The Cowboy Next Door (The Cash Brothers) by Thomas Marin

Author:Thomas, Marin [Thomas, Marin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-07-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

“Shannon!”

Oh, boy. What had lit her father’s pants on fire this morning? Bracing herself, she limped out of the kitchen. Her father stood by the front door—head lowered, nostrils flaring.

“What’s the matter?” she asked.

“You know darn well what’s wrong.”

Feigning ignorance, she said, “No, I don’t.”

His cheeks puffed out, and then a gust of air escaped his mouth. “Follow me.” The front door slammed behind him.

Shoring up her defenses, Shannon trailed after him. Halfway across the drive she saw a hay bale fly out of the door at the top of the barn. The feed landed on the ground near a flatbed trailer. As she drew closer, she got a better view of Johnny, wearing only jeans and boots. When he tossed another bale, the glistening muscles across his chest and shoulders rippled. Two more bales sailed through the air before he saw her.

He stared, chest heaving from exertion. She tried—really tried—to keep her gaze on his face, but her eyes drifted lower and lower to where a thin line of dark hair began below his belly button and disappeared beneath the waistband of his jeans. When she found the strength to tear her gaze from the crotch of the threadbare denim, she noticed his grin. So what if he’d caught her ogling him—it was no secret that she liked his body. She turned the corner of the barn and found her father waiting next to the mechanical bull.

“What’s the meaning of this?” He jabbed his hat toward the machine.

She heard the creaking of the hayloft door above her head but resisted glancing up. “I need to practice before I compete at the end of November.” And she hoped the more she worked out, the weaker her nightmares would grow until they eventually disappeared.

“You haven’t finished your physical therapy.”

“Rory said my leg is fine.” She crossed her fingers behind her back and hoped she wouldn’t get caught in the lie.

“You’re still limping.” Her father’s pacing plowed a furrow in the dirt. “Tendons take time to heal. If you push yourself too soon, you’ll do more damage.”

She appreciated that he worried about her safety and health, but the sooner he accepted that she wasn’t giving up her hunt for a title, the better for both of them. “What happened to the man who told me to stop bellyaching and get back on my horse after I’d fallen off and skinned my knees?”

A tense thirty seconds passed before her father broke eye contact. “I’ve never hated your mother as much as I do right now.” He disappeared into the barn, leaving Shannon shaken.

She glanced up at the hayloft seeking reassurance from Johnny, but the doorway was empty.

* * *

FRIDAY MORNING JOHNNY dropped a large piece of plywood on the ground and dust billowed into the air. He and Clive had finally cured Odyssey of his fear of loud noises and now Clive had asked him to work with a different gelding on loading. The horse was terrified of trailers and refused to leave the corral.

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