Read Online Texas Wild by Brenda Jackson - Free Book Online Page A

be surprised to see him, and even more surprised that
he would be taking her back with him to Forbes to be there when he talked to
Fanny Banks.
    But he would explain that taking her to meet Fanny would be all
he’d let her do. He would return Megan to the Golden Glade while he finished up
with the investigation. Nothing had changed on that front. Like he’d told her,
he preferred working alone.
    He checked the clock on the car’s dashboard. Breakfast would be
over by the time he reached the ranch. Alyssa might be resting, and if Clint
wasn’t around then he was probably out riding the range.
    Rico glanced up at the sky. Clear, blue, and the sun was
shining. It was a beautiful day in late September, and he planned to enjoy it.
He pressed down on the accelerator. Although he probably didn’t need to be in a
hurry, he was in one anyway.
    A short while later he released a sigh of anticipation when he
saw the marker to the Golden Glade Ranch. Smiling, he made a turn down the long,
winding driveway toward the huge ranch house.
    * * *
    Megan was convinced that the south-ridge pasture of the
Golden Glade was the most beautiful land she’d ever seen. The Westmorelands
owned beautiful property back in Denver, but this here was just too magnificent
for words.
    She dismounted her horse and, after tying him to a hitching
post, she gazed down in the valley where it seemed as though thousands upon
thousands of wild horses were running free.
    The triplets, Clint, Cole and Casey, had lived on this land
with their Uncle Sid while growing up. Sid Roberts had been a legend in his day.
First as a rodeo star and then later as a renowned horse trainer. Megan even
remembered studying about him in school. In their uncle’s memory, the triplets
had dedicated over three thousand acres of this land along the south ridge as a
reserve. Hundreds of wild horses were saved from slaughter by being shipped here
from Nevada. Some were left to roam free for the rest of their days, and others
were shipped either to Montana, where Casey had followed in her uncle’s
footsteps as a horse trainer, or to Denver, where some of her cousins and
brothers were partners in the operation.
    Megan could recall when Zane, Derringer and Jason had decided
to join the partnership that included Clint, their cousin Durango, Casey and her
husband, McKinnon. All of the Westmorelands involved in the partnership loved
horses and were experts in handling them.
    Megan glanced across the way and saw a cabin nestled among the
trees. She knew it hadn’t been here the last time she’d visited. She smiled,
thinking it was probably a lovers’ hideaway for Clint and Alyssa and was
probably the reason for the secretive smile they’d shared this morning.
    Going back to the horse, she unhooked a blanket she’d brought
and the backpack that contained a book to read and a Ziploc bag filled with the
fruit Chester had packed. It didn’t take long to find the perfect spot to spread
the blanket on the ground and stretch out. She looked up at the sky, thinking it
was a gorgeous day and it was nice to be out in it. She enjoyed her job at the
hospital, but there was nothing like being out under the wide-open sky.
    She had finished one chapter of the suspense thriller that her
cousin Stone Westmoreland, aka Rock Mason, had written. She was so engrossed in
the book that it was a while before she heard the sound of another horse
approaching. Thinking it was probably Clint or one of the ranch hands coming to
check on her, to make sure she was okay, she’d gotten to her feet by the time a
horse and rider came around the bend.
    Suddenly she felt it—heat sizzling down her spine, fire
stirring in her stomach. Her heart began thumping hard in her chest. She’d known
that she would eventually run in to Rico, but she’d thought it would be when she
made an appearance in Forbes. He had been so adamant about her not coming to
Texas with him that she’d figured she would have to be the one to seek him