Christmas Kisses with My Cowboy - Diana Palmer Page 0,7
sweat it.” He glanced toward the house. “Those steps need fixing as much as this fence does.”
“Know any reliable handymen hereabouts?” Katy asked him.
He chuckled. “Sure. Me. I work cheap. A couple of sandwiches and some good, strong black coffee. It will have to be on a Saturday, though. Boss keeps me pretty busy the rest of the week.”
She flushed. “Oh, I didn’t mean—”
“He doesn’t mind if I help out neighbors,” he interrupted. “He’s a kind man. So is his wife.”
“You said she wrote for Warriors and Warlocks,” she added, glancing at Teddie amusedly. “Teddie loves it. I have to keep her locked in her room when it’s on, though. It’s very grown-up.”
He was grinning from ear to ear. “It is. If you saw the boss’s wife, you wouldn’t believe she was somebody so famous.”
“I still can’t believe we have somebody that famous here in Benton.” She laughed.
“Yeah. Gave us all a start when we found out. Cassie Reed, now Cassie Denton, was working as a waitress in town. Her dad, Lanier Roger Reed, was working at the farm equipment place. None of us knew they were running from a big scandal in New York. Her father was falsely accused of ”—he stopped and glanced at Teddie—“a grown-up thing. Anyway, the woman who accused him is now occupying a comfortable cell in state prison. J.L. married the writer and she came back out here to live. Her dad produces a hit show about a musical group from the seventies.”
“Oh, my goodness, those are about the only two shows I watch on TV.” Katy laughed. “What a coincidence!”
“She’s a good writer. And she’s a sweet person, too. She’s very pregnant, so we all sort of watch out for her. It’s their first child. Due pretty soon, too. J.L. says the baby’s going to be a Christmas present.”
“Is it a boy or a girl?”
“Bound to be.”
She glared at him.
He grinned. “They don’t know. They wanted it to be a surprise. So all the shower gifts they got were yellow.”
“I didn’t want to know, either,” Katy said, smiling at Teddie. “But my husband did. So they told him and he didn’t tell me.”
“A man who could keep a secret. That’s rare.”
“He was a rare man,” she said quietly. The loss was still fresh enough that she had to fight tears. “Okay, about the porch, I’ll need to get lumber. Can you tell me what to get and where to get it?”
“I’ll come back Saturday morning and do some measuring,” he said.
“Thanks.”
“And we could teach young Annie Oakley here how to saddle a horse,” he teased, smiling at Teddie.
“That would be great!” Teddie enthused.
“So I’ll see you both then.”
“Thanks. I’d like to pay you, for fixing the fence. . . .” She stopped at the look on his face. She flushed. “Well, I’m not exactly a charity case and you work for J.L. Denton for wages, right?”
He pursed his lips and stared at her with twinkling eyes. “Sort of.”
“Sort of?” she asked.
He smiled. “I work for him except in the summer. I go away to work for other people.” He didn’t elaborate. “I make a good bit then.”
“Oh.”
“So I can do a favor for a new friend”—he smiled at Teddie—“and her mom without having to worry about getting paid for it. Okay?”
She smiled. “Okay. Thanks, Parker.”
“No sweat.” He mounted the horse, turned it gently, and rode away, as much a part of the animal as its tail, using just his legs and the light bridle to control it.
“That’s such a beautiful horse,” Teddie said with a sigh as she watched the man ride away.
“It is. Wings suits her for a name,” Katy agreed. She gave her daughter an irritated look. “But just for the record, if you ever do anything like that again . . .”
“I won’t,” Teddie promised. She grinned irrepressibly. “But I got us a new friend who knows all about horses,” she added. “Right?”
It was impossible for her to stay mad at her daughter. “Right. Anyway, let me go and try to get the vet again. Your new friend Parker was right. The horse needs a lot of work done on him before you can ride him.”
“A vet bill won’t break the bank,” her mother said gently. “We have the money that comes from the service, after Dad . . . well, anyway, we have that and we have my salary. We’ll get by.”