The Bridal Path: Sara Read Online Free PDF Page B

so much as a crumb.”
    “Then I might as well go on home.”
    “Sara?”
    She stopped on her way to the door and faced her sister. Dani’s expression was quizzical.
    “Are you okay?” she asked. “You don’t seem like yourself.”
    “Exactly who am I?” Sara blurted without thinking. She waved off the question before Dani could even consider a response. “Oh, don’t mind me. I guess I just got out of bed on the wrong side this morning.”
    “Then you’re not in need of a deep philosophical discussion on the essence of who we are?”
    “I don’t think so, but thanks all the same.” She came back and hugged her sister, oblivious to the smudges of flour and bits of dough likely to be transferred. “Got to run.”
    “You heading back to the ranch?”
    “Not right away,” Sara said, thinking of the visit she intended to pay to Zeke Laramie. “You might say I’ve got a date with destiny.”
    Dani clearly didn’t take the remark too seriously. She grinned. “Hope he’s sexy as hell.”
    Oddly, it wasn’t Zeke’s image that came to mind, but Jake’s. And, she had to admit, he was sexy as hell. Last night, when he’d suggested making marriage part of the bet, she hadn’t been nearly as appalled or outraged as she should have been. Instead, her fool heart had reacted as if the idea were something other than totally preposterous.
    It was absurd, of course. The man was out to steal the only thing that mattered to her. That made him the enemy, a scoundrel, a devious snake in the grass.
    She would not, under any circumstances, marry such a man, sexy or not. Which made getting over to see Zeke Laramie more critical than ever.

Chapter Three
    Z eke Laramie was as bent and scarred as a centuries-old weathered tree. He walked with an uneven, painful gait that had Sara wincing as she watched him. She knew for a fact that old injuries had pretty much torn up one knee, both hips and a shoulder.
    Local legends had grown up around Zeke’s once glorious rodeo career and the spectacular, bone-breaking tumbles he occasionally took. She hadn’t needed Jake to tell her that Zeke was one of the best. She’d hardly dared to think that he might be willing to teach her what he knew, but with Jake’s recommendation maybe he would.
    Unfortunately when Zeke spotted her crossing the lawn toward the paddock where he was working, his leathery face creased with a suspicious frown. Zeke was also notorious for his lack of welcome.
    His circle of friends was limited. Beyond Jake, Sara couldn’t think of a single person who claimed to be intimately acquainted with him. She had never met him before, nor even seen him in town. Visitors came to his small horse ranch at their own peril. They were as likely to be greeted with a shotgun as a smile, depending on his mood.
    “What do you want?” he demanded ungraciously. “If you’re trying to sell me something, you can turn right on around and git.”
    “I’m Sara Wilde,” she said, holding out her hand.
    Zeke ignored it. “So?”
    “I thought maybe Jake Dawson might have called you about me.”
    At the mention of Jake’s name, his expression softened almost imperceptibly. He looked her up and down. Sara got the distinct impression that she didn’t measure up. The hard glint returned at once to his eyes.
    “You know Jake?” he asked, as if he couldn’t quite believe it.
    “He works for my father, Trent Wilde.”
    Zeke nodded, no more impressed by that than he had been by the mention of Jake. Perhaps he was the only man in the entire state of Wyoming not awed by Trent Wilde. Sara decided she could forgive him a lot of rudeness just for that.
    “Actually, Jake is the reason I’m here. I need a little help with something and he recommended you.”
    “Ain’t taking on any new horses right now,” Zeke said. “I’ve got my hands full as it is.”
    “It’s not about a horse,” she said, then amended, “exactly.”
    Zeke regarded her impatiently. “Which is it?”
    “I