I could go either way on. I believe in buying American, in driving big trucks, and in respecting the flag and our troops and our parents. I work hard and I play hard because life