Read Online Painted Montana Sky: A Montana Sky Series Novella by Debra Holland - Free Book Online

woman he barely knew, but whom he hoped would look favorably on his request for assistance.
    A boy dashed out of the barn—Daniel Rodriquez, the son of Thompson’s new wife. The child showed his Argentine heritage, with his golden skin and dark hair, although he had his mother’s blue eyes. Daniel skidded to a stop far enough away so he wouldn’t spook the horse. “Hiya, Mr. Dunn.” He gave a little bounce, his eyebrows rising. “You didn’t bring Oliver?”
    “Nope. Left him at home this trip.”
    Daniel’s eyebrows drooped. “Too bad. I could have shown him the Falabella foals.”
    Tyler knew how much his son would love to see the midget horses and their foals. “Maybe next time I can bring Oliver. Is your ma around?”
    “Yep. In the kitchen.” The boy opened the gate of a picket fence that surrounded a bed of red tulips Lily would surely like to paint and trotted up the brick walkway. He opened the door and, without going inside, bellowed, “Mama, company!”
    Tyler smiled and shook his head. Boys.
    Samantha Thompson walked outside. The sun glinted off her auburn hair. She wore a pale blue dress that made her eyes look like cornflowers and a flowered apron that couldn’t quite hide the small bulge of her pregnancy. “Mr. Dunn. Welcome.”
    Her smile reminded him that she was one of the most attractive women in Sweetwater Springs. Before she’d married, he’d admired her from afar, but even her beauty hadn’t been enough to banish the bitterness about Laura that had frozen him into a block of ice over the last years. Tyler smiled, nodded, and touched the brim of his hat before swinging down from his horse.
    Daniel dashed back, holding out his hand for the reins. “I’ll water him, Mr. Dunn.”
    “Thank you, son.”
    His mother brushed a loving hand over her boy’s hair. “After you take care of Mr. Dunn’s horse, I want you to change out of your school clothes.”
    “Yes, Mama,” the boy said in a longsuffering voice.
    Tyler and Samantha exchanged amused glances.
    “Would you like to come inside?” She waved toward the house. “Mrs. Toffels has put the kettle on for tea.”
    “I have to be getting’ back, ma’am.” He shuffled his boots in the dirt. “I just came to beg a favor. I have a guest at the ranch, a Miss Lily Maxwell. She was staying at Mrs. Murphy’s. Then the widow discovered Miss Maxwell had a dog.”
    Amusement gleamed in her eyes. Mrs. Thompson held up a hand. “Say no more. I can imagine the rest.”
    “Miss Maxwell is only here for a week. She’s painting a series of botanical drawings. She suffers from a damaged hip, making it difficult for her to get around. She refuses to ride because her injury was caused by a fall from a horse. But the wagon can’t navigate the places she needs to go to find her flowers.”
    Her smile widened. “And you’d like to borrow the Falabellas and their cart for Miss Maxwell.”
    “Yes,” he answered, glad she saw the need before he even asked.
    Mrs. Thompson tapped one finger on her chin. “Is Miss Maxwell a big woman?”
    “No. About yay high.” He raised a hand to the level of his nose. “And bird-bone thin. Very light.”
    “Ah.” Her eyes twinkled. “Young? Pretty?”
    Heat crept up his neck, and his gaze skittered away from her knowing look.
    She took his silence for an answer. “I think Chico can pull her alone. All my mares have foals or are about to deliver, so I can’t let them go. How about I send the twins with you? Jack can drive the buggy, and Tim can ride his horse and lead Jack’s.”
    Tyler had a moment’s apprehension, remembering the trouble the Cassidy twins had caused before Samantha Thompson, then Rodriguez, adopted them.
    “But they’ll need to come straight home before nightfall.”
      Then Tyler remembered Widow Murphy had been the chief gossiper about the boys. Since that time, the two had, by most accounts, buckled down and become responsible sons, only getting into the normal kind of boy