Cowboy Summer by Joanne Kennedy

Author:Joanne Kennedy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2019-06-05T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 31

Cade glanced back at his riding companions. He’d definitely need to call on his summer camp experience with children to deal with this pair, especially the woman. It would be a challenge to keep her from doing something foolish and killing her horse, herself, or both.

For someone who planned to buy a ranch, the Dude seemed awfully nervous. Maybe he was afraid of horses, or maybe he was worried he’d make a fool of himself in front of his trophy wife. Or maybe he was afraid she’d commit inadvertent suicide by horse before the day was over. Whatever the cause, his nerves were tweaking the portly roan Heck had chosen for him into a lather before they even got started.

But at least he listened to Cade’s instructions and did as he was told, right down to taking deep breaths to calm his anxiety.

The woman was another story. Cade had tried to put her on one of Heck’s gentler horses, but she’d insisted it was “so old, like a grandpa,” and said a tall bay was more her style. Cade was worried that one’s temperament wouldn’t stand up to the manhandling the woman dished out, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. He knew she wasn’t being cruel on purpose; if anything, she loved the horses a little too much.

“I haff been crazy for the horses all my life.” Thrusting one foot in the stirrup, she hopped twice and launched herself into the saddle. Her many necklaces rattled and chimed, making the horse sidestep nervously. “I luff them so much, when Glenn retired, I said, let’s buy a ranch, honey! And here we are.” She waved one long slender arm to indicate the landscape, making her horse roll his eyes and pin his ears. “My dream from when I was a little, little girl is come true.”

Shifting in the saddle, she looked down at her legs. “These stirrups are too long. Much, much too long. My feet, they drag the dirt!” Reaching down, she shortened them until she was perched in the western saddle with her knees clenched around the horn. She looked like a jockey at the Preakness.

The bay rolled his eyes again. Cade wanted to do the same.

“They’re awfully short now,” he said. “Like a jockey would ride.”

Her face lit with a smile. “Well, I might want to go fast.” She smiled. “Racehorses are thoroughbreds, yes? We might raise them instead of Arabs. Or maybe both.” She laughed. “I want all the horses, and Glenn, he can buy them for me.”

In some women, the statement would have been annoying, but she seemed as surprised as anyone at her good fortune. Annoying as she was, Margo exuded a hapless innocence that made Cade want to protect her even as he longed to strangle her.

“Okay.” He cleared his throat. “Let’s go.” The sooner he got this show on the road, the sooner he could go home. “You know how to neck rein? Horses move away from pressure, so if you want him to go left, you…”

“I know.

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