The Cowboy And The Debutante Read Online Free PDF Page A

jacket but it was far too short to hide anything. “I...uh, these are my old chaps and I’ve grown a little since I last had them on.”
    The grin on his face deepened, and Anna could feel her cheeks getting redder. This wasn’t the way she wanted to start her day. She’d left one lecherous man behind. Yet here she was looking at another one as though he was the grandest thing to come along since sliced bread. She wished she could kick herself.
    â€œYou must have been a skinny little thing,” he observed.
    His eyes slid pointedly up and down the length of her, and Anna had never felt so stripped and naked in all her life. Which was crazy. She was covered with several layers of clothing!
    Desperate to put a halt to the whole ridiculous encounter, Anna tossed the reins over Ginger’s head and swung herself up and into the saddle.
    â€œDon’t worry. The wind won’t blow me off if I gallop.”
    A nylon lariat was coiled around her saddle horn, and a slicker and saddle bags were tied to the skirt of the saddle. If she was a greenhorn she was doing a good job of faking it. Still, Miguel found it hard to believe the soft slender woman sitting astride the paint was little more than a flighty musician, a pampered debutante.
    Whether Miss Anna Sanders was capable of being a cowgirl or not, Miguel would grit his teeth and put up with her today. For Chloe’s sake. But tomorrow she’d be on her own. He was a ranch foreman, not a baby-sitter or social director.
    â€œThat’s good to know, Anna. Hopefully we won’t have to gallop.”
    Bemused, Anna watched him swing up into the sorrel’s saddle. Was the man insulting her, teasing her, or was he actually serious? His smooth expression left her without a clue.
    The two of them eased their mounts out of the ranch yard, past the last of the cattle pens, then east toward the river.
    Anna said nothing as she rode stirrup to stirrup with Miguel Chavez. But her lack of conversation wasn’t a personal affront to the man. When she was riding the range, she was always entranced by the sights and sounds around her. And it had been so long since she’d been out of doors, away from the pressures of her job.
    â€œYour sister, Ivy, rarely rides whenever she’s home. I don’t believe she feels very safe around horses.”
    She glanced at him. “You’ve met Ivy?”
    He nodded. “She’s more like her father, I think.”
    Anna smiled briefly. “I expect so. Daddy never had an affinity for horseflesh.”
    â€œYour father is a very good man.”
    It pleased her to know this man appreciated her family. “Yes. Very.”
    The two of them crossed the stirrup-deep river, then headed toward the base of the mountain. As they rode, Anna stole glimpses of Miguel Chavez from the corner of her eye. He rose with the ease of a man long accustomed to the saddle, and as she covertly studied him, she couldn’t help but think of all her mother had said about him yesterday.
    He’d been married once. A long time ago. And he didn’t date. Why? Anna wondered. It couldn’t be for a lack of willing females. She suspected the man could crook his finger at most any woman, and she’d come running. Except herself, of course.
    â€œDo you have a family, Miguel?”
    â€œNot around here. My mother lives in Mexico. My father passed away several years ago.”
    He looked at her as though he found her questions intrusive, and Anna decided she would bite off her tongue before she asked him anything more.
    â€œAnd I’m not married,” he added. “Nor do I want to be. Surely your mother has already told you that.”
    Anna very nearly gasped at his remark. Did he actually think she was so desperately interested in him she’d resort to discussing him with her mother? She’d never encountered such arrogance.
    Still, the bitter look on his face bothered her. She hadn’t