The Million Dollar Cowboy by Judith Lyons

Author:Judith Lyons
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 2005-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

“You sure there’re no little girls like me?”

Josie looked over at Lily as she sped down the highway toward Tommy Ray’s. “Crissy said the youngest, Priscilla, is ten. But ten’s pretty close.”

Lily’s lips turned down. “Big kids never want to play with little kids.”

No, in the group homes, and quite often the private ones, too, the big kids never did want to play with the little kids. But… “Crissy says it’s different out here in ranch country. That playmates are too rare to pass up just because of a slight age difference.”

The little girl crossed her arms protectively over her chest and stared out the side window. “We’ll see.”

“Guess we will.” She hoped Crissy was right. There were a lot of fun things for Lily to do on the ranch, but nothing was as fun as a playmate. And Lily deserved a fun day, dang it.

Yesterday, Josie had done her best to entertain Lily while the dialysis machine had cleaned her blood. Lily had been a trouper, even suggesting a couple of times that Josie didn’t have to stay the whole time if she was bored or had something important to do. But despite Lily’s attempt to keep a stiff upper lip, by the end of the treatment she was tired and cranky. A sure sign that the dialysis had taken its toll. So today, Josie wanted Lily to have a good day. A fun day.

And while Lily played with Priscilla, Josie intended to corner Tommy Ray. Though she’d tried the last couple of days to have a private chat with him, she hadn’t been able to pull it off with Lily at her side—or while she tried to master her cowgirl skills. So she’d decided to kill two birds with one stone today. Give Lily a play date and carve out a little alone time with Tommy Ray.

She glanced down at her clothes. She wore a top that showed a good four inches of belly and a pair of jean shorts that left a whole lot more skin bare. They weren’t Daisy Duke’s, but they’d catch Tommy Ray’s eye.

Trepidation raced over her nerves. She could be opening herself up for a big hit. But life was a risk. And she had a deep-down feeling Tommy Ray Bartel was worth it.

“Look. There’s the cow mailbox Crissy said to watch for.” Lily pointed toward the windshield and the mailbox with its wooden cutouts of a Texas longhorn looming beyond.

“Yep, I think you’re right.” She slowed and turned down the dirt drive.

The narrow, hard-packed road went straight back about half a mile before stopping at an old, two-story wooden slatted ranch house. Dust billowed around her car as she made her way to the sad-looking abode.

White paint had been peeling in the hot Texas sun for years, if the amount of raw wood showing from underneath meant anything. And the porch sagged. Big-time. Josie pulled up in front of the dipping boards and killed the engine.

A big German shepherd came around the side of the house, barking loudly.

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.