Give Me A Cowboy. Jodi Thomas

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СКАЧАТЬ watch,” Rowdy answered, but he was looking at Laurel standing across the floor from him. She had the banker on one side and her father on the other. Neither man was talking to her, but he had a feeling they’d be none too happy if he walked over and asked her to dance.

      If he could dance, he thought, and then he studied the cowhands bumping into each other to the music. None of them looked like they could dance and most of the women seemed more interested in keeping their feet out of harm’s way than holding on to the fellow they were with.

      “There sure are a lot of pretty girls,” Dan sounded in awe.

      “How about one of the Captain’s daughters?” Rowdy suggested.

      They both looked over at the two blondes surrounded by cowhands.

      Dan shook his head. “I set my standards a little higher than them two. They ain’t got a full brain between them.”

      “I’m impressed with your wisdom, Dan.” Rowdy slapped his new friend on the back. “How about the other daughter? The one there by her father.”

      Dan stared at Laurel. “Not that one. She’s the opposite of her sisters. They say she went away to school for years. Say she can figure in her head faster than most folks can on paper. She’d think I was as dumb as a box of rocks.”

      “You could give it a try.”

      Dan let out a long breath as if he’d accepted a challenge. “I guess so.”

      He walked across the floor and stepped right up to Laurel. Rowdy couldn’t hear what he said, but he did see both the Captain and the banker frown and shake their heads. Laurel, to everyone’s surprise, raised her hand and stepped onto the floor with Dan O’Brien.

      Rowdy frowned. He wasn’t sure he liked the idea of Dan dancing with her. Not one bit. In fact, the idiot who suggested it should be whipped. He stared at Dan’s hand resting lightly on her back and knew just how it felt.

      His only satisfaction was that neither of them seemed to have any idea how to dance. They stepped first one way and then the other. Dan looked like an ox tromping in mud and she seemed like a feather being blown in the wind. When the music ended, they both looked relieved.

      They stepped off the floor a few feet from Rowdy.

      “Miss Hayes,” Dan said politely. “Thank you for the dance.”

      “You’re welcome,” she managed shyly.

      Dan smiled at Rowdy. “I’d like to introduce my friend Rowdy Darnell to you if you’ll let me.”

      Laurel offered her hand and Rowdy held it. Neither said a word.

      She looked around as if afraid to meet Rowdy’s stare. Afraid she might give away too much, or he would if they looked at each other.

      Pulling away, she stepped into the crowd. Both men stood watching her go and wondering if they’d offended her.

      Before either could comment, she reappeared with a petite, redheaded girl at her side. “Gentlemen,” Laurel said, “I’d like you to meet a friend of mine. Bonnie Lynn, this is Dan O’Brien and Rowdy Darnell.”

      “Pleased to meet you,” Dan said as if practicing what he’d been taught.

      Bonnie Lynn smiled and offered him a curtsy. “I’m glad to meet you too. I’ve seen you in town, Dan O’Brien, and I’m thinking you are the biggest Irishman I’ve ever seen.”

      They all laughed.

      “Would you like to dance?” Dan offered.

      She looked down at his big boots and said, “I’m afraid you’d step on me, Dan O’Brien, but I’d still like to dance with you.”

      When he took her in his arms, she pulled away far enough to see her feet and stepped onto the toes of his boots.

      He laughed and began to move across the floor.

      Rowdy smiled at Laurel. “It appears you lost your partner.”

      “I’m not sure I would have survived another round.”

      He saw the banker coming toward them and knew he had little time. Turning his back to the banker, he said low and urgent, “Meet me by the cottonwoods tonight.”

      “I don’t know how long I’ll be.”

      “It doesn’t matter. I’ll wait.”

      She didn’t have time to answer. Rowdy could feel the banker standing behind him and he didn’t like the fear he saw in Laurel’s eyes.

      Chapter 6

      Laurel listened to her father rant all the way home. Her sisters had danced with half the cowboys at the rodeo and he hadn’t said a word. She’d danced with one and now he swore she would be marked as a tramp. “Why’d you have to pick the pig farmer? One of my men would have asked you eventually.”

      Laurel didn’t answer and her father never gave her long enough to even if she had wanted to.

      By the time they reached the ranch, he’d decided that she would attend no more dances until she was married and no longer his problem. When Laurel asked if it were the dance or the man she danced with that made him so angry, the Captain said the man, of course.

      “I have nothing against Dan O’Brien, but you are engaged. You should only be seen with Jeffery Filmore. He’s a fine man and one of the most powerful figures in town. In ten years I wouldn’t be surprised if he owns half the land around here and I plan to have the other half. Marrying him would be smart, girl.”

      “But he’s never asked me to marry him,” she tried to reason. How could she be engaged if she’d never been asked?

      “He asked me,” her father announced. “And that is enough. A man like him doesn’t have time to waste.”

      That wasn’t enough by a long shot, she thought, but didn’t bother to argue. Once her father made up his mind about something, hell or high water couldn’t change him. He was still set on building his spread when most men his age were looking for a rocking chair.

      “I always thought if I married it would be for love.”

      “Don’t be a fool. You’re not the type men marry for love.”

      When they reached the house, the Captain stormed to his study and slammed the door.

      Laurel walked through the house and closed the back door softly as she left for the barn. She saddled her own horse and rode out toward the creek, knowing that once her father started drinking he’d forget all about her.

      As she rode, she remembered how Jeffery Filmore had gripped her arm just like her father did when he wanted her to follow orders. The banker had walked her all the way to the buggy and hadn’t said a word to her. She couldn’t tell if he were angry or simply wanted to get her out of the way so he could enjoy the dance with the other older men who sat about drinking and talking without really watching the dancing.

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