The Homesteader's Sweetheart by Lacy Williams

Author:Lacy Williams
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2012-07-07T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Penny threw one side of the heavy corral gate closed and tried in vain to wipe some of the moisture from her face. Jonas closed the other side of the gate, trapping the milling, bawling mob of cows inside.

He leaned back against the gate, face raised to the sky. Penny followed his example and rested on the fence, her shaky legs protesting just how long she’d asked them to cling to a horse bareback.

The boys wheeled their horses not far away, whooping their excitement. Somehow both Penny and Jonas had been the closest to the corral when the last of the cattle had been ushered in, and she’d followed his example and jumped from her mount to shove the gate closed without even a thought.

“We did it,” she gasped, panting from exertion. A sense of pride she hadn’t felt in a while rose up in her chest and she laughed aloud, turning to Jonas as she repeated, “We did it.”

His answering smile warmed her from the inside out, no matter that she was soaked to the skin, her dress clinging to her uncomfortably. She didn’t even notice.

She hadn’t ridden so hard or fast since her childhood—or maybe ever. And she’d certainly never chased down a bunch of rangy cattle. If her mother could only see her cowgirl daughter now… She laughed again.

Jonas shook his head, a chuckle escaping. “Walt was telling me the other day how you wanted to ride in a cowboy exhibition back when you were around Edgar’s age. I didn’t believe him, but after the way you rode today…”

A hot flush crept up Penny’s neck and into her face. She’d forgotten about that summer. She’d been, what…twelve? It was the first time her grandfather had really let her help with breaking the horses, and she’d been the happiest she could remember.

“I’ve never even been to a round up,” she admitted, attempting to wipe some of the rain and mud from her face. “My mother thinks the crowds are too rough for a young lady of my deportment.” She finished the sentence with a bit of mockery in her voice. Now that she was finding her feet between Jonas’s homestead and her grandfather’s place, her mother’s concerns of propriety seemed a bit too much.

Jonas’s eyes rested on her face for a long moment.

“Well, today you were amazing,” Jonas’s baritone rumbled. He lifted his head back to the sky, face open to the now softly falling rain.

“Really? Why, thank you, kind sir.” Penny pushed away from the fence to drop an exaggerated curtsy.

Her wobbly legs threatened to fold at the movement and his arm came around her shoulders, steadying her, pulling her close to his broad chest, covered only by the shirt that clung to him like a second skin.

“We make a good team,” Penny said, face upturned to his, their accomplishments still making her giddy.

He stared down at her, silent and serious again, eyes tracing her face and lingering on her…mouth?

Then he nodded, and the movement of his hat sent rivulets of cold water splashing onto her heated cheeks and ruined the moment.

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