Wyatt: Return of the Cowboy Read Online Free PDF Page A

until he calmed down. Instead, he started in the opposite direction, toward the center of town, intending to walk off his anger. He’d gone only a few steps when he came to a halt.
    If his brother hadn’t sent the party invitation, then who?
    He was quickly running out of possibilities.
    Across the street he spied the local Western wear and tack store, owned by another of his childhood friends and fellow competitors on the rodeo circuit: Austin Wright. He could stop in for a visit with Austin, but then decided he’d drop by later, after his walk.
    Crossing the street at a place where the freshly plowed snow wasn’t piled too high, he headed up the block. All at once, he noticed Paige coming out of the dry cleaner’s, her brightly colored scarf and hat hard to miss. She noticed him at the same time. To his relief, she smiled and waited for him to reach her.
    “I thought you were at work,” he said in a way he hoped wouldn’t sound like he’d been spying on her comings and goings this morning.
    “I’m off today, so I thought I’d run a few errands.” Her gaze narrowed. “Did you sleep okay last night?”
    “Fine. Like a log.”
    “You look a little…haggard.”
    She knew him well, she always had. It pleased him that she still did.
    “I just came from the bank. Jay wasn’t any happier to see me than Dad.”
    “Oh, Wyatt. I’m sorry.”
    “I’m beginning to think I should just go back to Wyoming. Forget trying to reconcile with him and Dad.”
    “Is that what you want?”
    They moved aside so a pair of elderly women could pass.
    “No,” Wyatt admitted, catching Paige’s gaze and holding it. “I want to patch things up with—” he started to say her and changed it to, “them.”
    “They’ll come around eventually.”
    “Dad would come around sooner if Jay fessed up to what really happened. I did him a favor and took the blame. Dad wouldn’t let me near his car after that third speeding ticket. It was Jay who borrowed the car the night of the accident. Jay’s idea we go to the party and get hammered.”
    “I remember,” Paige said. “You wanted to drive us home, but Jay wouldn’t let you. Said your dad would go ballistic if he caught you driving his car.”
    “He was probably right, but I still shouldn’t have let Jay drive. We’re damn lucky we’re still alive after that crash.”
    “I could back you up. Tell your parents the truth.”
    “Thanks.” Wyatt was touched by her generosity. She’d kept quiet all these years because he’d asked her to, even though he’d disappointed her. Without thinking, he brushed a lock of hair from her face. Her skin was satiny smooth and surprisingly warm. “I really appreciate it. But I won’t get you in trouble with my parents.” He let his hand drop. “Not that I think Dad would fire you or anything. He’s more than capable, however, of making work difficult for you.”
    “What about talking to Dinah?”
    “She was drinking, too. She said back when it happened she didn’t remember much or even who was driving.”
    By unspoken agreement, they started strolling toward the bank and the Open Range Saloon.
    “Yeah,” Paige agreed hesitantly. “She might remember more now, though. We were scared after the accident. Afraid we were going to get in trouble.”
    “You think she was lying?”
    “No, Dinah isn’t dishonest. However, she might have pretended to remember less than she did. For you. She was your girlfriend, she’d have gone along with whatever you wanted.”
    What Paige said made sense. “Do you think she’d talk to me?”
    “Easy enough to find out. The sheriff’s station is right up the road. We can ask her.”
    “She’s at the station? Is she in jail?” Dinah had been a lot like Wyatt back then, on the wild side. That commonality had thrown them together often and, more than anything else, accounted for their romance.
    “Not in jail,” Paige said. “Though her office isn’t too far from it. She’s our