Cowboy Comes Back / The Cowboy's Convenient Bride: Cowboy Comes Back / The Cowboy's Convenient Bride. Wendy Warren

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      “And I’m all for that,” Joe said. “Hunting, recreation vehicles, whatever. I just don’t understand why those damned horses get to graze my allotments all year long, and I pay the price. Why not limit their usage?”

      Several people nodded sagely, but not the lawyer. “Wild horses were here before your cows,” she pointed out with a small smile before once again coolly sipping her drink, waiting for a response.

      “They’re not wild. They’re feral,” the doctor responded.

      “They’re ‘national treasures,’” Joe added sarcastically. His foreman, a genuine wannabe cowboy if Kade had ever seen one, smirked at the comment. Kade drank his overly sugared iced tea and listened to the conversation, thinking how Libby would have livened it up. She would have set them straight on feral versus wild, and just which animals had what rights and why.

      And she probably would have mentioned something about people moving in from out of state and then expecting the rules to be changed for them because they were so darned important. He imagined she’d also be wearing those snug jeans she’d had on at the bar and a shirt that showed her curves. While he was imagining, he figured he might as well aim high.

      Kade leaned against a newel post and watched the interplay between the guests, wondering how long he’d be able to keep his mouth shut.

      For a while, probably. For Maddie. For his fiscal well-being.

      “You were a rodeo rider,” the lawyer said as she moved to stand beside him. He caught the scent of a light floral perfume. The same scent Sheri wore.

      “I was,” Kade agreed.

      “What do rodeo riders do after they retire?”

      “Ache a lot.”

      She smiled, showing beautiful while teeth. There wasn’t anything about her that wasn’t polished and perfect.

      “How do you know Joe?” Kade asked.

      “He’s my father.”

      Kade was surprised. Apparently the daughter had no qualms about publicly contradicting her father. Like father, like daughter. “So you know him well.” Kade swirled the ice in his glass.

      She smiled again. “He’s happy with what you’re doing with the colts.”

      “Glad to hear it.”

      “If you go into business with him, I think you’ll be quite happy.” She raised her eyebrows significantly. “I think I might be happy, too.”

      He glanced down at her hand. Even though her name was not Barton, she wore no ring.

      “Divorced,” she said, following his gaze.

      Kade refrained from telling her he was single. All his instincts were advising him to tread lightly.

      “How about you?” she asked.

      “Involved,” he lied, making it easier on both of them.

      “That’s not good news.”

      He shrugged.

      Lunch was served shortly thereafter and then Kade put the colts through their paces, wishing Joe had planned the dog-and-pony show before lunch so he could have gotten out of there sooner. It hadn’t taken long for Kade to figure out that the other guests, perhaps with the exception of Joe’s daughter, considered him to be a subspecies—interesting, perhaps, but not one of them. And they weren’t stingy with the condescending attitudes. Nope. There were plenty of those to go around. But in the end, Kade decided the afternoon had been worthwhile, since two of the men there were interested in buying Barton’s high-priced colts, which made his future employment that much more secure.

      “Thanks for coming,” Joe said as he walked with Kade to his truck and trailer, which looked decidedly shabby next to the assortment of fancy pickups and SUVs parked along the fence. The colts were already loaded and ready to go back.

      “Thanks for showing me off,” Kade replied.

      “Hey,” Joe said, unfazed, “that’s part of being in this business. I thought you were used to being in the public eye.”

      “I got tired of it,” Kade said.

      “Then why is that agent of yours pursuing endorsements?”

       How do you know that?

      But Kade knew how. And why. Guys like Barton didn’t become money guys because they were generous and trusting.

      “What else have you dug up?”

      “You drank your way out of your endorsements, you’ve been sober for more than a year and your chances at getting another endorsement deal are just about nil. You’ve been out of the limelight for too long.”

      “Then I’m not much of an asset to you.”

      “You’re wrong. The people I plan to sell to want horse expertise and pizzazz. You can provide both.”

      “But will I?”

      “Yes. I think you will.” He spoke confidently, but not patronizingly. It was more a simple, matter-of-fact statement. “It’ll be a mutually beneficial partnership, Kade.”

      Kade nodded. It would be beneficial, but he had his limits. “I don’t want to do any more things like today. Talk me up all you want and I’ll show off the colts, but I won’t do more of this meet-and-greet stuff.”

      Joe looked as if he wanted to argue, but he must have sensed that Kade could only be pushed so far.

      “Agreed.”

      LIBBY WAS WORRIED about her mustangs. She had the definite feeling that political clout would end up being far more powerful than her recommendation, which was to leave the herd at its current size, gathering only when the numbers increased by thirty percent, and that the number of cattle on the allotment should remain the same. She was not changing that recommendation. It was based on two years of data and dead on, whether it was what Ellen wanted to hear or not.

      Her injured horse, Cooper, was becoming antsy from being confined in his pen, and he let his impatience be known by getting pushy with Libby when she tried to doctor him.

      “Knock it off,” Libby growled when he knocked her sideways for the third time as she worked to tape the bandage into place.

      “Need help?”

      Libby jumped at the sound of Kade’s voice, then brushed the curls back off her forehead. “I didn’t hear you drive in.”

      “The dogs met me.” And the traitors were indeed glued to his sides right now, their eyes trained on Libby.

      “I was concentrating on the horse. He wants out of here.”

      She continued to work, cursing when the horse bumped her again and the tape doubled back on itself.

      “He’s moving СКАЧАТЬ