Page 48 of Mistletoe Cowboy

Katy was torn. Ron sounded very logical. The horse was old. But that look on her daughter’s face wounded her.

“It’s painless,” Ron said. “The horse won’t even feel it.”

“Why don’t we get the vet to put you down first, and you can tell us if you feel it?” Parker drawled.

Ron looked outraged. “You have no right to even be here,” he began.

“Parker is my friend,” Teddie said. “The nicest thing you ever said to me was that it was a shame that my mother had a child.”

Ron didn’t deny it. He just shrugged. “I guess the local attitudes are corrupting your daughter, Katy,” he said. “Another good reason to come back to Maryland where you belong.”

Katy was feeling sicker by the minute, torn between logic and her daughter’s pain.

“I have a simple solution,” Parker told the child. “Give the horse to me.” He looked up at Ron with a cold smile. “And I’ll take on his former owner in court, with pleasure.”

“I don’t think a public defender will take the case,” Ron commented smartly.

“Mr. Denton employs a firm of attorneys out of L.A.,” he replied. “I’ve already spoken to him about the case.”

“A rancher with attorneys in L.A.” Ron laughed.

“His wife is the lead writer forWarriors and Warlocks,” Parker replied quietly. “Mr. Denton owns Drayco Properties.”

Even Ron had heard of those. It was one of the biggest conglomerates of oil and gas property in the country.

“He also likes horses,” Parker added. He looked down at Teddie. “You get your mother to sign Bart over to me, and I’ll do the rest.” He glanced at Ron. “I don’t mind a good fight.”

He was insinuating that Ron would run from one. And Ron knew it. His face flushed. “I could win the case if I wanted to,” he said.

“We all need to calm down,” Katy said, glancing from one heated expression to the next. “Let’s sleep on it and talk again tomorrow.”

Parker bent and dropped a kiss on Teddie’s hair. “Don’t worry. We’ll save Bart. One way or another,” he added, with a cool glance at Ron and an even cooler one at Katy. He went out, with Teddie right behind him.

“You need to keep that man away from your daughter,” Ron told Katy firmly. “He’s using her to get to you.”

But it didn’t look that way to Katy. Parker had barely glanced at her on his way out, the sort of impassive expression you might expect from a total stranger. It had hurt. She’d felt guilty about her closeness to Parker and he’d backed off. Asking Ron out here had been the last straw, and she could see it. Parker thought she was serious about Ron, especially after he’d witnessed that impassioned kiss.

Ron approached her, but she backed away.

“I’m not interested in you that way, Ron,” she said firmly. “I’m sorry if I gave you the impression that I was. I honestly thought you meant it when you said if I ever needed help, you’d come.”

“Of course, I meant it,” he protested.

“So you talked to the horse’s owner, without telling me, and offered to have Bartholomew put down, knowing that I got you out here because my daughter loves the horse and wants to save him.”

Ron cleared his throat. “I prefer negotiation to a stand-up fight.”

“Oh, I can see that negotiation is certainly more preferable. It would have been a great solution when my great-great-grandfather was fighting off cattle rustlers up in Montana, negotiating with people pointing loaded guns at him.” Her eyes were sparking now.

“Nobody rustles cattle anymore,” he argued.

“Yes, they do. They use transfer trucks instead of horses, but they still use guns.”

“Barbarians,” he muttered.

Her eyes went over his expensive suit, his styled, neat hair, and his expensive jewelry. And she found that she infinitely preferred Parker’s simple denims and long hair.

“Barbarians,” she mused. She smiled. “That’s what you think Parker is.”

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