Take the Reins (A Cowboy's Promise #2) - Megan Squires Page 0,21
branches with loose, noncommittal grasps. Many had already released their clutches to become part of the landscape below and Josie dodged the leafy piles that crunched under her boots. She shivered. She’d shrugged off her trucker jacket earlier in the day but figured by sundown it would be a necessity. There was a chill in the air that threatened to turn into a full blown wind in no time.
Once inside her trailer, she had immediately stripped out of her clothes, wadded them into a ball for the laundry basket, and ran a warm shower. It was easy to rinse away the day’s stench, less easy to scrub clean the purplish marks on her thighs left from the impact of her fall. That stallion was quickly earning his name, each and every syllable of it.
“Ahh,” Josie winced. There would be a hitch in her get along tomorrow, no question about that. She wasn’t a stranger to being knocked off kilter. Sometimes it was in the physical sense by a horse she’d read wrong. Other times, she was set off balance emotionally, more often than not because she’d read a person wrong.
She let the beads of scorching water pelt her back while she rolled out her shoulders and shrugged them up to her ears. Then she dropped them back down, her muscles aching but grateful for the sweet relief. Had she read Seth wrong the night before? She didn’t think so. She recognized that pain. Felt it like it was her own, as familiar as a not-so-distant memory. Had they not been playing this pretend relationship game, she doubted she would’ve so freely reached out in an attempt to console him. Maybe there was some testing of boundaries here, not unlike the way she challenged the mustangs to let her know where the line was. From what she could tell, Seth was okay with her reaction. Maybe he even needed that comfort, in that form, in that moment.
What surprised Josie the most was that she had needed it, too.
Shuddering, Josie grabbed the shower knob and gave it a hard twist. The water shut off, pooling in a frothy swirl near the drain at her feet until it disappeared with an audible glug. She yanked the towel draped over the shower door and buried her face in the terrycloth fabric, heaving out a warm breath that magnified the cotton scent of the detergent. She had just wrapped the towel around her body, tucking it up under her armpits, when a knock rattled her screen door.
“Who could that be?” she muttered to Cowboy who remained completely disinterested in their surprise afternoon visitor. He lifted his head just enough to show his indifference before dropping it back onto his paws and coiling his tail around the entirety of his body like a wraparound scarf. Josie often wished it was socially acceptable to block out the world the way that cat did. But a second, more insistent knock didn’t afford her that opportunity. “Alright. Alright. I’m coming!”
“Good afternoon, Josie,” a woman with salt and pepper corkscrew curls and a smile that revealed a full set of remarkably large teeth greeted when Josie kicked the screen open wide.
“And you are?” Josie tugged the towel tighter under her arms.
“Come on now. That’s no way to talk to your possible future mother-in-law.” The woman shouldered around Josie to let herself in. “Well goodness. This place sure is…quaint…Isn’t it, sweetheart?”
“Mrs. Ford!” Pinning her arms to her side, Josie willed the towel to stick to her body like superglue. “Nice to finally meet you.” She contemplated going in for a handshake, but didn’t put much faith in the fabric that served as the only thing preventing her from being as naked as a jaybird in front of a complete stranger. “I wasn’t expecting company, otherwise I would’ve been a bit more presentable.”
“Nothing I haven’t seen before, dear.” Mrs. Ford moved up and down the narrow aisle of the trailer, her eyes examining each aspect of the home from the pile of crusted over dishes in the sink to the unmade bed at the rear. “Don’t know why Seth’s been keeping you from us for so long.”
“Well, you know Seth.”
“That I do. That I do.” The woman raked Josie up and down with the same, scrutinizing gaze she’d just used on the trailer. “I wanted to come by to formally introduce myself. Name’s Donna.”
“Glad to meet you, Donna.”
“I’m going to cut to the chase, Josie. We’re all a bit surprised by your