A Cowboy For Christmas by Kristen James Read Free Book Online Page B

want him to tease
her along those lines. “Listen, if you’re after someone to take
care of you, I’ll help. You don’t have to flatter me with whatever
that was.”
    He pulled his hand away,
with a smile on his face that baffled her. He looked both sad and
intrigued, like she’d just given him a difficult problem to solve.
Well, she wasn’t his algebra homework.
    “ Can you eat with that
injury?” she asked before telling him what she’d brought for
dinner.
    “ Maybe a little.” He
watched her too closely and she needed to get out of there. So she
left for the soup she’d brought him.
    When she brought it back,
and he saw what it was, he asked, “Are you going to feed
me?”
    That sincere voice and
innocent eyes almost had her. “I don’t think so.”
    She did help him up and
adjusted his pillows for him. He still watched her, and those
intense eyes of his were getting to her. The mood struck her then:
the dim lighting, his shirtless body, his bedroom.
    “ I should let you rest.”
She stepped back.
    “ I’ll be getting plenty of
rest this week. Stay.”
    She shook her head. “Sorry,
it’s been a long day. Goodnight.” She managed not to run on her way
out.
     
    * * * *
    She’d show him! That was
her first thought when her eyes opened in the morning. Before the
sun rose, she showered, ate breakfast, and bundled up in a sweater
and raincoat.
    Outside, a soft, soaking
rain fell. Brent would classify it as a drizzle, but nothing would
stop her from taking care of things today and the next few days
while he recovered.
    She hurried to meet Dale
and Ivan by the stables. “So what’s on for today?” She didn’t react
to their unbelieving looks.
    Dale shrugged. “Ready to
saddle up?”
    In the tact room, she
gathered up everything Brent had, but it took her a couple of trips
to carry it all . Speckle bent an ear at her.
    “ I know what I’m doing,”
she told Speckle. She did, but she had Dale check it before she
mounted. It’d be rather embarrassing, and dangerous, if it weren’t
done right. She also didn’t want to hurt the horse.
    She worked with Speckle
until noon, when she wanted to take lunch to Brent. On the walk
back to her house, her body let her know she’d need some time to
get used to the saddle. But it was worth it, wasn’t it? The gait of
the horse, the breeze blowing in her hair, and the sense of freedom
pulled her in.
    She’d stolen Brent’s
crock-pot the day before, laughing all the way home that he had
one. Now it sat with a hot lunch simmering in it.
    It didn’t smell too bad,
she decided on the walk to his house. No one would call her a great
cook, but she could make something edible.
    She raised her hand to
knock when she saw him through the window in his recliner. He was
kicked back in front of the TV, a blanket lying on his legs. His
ribs were wrapped, she guessed for support.
    No matter how hard she
tried, she couldn’t get her eyes off his chest, covered in light
hair. Nice pecs. Well toned arms, too.
    She glanced at his face and
noted, happily, he was eyeing the crock-pot and not her. Maybe he
hadn’t noticed her appreciating his body.
    Once inside, she said,
“Yeah, I took it so I could cook you lunch.”
    “ Smells great, is it
poisoned?” He was joking this time, and she was glad to see the
twinkle back in his eye. Then there was another type of gleam as he
took her in. His eyes met hers and she couldn’t ignore the change
in them.
    She turned away from his
gaze and went in the kitchen to get a bowl. “Do you like chicken?
It’s not five-star restaurant quality, but it works.” She spoke
just to fill the silence and break the mood.
    “ I don’t know a man who
turns down food.” His words weren’t laced with double meaning, but
his tone sounded too heavy for the conversation.
    Medication. Of course, he
was taking something for the pain. Or maybe he’d gotten the idea he
could scare her off this way. No matter what he was thinking, he’d
changed from