The Cowboy's Faith. Danica Favorite

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ hated the way Nicole looked at him. Like he’d just taken a whip to poor Snookie himself.

      But she had to understand the importance of the situation. Of doing the right thing by this horse.

      “All right,” Nicole said. “You can help with my horse.”

      Her tone was like that of someone agreeing to a root canal. But at least it meant he could stick around for a while. Figure out what happened to the woman who’d lost the light he’d once seen shining in her eyes.

      Horses had saved him from a very dark period in his life. Maybe, if Nicole had the same chance he was given, she could find a new reason to be happy. A new reason to smile again, and not have it look like it caused her pain to contort her face in such a way.

      The door opened, and Nicole’s sister Erin walked in, followed by Leah’s two sons, Dylan and Ryan.

      “Fernando,” Erin said, smiling in the fake way Nicole had been doing. “What brings you here?”

      “I’m going to help Nicole train Snookie,” he said. Nicole could fill her in on the rest. By the way Erin looked at him, it was clear she shared Nicole’s anger at him.

      “I see,” Erin said. “Boys, why don’t you get cleaned up for supper, then we can tell your mom all about what you saw at Mr. Ricky’s.”

      The two boys raced past him, barely acknowledging him. He turned and watched them leave, appreciating their zest for life.

      Fernando had once hoped to have a family of his own. But who would marry someone who’d been to prison? When he’d been arrested, Destiny, his fiancée, had told him she’d stand by him. But once they realized that the authorities were going to make an example of him, she’d slowly pulled away. Until she finally confessed she was embarrassed to admit he was in prison and didn’t want her future children to face the same stigma. Every time he dated a woman and that fact came out, she lost interest.

      Still, it bothered him to think that some of his most treasured dreams would never come true.

      “Don’t get any ideas,” Nicole said, coming up behind him. “Even if you manage to befriend the rest of my family, you and I are never going to be friends.”

      “That’s kind of harsh, don’t you think?” Shane stepped forward. “I know you’re mad at Fernando for keeping things secret from you, but maybe you should give him the chance to explain, to see things from his side.”

      Leah put her arm around Shane’s waist. “Exactly. I don’t think it was right for Fernando to not tell you about Adriana’s affair with Brandon, but having seen him with Snookie, and how hard he’s trying to do the right thing here, I have to believe that there’s more to the story. Give him a chance.”

      Instead of Leah’s words being encouraging to Nicole, they only seemed to make Nicole’s face scrunch up, like she was trying not to tell Leah exactly what she thought of her sisterly advice. But then, just as quickly as the anger filled her face, the fake smile returned.

      “I’m letting him train my horse, aren’t I? As for why, I don’t care. I just want to get my horse trained, and then both Fernando and I can move on with our lives. Separately.”

      Fine by him. It wasn’t like he and Nicole had a future together. And the more she reminded him of it, the less tempted he was to wish his life were different.

      “Whatever you want,” Fernando said. “I’m only trying to help. I’d leave now, except that I want to work with Snookie. Can we call a temporary truce for her sake?”

      Crazy to think that a horse would be the thing they could find common ground on.

      “Fine.” Nicole turned and glared at Leah. “But don’t think this means anything.”

      Leah was obviously happy with Shane, and from what he knew of Leah losing her first husband, Fernando was glad to see her get a second chance at love. Hopefully, Leah’s example would show Nicole that not all men were like Brandon, and that she, too, could find happiness.

      Except, instead of that thought making Fernando feel good for Nicole, it made his heart hurt a little bit at the thought of her with anyone else. Crazy, since he couldn’t have her for himself. He wanted her to be happy. And he prayed for the man who could do it.

      Shane cleared his throat. “There’s also the small item of payment. While you said you were happy to do it for free, it wouldn’t be right for us to not pay you.”

      Not this again. They’d already argued about it in the kitchen, and Fernando thought it was the end of things. But obviously, Shane had another plan. Which, by the expression on Nicole’s and her sisters’ faces, was exactly where this conversation was going.

      “I agree,” Erin said. “We’ve budgeted for horse training.”

      Then Erin sighed. “Probably not what you’re used to getting, but...”

      “I’m not used to being paid for working with horses,” Fernando said. “I do construction for a living.”

      Nicole gave him a funny look. “That’s right, you do. Why are you going to Salida? Isn’t that where your creepy uncle lives? Adriana once told me that you wouldn’t work for him for a million dollars.”

      That was when he had a good job and he thought they valued him, despite his record.

      “I got laid off,” he said quietly, grateful they’d at least done that for him. The uncomfortable silence made him wish he hadn’t said anything, but he didn’t want to lie, either.

      Finally, Shane said, “Training Snookie isn’t going to be a full-time job for you. Since you’re in construction, maybe you could help with some of the things around here. I’ve been doing what I can, but with my own ranch, I can’t do as much as I’d like.”

      “Yes,” Leah added. “We also have money in the budget to pay for some of the repairs, but getting anyone to come out here is really tough.”

      He studied Nicole’s face, trying to gauge her reaction. She already didn’t want him here.

      “It would keep him out of my hair,” she said.

      There were worse answers, he supposed.

      “And we still haven’t gotten that chicken coop fixed,” Erin added. “It’s too smelly to breathe in there.”

      Nicole giggled. “So basically, give him all the stuff we don’t want to do?”

      If she thought cleaning up a bunch of chicken manure was going to scare him away, she obviously hadn’t heard enough stories about his uncle from Adriana. The only stories Adriana probably hadn’t told Nicole were the ones about him. His entire family was ashamed of his time in prison, and all they ever told anyone about his seven-year absence was that he was off finding himself.

      He had found himself. In a lot of unexpected ways. It just hadn’t been the youthful lark everyone made it sound like. He might have been young and stupid, but at eighteen, he’d been legally an adult and paid adult consequences.

      “I’d be happy to,” Fernando said. “I can tell this place needs some improvements, and I’m familiar СКАЧАТЬ