Her Lone Star Cowboy. Debra Clopton

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СКАЧАТЬ issues—no matter how hard Luke had tried to protect him, it still remained that his dad had been committed to a booze bottle and his mother had been committed to herself. True, he was surrounded by people in Mule Hollow who were committed to long and healthy relationships, but he didn’t have their genes. He had Holden genes. He wished Luke the best. But Jess was better on his own.

       He liked it that way.

       He enjoyed his freedom and didn’t plan on giving that up any time soon.

       Not even for Luke.

       “I’m just not sure I’m the commitment kind of guy,” he said, though he knew deep down Luke got it. They both knew their childhoods played a significant role.

       “Yes, you are, Jess. The day you find the right woman, you’ll commit for life. No doubt about it. You finish what you start, Jess, you always have. You’re too hardheaded not to and you’ve been that way ever since you were a little kid.”

       Jess shot his brother a half grin. “That’s called survival skills.”

       Walking along the corral toward their trucks, Luke paused. “Yeah, but don’t you forget that God promises He will make good from bad for those who love Him, and your life proves it. Colt’s, too. I’m proud of both of you and day before yesterday, you made me real proud by helping out Adela’s granddaughter.”

       Jess had thought about the feisty Gabi many times since then. He grinned, thinking about how she’d asked him about his relationship with God. He wondered if she asked everyone she met or if she had some kind of radar that zeroed in on trouble. Jess hadn’t told her that he and God weren’t on the best of terms right now. But still, he had thought of her often.

       “She was in a bind,” he said, not elaborating. “I’m glad I was there to help or it could have been worse.”

       “I’m glad you were there, too. But the thing is, you were there and without thinking about it, you committed yourself to seeing it through to the end. Sam told me yesterday that you went back there, pulled her truck and trailer out and then drove it to her. You didn’t have to do that.”

       “Anybody would have done that. It was the right thing to do.”

       “Maybe and maybe not. Thing is, you did.” He paused. “I hear she’s single.”

       Here we go. “Yeah, I heard the same thing.”

       “You interested?”

       Jess heard the hope in his brother’s voice. “Maybe. We’ll see. Honestly, she’s the one who didn’t seem too interested.”

       Luke pulled open his truck door. “There ya go, buddy. You can change her mind, if you want to. And I can tell you the casual thing is a dead end.”

       “Okay, man, back down. Right now I’m committed to a herd of ladies in the south pasture who are waiting on this hay.”

       Luke chuckled as he got in his truck and slammed the door. “Well, I’ve got a lady at home waiting on me and she’s a whole lot prettier than any of those hairy gals you’re heading out to see. Talk to you later.” Luke grinned at him through the open window and as he backed up the truck he called, “Think about it, Jess. I’m praying for God to send you a woman.”

       Shaking his head, Jess headed out in his own truck to the cattle in the south pasture. He had work to do. While Luke was praying for God to send him a woman, he needed to pray for God to send some rain. Of course, Jess wasn’t praying, he figured prayers didn’t really matter that much. If God felt like answering a prayer, then God answered. Not before.

       Jess had stopped asking for anything a long time ago.

       Looking across the pasture, he turned up the radio and took in his surroundings. He loved it here on the ranch. Luke had gotten one thing totally right. And that was the fact that Jess liked having a place to call his own. This ranch filled a hole in his heart, eased an ache he’d had for as long as he could remember. Here on this ranch, he was happy and content. He wasn’t sure he’d ever risk that by getting married.

       He’d do anything for Luke, but get married…

       Couldn’t do it.

       Topping the ridge of a low hill, his attention was snagged by a group of buzzards circling in the pale blue sky.

       Something was dead. Buzzards were a common sight here in the country, but Jess always checked it out when he was looking after the cattle. Driving toward the next ridge, he scanned the pastureland stretched before him. It was dry, not much grasslands left, thus the hay and feed they were having to put out, but it was still pretty land they’d bought.

       The herd of Angus cattle grazed near a pond that was two feet low of water even after the rain they’d had two days before.

       Topping the second hill, the pasture came into view.

       Jess’s gaze zeroed in on the heifer laying halfway down the hillside. His heart sank. Dead cattle were expensive and a threat to the entire herd.

       There was no mistaking this heifer had been dead for some time. Hanging his head for a brief moment, he looked up and scanned the pasture. In the distance he was certain he spotted a second large mound that would be another heifer.

       Not good. Not good at all.

      Chapter Three

      Gabi drove the truck over the cattle guard of Jess Holden’s ranch. He’d found four dead heifers the evening before. Four at one time. They’d been dead too long for a necropsy to determine the cause of death, so her boss Susan sent her out to draw blood. For some reason, the idea of seeing the cowboy again caused a nervousness to wash over her.

       Susan had confided to her that Jess and his two brothers had worked hard to scrape together the money to buy their ranch and stock it. The potential for these deaths to be something that could affect their entire herd had to be worrying them. Maybe make or break them.

       Gabi hated to hear that. She was still thinking about it as the corral and Jess came into view. She would have been lying if she denied that she wasn’t curious about the cowboy.

       Standing beside the corral at the corner of the pasture, he watched her pull to a halt, his face a work of seriousness. The man was better looking than she remembered—if that were even possible. How in the world this guy was still walking around single in a town that had gone wild with matchmaking was a huge mystery. His hair was just the length to make a woman want to run her fingers through it, tucking it behind his ear. On some guys she might have thought it scruffy looking, but not on Jess. Nope. On him it looked great. It looked right—

      What are you doing?

       Surprised that she was thinking about Jess more intimately than she wanted to, Gabi shook her head. She’d just broken up with her fiancé a month ago. This proved what she’d realized earlier—she hadn’t truly been in love with Phillip. Still, she was shocked by how swiftly she could become attracted to someone else.

       Not just someone—Jess Holden.

       Parking the truck she hopped from the cab, all business. She’d come to do her job. She didn’t want his cattle to get all sick and die, but she didn’t СКАЧАТЬ