Read Online The Cowboy And The Debutante by Stella Bagwell - Free Book Online Page B

shoulder against the stall door. “This is hardly a time to be joking.”
    â€œBut why would they do something like that now? You’re here on vacation. Looks to me as though they’d want to spend some time with you.”
    â€œThere will be plenty of time for them to be with me once they get back. I’m sure you’ve seen for yourself that Mother rarely ever takes a vacation away from the ranch. And Daddy will thoroughly love having her all to himself.”
    Miguel’s expression of dismay didn’t alter. “Both your parents work very hard. I understand all that. But to leave you with all this to care for.” He gestured at the row of stalled horses and shook his head. “I’m going to be honest with you, this is very much out of character for them.”
    Not for anything would Anna let him know she’d been thinking the very same thing. She’d taken heart in the fact that her parents didn’t doubt her capabilities of caring for the ranch. But was she really? Could she get through the next few weeks without making a fool of herself and a mess of everything? Were her parents trying to test her for some reason?
    â€œI suppose they were thinking it’s a rare day when one of their children is available to take over for them. I’m here, and they asked me if I would handle seeing after the ranch. I was hardly going to disappoint them by saying no.”
    â€œWell that’s just dandy,” he muttered. “They leave you here with a concussion and a lump on your forehead as big as a golf ball and expect you to take care of things.”
    Frowning, Anna’s fingers lifted to her forehead. “I don’t have a concussion, and there’s hardly a lump there at all now.”
    Miguel snorted. “You look like you’re ready to fall over.”
    Before she realized what he was about to do, he snatched up both her hands and studied her palms. The soft skin just below her fingers was broken and bleeding. Not wanting him to see the damage, she tried to jerk them loose from his grip, but he tightened his hold.
    â€œI knew Chloe was wrong about you. Any normal cowgirl would know to wear a pair of work gloves. Now you’ve got a pair of ruined hands to go with a concussion!”
    Anna tried to glare at him, but the touch of his hands so firmly wrapped around hers was sending her senses in all sorts of wild directions. The most she could do was stare at him in bewilderment.
    â€œFor the last time—I don’t have a concussion. And for your information, I’ve had on a pair of gloves all day. I only took them off a few minutes ago.”
    â€œJust as I figured. You’re so soft even a pair of gloves don’t help.”
    â€œWhat do you know about it?” Anna muttered, hating the smugness in his voice.
    â€œI know you look ready to fall in your tracks at any moment.”
    Her gaze made a slow, deliberate sweep of his tall muscular body. Dirt, manure and grass stained the entire front of his jeans and a good measure of his denim shirt. Dust coated the faint stubble of beard on his chin and jaws. His eyes were bloodshot from long hours in the sun. And in that one long glance, Anna felt herself melting like a cube of sugar in a cup of hot coffee. He was a man who worked hard for himself and for her parents. She greatly respected him for that.
    â€œYou don’t exactly look ready for the hundred-yard dash yourself,” she replied.
    â€œI’m used to this. You’re not.”
    Anna was dead on her feet, but as she’d discovered beforehand there was something about Miguel that made her want to linger in his presence, to find out the mysteries behind his dark hazel eyes.
    Shaking her hair back over her shoulders, she leveled her gaze on his face and sighed with irritation. “I suppose you think my job doesn’t require long hours.”
    â€œI’m sure I don’t know what it requires. But I do know