Wrangling the Redhead Read Online Free PDF Page A

maybe the man had been smart enough to keep his opinions to himself.
    “He understands that you’re going to be helping with the horses,” Grady added.
    “How does he feel about that?” she asked. Not that it mattered to her, but it might to Grady.
    Grady grinned. “Pretty much like you’d expect afterthe run-in you two had. He has some reservations, but he’s withholding judgment for the time being.”
    “How noble of him,” Lauren snapped, and shoved aside her plate. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea, after all. You’re paying him good money to handle your stock. I’m sure he’s very good at his job. I don’t want to create problems by getting in his way. None of us really knows if I’m going to make a worthwhile contribution around here. Maybe it’s best if I bow out and leave it to the experts.”
    Karen shot a warning gaze at her husband. “Lauren, you’re not the problem. And if Wade has a problem, he’ll get over it. We want you here—right, Grady?”
    “Of course,” he said at once, surreptitiously reaching below the table to rub his shin, which Karen had apparently kicked. “From what I heard, you managed to get in that corral with Midnight. Nobody else has been able to get near him, not even Wade.”
    Lauren’s spirits brightened. “Really?”
    “That horse kicks up a fuss like you wouldn’t believe when Wade gets anywhere close,” Grady confirmed. “Knowing his history, I probably shouldn’t have agreed to buy Midnight, but I couldn’t bear the thought of him being put down because no one could handle him. It’s not the horse’s fault that his last owner was a mean son of a bitch.”
    “You’re right,” Lauren said. “He’s a spectacular animal. It’ll take time, but I guarantee he’ll be worth every bit of effort I put into him.”
    Grady exchanged a look with his wife, then asked Lauren, “You’re making Midnight your special mission, then?”
    Lauren nodded, accepting the challenge without hesitation. Not just because she’d fallen in love with thehigh-spirited creature, but because it would give Wade Owens fits to have to sit by and watch her succeed where he had failed.
    “Because you believe in him or because you want to show Wade up?” Grady teased.
    “Does it matter?” Lauren said, refusing to admit that he’d hit the nail on the head. “Either way, you get what you want.”
    Grady chuckled. “This is going to be better entertainment than the westerns on TNT.”
    Lauren held up her glass of tea in a mock toast. “So glad I’m able to provide you newlyweds with a diversion.”
    “Oh, I can think of plenty of things to do that are more exciting than watching you tie that man up in knots,” Karen retorted, turning a heated gaze on her husband.
    “Come to think of it, so can I,” he said, kicking his chair back as he reached for her hand and then pulled her from the room.
    “I’ll do the dishes,” Lauren called after them, barely containing a laugh at the speed of their departure.
    Still, after they’d gone, she sighed, unable to stop the wave of envy that washed over her. She’d been married twice, but she had never been in love like that, never taken one look at her husband and forgotten about everything else. Maybe she’d spent too many years faking emotions on-screen to know the real thing when it came along.
    Thinking about that, she absentmindedly finished off the leftovers, then groaned at the amount of food she had eaten. It was more than she consumed in two days when she was working on a movie. At this rate, unless she exercised hard for a solid three hours every day,she’d be as big as a house by the end of summer. Already, her size-four jeans were getting snug in the waist, and she’d barely been here twenty-four hours.
    It doesn’t matter.
    The shocking words echoed in her head. Lauren dropped down on a chair and stared at the empty lasagna dish with a sense of astonishment. For the first time in ten years, her weight actually