Page 16 of A Cowboy Of Her Own

“You’ve met Earl so you can’t be surprised.”

“True. We gotta get moving. I’ll meet you in the kitchen.” Roark walked away, entered the kitchen, and made himself a cup of coffee. He was leaningagainst the counter sipping his coffee when she entered the kitchen, dragging and still scowling. “Get yourself some coffee. Where’s your duffle bag?”

“There.” She jerked her chin toward the doorway before elbowing him aside to get at the coffee.

“I’ll carry it out. My stuff is already outside. I need to saddle the horses anyway.” After placing his cup in the sink, he put his hat on his head, picked up her duffle bag, and walked out the door. Outside, he dropped her bag by the steps, breathed in the cool fresh early morning air, and strode to the barn.

Once inside, he turned the lights on and walked down the center aisle to his horse’s stall. The Appaloosa stuck his head over the gate and nibbled on Roark’sshirtsleeve.

“Hey, Apache… ready to take some cattle up to the north pasture?” Roark rubbed the horse’s soft nose. He gave the animal some food before moving away to get the tack from the storage room. He’d saddle Apache first then saddle Dazzle, a gentle Paint, for Priscilla.

After saddling the horses, he led them and a packhorse from the barn to see Priscilla sitting on the top step of the porch looking anything but pleased about going. He dipped his head down so she wouldn’t see his grin. When he raised his head, she was glaring at him.Well, so much for her not seeing.

“Come here and get on Dazzle, and I’ll adjust the stirrups for you.”

“Which one is Dazzle?” she asked him as she walked down the steps then stumbled a little before she got to him.

“Trip on an ant?” he asked.

“Funny. I’m not exactly what you’d call graceful. Which one is Dazzle?” she asked him again.

“The Paint.”

Roark saw her frown as she stared at the horses.

“I thought you said you knew how to ride?”

“I do but that doesn’t mean I know what kind of horse I’m riding.”

“Breed. Whatbreedyou’re riding.” He shook his head when her expression remained one of confusion. “Never mind. This one is the Paint. The other is an Appaloosa. I would have thought since I told you that Wild Breeze was a Paint, you’d see the resemblance.”

Priscilla shrugged. “Sure. Whatever. Why are there three? Is someone else going?”

“Bouncer is the pack horse.” At her frown, he grinned. “Surely you’ve heard of a pack horse. He’ll carry our bags and supplies.”

“Oh. Okay.” She walked toward him, stopped by Dazzle’s head, and rubbed the animal’s velvet nose and Roark swore he felt her touch on his dick. She handed him her camera and smiled at him.

Son of a bitch!

“Get on the horse,” he snapped suddenly, and then felt like an ass when she flinched and looked at him startled. “Sorry. I didn’t get much sleep. Do you need a leg up?”

“I don’t think so.”

He watched Priscilla grab the saddle horn, put her foot in the stirrup, and try to pull herself up but all she did was bounce on the ball of her foot while trying to get her leg up. Roark groaned low and put his hand on her ass before giving her a shove. Once in the saddle, her lips tightened and she glared down at him, blotches of pink riding high on hercheeks.

“We’d never get out of here if I had to wait for you to get your ass in the saddle.” He handed her the reins, adjusted the stirrups, then walked to his horse and vaulted into his saddle. Apache shifted under him in excitement so he turned him in a circle glancing over his shoulder at Priscilla. “Ready?”

“Yes.”

He gave her a nod and nudged Apache forward and grabbing the reins to lead Bouncer behind him. He looked back at Priscilla to see her following him on Dazzle. At least she knew how to go. At the gate, Roark leaned down and opened it then signaled for her to go through and closed it after she passed by then rode up beside her.

“See that pasture over there?” He pointed off to the right. At her nod, he continued. “Whatever you do, don’t go in there. My bulls are kept in that area.”

“Bulls are kept together? I didn’t think you could do that.”

“It’s not a problem. They don’t pay much attention to each other since I don’t let the cows near them. If I have a cow I need bred, I’ll take the bull out and take him to her.”

“Do you raise them for beef? Oh, my God! Did we eat one of your bulls the other night?”

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