Joshua and the Cowgirl by Sherryl Woods

Author:Sherryl Woods [Woods, Sherryl]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781460374733
Publisher: MIRA
Published: 1991-08-27T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Garrett found the single, perfect rose lying on her saddle when she went to the barn at dawn a few days after her fight with Joshua. She’d been so successful in avoiding him that she’d actually convinced herself he’d given up on her. Soon he would finish his work and return to Florida where he belonged. Now with the sweet scent of the white bud counterpointing the more familiar earthy aroma of hay and horseflesh, she realized he had only been giving her room to breathe.

“Oh, Joshua,” she murmured as she touched a finger to the velvety softness of the petals. The man was definitely sneaky, sliding through her defenses just when she thought she was immune to his charms. Anger had been her best defense so far, but how could she possibly get angry over something as beautiful and unexpected as this?

The barn door squeaked on its hinges just then and she looked up, fully expecting to find Joshua. Her traitorous pulse hammered at the prospect. Filled with a mixture of anticipation and dread, she slowly turned, only to find Red stomping his boots on the ground and shaking the snow from his jacket. Deep inside her, relief warred with disappointment.

“You riding out with us today?” he asked when he saw that she was saddling Bright Lightning.

“I thought I would.”

He nodded, his expression turning thoughtful. Garrett recognized the look. He was worried. Instantly she was all business.

“Red, is something bothering you? Is there something happening around here that I should know about?”

He glanced pointedly at the rose. “You tell me.”

“Meaning?”

“You’ve been jumpy as a June bug these last few days. You’re standing here clutching a rose and now you want to take off to check the fence in the northwest section. I’m just trying to figure if any of that has anything to do with what’s going on between you and this Ames fellow.”

“There is nothing going on between me and Joshua. Nothing,” she said too quickly, too emphatically. Her gaze skidded guiltily away from his, then determinedly returned to see Red’s eyes narrow consideringly.

“Well, now, I might have believed that if I hadn’t seen the two of you coming out of that cabin the other day. The tension was thicker than a morning fog in the Tetons. Just now you jumped about a foot in the air when I opened that door. Unless I miss my guess, you was expecting him.”

She shook her head. “Not really.”

“Hoping for him, then.”

“Absolutely not.”

Again he nodded slowly. Garrett was busy congratulating herself on the success of her deception when he said, “Maybe, just maybe, you can fool yourself, woman, but you can’t fool me. I’ve known you too long. I’ve seen the way you keep a man at arm’s length and do it with a smile, so’s he never knows he’s been flat-out rejected. Lord knows, you’ve done it enough to me and the other cowboys around these parts. If you’d been shut up in that cabin with any one of us overnight, you’d have walked out of there in the morning just as cool as you pleased.

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