To Tempt a Cowgirl. Jeannie Watt

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СКАЧАТЬ case Stewart was amenable to moving Dani’s house, he was trying to come up with suitable surroundings. It seemed a logical way to fill downtime.

      “I see.”

      “So, how’s vacation?”

      “Good. Good.”

      “Great.” A healthy stretch of silence followed, which Serena finally broke by saying, “If I had called about business, what would you have said to me?”

      “I would have said that getting to know Dani is slow going. I don’t really have a reason to hang out with her.”

      “After getting shot down.”

      “Yes. Twist the knife, Serena. You know how much I like that.”

      She laughed softly. “I’m sorry. It’s just that getting shot down does limit your options a bit, unless you two join the same club or something.” She paused for a thoughtful moment before going on to say, “How did you originally plan to make and keep contact?”

      “I planned to wing it.” He figured if he could dig up some information on her, he could decide how to proceed. It had seemed to work the first few days—the horse sale, her call to come and help her with the standpipes. Even the horse escaping had been fortuitous. But since calling her to make certain that everything was okay on her property—nothing. Not one bit of contact and Stewart’s call had only served to remind him that the days were slipping away.

      “And now?”

      “I’m buying a horse.”

      “Great idea. Do you know which end to feed?”

      “Yes. One of the few things I do know.”

      “So...you’re going to buy a horse and have her train it.”

      “Yes.”

      “And somehow not let her know you don’t ride.”

      “I’ve ridden.” In fact, some of the happiest days of his life had revolved around a big brown gelding of uncertain breeding, owned by the only foster family who’d treated him like one of their own kids.

      Serena made a disparaging noise. “When?”

      “A long time ago. Okay?”

      “So what are you going to do? Ask her to give you brush-up lessons?”

      “She prefers horses to people.”

      “And therein lies your problem,” Serena said on a note of amusement.

      “Maybe I could flip the horse.” The idea struck him out of nowhere, which was why he needed to talk to actual human beings sometimes. “Then my rusty riding ability won’t be an issue.”

      “Is horse flipping like cow tipping?”

      Gabe frowned, wondering what the hell she was talking about. “It’s like flipping houses. I could buy a young horse, have Dani train it and then sell it at a profit.”

      “Not a bad idea,” Serena said slowly. “Except I kind of wonder how cost effective that would be. And flipping horses might sound kind of mercenary to a horse lover.”

      “Okay, forget flipping. Maybe I had a traumatic horse incident as a child that I want to get over.” And maybe he needed to be careful not to stack up too many lies. Or any lies for that matter, other than those made by omission, which really weren’t lies in this case. Stewart needed the land. Dani and her sisters had once been on the brink of selling. Timberline personnel couldn’t find out about the prospective purchase. Given all those factors, omission was the only sane course of action.

      “From what I hear from Neal, your entire childhood was a traumatic incident.”

      “I overcame,” he said darkly, and then he smiled as the perfect answer struck him. “I’m going to give the horse to you.”

      “No, you’re not.”

      “Yes. I am. You can keep it here. Sell it. Whatever. That way I can have it trained and not have to ride it.”

      “Well, this has been a great hypothetical conversation. Would you keep me posted so I don’t have to call and not ask about business?”

      “You bet, Serena. Enjoy the rest of your time off.”

      “I hope I can,” she said softly. “Bye, Gabe.”

      “Bye.”

      Gabe pocketed his phone and started the car, waving at the horse owner, who’d started toward him and was possibly wondering if Gabe had changed his mind about the nasty beast he’d advertised as being the perfect mount for the right person. The right person apparently needed to be able to mount a horse that skittered sideways and reached back to try to bite the rider’s knee. Granted, the owner had been suitably embarrassed by the animal’s performance, but Gabe had no doubt that the guy would sell to anyone just to get rid of the horse.

      He turned onto the main highway and started following the GPS directions to the final place on his list. Now that he had a plan, as in giving Serena a horse whether she wanted it or not, he felt better. More confident.

      More honest.

      He didn’t like lying to people and now he wouldn’t be lying to Dani. He just wouldn’t be telling her the entire truth. And if he didn’t owe Stewart a debt of gratitude, he didn’t know that he’d be doing any of this.

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