How to Handle a Cowboy by Joanne Kennedy

Author:Joanne Kennedy [Kennedy, Joanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published: 2014-02-11T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 28

As Sierra followed Ridge into the dimly lit interior of the Red Dawg Saloon, she managed to tear her eyes from his backside long enough to nod hello to a few of her new neighbors. His jeans weren’t tight, exactly, but they sure did fit. And he’d gone out to his truck and returned wearing a clean straw cowboy hat.

A clean hat should have been a good thing, but for some reason Sierra missed his bashed-in, stained, scarred, battered old felt hat. It fit better with his face somehow—and his personality. Ridge wasn’t about the showy cowboy charm sold by Nashville singing stars; he was the real thing. A working cowboy.

Those Nashville stars might have money and fame and legions of groupies, but they weren’t this rugged, or this masculine, or this hot. They didn’t have that walk, the slight swagger a man could only get from long days in the saddle. Or the quiet self-assurance of a rodeo rider who’s been tossed in the dirt by a hundred horses and bucking bulls and walked away every time—well, almost every time—with a tip of his hat. Certainly if you could subdue a bucking bull, you’d be pretty confident about everything else.

She struggled to still the crazy sparrow that seemed to be fluttering in her chest as she slid into a booth upholstered in red vinyl with a few duct tape patches. Why was she so nervous? She was only here because he bailed her out last night. Period. End of story.

“It’s not exactly The Four Seasons,” he said, sliding into the other side of the booth.

“I’ve heard it’s the best restaurant in Wynott,” she said.

“I don’t know. The microwave burritos at the Mini Mart are pretty darn good.”

She glanced around and caught several other diners looking their way. Ed Boone, who had been armed and dangerous outside his hardware store the night before, had his deep-set eyes fixed on the two of them and a sly smile on his face. Mrs. Carson, who was having a silent but companionable dinner with her husband, averted her gaze every time Sierra looked her way. A few men at the bar were watching speculatively. Ridge had nodded at them as he walked in, so they must be friends or acquaintances.

“They’ll quit staring after a while.” Ridge grinned. “Might be a long while, though. You’re the most interesting thing to happen to Wynott in a long time.”

What did he mean? Interesting to everyone or interesting to him? Or both? Was it a reference to what had happened between them at the ranch? Or just a passing reference to the fact that she was the new girl, somebody a little different.

Why did that matter, anyway? As Isaiah would say, she was being such a girl.

As she pretended to admire the Red Dawg’s rustic decor, Ridge accidentally brushed her calf with the toe of his cowboy boot. There couldn’t possibly be a more innocent touch, but it was like he’d pushed a button that started an old-fashioned Super 8 movie flickering in her mind.

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