The Cowboy Code Read Online Free PDF Page A

giving you. If the other participants have arrived, they are all touring together.”
    â€œDanny’s probably hungry,” Maggie said, her own stomach giving a little growl. “It’s been a long day, and he didn’t eat much.”
    â€œHe’ll be fine.” Joe checked his watch. “Dinner is in an hour.”
    Just as they pulled up to the ranch house, the skies opened with a crack of thunder. Rain came down in a noisy torrent. They dashed inside. Joe lit a fire in the living room and they sat to warm themselves.
    â€œYou know a lot about me, Joe. Tell me more about yourself,” she said.
    â€œThere isn’t much to tell.” He shrugged. “I was a fairly mediocre student in high school. My parents weren’t around much then so I practically moved into Jake Dixon’s house. It was Mr. Dixon who suggested that I could work my ranch, expand my stock contracting business and still do something with my master’s in education. One day, I came up with the idea for Cowboy Quest.”
    He paused and diverted his eyes, clearly uncomfortable talking about himself.
    â€œDon’t stop,” Maggie urged.
    â€œJake Dixon, our pal Clint Scully and I all help out on Jake’s Gold Buckle Ranch. He runs several programs for kids during the summer, so CowboyQuest fits right in. Mr. and Mrs. Dixon handle most of the administrative duties.”
    â€œAnd you handle the program part,” Maggie stated.
    He nodded. “The three of us go way back to Mountain Springs Grammar School. After high school, we rodeoed together for years. The only one still chasing rodeos is Clint.”
    â€œSo what does a stock contractor actually do?”
    â€œI furnish rodeo stock for rodeos—steers, broncs, bulls, calves. I breed them, too—buy, sell, trade.”
    â€œSounds like hard work, raising all those animals.”
    â€œI’m not afraid of hard work.” He smiled. “And that’s another component of the Cowboy Code. If we can get these boys up and working, they’ll be too tired to think of getting into trouble, and at the end of the day, they can take pride in what they’ve accomplished. I hope that learning the value of hard work will stay with them when they go back home.”
    â€œ If you can get them working.”
    â€œOh, I will. Starting with dinner tonight.” He tipped his hat, excused himself and added, “I’ll see you in a half hour.”
    Â 
    As Maggie walked to the bunkhouse, she caught the scent of horses again, heavy on the breeze.
    She did some breathing exercises—she alwaysdid when she was nervous. Only a handful of people knew that she suffered from stage fright, but now she was suffering from horse fright. She’d been dreading tomorrow, but the sight of the horses reminded her: riding lessons tomorrow.
    She told herself that it’d be okay. She’d seen horses before, pulling carriages around Central Park. The tourists petted, posed and took pictures with them and they were as still as statutes.
    But the Silver River Ranch was totally different from New York.
    Here there were real horses. Horses that she’d be riding…in a saddle…by herself. And they were tall. It was a long way to the ground if she fell.
    Maggie paused to check her way. She’d forgotten how dark it could be at night in the country. There weren’t any streetlights, brightly illuminated office buildings or Broadway marquees to guide the way, and she could barely see the path in front of her. She stopped to let her eyes send a message to her brain, sorting out the shadows and shapes.
    Then she made out the tall figure of Joe Watley approaching, carrying a flashlight. Relief washed over her as he called out.
    â€œI thought this would help.” She heard a click, and he handed her a flashlight of her own. “Keep it while you’re here.”
    â€œThanks.”
    The bunkhouse was aglow in the distance,