Take the Reins (A Cowboy's Promise #2) - Megan Squires Page 0,15

growing restless with their conversation. Seth tightened his grip on the reins. “You got lunch plans?”

“You’re looking at it.”

“How about I pick us up some sandwiches from the deli? Turkey good for you?”

She wanted to tell him that he didn’t need to keep feeding her—first with the cookies and now with lunch—but found herself saying, “Turkey would be great,” instead.

“No real allergies or aversions?”

“Nope.” She laughed a little, remembering their friendly banter from the night before. “No allergies. I just don’t like pepperoncini, but everything else is fair game.”

“Same. Nothing like a pepperoncino to ruin a perfectly good sandwich,” Seth said around a laugh that was so full and rich it made Josie’s heart trip up. “I’ll be back in just under an hour.”

“You know where to find me.”

She tried not to stare while her gaze tracked Seth as he galloped back toward his house. He looked like a cowboy from an old western. White hat. Tan jacket. Decent amount of scruff lining his strong jawline. An effortless command over the horse beneath him.

“What are you doing, Jo?” Josie muttered under her breath, a reprimand that did little to erase Seth’s image even when she refocused her attention back onto the horses. On her job. It wasn’t her job to ogle the man. She wasn’t even sure that’s what she was doing, really, but there was something about Seth that made her palms sweat and Josie didn’t often get that way.

Rather than spend the morning thinking about Seth in ways she certainly shouldn’t, she came up with her game plan for the horses. The stallion would need to be gelded sooner than later. No reason for him to stay a stud, especially if she hoped to turn him into a riding horse and rehome him at some point in time. Same went for the colts. The mares needed to put some weight on their bones and she knew just the grain that would do that. It was obvious that feeding their babies had taken a toll and depleted their resources. Josie made up a list of items to grab from the feed store later that afternoon. She didn’t love the idea, but she’d have to take Seth’s truck if she hoped to haul everything home in one trip.

She was still lost in thought a half hour later, so she almost didn’t hear the trucks rolling to a stop, nor the crunching of gravel under the tread of multiple boots. It was the voices that pulled her out of her reverie, but more than that, the conversation that made her whip her head up in the direction of the sound.

“What’d’ya think? Looks like he managed to keep the place afloat, huh?”

“Didn’t burn it down, at least. S’pose that’s something.”

Josie shaded her brow. Two men—one roughly double the age of the other—walked up to the nearest cow pasture and, in unison, hiked a leg up on the lowest rail to peer into the valley. They had matching ten-gallon white hats, Wranglers, and plaid flannel shirts—one in red, the other in blue. There was no question they were father and son, and there was also no doubt as to the subject of their conversation.

“One week isn’t long enough to get into any real trouble,” the younger said. He turned his head and spit into the dirt.

“Oh, son. You’re forgetting it’s Seth we’re talking about here. That brother of yours could mess up putting his shoes on his feet in the morning.”

Josie’s stomach soured at the comment. She didn’t know him well—or at all, really—but she felt her defensive hackles raising when it came to Seth and the derogatory way they spoke of him. Her wits told her to keep quiet, but she wouldn’t heed their pestering. She marched right up to the men with a determination that made her belly feel like fire.

“I can’t imagine you two could possibly be speaking so negatively about your own flesh and blood, now, are you? I sure hope my ears are deceiving me.”

“And just who might you be?” The older gentlemen slunk off the fence and sauntered toward her like a cowboy in an old, gold-town saloon. His dark eyes raked over Josie with a judgment she could feel on her skin.

“That’s Seth’s girl.” The younger man gave Josie a nudge of his head. He paused, as though combing his brain for her name and coming up blank.

“Josie.” She thrust a hand into the space between them. Seth’s father quickly grabbed hold, his massive grip meeting