The Cowboy's Girl Next Door: A BWWM Cowboy Romance by Monica Castle Read Free Book Online Page A

rancher. There had been something odd about his clothing, and as she recalled his disheveled appearance, she began to wonder just what he’d been doing that so distracted him from his mount.
     
    His shirt had been untucked, his hair damp, buttons in disarray. In an instant, it came to her. “Skinny dipping?” The thought of him naked and wet immediately set her skin ablaze, and she quickly pulled on her pajamas and dove into the bed.
     
    Sleep wouldn’t come easily. Her mind and heart vacillated between anger and desire. She was furious about the damage to her property, but mostly she was angry about what had been taken from her and Calliope.
     
    Claire knew that breeding was a matter-of-fact activity for a rancher, but this was new to her, and she had always had an idea about what she wanted for her girls, about how she wanted the experience to be for them.
     
    Maybe she was foolish or too thin-skinned, but she’d expected to be able to carefully choose their mounts and have the final say in the whether or not the process would continue once the horses had met. That Calliope seemed entirely open to Horatio’s advances, eagerly accepting his nuzzlings and nudges before he’d mounted her, was some consolation. Her mare seemed to have been just as eager as the stallion.
     
    Jess’s words brought out anger, but they sparked something else, too. He was attractive. He had done such a poor job buttoning his shirt that she couldn’t help but see the hair at his belly and upper chest. It wasn’t overly thick, and she imagined drawing her fingers through the dark hair as he lay beneath her. She exhaled and shifted in the bed, punching the unused pillow with her fist in frustration.
     
    One day into her new, uncomplicated life and she was facing a lawsuit against someone who’d sparked a strong fire inside her. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good choice after all. “Show me the way, daddy,” she whispered as she closed her eyes and willed sleep to come.
     

Chapter 7
     
    The process server came four days later. Jess stared at the notification to appear in Judge Halloram’s chambers in two days, bewildered that things had gone so horribly wrong. His lawyer dismissed the whole thing, telling him to just “pay the claim and let her be,” but Jess wouldn’t have it. He would pay what he needed to, he’d already told her that, but if she wanted to drag this out into full view of the small town, he’d see it through, come what may.
     
    Halloram was another matter altogether. He’d never forgiven the Hardys for purchasing his family’s farm some three decades earlier. The farm had been in financial straits for years, and having to sell was the last thing that Judd Halloram had wanted to do, but in the end, he had no choice. His only son, Trenton, wasn’t interested in carrying on the family business, and his daughters had all married and moved away.
     
    Only his brother, Clyde Halloram, wanted to keep the property in the family, even though he, a newly minted lawyer, and wasn’t much interested in farming, either. Instead, he’d considered turning the land into commercial property, and had even lined up a corporate buyer interested in building a factory on the property. It would have brought money, jobs, and growth to the community.
     
    The citizens of Kerrville were farmers and ranchers through and through, and they opposed his attempts at every turn. When Randy Hardy finally came to an agreement with Judd, Clyde had actually spit on the ground at Randy’s feet, telling him he was backwards and going to ruin the future of the town.
     
    He’d stayed in Kerrville, though, committed to the area in his own way, and eventually he’d become the judge for the small community, doing his best to make decisions that would keep order and peace while working in his off time to bring in small businesses and industry.
     
    Clyde’s grudge against the Hardys held, though, and Randy and Jess both learned to steer