A Cowboy For Christmas by Kristen James Read Free Book Online

looked at the horse and then Brent.
    “ Ivan get the horse back!”
Dale ordered and knelt down. “Brent?”
    He held a hand out so Dale
wouldn’t touch him. He didn’t need fussing over, no matter how many
ribs he’d broken. His side throbbed, but he couldn’t get a breath
in to say so.
    “ Brent?”
    At her voice, Dale laughed.
Brent tried for an evil glare directed at Dale as Missy came close
enough to see Brent on the ground.
    She looked so genuinely
worried Brent wanted to smile, if he didn’t hurt so darn
bad.
    “ Holy crap! What
happened?”
    “ Not crap, ma’am. The horse
kicked him.” Dale held eye contact with Brent and rubbed his chin,
a nervous habit. “He wasn’t ready.”
    “ Yeah,” Ivan joined in.
“His mind must have been elsewhere.”
    Brent made a mental list of
everything he’d say to them as soon as he could talk.
    “ Aren’t you going to help
him up?” She knelt beside him.
    “ Maybe we shouldn’t move
him just yet.” Dale, at last, sounded worried.
    Brent didn’t want all of
them to worry over him, so he forced himself up onto his elbows.
This time he couldn’t hide the pain.
    “ It’s your side, isn’t it?”
Dale didn’t wait for the answer, but braced Brent against him,
pulled him to his feet, and started for the truck.
    “ Do you want me to come
along?” Missy offered, her hands clasped in front of her. He wanted
to reassure her, but he sure as heck didn’t want her at the
hospital with him.
    He waited until Dale got
him in the truck before he looked back. Ivan was taking Dancer to
the pasture. Missy hadn’t moved, and still watched as they drove
away.
    “ Gets you fast, doesn’t
it?” Dale asked as he steered around a corner.
    Brent thought he meant the
horse at first, until he looked over. Dale met his gaze with
knowing eyes.
    “ Yup, took three days for
Alice to get me.”
    Damn his side. He wanted to
argue the point, but instead he leaned his head back and closed his
eyes. Maybe the pain was good. He could think about it instead of
Missy.
     
    * * * *
    They’d been gone all
evening. She paced a while and then cleaned like crazy. Fractured
ribs couldn’t be that bad. Maybe it was a few, or maybe nothing was
broken. She didn’t know yet.
    After a huge sigh, she
started dinner. The least she could do was have something ready for
him to eat. They’d been gone four hours when she walked to his
house to leave dinner in his fridge.
    She was glad that he didn’t
lock his front door. Of course, the horses didn’t need to break in
and steal anything.
    She put his dinner away and
couldn’t help but think of the first time she’d stood in his
kitchen. How had so much changed so fast?
    Slowly, she walked into the
other room. She’d clean for him, but he kept the place spotless.
Should she call the hospital? That’d make him happy. She again
noticed how bare the house looked. It needed a few small paintings,
decorative rugs, something. She shook her head at herself and
left.
    Back in her house, she
tried to finish a book but couldn’t. At eight, she went outside,
thinking she’d missed the truck.
    The cold knocked her back
inside, so she got her coat and stepped out again.
    A clear night. That didn’t
happen too often. The stars were suspended in layers, some close
and some distant. She stared up for a minute and listened to the
night. A dove cooed several times as it settled in for the
night.
    Did Ivan take care of the
horses? Things were messed up tonight, so she’d check. Brent’s
house was still dark when she walked by.
    The horses were in their
stalls, but they didn’t have blankets on them.
    “ Let’s hope I do this
right. No laughing,” she told them as she pulled a blanket over the
first horse. It looked like a coat to her, with Velcro in the front
to secure it, but Brent had called it a blanket. Course he’d used
the same word for the smaller blanket that went under the
saddle.
    She didn’t worry about
getting in the stall with Jeffery,