Courting Her Rebel: (Taken by Cowboys: Part 2) A Billionaire Western Romance Read Online Free Page A

Maybe it was just his undeniable handsomeness that was making her swoon. She found herself mentally comparing him to Spencer, putting them side by side and assessing them. She felt a deep attraction to Spencer, but objectively they were both equally appealing, just in different ways. Nate was freckled and roguish with a lithe, sinewy physique, while Spencer was dark, compact, and chiseled.
    Cut that out right now , she told herself. It felt wrong to be thinking of two different men that way. It gave her a funny feeling deep in her stomach.
    “Jess, meet Oreo,” Nate said, tearing her from her thoughts. They had stopped in front of a black-and-white dappled mare. Nate hoisted the bag off his back and set it by the fence. “Offer her the back of your hand to sniff. It’s sort of like a horse handshake. Oreo, this is Jess. Be a good girl.”
    “Is it true horses can smell fear?” she asked, tentatively extending a hand. The horse’s huge nostrils twitched. These animals were so big . It surprised her every time she got near one. But Oreo seemed calm, so she gently began to stroke her muzzle. She didn’t seem to mind.
    “Sure is!” he said cheerfully. “No need to be scared, though. I’m with you the whole time.” He put a hand lightly on her waist. She practically jumped out of her skin. Cool it, girl. You’re just like a cat in heat.
    Nate took a helmet from where several were hanging on the fence. “Put this on,” he said.
    “Where’s yours?” she asked.
    “I don’t bother with that myself,” he said. “I’m as comfortable on a horse as I am in a Mercedes-Benz. And let me tell you, that is one comfortable ride.”
    “A real gaucho, huh?” she said as she put on the helmet and adjusted the strap. “How do I look?”
    “Stunning,” he said with a grin. She flushed in spite of herself.
    Nate turned to Oreo and patted her affectionately. “No, I’ll show you how to mount and then you’ll have a go yourself,” he said. “Always mount a horse from her left—that’s called the near side. Grab the reins with your left hand and grab onto the stirrup with your right,” he demonstrated.
    Jess tried to watch closely and repeat the instructions to herself. Stirrups, left hand, reins, right—or was it the other way around? All of his words seemed to be flowing in one ear and out the other, and getting pretty mixed up on their way. Usually she was better at concentrating. Working at the PR firm, for her boss who was always there with a cutting remark and a new task, had made her a pro at following directions on the fly. Out here, though, nothing was computing.
    “Then you put your left foot into the stirrup—hang on to the saddle–give it a few bounces, and swing your right leg over.” He swung himself up and landed gently on the saddle in one fluid motion. He looked down at her and smiled. “Don’t worry—I’ll give you a hand.”
    “Right!” she said, while she was thinking, You want me to do what ?
    “Once you get up here, you’ll have to find your balance,” he said. “Sit up nice and straight—don’t crouch over like you see in western movies. Then I’ll hang on to the reins and lead you around,” he said. The horse took a few steps, apparently responding to some invisible signal. “The horse knows to start moving when you give her a squeeze with your calves,” he explained. He led the horse in a small circle around her, holding the reins casually with one hand.
    “You look like you were born on that thing,” she said.
    He gave her a mischievous look and before she knew it, the horse had sped off into a gallop. He rode it off into the pasture in a torrent of hoof beats. He took off his baseball cap and tossed it in the air, throwing his head up to watch it and yelling, “Yee-haw!” before neatly catching it again. She laughed with delight as he turned the horse around and cantered up to her again, slowing the horse to a stop a few feet in front of her.
    “A midnight rider in