Read Online Rebel Heart by Barbara McMahon - Free Book Online Page A

Jase’s shirt, unable to continue to meet his piercing gaze. “Home is important to me,” she said softly.
    “And to me. Why do you think I worked so hard to provide one for my brother and sister? I wouldn’t take your home from you, darlin’,” he said gently. “I want to help you save it.”
    She shook her head. “I’m not selling.”
    “Fine.” He straightened and released her. Stepping around her, he headed for the kitchen door.
    “Are you leaving?” she asked, suddenly afraid he would do just that. Had she made him that mad?
    “No.” He continued inside.
    Shannon followed, wondering what she was going to do next. She had so little time to come up with the money. Selling some of her cattle was the only way.
    Jase sat behind her desk, rummaging around the papers stacked on its surface.
    “What are you doing?” She paused in the doorway, watching him. Would he continue to teach her about ranching? Or had she made him too angry?
    “I’m trying to figure how much money you need for the next few months so we can calculate how many head of cattle you have to sell,” he said as easily as if the confrontation in the yard had never taken place.
    She slowly sank into the chair beside him and watched as he studied the tally sheets, ran a list of numbers on the old calculator. The mortgage payments she recognized and the salaries for Dink and Gary. There were other figures, but she was afraid to question exactly what they represented. The total was staggering.
    She swallowed hard. “How much of the herd do I have to sell?”
    “Don’t know. Tomorrow we’ll call around and find out what the going rate for cattle is right now. This is the amount you need. Once we have the rate, we’ll see how many head of cattle that is.”
    “And then how long before I would get the money?”
    “Oh, you can have it tomorrow,” he said easily.
    “Tomorrow?” She blinked, puzzled. How would they even find a buyer that quickly, much less get the funds?
    He nodded. Tipping back in the chair, his eyes narrowed slightly as he watched her.
    “Wouldn’t we have to find a buyer first?”
    “I’m buying.”
    She stared at him in surprise. “No.”
    He chuckled, running his knuckles down her soft cheek. “Now you’re saying who can and cannot buy your cattle? Do you want to sell them or not?”
    “No. I mean, yes, I want to sell, but you can’t buy them. What would you do with a bunch of cattle? Are you planning to take them on the rodeo with you?”
    “No, I’m planning to lease some land from you so they can continue to graze. That will generate some income for you.”
    “You can’t do that.”
    “Why not?”
    “You just can’t.”
    She was stunned. She didn’t know why he couldn’t, but she didn’t want such a close tie. Jase was only here for another five weeks. She didn’t want him bailing her out of her problems. She wanted him to show her how to work them out on her own, then leave.
    He had to leave before she began thinking things she had no business thinking.
    “What’s the alternative? Sell to someone else who will take them away. Then you lose the lease income. You’ve plenty of good pasture land, more than enough to support the cattle you’re running. My owning some of the herd won’t change that. And, in the meantime, you’ll have a few months of lease income as well as the cash you need right now.”
    It made sense. If it were anyone but Jase she’d jump at the opportunity. Only, somehow, she felt funny accepting it from Jase.
    Yet he was right, what choice did she have?
    “If you buy them, it’ll be at a discount,” she said.
    “What?”
    “That way I can pay you a little bit more for helping me out.”
    “That’s about the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. You’ll never make a businesswoman that way.”
    “I feel responsible—”
    “You have an overactive sense of responsibility,” he interrupted.
    “It’s better than having no sense at all,” she retorted.
    “And that’s