Read Online A Cowboy in Manhattan by Barbara Dunlop - Free Book Online

toward the pattern of stakes. “It’s big.”
    He found himself following behind. “Four bedrooms.”
    “Where’s the front door?”
    “You’re standing on the porch.”
    She pointed. “So, here?”
    “Go on in.”
    She glanced back at him to grin. “Thank you.”
    “Dining room on the right,” he told her, oddly pleased to share his plans with someone. He’d designed them himself, keeping them secret from his father and everyone else. “Straight ahead takes you into the great room and the kitchen.”
    “On the left?”
    “Media room, then utility room. You can cut through there to the garage.”
    She walked straight through the future great room toward the back of the house.
    “That’ll be a breakfast nook,” he described. “There’ll be French doors here that go out onto the deck.”
    “Great view,” she put in.
    “Isn’t it? Master suite will have the same view.”
    She gazed out at the river. “But I don’t understand.”
    He stopped next to her in the position he planned for the deck railing, resting his hands in his front pockets. “I like a nice view of the lake.”
    “I don’t understand the new house. What’s wrong with the old one?”
    He’d made plans to build the new one before his father had died. But he saw no reason to change the plans now. “Caleb and Mandy can live there.”
    “But they’re only going to be here part-time, right?”
    “Probably. But they’ll want their own space. And I’ll want mine. So will my wife.”
    She turned to stare at him, and her eyes went round, her tone became incredulous. “You’re getting married?”
    “Yes, I am.”
    “Do you have a secret fiancée?”
    “Not yet.”
    “Who?” she asked.
    “I told you, not yet.”
    “But who is she?”
    “I don’t know.”
    Katrina canted a hip to one side, while her face screwed up in puzzlement. “You’re building a house for a fiancée you haven’t yet met?”
    “You got a problem with that?”
    She paused. “Truthfully, I think it’s kind of sweet.”
    “I was going for practical.”
    “Well, you got sweet.”
    He scoffed out a laugh. “I’m not sweet.”
    She lifted her left ankle and twisted it in the air. “Your wrap helped.”
    “Yeah?”
    “I’m positive it did,” she confirmed, while his mind wandered back to their near kiss last night in the barn.
    A rumble sounded in the distance, and Katrina braced her feet to the ground, turning sharply toward it.
    “What’s that?” she asked.
    “Horses.” He listened for a moment. “Small herd.”
    “Where?” She took a sideways step in his direction, her gaze darting around.
    “Over the rise. Coming this way.”
    They were definitely at a gallop, and Reed wondered what might have startled them. Could have been anything.
    “But there’s a fence, right?” Katrina asked.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Between us and them?”
    “Nope.”
    She paled. “Nope?”
    He shook his head to confirm, and she moved so close she was touching him.
    The sound grew louder.
    “They’re headed for the lake,” Reed reassured her.
    “Are we going to be trampled?” She turned her face into his chest.
    He struggled not to laugh, placing a reassuring arm around her shoulders. “No, we’re not going to be trampled. They’ll head straight downhill.”
    “You can’t know that.”
    “Even if they don’t, they’ll see us. They’ll go around us.”
    “Are you lying? Are we about to die?”
    He grasped her upper arms, putting her away from him, staring down into her eyes. “Seriously, Katrina. Calm down.”
    Her eyes were wide, ice-blue with fear. “What if they’re angry?”
    “They’re thirsty,” he assured her.
    The herd appeared on the rise, their hooves thundering, the ground shaking. Katrina squealed and threw herself against his chest.
    “See? They’re turning,” he told her.
    Exactly as he’d expected, they curved around the knoll, taking the downhill route toward the lake. The dozen sleek brown, black and white bodies