Last Year's Bride (Montana Born Brides) by Anne McAllister Read Free Book Online

work,” he told her. “It’s always work. That’s the problem, if you want a problem! There’s always something. The ranch, the old man, the finances!”
    “ Life,” Nell agreed simply, determinedly keeping her tone mild.
    “ Life,” Cole agreed through gritted teeth. “And it isn’t going to change.”
    “ We could deal with it together.” Nell kicked off her shoes and sat down on the bed. He was almost out of sight, backed against the door. She hoped that if she settled in, he would come further into the room.
    He did take a few steps so that now he hovered near the mini-fridge tucked into the quarter sawn oak cabinet. “No,” he said. “We can’t. It’s my responsibility, not yours.” He shifted, flexing his shoulders as if adjusting the weight on them.
    Cole had broad shoulders. He had to, Nell had told him once, to carry the world.
    It wasn ’t entirely a joke. The first day she’d met him—at the Wilsall rodeo— he’d been taping his hands before riding his bronc, and while all his buddies had done their best to flirt and charm, Cole had barely looked her way. Only when he’d finished taping to his satisfaction, did he respond to her request to shoot footage of him, and she could tell that unlike his buddies, he had seriously considered saying no.
    And it was probably only because he had been afraid his friends ’ teasing flirtatiousness while she was shooting might overwhelm her that he had stepped in and said, “Lay off. She’s got a job to do.”
    It had made her smile inside. In fact, Nell had appreciated that he had taken her seriously as much as she had appreciated his handsome, rough-hewn rangy cowboy good looks.
    She might have come to the rodeo because making a short documentary about a couple of rodeo cowboys had seemed like a good idea at the time , and she was curious because she knew nothing much about the life. But the minute she had seen Cole, her gaze, her focus had sharpened. She had been drawn to him instantly—and so had her camera. Unlike his buddies, there was seriousness to Cole McCullough. They were living for the moment. He had more demands on his time.
    His friends , Dane and Brian, had suggested she not confine her film to the rodeo itself, but come to the dance after. “Can’t have a rodeo without a dance,” Brian had said, grinning widely. “Right, guys?”
    Cole ’s cousin Levi had nodded emphatically. But Cole shook his head.
    “ You can,” he’d said. “I can’t. No time,” he’d added with an apologetic glance in Nell’s direction. “No time. I’ve got things to do. I need to get home.”
    How true that was —and how many responsibilities Cole had—she found out later that evening when, after his ride threw him head first into the metal railings of the chute, she volunteered to drive him home.
    “ You don’t need to,” he muttered, pacing woozily back and forth behind the chutes in an effort to walk off the effects. “I’ll be fine. I can catch a ride.”
    But Levi shook his head. “Would you mind?” he’d asked Nell. “We gotta get on down the road and—” he’d watched Cole propping himself up against a fence post and trying to look nonchalant “—well, somebody’s gotta.”
    “ Do not,” Cole had maintained.
    But Nell had taken him. And she hadn’t left him at the house as he’d told her she could, either. Instead she had followed him in, made him a meal, then fussed a little, but not too much, about the gash he had on the side of his head.
    “ You should have stitches,” she’d told him.
    He ’d refused point blank, insisting he was fine.
    “ If you were fine,” she had retorted with some asperity, “you’d see the wisdom of stitches.”
    She hadn ’t let him fall asleep right away, thinking she’d read somewhere that people who’d had concussions were supposed to stay awake. Cole kept closing his eyes. So to keep him awake, she peppered him with questions.
    At least that was the reason Nell gave herself for