Page 41 of Wrangling a Texas Hometown Hero

It didn’t help that everyone, including her family, talked about him nonstop. Her family and the townsfolk were thoroughly disappointed the Wildcats had lost their last two football games by an embarrassing amount of points.

Which annoyed the hell out of Hallie.

No one seemed to realize that turning a football program around took time. Time that she hoped Jace would give the team. It was as plain as the twinkle in his eyes when he’d talked about the Wildcats that he loved coaching. Coaching his hometown team was the perfect occupation for him.

Which was why she needed to go. If she left town, maybe he’d be more willing to stay. But she couldn’t leave her family without someone to help run the ranch. Corbin spent too much time with his investment company and Belle. And Daddy had proven he couldn’t handle the full responsibility of the ranch. Hopefully, Reid would turn out to be as good a cowboy as he looked on paper.

The sound of tires hitting the gravel driveway pulled Hallie from her thoughts. A truck parked in front of the house with a trailer hitched to the back. Both were old, but clean and well cared for.

“Looks like he’s brought his house with him,” Daddy said. “He already must think he has the job.”

The driver’s door swung open and a tall, lanky cowboy got out. He started for the porch, but then changed directions when Daddy hollered at him. He moved with the gait of a man who had spent a lot of time in the saddle.

Not that the ability to ride a horse made for a good foreman.

As he got closer, Hallie was able to see his features beneath the shadow of his sweat-stained Resistol hat. If Noelle had been there, she’d be freaking out. The man was more than just good looking. He looked like one of those cowboy models that circulated the internet, except more authentic and less filtered. There was nothing filtered about this man’s chiseled jaw, high cheekbones, and intense whiskey-colored eyes.

Which was not a good sign. Good-looking, womanizing cowboys did not make good foremen. Although if he was a womanizer, he didn’t show it. His gaze didn’t sweep over her body once as he reached out a hand.

“Reid Mitchell. You must be Hallie Holiday.”

“I am.” She shook his hand and then made the introductions. “This is Corbin Whitlock, the owner of the ranch, and this is my daddy, Hank Holiday.”

Reid shook Daddy’s hand first and then Corbin’s. “Nice ranch you got here.”

“Thank you,” Corbin said. “But the Holidays are the ones who have made it what it is. I just came on the scene a few months back. Which is why I’m going to let Hallie and Hank answer any questions you might have.”

Reid nodded. “Yes, sir. And if y’all have any questions for me, ask away.”

“So why ranching?”

The question just popped out of Hallie’s mouth. It annoyed the hell out of her. Not so Corbin. He had a smirk on his face a mile wide. She glared at him before returning her attention to Reid. There was no hesitation when he answered.

“I don’t have a clue.”

She shot a smug look at Corbin, but her smugness evaporated as Reid continued.

“The work is grueling. The hours long. And the monetary rewards won’t get you a mansion on the hill, that’s for sure.” He hesitated and his gaze shifted to the pasture behind the barn. When he spoke, his voice was soft and reverent like he was speaking in church. “But I’ve never wanted a mansion. As far as hills are concerned, I like my land flat enough so that when I’m sitting in a saddle I can see for miles and miles with not one thing to interrupt my view except for what God created.”

Out of nowhere, tears sprang to Hallie’s eyes. She had never been a crier, but Reid’s words touched something inside her. Probably because they mimicked her own thoughts. Her own desires. Desires she’d thought she’d given up a long time ago. But there they were, flooding through her, and it took a strong will to keep from crying like a baby.

Still, Corbin noticed and he reached out and took her hand in his, giving it a reassuring squeeze that caught Daddy’s attention.

“What’s goin’ on?”

Corbin released her hand. “Nothing. Come on, Reid. I’ll show you around.”

Reid did a good job of answering every question Daddy fired at him as they showed him around—Hallie was still feeling a little too emotional to talk. He seemed to know a lot about horses and just as much about cattle. He even knew about gardening. When they ran into Mimi working in her garden, he spotted a green-horned worm on one of her tomato plants. After plucking the fat bug off and smashing it beneath his bootheel, he gave her a homemade pesticide recipe that had worked for his grandma.

When they finished the tour, Corbin glanced at his watch. “Sorry to have to cut this short, Reid, but I promised my wife I’d take her to Tito’s Tacos before the high school football game.” He glanced at Hallie. “You’re coming this time, right?”

The last two times, she’d made up excuses for why she couldn’t attend the game. This time, she had one.

“Reid didn’t come all this way so his interview could be cut short because of some silly football game. Y’all go on and I’ll finish showing Reid around and then meet up with you later . . . if I can.”

Daddy stared at her. “Silly football game? Living in the big city has sure changed your priorities, Hallie.” Before he and Corbin left, he leaned in closer and whispered so only she could hear. “I think we got us a winner here.”

Her father’s praise for Reid did not sit well. After he and Corbin left, she found herself trying to find a chink in Reid’s cowboy armor. She asked him question after question, and when he answered them all better than she could have, she got even more annoyed.

---