Read Online Loving A Cowboy by Anne Carrole - Free Book Online Page B

blue, and yellow bruises covering his firm six-pack abdomen, a testament to the pain he’d endured. That thought brought heaviness to her heart and renewed determination to do right by him this time.
    “I’m capable of taking care of myself.” He stared at her as if willing her to leave would work. It wouldn’t.
    “Look, Chance. If my help enables you to heal faster, it seems worth putting up with my presence. I’m not that bad to live with.”
    “Live with?” His Adam’s apple bobbed in a hard swallow. “That ain’t going to happen, Libby. No way.” He sounded like she had some disease he was afraid of catching.
    “You need someone. Be reasonable.”
    “I am being reasonable. You think you can waltz into my bedroom and make yourself at home? Ain’t happening,” he snarled, just like Cowboy did when he was chasing his tail in frustration. “Besides, how can you afford to tear yourself away from Brennan Motors or that suit you plan to marry? I can’t imagine either of them giving you time off to look after me.”
    She bit her lower lip. Her father and Ben were two subjects she did not wish to discuss, especially with Chance, but there was no getting around it. “My father didn’t have a say in it since I don’t work for Brennan Motors. Ben is at a training class for the next two weeks, and we aren’t officially engaged.” She didn’t add the “yet.”
    His brow furrowed, Chance shook his head. “This guy Ben must have gotten a great job to let you out of his sight before sealing the deal, and you must have gotten some great job for your father to let you off the hook. You need to get right back to that guy and that job, Libby. I mean it.”
    She swallowed hard. She expected Chance to act difficult. She doubted he expected her to be just as stubborn. “I don’t have a job yet. That’s why I can come and help you.”
    His eyes narrowed to slits. Not his most attractive pose. Made him look a little snake-like, actually.
    “Is that the game? Daddy is mad because you wouldn’t play in his sandbox, and you figure you can freeload off me until this Ben guy returns. That’s why you’re really here, isn’t it?”
    While she wouldn’t deny that the facts seemed to support his conclusion, it was the wrong conclusion. The moment Chance had hit the dust and hadn’t stood up, she knew her place was at his bedside, whether at the hospital or his home. Point was, she cared. She guessed she was here to find out how deeply. She didn’t fool herself that Chance would want to hear that, much less believe it. Or what it would mean to either of them if he did.
    “My father and I did have a falling out when I told him I wasn’t going to work for Brennan Motors, and it hasn’t been very pleasant at home. I am trying to get a public relations job with the Western Stock Show in Denver.” She wished she could wipe the smug I-thought-so expression off his face, but the truth was the truth. “So, yes, I could use a change of scene. But you also need help. So unless you’re planning on calling the county sheriff to throw me out, I think you should accept my offer.”
    He eyed her through those narrowed lids. “You know I’m not calling the police on you.”
    “Good. Then we’ve reached an understanding. And, just so everything is out in the open, I may need a few hours here or there to do some interviews for that stock show position, but I’ll make sure everything is in good order before I step out.”
    “Libby, this is not a good idea.” His voice held a warning.
    “Why? You need me temporarily. I need a place to stay temporarily. What reason could there be not to help each other?”
    His gaze started at her chest, traveled down the front of her tank top, pausing briefly at her waist before continuing down her jean skirt, past her bare legs, right to her bejeweled flip flops.
    “That kiss in my truck should be reason enough.” He lifted his gaze to her face and leaned back against the headboard. “We