Christmas with the Mustang Man. Stella Bagwell

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СКАЧАТЬ shook his head. “Thanks, but I can manage.”

      Before she could make any sort of reply, he walked away and she was left to make her way over to the penned horses. Apparently he’d already spread the feed for this small herd. The animals were presently lined up to long wooden troughs filled with mixed grains. Nearby, a hay manger was stuffed full of dark green alfalfa.

      From what she could see, the horses were well-groomed and in great shape, but as far as Dallas was concerned, their dispositions and willingness to please were more important traits. For the sake of the children, she had to make sure the mounts that made up Angel Wings Stables were dependable, trustworthy steeds.

      She was still standing at the fence and sizing up the mares, when Boone finally reappeared. Darkness had now settled over the ranch yard and across the way, near the barn porch, a yard light flickered on to shed a weak glow across the dusty pens.

      When he finally came to a stop a few feet away from her, she waited for him to speak.

      “The geldings and stallions are penned on the back side of the barn,” he said to her. “But it’s very dark over there. It would be better if you looked at them tomorrow.”

      “You don’t have to persuade me,” she said with agreement. “It’s getting colder out here.”

      “I’m finished with all the outside chores. Let’s go to the house where it’s warm,” he suggested.

      Dallas looked at him, but there wasn’t much to glean from his stoic features. It was impossible for her to tell if he actually welcomed her arrival on the ranch or was simply tolerating it. She probably should have stayed in Pioche and waited until morning to drive out here, she thought dismally. But once she’d checked in at a hotel and grabbed a bite to eat, she’d believed there was plenty of time to make the last leg of her journey to White River Ranch.

      She’d never dreamed the drive out here would be so long and the terrain so rough. And she especially hadn’t expected Liam’s truck to start giving her problems. Now she was going to have to make a second trip out here, which would ultimately cause her to be a day late in getting back home to the Diamond D. And that thought was already weighing on her shoulders.

      “I don’t want to intrude on you and your family, Mr. Barnett,” she said as she quickened her pace to match his longer strides.

      “My name is Boone,” he insisted. “And since it’s just me and my daughter, you won’t be intruding.”

      He had a deep, rough voice that was far more expressive than his face. Each time he spoke, his words seemed to vibrate right through her.

      “Thank you, Boone. It would be nice to warm up for a minute or two,” she said, while wondering if his remark meant that he wasn’t married or that Mrs. Barnett was simply not home this evening. Either way, it was none of her business. The man was extending her a bit of hospitality and she needed to accept it graciously, the way her parents had taught her.

      At a small, screened-in back porch, he held the door open for her, then did the same with a wooden door that entered the house. Trying not to put too much thought in his huge presence looming just behind her, Dallas stepped inside and found herself in a small kitchen that smelled of baking pizza.

      “Have a seat at the table,” he invited. “I’ll get us something to drink. You like coffee?”

      “Love it. But don’t go to any trouble,” she told him as she made her way across the room to a small round table. Piled atop it was a child’s backpack with several textbooks spilling from its open lid. Next to the books was a soda can and lying next to that, on a paper towel, a half-eaten sandwich.

      Dallas pulled off her coat and placed the garment on the back of a chair, then turned to see the Nevada rancher had already removed his coat and hung it on a peg by the door. The sight of him in the stark kitchen light, without the bulky jacket hiding his frame, jolted her. He was as solid as a rock and everything about him shouted the word man.

      “I’d be making a pot whether you were here or not,” he explained. On his way to the cabinets, he caught sight of the cluttered table and instantly changed course. “Here, let me clear that away. Hayley’s not very good about putting her things in her room.”

      Dallas chuckled. “I never was a tidy child. My mother was constantly nagging me and my younger sister to put our things where they belonged. Our older sister never got nagged at, though. She was a neat freak.”

      Walking over to the table, he leaned across the expanse of worn wood to pick up the scattered items and his upper torso drew within inches of her arm. The subtle scents of hay, horses and sage drifted to Dallas’s nostrils before she instinctively stepped aside to put more breathing space between them.

      “So you have sisters,” he stated.

      Moistening her lips, she tried to calm the nervous bumping of her heart. “Two. And three brothers,” she answered. “I’m in the middle of the bunch.”

      After placing the books and backpack on a nearby rolltop desk, he returned to fetch the sandwich and soda can.

      “Well, Hayley doesn’t have a mother to nag her, so I have that thankless job. And from the looks of it, I’m not getting through,” he added with a grimace.

      Dallas didn’t make any sort of immediate reply. Since she’d never been a mother, she was hardly in a position to offer parenting advice. And without knowing exactly why his daughter’s mother was absent, she might slip and inadvertently say something he’d find offensive.

      Instead, she took a seat at the table and decided to slant the conversation in a different direction. “Do you have siblings, Boone?”

      Across the room, he began to put the coffee fixings together. “No. It’s just me. My dad lives in town, and that’s it.”

      The information only made Dallas wonder more. Why didn’t Boone’s father live here on the ranch? Did the man’s health require him to live closer to a doctor? she silently mused. Or maybe the elder Barnett just didn’t want to live out in the remote countryside. After all, not all families lived together in one big house, like the Donovans.

      “So your father isn’t a rancher?”

      Damn it, she was here to buy horses from the man, not make a documentary about his life, she silently scolded herself. But she couldn’t seem to prevent the personal questions from popping from her mouth.

      “My grandfather was a rancher. Dad never liked the work much,” he answered bluntly.

      Deciding it would be safer to talk about her own family, she said, “The Donovans have always raised horses—Thoroughbred racers. Lately my brothers have been tossing around the idea of putting a few cattle on the ranch or maybe a running line of quarter horses, but those are just ideas. Dad is retired…or should I say semi-retired,” she added with a fond chuckle. “So he mainly lets the guys run things the way they want to.”

      “Sounds like the place is a family-run operation,” he commented.

      By now he’d shut the lid on the coffeemaker and the pungent smell of the brewing grounds was beginning to overpower the pizza. After driving hours and hours since early this morning, Dallas was definitely in need of the hot brew to fight off the weariness threatening to overtake her.

      “It СКАЧАТЬ