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

can just send one of them to buy a donkey the next day after a coyote or mountain lion becomes a threat. It’s a lot easier than a bunch of grumpy folks.”
    She shook her head. “I’ll put that in my report, but I like the guard idea better. But who knows what the producers will like? How does a donkey fight off coyotes and cats anyway?”
    “Donkeys will bite and stomp them to death. They get along fine with cattle and they’ll protect them, but coyotes and big cats are a different story. I hope I can find a rancher willing to sell me one—hopefully tomorrow. I should have thought of that before we even left.”
    “Did they use them on the real Chisholm Trail rides?” she whispered as they neared the camp.
    “I wouldn’t know, but I’m going to buy one as soon as I can. Starting tomorrow night we’ll stand watch until I can find one.”
    “We don’t need to do watch tonight?” She didn’t realize he’d stopped until she took two more steps and collided with him, breast to hard muscled chest. And then his arms were around her to keep them both from tumbling to the ground in a heap.
    “Whoa!” she gasped and looked up.
    His eyes went soft and dreamy and were half-shut as his lips came closer and closer. Her pulse raced as she rolled up on her toes. His thumb grazed her jawline and traced the outline of her lips. Her eyes fluttered, half-open, half-shut. She moved a hand away from his chest to his neck.
    Just before his lips met hers, his eyes popped open for just a second. She’d never seen such raw hunger before. Her eyelids slowly drooped shut and his mouth landed on hers in a kiss that raged through her body like a Texas wildfire coming over the plains with a good strong tailwind. She tangled her fingers in his hair, holding his lips on hers. She couldn’t think of anything but putting out the fire as his tongue flicked through her lips and she tasted heat and desire rolled into a long, lingering kiss.
    His hands moved to her back, drawing her closer to his chest, as if he wanted to melt the two of them into one to ease the blistering hot flames that had him instantly ready for sex.
    And then he broke the kiss and stepped back.
    “I’m sorry,” he said.
    “Why? Are you engaged or married?”
    “N-n-no!” He sounded like Buddy.
    “Then there’s nothing to apologize for. Good night, Dewar.” She walked away without looking back, sat down on her bedroll, kicked off her boots, and crawled into her sleeping bag.
    ***
    Dewar could not sleep. He looked in her direction but her back was to him and all he could see was a mop of still-damp red hair. What would it feel like to have that thick hair splayed out over his chest when he woke up the next morning? Or tickling his nose as she kissed him awake?
    The visions did nothing for the semi-arousal, so he turned his back to her and forced himself to think about plowing a hay pasture. He always listened to country music when he was in the tractor, so one song after another played in his head, but each one turned his thoughts back to the woman barely six feet away with the sweet-smelling soap aroma still hanging on the night breezes.
    Finally, he slept only to dream one erotic scenario after another, with Haley the center of each one. He awoke to hear the rattling of pots and pans and Coosie whistling “Oh What a Beautiful Morning.” He threw back his sleeping bag, dug his toothbrush from his saddlebags, and stuck it in his shirt pocket. Maybe if he brushed his teeth and got the taste of Haley’s kisses away from his lips, he’d forget all about how they felt.
    He forgot all about brushing his teeth when she sat up, rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and finger combed her hair. He rolled his bedding slowly so he could watch her deftly twist her hair into braids and secure the ends with rubber bands she pulled from her shirt pocket. Her jeans were tighter and darker than the pair she’d worn the day before; the shirt long sleeved with buttons and two