High Country Cowgirl by Joanna Sims

Author:Joanna Sims
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-05-08T13:23:29+00:00

Chapter Ten

Bonita had to cancel on Gabe for that Wednesday, and as it turned out with their schedules, he didn’t get to see her for nearly two weeks. He’d been half expecting to get a text from her today saying that she had to reschedule once again; he didn’t.

As Gabe parked his truck in a spot near the Delafuentes’ stable, he had to admit that he was anxious, and a little nervous, to see Bonita again. Perhaps it was old-fashioned to think in these terms, but he had a serious crush on the heiress. The worst part of it all was that he couldn’t be sure his feelings were returned. Of course he could tell that she liked him—yet it was difficult to know if he was just a casual distraction. For him, it went deeper than that.

Gabe grabbed his equipment out of his truck and walked into the stable. He spotted Bonita coming out of Jasmine’s stall. She was dressed in the same fawn-colored riding breeches and knee-high riding boots as the day when they first met. She seemed lost in thought and didn’t seem to notice him.

“You been riding today?”

Startled, Bonita sucked in her breath and slapped her hand over her heart. “¡Ay Dios mio!”

“I didn’t mean to scare you.”

She blew out her breath and then sent him a weak smile. “It’s okay. I was...” She waved her hand in the air. “Off on a cloud somewhere.”

Upon close inspection, Bonita’s face appeared gaunt from stress and her eyes were sunken. Her hair, pulled back in a quick ponytail, looked as if it hadn’t been washed in a couple of days and she hadn’t put on any makeup.

“You look tired.”

As if on cue, Bonita yawned behind her hand. “Exhausted.”

“Everything okay? I know your mom was in the hospital for a while there.”

She let a breath out and then yawned again. “Mom’s home now. She finally responded to the antibiotics and they let her come home. She’s feeling so much better that she even came out to see Jasmine yesterday, which spoke volumes to me. But one of the nurses just quit, so I’ve been filling in for the night shift until we can find a replacement.”

“I can see you’re beat. I can come back later in the week. Why don’t we do this another day, Bonita?”

“No.”

He suspected that the word came out more harshly than she intended. He knew how short he could get with folks sometimes when he was tired and at his wit’s end, so he didn’t pay any attention to her tone.

After a second, Bonita gathered herself and added, “I need a break. And Val really needs this. I feel so guilty about him. He needs so much more than I can give him right now.”

If he could take away some of her worry and stress by working with Val, then that’s what he wanted to do. Gabe worked the Oldenburg in the round pen first, working on his respect for humans on the ground. Then he threw his saddle on him and began to train him in the indoor riding arena.

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