The Cowboy and the Calendar Girl Read Online Free PDF

into, Becky?”
    “I’m sorry!” Becky hissed back, trying to keep her voice down so they wouldn’t be heard from upstairs. “How was I supposed to know a buyer was coming this week?”
    “When’s he coming?”
    “Day after tomorrow. We only have one day to round up all the cattle.”
    “Did you get in touch with Fred?”
    “He already left for his vacation in Disney World!”
    “Then who—” Hank saw the expression on his sister’s face and felt the cold claw of dread grab his heart. “I can barely sit on a horse, let alone get it to do anything but run away with me! You’ve got to find somebody else to help, Beck.”
    Becky folded her arms over her chest and leaned back against a shelf full of preserved peaches. “It’s going to look awfully suspicious to the calendar lady if you don’t saddle up and work the ranch, cowboy.”
    “Then we need to come up with a plan—a logical reason why I’m not trying to get myself killed in a stampede.”
    “You’re not as bad at ranch work as you think you are,” Becky soothed. “Heavens, you were riding before you were three years old!”
    “And getting thrown off every pony within five hundred miles. I hate horses, Becky, and they know I hate them. Now it’s a conspiracy thing with the whole species.”
    “We can’t tell the calendar lady who you really are. She specifically wants a cowboy, and we don’t get the money unless you come through.”
    “Maybe I could break my leg or something. That would keep me out of harm’s way.”
    Becky shook her head and frowned. “Too wimpy.”
    “Wimpy! A real cowhand would work with broken bones, is that it?”
    “Probably. Think of something else.”
    He groaned. “Like what?”
    Becky snapped her fingers. “I’ve got it. I’ll send you to look for strays! All you have to do is leave the ranch and stay gone for the whole day.”
    “Where?”
    “Anywhere! You can ride over the nearest hill, take a paperback book out of your saddlebag and read while the rest of us break our backs!”
    “What happens if the horse runs away with me again?” Hank grinned as Becky blew an exasperated sigh. “Okay, okay, I can manage to stay in the saddle for a few hundred yards, I guess.”
    “Good. The alternative would be to distract the calendar lady.”
    “Distract her?”
    Dryly, Becky added, “Of course, that wouldn’t be too hard, by the looks of things.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “The two of you can’t take your eyes off each other.”
    “Don’t be ridiculous!” Hank prided himself on his ability to resist women when the situation merited.
    Becky looked delighted at having annoyed him. “Your tongues are practically hanging out.”
    “Not true!” Hank flushed, hating the idea that he’d been so obvious.
    Becky breezed out of the pantry and started to work on supper. “And she thinks you’re the sexiest thing since colored underwear.”
    Hank followed his sister into the kitchen and couldn’t help asking, “You think so?”
    Becky took a container of premixed biscuits out of the refrigerator, cracked it open and proceeded to line the biscuits up on a cookie sheet. “Believe me, big brother, you could distract Miss Cortazzo with one hand tied behind your back.”
    Hank considered the situation. Yep, there was something exciting happening between himself and Carly Cortazzo. He found her very attractive. And according to Becky, the feeling might be mutual.
    Trouble was, as far as Carly was concerned, Hank was supposed to be a tough cowboy.
    Hank, however, preferred to live within walking distance of a subway system, fine restaurants, a good newsstand and at least one modern art museum. But every week he got out of the city to climb. Rock climbing was his passion. Fresh air, rock and ice. Those elements kept him sane. He wasn’t a trail-mix kind of guy, of course. No, he could appreciate fine dining. But now and then he needed to test himself. Hacking out a foothold in any icy cliff made him