Wyoming Sweethearts Read Online Free PDF Page B

beloved former owner would not be emerging from the pickup, and stood still and silent, his dejection as tangible as the wind on her face.
    She couldn’t bring back to them what was lost, but she could make sure these horses were cherished and pampered. Good things were ahead for them. They just didn’t know it yet. She tugged the check out of her purse, wondering how best to proceed.
    “Do you trust me?” Sean towered over her, as breathtaking as any hero in a Western legend. “I can negotiate for you, if you’d like.”
    “Yes, thank you.” She handed him the check, relieved in more ways than she knew how to say. She had no ideawhat the horses were worth, and she could see the man had a tough row to hoe. She didn’t know what was fair, but she sensed Sean knew how to make it right.
    She watched him stride away and offer Harry his hand. They shook, making introductions and small talk about the man who was deceased. A low-throated nicker caught her attention, and she found the friendlier horse watching her with curious eyes.
    “Your lives are about to improve.” She ran her fingertips down the gelding’s graying nose. “Just you wait and see.”
    In the back lot at the inn Sean lowered the ramp with a clatter, surprised as Eloise tapped up the incline with a lead rope in hand. She didn’t let her cane slow her down much. A glow of admiration filled him as he followed her up. The horses, not used to the trailer, were in various stages of fear. The black one fidgeted against his gate.
    Eloise laid a comforting hand on his flank and spoke calmly and confidently like someone who had been around horses all her life. “It’s going to be all right, Licorice.”
    The gelding blew out a breath, as if he were highly doubtful of that.
    “How about you, Hershey?” she asked, unlatching the brown gelding’s gate. The bay glanced over his shoulder to study her, his eyes white-rimmed, but he didn’t move much as Eloise clipped into his halter and led him out.
    Why couldn’t he look away? He ought to be paying attention to the horses, but all he saw was the woman. She walked like a ballerina even with an obvious limp.
    There was strength and a beauty inside her that became clearer every time he looked.
    “I know you’re worried, Hershey, but trust me when I say you have one of the best stalls in the county waiting for you.” Her alto rose and fell like a song over the pad of her cane and the clomp of hooves on the ramp. “Cady went all out when she built this stable. Every stall is huge and it has a view. That’s it. Turn for me, big guy. Come this way, that’s right.”
    Kindness made a woman truly beautiful, Sean decided as he laid a hand on the black’s neck. The gelding shivered, lunging nervously against the metal barrier.
    “It’s all right,” he crooned, aware of the tension bunching in the horse’s muscles. “It has to be hard having no say in this, but you are going to be just fine. No worries, buddy.”
    He clipped on the lead and backed the horse down the ramp. Every step Licorice took was halting as if he wanted to bolt into the trailer and go home. The unknown can be scary, so Sean used his voice to reassure the horse and led him down the breezeway between large but empty box stalls.
    All he had to do was follow Eloise’s voice, which felt as natural as breathing. Sunlight found her, burnishing her blond hair and haloing her like a Renaissance painting. Her frilly blouse and slacks weren’t typical barn wear, but she didn’t look out of place as she secured the gate to the straw-strewn stall. Inside, Hershey gave a snort and paraded around, taking in his view of the grassy paddock and various troughs for water, grain and alfalfa.
    “Licorice can have the corner stall.” She spotted him coming and opened the gate wide. “Rocco, who’s on barn duty, has everything ready for them.”
    Across the row, a gold-and-white mare raced in from her paddock and clattered to a stop in her stall. Curious