Bridleton Read Online Free Page A

do it better.
    She could sit a horse as well as anyone he knew. She could rope and ride and work the ranch with the best of them. Andrea had been the rare woman who spoke his language until she’d decided to shake the Texas soil off her boots and follow a career path he’d never understood.
    She’d gone away to college, and he’d missed her more than he’d thought possible. When she’d come home they’d succumbed to the long-simmering sexual attraction and become lovers. He’d ached for her day and night, totally enslaved by his desire and her wild, uninhibited loving.
    Worst of all, he’d been stupid enough to start dreaming about a future together.
    Then it had all been shattered by Caroline’s death, Andrea’s bitter accusations and lack of faith in him. She’d shown her true colors, what she really thought of him as a man. It had been ugly and he’d never let himself forget.
    Hard-learned lessons made the most lasting impact.
    The barn was dark after the brilliance of the sunshine but Noah didn’t need much light to find his way around the familiar building. A stack of hay needed to be distributed to the horse stalls, so he tackled the hot, heavy chore.
    Before long he’d worked up a good sweat but all he could smell was the scent of Andrea. It clung to his clothes and his senses. The perfume she wore was unique, created especially for her by her college roommate who’d majored in chemistry.
    The scent never failed to arouse him, going straight to his head and then his groin. The surge of desire he’d felt earlier had caught him by surprise and thrown him off balance. The feel of her sparked vivid memories of baby-soft skin, steamy summer nights and even steamier sex.
    His chest heaved with exertion, his heart racing, by the time he’d finished tossing around fifty-pound bales of hay. Furious with himself and the memories crowding in on him, he picked up the last bale and threw it as far as he could throw. It slammed against the wall with a satisfying thud.
    “What’s got your skivvies in such a knot?”
    Stiffening, Noah turned to glare at Sam Allwood, a cowhand older than dirt and as dogged as a mule. Sam moved out of the shadows and studied him from beneath the rim of a dusty straw hat. The beady brown eyes were alive with curiosity but his weathered brow creased in concern.
    When he didn’t answer right away, Sam continued speculating, “Somethin’s sure got you riled.”
    “Nothing I can’t handle,” Noah insisted grimly, turning his back to Sam’s too-observant eyes.
    “Seeing how you come from the big house,” he paused to spit tobacco juice in a can, and then continued, “I’m guessin’ it might have something to do with that expensive-lookin’ woman what climbed out of the fancy little car. Who is she?”
    Noah clenched his jaws. He didn’t want to have this conversation but avoiding it would make it more of an issue.
    “Nanette’s niece Andrea.”
    “Her brother’s girl by his first marriage?”
    Sam had started working at Bridleton after Andrea left home but he’d learned plenty about the family since then.
    “Yeah, she and Cheyenne are stepsisters.”
    “She the one had you drowning your sorrows in whiskey when I first came to work here? I put ya to bed a few times. Heard plenty of mumblin’ about somebody called Drea. Course you talked about Caroline too. Never did know which one drove you to drink.”
    Noah hated any reminders of that stretch of personal weakness. “Both, but Caroline’s dead.” He snapped out each word with enough force to warn any sane person to back off but Sam didn’t take the hint.
    “Andrea the one Ms. Nanette worries about jet-settin’ all over the world?”
    Noah sighed. “Yes,” he said, moving back down the aisle between the stalls. He headed toward the tack room, knowing Sam would follow and that he probably wouldn’t be satisfied until all his questions were answered.
    “Why are they all comin’ home, anyways? Some special