Read Online My Kind of Trouble by Becky McGraw - Free Book Online

said, "And your opinion would
matter why? What the hell do you know about cattle?"
     
    "A hell of a lot more than you think,
darlin'. Didn't Bud tell you I worked on a cattle ranch while I was
in college?" He looked over at Bud who was still just smiling from
ear to ear, but not backing him up at all.
     
    Cassie's eyes flew to Bud as well. "No,
there's a lot he failed to mention, evidently." She stomped over to
her horse and remounted, then shoved her hat back on her head.
"Which ones do we need to cut, Bud?"
     
    He pulled a small notebook from his pocket
and flipped back the cover. As Bud called out numbers, she and Luke
moved through the herd to search the ear tags on the pregnant cows
to find the one he called. Together, they worked as a team to cull
them from the herd then moved them over to the corner of the
pasture where Bud stayed behind to keep them cornered there.
     
    They'd separated six cows from the herd so
far, and Bud said there were ten more on his list. Her thigh
muscles were aching and her ass felt like it had when she'd been
paddled by the principal in sixth grade for putting a frog in Becca
Harvey's book sack.
     
    It had been worth it to see the horror on
Becca's face and hear her girly scream when she reached inside to
pull out her book and the slimy toad jumped out and landed on her
chest. There was a riot in class when everyone jumped up trying to
catch the jumpy amphibian. Mrs. Simpson was not as impressed as the
kids in her class were and sent her to the principal's office.
     
    The number Bud had last called appeared on
the ear tag of the cow right in front of her and she signaled Honey
and managed to work the clumsy cow over by a tree. She waved at
Luke and he started toward her, then she heard a sound like
crunching leaves to her left and looked down to find a dusty brown
snake with a diamond pattern on his back coiled up and not looking
happy.
     
    Cassie screamed and automatically squeezed
her thighs around Honey like a green horn. The mare took off from
under her and a limb caught her across the chest. She somersaulted
off the back of the horse then landed face first in the dirt
knocking the breath out of her. Numbness claimed her whole body as
shock set in and she began shaking.
     
    She heard a rifle shot nearby and then Luke
was beside her his long-fingered hands moving over her body from
head to toe. "Cassie, sugar...talk to me. Are you hurt, darlin?"
His voice was choked and scared, as he begged close to her ear,
"C'mon cupcake. Talk to me." His fingers certainly got her blood
moving again as he gently moved them through her hair, down her
neck and then her shoulders, arms and ribs.
     
    "I'm okay," she finally told him then rolled
over and tossed her arm across her eyes. "Tell me you killed that
snake."
     
    "He's dead," he told her gruffly then asked
with concern, "Are you hurt?"
     
    "Just stunned..." She moved her arm and
looked around for Honey. "Is Honey okay?"
     
    "She's fine, she's over by Bud," he told her
then stood. He grabbed his rifle and slid it into the scabbard on
his saddle, before kneeling back down beside her and sliding one
arm under neck then the other under beneath her knees before
lifting her into his arms.
     
    He hugged her to him tightly for a second,
and kissed her cheek, which shocked the stuffing out of her and
caused her tongue to stick to the roof of her mouth. She thought
she felt a tremor move through his big body, but she was shaking so
badly she couldn't be sure if it was him or her.
     
    When she finally got her tongue unglued, she
told him "Put me down, Luke, I'm fine."
     
    He ignored her and walked to his horse and
lifted her into the saddle. She scooted forward to give him enough
room to mount behind her and grabbed the saddle horn. He walked
back to the tree and picked up her hat from the ground beside the
dead snake and dusted it off on the leg of his jeans. When he came
back, he put his foot in the stirrup and vaulted onto the horse's
back