Page 71 of Cowboy Seeks Husband
Walker let go of his shoulder and softly moved his knuckles along Roan’s jaw. “No,” he said. “I don’t need to ask.” Then he abruptly turned away and went into the tack room. Needing a minute to get his breathing under control, Roan stayed behind.
When Walker returned, Roan helped him saddle Callie up, and then did the same with a big black horse that wouldn’t stand still.
“Just so you know, I’m not riding this one,” Roan said, and Walker laughed.
“No, you’re not. Whiskey would run circles around you within a minute. He’s my ranch hand Marlon’s pride and joy. Normally, I ride Cormac, but he’s out in the pastures today. Don’t worry. Whiskey tolerates me well enough, don’t you, boy?”
Whiskey stamped his hoof, danced to the side, and jerked his head up and down. Roan jumped and stepped back. “I’ll just wait over here,” he said, and Walker grinned at him.
“Go ahead and take Callie outside. I’ll be right there. No time to lose.”
“Um. Okay.” He gripped Callie’s reins like Ben had shown him last time and led her out of the stable, relaxing a little when she followed sedately.
The woman was still out there, doing something to the flowers attached to her windowsills. At the sound of Callie’s hooves, she turned and froze for a second when she spotted Roan. He gave her a sheepish little wave and even from where he was standing he saw her beam a smile at him and wave back.
“That’s my step-mama,” Walker said, stepping to his side with Whiskey. “Want to meet her?”
“Uh, I thought we weren’t allowed to talk to your family.”
Walker smirked. “Convenient.”
“Also, we don’t have time. They’ll probably be here any minute.”
“Even more convenient. Here, let me give you a leg up.” He slipped his arm through Whiskey’s reins, then cupped his hands together and bent down a little. Roan hesitated, then steadied himself on Callie’s saddle and put his knee in Walker’s palms. A little heave, and he found himself on the horse. Walker maneuvered his foot into the stirrup.
“I got the other side,” Roan said as Walker checked the cinch.
When they were both saddled, Walker pointed toward a dirt trail that led behind the farm. “We’ll go down there. It’s a little loop that’s very pretty and they can’t follow us in a car. We can walk side by side. Don’t slip behind me, because Callie’s a good girl, but with Whiskey she can get a little competitive, and she might want to have a little fun racing.
“Oh.” Crap, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.
“You’ll be fine, little lion,” Walker said, smiling. “Hold your reins gently, squeeze your legs to go, lean back to stop. That’s all there is to it.”
“Right,” Roan said dubiously, but he squeezed his legs when Walker started off, and Callie obediently fell into step with them. They were out of the farm yard and down the path without any sign of producers in pursuit. His heart pounded. Were they really doing this? And were they going to get away with it?
“Tell me alittle about your family,” Roan said. “I feel like I don’t know anything about you that hasn’t been fed to me by a PR person.”
Walker glanced at him under his hat. “I hope that’s not true.”
“Well.” Roan pretended to think about it. “I know you like to stick your hands down fish throats and that you like to eat slimy things.” He flashed Walker a cheeky grin. “But I’m going to need more than that to decide whether or not I want to stick around.”
“Oh yeah?” Walker eased Whiskey closer, reached out and traced his fingertips along Roan’s thigh. “I can think of something to convince you, and it ain’t talking.”
Roan gulped and fixed his eyes on the trail ahead of them as Walker laughed and moved Whiskey a little away again. Did he say things like that to Ben? To any of the others? Roan took in the rolling landscape, the cows peacefully grazing in the distance, and tilted his face toward the setting sun, relishing in the diminishing heat, even though it was still humid enough to make him slide around in his clothes.
“You’re very easy with all this, aren’t you?” Roan watched Walker’s thigh move under his worn Wranglers and wished he had the courage to reach out and touch the rolling muscles too.
“With what?”
“Being gay. I thought that wasn’t a picnic around these parts.”
“It’s not.” Whiskey did a little dance like he sidestepped something and Callie reared her head but otherwise didn’t startle. “Oh hush now, it’s just the sun reflecting in a puddle,” Walker said to them. He glanced back at Roan. “It’s not easy. But it helps that my family’s been here for generations. We owned a lot more land back in the day than we do now, so my family’s well known. We kind of didn’t make a big deal about it, and if someone doesn’t want to deal with me because they care about who I sleep with, there’s plenty of others who need my business.”
“A take it or leave it kinda guy, huh?”
Walker grinned at him. “Oh, I wouldn’t say that.”
By the look on his face, Roan knew he was walking into something, but he asked anyway. “What do you mean?”
