His Hometown Girl by Jillian Hart

Author:Jillian Hart
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2002-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

Dust rose on the late-afternoon breezes as they rode side by side through town. Karen noticed several people looking at them. A few cars and pickups passed by, waving a hello.

“You left Michelle alone in the coffee shop?” Zach asked, chuckling warm and deep. “You’re joking, right?”

“No joke.” Karen felt warm all over from listening to his laugh. He had such a great laugh. “I was feeling brave.”

“The sister who turned your hair green.”

“The very one. It was Gramma’s idea, and I hate to admit it, but she’s right. A few afternoons off a week is what I need.”

“And you trust Michelle not to burn the place down while you’re gone?”

“I know where she lives. Just in case.”

A few shoppers peered through the glass front window of the combination gift and flower shop to stare at them. Every one of the customers wore a look of surprise and speculation.

Like it’s their business, Karen told herself. The problem with a small town was that there wasn’t enough traffic jams to distract people from noticing every little thing a person did.

Just because she was riding down the street with Zachary Drake did not mean anything.

Well, that wasn’t true. They were friends. Good friends. Friends close enough to share a friendly kiss now and maybe more. She’d had fun this afternoon listening to him laugh. He had a great laugh. Oh, right, she’d already noticed that.

It wasn’t like she was falling for him.

Please, Lord, don’t let me fall for him.

“Wow. Busy place.” Zach skidded his bike to a stop in the loose gravel. “Don’t tell me you’re going to ride up to the window. There are little kids waiting in line there. What about your horse?”

“Trust me. Star and I might be out of practice, but we’ve been coming here together since I was eight.”

“I remember.” Zach nodded toward a little girl and her pony getting an ice cream cone at the outside window of the little shop. “You and your sister were like that, always together and almost always with your horses.”

“Like half the little girls in this town.” Karen nosed Star toward the end of the line behind two boys with fancy bikes and money clutched in their fists.

“Hi, Zach,” Tommy Clemmins, one of the boys, called out. “Where were ya? We came by to get air in my back tire.”

“I was out on the trail. Looks like you guys are going to get some ice cream, too.”

“Yeah.” Both kids gazed up at him, eyes bright. “You gonna be at the garage later?”

“Only for my friends.” He winked at them. “After I’m done with my cone, I’ll head over and unlock the doors, okay?”

“That’d be great, Zach. Karen, can we pet your horse? Does she bite?”

“No. She likes her nose rubbed.”

The boys turned their attention to the mare, who liked children and noticed right away they had candy in their pockets.

“See what a great guy I am?” Zach whispered in Karen’s ear. “Even kids like me.”

“Because you have the only air pump in town.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.