Read Online Cowboy Seeks Bride by Carolyn Brown - Free Book Online

sweet-smelling soap wafted across the night breeze to his nose. At the same time a slinky, low-to-the-ground movement near the mesquite trees at the far fence line caught his attention.
    He pointed. “It’s probably a bobcat or maybe a mountain lion. Wind is blowing away from us right now or he would have picked up our scent and run away before now.”
    The longhorn bull put his head down and let out a low bawl that sounded like a warning. The cows moved restlessly behind him.
    “Shoot ’im?” she asked.
    “Not unless I have to. It would spook the cows, maybe cause a stampede, and definitely wake everyone up. Walk with me.” Dewar’s voice was barely above a whisper.
    Chill bumps chased down Haley’s backbone, not from fear of danger but from his voice at that timbre. It was so damn sexy that it brought all kinds of naughty images into living high-definition color.
    He moved across the pasture in long easy strides with her doing double time to keep up. Finally, he reached down and took her hand in his. She wasn’t even a bit surprised at the warmth spreading through her body.
    Before they got around the herd, she heard a deep-throated growl and another shadow ran back into the woods in a lope. Dewar turned to look at the bull that was already trotting back to his herd with his head up.
    “That bull thinks he’s the big hero,” she said.
    Dewar turned around but he didn’t let go of her hand. “He’s a good leader and he probably would have stood his ground, but I’d hate to lose him.”
    “You think he would have lost?”
    “Coyotes run in packs. Those were just the two out scouting for a midnight snack.”
    “I’ll make a note of that for the show,” she said.
    “Hey, why do you go by H. B.? And what’s the big deal about letting folks think you are a man? There are women correspondents in war zones. And last I heard women could even vote these days,” he changed the subject abruptly.
    “My whole name is Haley Belle McKay Levy. McKay was Momma’s maiden name. Momma is half Irish-Cajun. The Levy name is Jewish.”
    “Does you mother have red hair like you?”
    “Oh, no! She’s got all the Cajun features. Dark hair. Dark eyes. Just like her momma. Daddy is the same. Dark hair and dark eyes like Grandpa. I was named after my grandmothers. Mahalia on Cajun side. Isabelle on the Irish side. Think about it,” she said.
    He frowned.
    “Think harder.”
    He shrugged.
    She squeezed his hand. “In grade school they called me hay bale. That could ruin a serious businesswoman.”
    “Kids can be cruel, can’t they?” He grinned.
    “How’d you get a name like Dewar? It sounds like something out of a historic romance book. I bet people mispronounce it all the time and call you Dee-War instead of Dew-Are,” she said.
    “Folks probably don’t even know how it looks on paper. When I’m introduced they just say Dew-Are and that’s the way they remember it. My folks are both Irish and Dewar is an old family name, but I never got teased until Sawyer came up with that stupid Dewy Darlin’ story.”
    “Now that we understand names, what do you do about the big cat or coyote problem? I need to know for the show.”
    “Either stand watch at night or buy a donkey.”
    “A donkey?”
    “They are natural enemies for coyotes and wild cats.”
    “Okay, I vote for a donkey, but it’ll be more dramatic if we make the contestants stand watch. How do they do that?”
    He started walking back toward the camp. “Four-hour shifts. What time are you calling it a night on the trail?”
    She fell in beside him. “Ten at the latest, but I suppose there’ll be some love interests like on all reality shows and the couple who can’t keep their hands off each other will do some sneaking into the night.”
    “Then someone watches from ten to two and someone else from two to six. Rotate the guards so no one loses two nights’ sleep in a row. Someone will be grouchy on the days that they have to stand watch. Or you