To Tempt a Cowgirl. Jeannie Watt

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ did he. He wanted Danica to recapture her horse and he wanted his freaking car out of the ditch. If he hadn’t left his phone in the car, he’d be seeing about it right now.

      * * *

      THIS WAS A NIGHTMARE, plain and simple. She’d just gotten Lacy back and now she was gone again. More than that, if the mare hadn’t gone to Gabe’s place, she was a menace to traffic. She could easily lose her horse and get sued in one fell swoop.

      “We’ll find her,” Gabe said from beside her, keying in on her thoughts. It’d be pretty hard not to know what she was thinking, hunched over the steering wheel like a crazed woman.

      She turned down the drive to the castle, slowing as they passed his car, which was a good five feet off the road. It looked very expensive—the kind that needed parts special-ordered—but she wasn’t going to worry about that now.

      “I see tracks,” Gabe said, pointing at the road.

      Sure enough, there were U-shaped divots that the horse had brought up out of the road as she’d cantered toward his place. Great. Now all she had to do was hope that the mare was still at his place and hadn’t taken off cross-country.

      “This horse means a lot to you,” Gabe commented.

      “She was my 4-H project. I raised her, trained her with my dad’s help, won a lot of money on her, then sold her to help pay for college. All part of the plan I’d made with my dad before he died. The ass-hat that bought her abused her with big bits and spurs.”

      “That stinks.”

      “It hurt. Lacy trusted me. She was a fantastic roping horse. Before...” Dani spoke without looking at Gabe, then slowed the truck to a stop and got out. Gabe followed and as soon as the truck door banged shut, they stood together in the darkness, looking, listening.

      “There she is.”

      Dani turned in the direction Gabe was pointing and saw the pale outline of the mare standing in the shadows behind the large stone, cedar and glass house. “Stay here,” she said. “Block the gate if she tries to leave.”

      “Sure thing,” Gabe said.

      “Easy, baby,” Danica said, slowly approaching the shaking horse. Lacy snorted and stomped a foot. Dani stopped instantly and took a step back. The horse rolled her eyes, but stayed put.

      “Easy,” she cooed as she slowly approached the horse, stopping and taking a half step back whenever the mare looked as if she was going to bolt. Finally she reached out and rubbed the mare’s lower neck, then slipped the rope around it. As soon as the rope touched her, the mare stilled.

      Dani bit her lip and eased the halter over the mare’s nose. Lacy’s head jerked up but Dani held tight to the rope, tried again once her nose came down and this time managed to fasten the halter. Her shoulders sagged with relief and she sent Gabe a weary look that she doubted he saw through the darkness.

      “Well done,” he said.

      “Yeah.” She continued to stroke the mare’s neck, crooning at her under her breath. “You don’t have a lot of light around here,” she commented, wanting to check the mare for injuries.

      “Apparently the yard lights are all dead. I’ll have to see about getting the bulbs replaced. I’ve only been here a couple of nights and haven’t had time to call a service guy about it.”

      “Service guy?”

      “I don’t seem to have a ladder that tall,” he said.

      “I’ll lend you one,” she said, patting the mare soothingly. “And we’ll see about getting your car back on the road.”

      “I’ll get a tow truck.” He seemed to mean it.

      “Suit yourself,” she said.

      “Nothing personal. It’s just that my insurance will cover a tow. It probably won’t cover you ripping my rear axle off with a tractor.”

      Dani didn’t know whether to laugh or be insulted. Regardless, she was responsible for whatever happed with his vehicle and told him so.

      “Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it. Right now we need to focus on getting the horse home. Do you want me to help you get your trailer?”

      She shook her head. “I’ll just lead her home.”

      “Home is a good mile away.”

      She shrugged.

      “It’s dark.”

      “I have a flashlight.”

      “How about I come with you?”

      Again she shook her head. “I’ve put you through enough tonight. I’ll be back in the morning for the truck if you don’t mind if I leave it here.”

      “Why would I mind?” he asked innocently.

      * * *

      DANI ARRIVED AT Gabe Matthews’s driveway early the next morning just as a tow truck pulled out, a sports car attached to the towline. How much was this going to cost her? It’d looked as if the car had simply ended up in the grassy ditch last night when she’d walked by leading Lacy, but knowing her luck, the frame was now bent, or some chunk of special German-made chrome needed to be replaced.

      Well, such was life.

      But why was life always this way when money was tight? When she was trying to live on a shoestring budget as she started her dream business...the one that Marti Kendall had pretty much told her was doomed.

       Yeah, we’ll see about that, Marti.

      Jingling the keys in her sweatshirt pocket, she continued down the driveway. Worrying didn’t do a lick of good. All she could do was focus on the positives, and there were positives. She had a place to start her business; a place where she could live rent-free.

      After she and Jolie had talked Allie and Mel out of instantly selling the ranch following Allie’s divorce, the sisters had agreed that as long as one of them wanted to live on the place, they would keep it. If Dani and Jolie didn’t want to live on the place, they would revisit the idea of a sale. Dani didn’t see that happening. Her father had once told her that he didn’t regret not having a lot of money because he had something better—a life that made him glad to get up in the morning. That was what Dani wanted. In a way she was lucky that her company had folded when it did. It gave her the kick in the butt she needed to start living a life that made her glad to get up in the morning.

      She walked over the cattle guard at the Staley gate and paused for a moment, studying the house. It’d literally been years since she’d been close to the house, but it looked better than ever. Even though no had lived in it for the past year or so, the windows sparkled in the early-morning sun, the cedar appeared freshly oiled and the lawn was green and manicured. The Staleys had paid a pretty penny to keep the place they’d grown tired of maintained as they’d waited—and waited—for a buyer. Apparently they still hadn’t found one if Gabe’s company was only leasing.

      She’d decided against checking in with Gabe СКАЧАТЬ