The Millionaire Cowboy's Secret by Karen Whiddon Read Free Book Online Page A

intrigued him, even as he wondered why he cared. He never cared. Too much potential for hurt. He was safer living on the surface, keeping his focus on his goal.
    With that, he realized standing here watching her was a colossal waste of his time. Dipping his chin in a brusque nod, he turned away and headed back to the house.
    * * *
    The instant he strode off, Skylar felt all the tension leave her in a whoosh. “Matt Landeta is weird,” she told Talia, who dropped her ball at Skylar’s feet and now watched intently for another throw.
    They played for another fifteen minutes in the diminishing light before Skylar called it quits.
    As soon as she crawled into bed, she fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.
    In the morning, waking for once without the nightmares haunting her, she rose hours before dawn. Unable to sleep, she finally gave up and rose. She’d showered and dressed long before the sun began to color the eastern sky pink.
    Checking over her camera, she briefly wished she truly was a photojournalist, then shook her head at her odd flight of fancy.
    Prior to this assignment, she’d been given an intense photography class, so she knew at least the basics of operating the expensive, professional-looking camera. She’d taken several artistic landscape shots as part of her homework and discovered, rather to her surprise, that she enjoyed photography.
    She’d even begun using her free time composing shots, learning her way around the different settings for action shots versus landscapes.
    She couldn’t wait to begin the official photo shoot later today.
    In jeans and boots—yes, she’d brought a pair—she snapped a leash on Talia and walked down toward the barn area in the dark, hoping to beat the barn crew’s morning feeding process. Instead, they were already there, much earlier than she would have guessed. A small tractor pulled a flatbed trailer heaped with hay and a huge bucket of grain. One stable hand doled out the hay and the other used a coffee can to scoop out grain, pouring it into each stall’s feed trough.
    All the horses, every single one of them, had their heads out the stall doors, watching and waiting in the darkness for their early-morning meal.
    With Talia sticking close to her side, Skylar sidled around the feed wagon, earning a few semi-curious glances, but no one questioned her. She supposed word had gotten around that she was here on behalf of the horse magazine and no one wanted to bother her.
    Which was good, as she didn’t want to be disturbed. Since she knew after the horses were fed they’d be left alone for at least an hour to digest their breakfast, she could take a few candid photos. Of course, she wouldn’t bother to pretend these were for the magazine—true horse lovers wouldn’t be interested in head shots; they’d want to see the entire animal so they could judge conformation and coat. But among horses, Arabians had the most chiseled features, aristocratic and regal. She always admired them from afar, though she’d never really gotten this close to them.
    In addition to horse photos, she needed to do some snooping around and see if she could learn where Matt stored the ammo. She doubted he’d store something so explosive anywhere near his expensive livestock, but maybe she could pick up a few clues.
    Gradually, the horses were fed and the barn emptied of people and went quiet. The only sound was the horses contentedly munching. Skylar wandered down the well-lit aisle, inhaling the familiar barn smell, feeling more at home here than she did anywhere else on his ranch.
    Beside her, Talia whined.
    “What’s wrong, girl?” Reaching down, she ruffled her pet’s fur. “Do you need to go for a walk?”
    Though of course the border collie couldn’t answer, Skylar left the barn and headed in the dark toward the empty field. There, she unclipped the lead and let her dog take care of business.
    Once Talia had finished, Skylar whistled for her and headed back to her trailer to