A McKaslin Homecoming (The McKaslin Clan) by Jillian Hart Read Free Book Online

heaven knows what else.”
    “You figure everyone looks at you and sees her?”
    “I would. I never answered birthday cards or sent a thank you for Christmas gifts. I didn’t know I’d gotten them.” Her unconscious shrug seemed to dismiss the issue.
    He could tell there was a lot of pain there. “I suppose there was money in those birthday cards and pawnable items in those Christmas boxes?”
    “That’s my guess, too. I was too little to know the difference and when I was older, everyone here had written Mom off for good and me along with her. Not that I blame her. Mom has a real destructive streak.”
    “That’s why you don’t have much to do with her?”
    “I left home for the college dorm and didn’t look back. There wasn’t anything to go back to. Just a basement apartment with security bars on the windows. Nothing like what you’re used to here.”
    There it was, he saw the shadows darken her eyes. Past hurts. He knew how that was.Yet she waved them away with an unconscious gesture.
    He couldn’t help liking her. She was nice. And she’d been on his mind through the evening. Here she was standing before him with a wistful expression, looking at the mountains and pastures and horses. The promise he’d made stood between them and he felt it sorely. “Are you ready for your riding lesson?”
    “Now?”
    “Sure. I usually saddle up before I have to head in to work. Nothing like a morning ride to start your day off right.”
    “What do you do for a living?”
    “I’m a town cop.” He watched her eyes widen and she took a step back. “What, you don’t like policemen?”
    “I don’t have the best association with them.” Great, now he thinks I have a record. Lauren rolled her eyes. She was getting off on the wrong foot with this man. One thing she really didn’t like was looking back into the past. “When I was little, Mom had a hard time keeping up with the rent. We were given notice of eviction a few times. Court ordered.”
    “That’s rough.”
    When he could have been judgmental, he sounded kind. Somehow that was harder to accept. “There are worse things in the world. Like pandemics. Wide-scale starvation.”
    “Those things would be rougher.”
    “Exactly. In the scheme of things, it wasn’t so bad.”
    The compassion in his eyes and—again—the kindness in his voice made her like him even more. Against her will, apparently. “A cop, huh?”
    “Yep. I try to be one of the good ones.”
    “I don’t doubt that.” She could see him in her mind’s eye, all suited up in his uniform, upholding the law with that kindness of his. And compassion. Her heart tugged with an emotion she would not acknowledge. Back to the horses, which were a much safer subject. “Can you really teach me to ride in five minutes?”
    “Absolutely.” He’d parked his truck nearby and he was already reaching into the back. “See the brown mare?”
    “You mean the tallest horse?”
    “That’s the one.”
    “You’re going to give me the biggest horse, knowing that I’ll probably fall off and land on my hind end in the dirt?” She was laughing, though. He had to be teasing her. “You’re going to give me the short one to learn to ride on, right?”
    “Oh, I see what you’re saying, city girl. You’re worried about falling off a horse. Well, falling is certain. Getting back up is what separates the men from the boys. Or, in your case, the women from the girls. But that doesn’t sound right.”
    “No, it doesn’t. I think you’re making fun of a city girl, Mr. Stone.”
    “I’d never be disrespectful to any woman, no matter where she hailed from.”
    I will not be charmed by him, she thought. Liking him a little tiny bit was one thing. Letting herself feel more was another. “And what about the falling part? I’ve never realized how far it is from the back of the horse to the ground. It looks a lot farther than I’ve ever imagined. Maybe it’s smart not to get back up.”
    She was like