Montana Cowboy (Big Sky Mavericks Book 2) by Debra Salonen Read Free Book Online

Saturday. Be here by nine or I'll find somebody else permanently."
    "Yes, ma'am."
    His cocky manner turned to whipped pup. Austen felt for the kid. If he was anything like Austen in high school, his plate was filled to the brim with sports, classes, girls, and extra-curricular activities. Austen had been required to put in a certain number of hours at his family's hardware store. Those always got pushed to the far back of the line.
    "Don't you still need help with the breeding today?" he asked her.
    "Yes, but my parents were both school teachers. They didn't believe in rewarding inconsiderate behavior." Her perfect lips pressed together and her brow crinkled. "But I can't do it alone."
    She lowered the window again and caught Jason before he could back up. "I'm going to run my neighbor home. If you still want to work today, you can start with a shovel, the rake and the wheelbarrow. The dumpsite is on the far side of the barn. That should keep you busy until I get back."
    "Yes, ma'am. I'll get right on it." Jason looked at Austen and nodded.
    And so a new rumor is born, Austen thought fatalistically.
    He yanked on his seat belt and shoved the latch hard. Damn.
    Serena glanced sideways but didn't say anything. Obviously, the mood had been trashed. And maybe the interruption was for the best. He was too old to be caught in flagrante delicto in his hometown with an alpaca wrangler.
    She stepped on the gas but hesitated once they reached the main road. "Left or right? I've never been to your place."
    "Right."
    She put on the blinker, which made him smile. He took a breath and let it out. He hated the new, even-more-cynical-than-the-old Austen Zabrinski. So a kid caught him necking with his neighbor. Big deal. The paparazzi had documented a whole lot worse back in the day. Z Playboy , they'd deemed him. His older sister, Meg, was Z Wolf Whisperer . 
    Paul, business promoter that he was, proudly embraced the Big Z nomenclature—even adapting the symbol to resemble Superman's logo... with a Z, instead of an S. Mia might be the only one to avoid the Zabrinski branding.
    "That was awkward."
    She shrugged. "No harm, no foul."
    "Marietta is a small town. People talk."
    She slowed as they approached the next corner. He didn't have to tell her to turn. "Are you the Justin Beiber of Marietta?"
    "No, but I have a certain amount of notoriety because I played sports, was class president and went to Harvard."
    She looked impressed. "And you live elsewhere, right? You're just here visiting?"
    Did her tone sound hopeful? "I'm... on hiatus. Decompressing." Licking my wounds.
    He pointed to a rock column with the street address in wrought iron.
    "Nice mailbox. Will you get the gate?"
    He hopped out and walked to the matching column with the electronic security pad. He pushed in the code and waited.
    "I was just about to send out the troops," a voice said on the intercom. "And drones. How'd you get on that side of the fence?"
    Stuart Briggs had been an LA set wrangler for a film studio until he met and married a woman from Montana. The marriage fizzled and she went back to California, but Stu stayed. "Long story. I got a ride from our neighbor. Open up."
    "Yes, sir. I've been wanting to meet the Llama Lady."
    "They're alpaca."
    "What?"
    Austen rolled his eyes. "Open up. I'll tell you all about it when I see you."
    He walked to the driver's side door and waited for Serena to lower her window.
    "Is there a problem?"
    The gate gave a shudder and slowly, noisily began
    to swing inward. "The only problem is we were interrupted. I need to make sure that kiss was as good as I think it was."
    He stepped onto the truck's running board and leaned in.
    Her laugh told him she was game. Her kiss... well, yup. That good. He jumped back before his knees gave in. "I'll walk the rest of the way—need a little down time," he said, glancing at the bulge in the jeans he'd borrowed from a dead man. "What are you doing tonight? Are you free for dinner?"
    She threw the