Cowboy for Keeps Read Online Free Page A

bothered him. She would only have slowed down his progress.
    Letting her go had been his only option. Still, he hadn’t liked doing what he’d done.
    She wasn’t up for the job, it was obvious. It niggled at him that he’d judged her by her appearance, but he didn’t have time to go soft. He hadn’t gotten where he was in life by going soft. The facts were that she wasn’t strong enough—she was small and young. There was no way she’d be able to handle strenuous training like he expected and needed. And she’d worked with children! Of all things. What had Cole and Seth been thinking?
    They’d wanted to remind him about how important his physical therapy was and yet they’d gone and pulled a sorry stunt like this.
    His doctors had assured him he could make a full recovery, but only with hard, diligent work. There wasn’t an ounce of quit in him—never had been, but this physical disablement had thrown his world upside down. Every time his hip and back seized up he felt weak…if he let his guard down. If he didn’t work absolutely as hard as he was supposed to there was a chance he would always have a limp and lower back pain.
    He’d admit that deep inside he was scared. If he let up, if he messed up in the least little bit he wouldn’t come out of this as strong and healthy as he’d been before he’d botched things up with his stupid error in judgment when he’d decided to fly his plane in unsafe conditions.
    That was the scariest thing—how weak he felt. As if to show him who was boss, pain shot through his left hip once more and attacked his lower back with a vengeance. This time it was so strong he groaned before he could stop it. Perspiration beaded across his forehead as he grimaced against the pain. He closed his eyes, he counted to ten, willing his muscles to relax. Tensing up made the spasm worse—not a good thing.
    Sucking in a heavy breath, he tried to relax and let the pain pass. What if I can’t make it back to the way I was? The question sliced through him like a knife to a wound.
    It had been three endless weeks since he’d crash-landed his twin engine plane in a pasture during a storm. It had happened not long after he’d left Mule Hollow and was headed back to Dallas. He’d taken time he didn’t have to fly home to congratulate Cole on his wedding engagement. Since he was responsible for matching up Cole and Susan, he’d wanted to make the quick day trip and share in the joy of the moment. If he’d listened to his gut—which was usually right—and stayed the night, taken time to really enjoy the moment with them, he’d have been all right. But enjoying the moment wasn’t something he did. Instead he’d rushed off in the middle of dangerous winds and a severe thunderstorm. He’d been arrogant enough to believe he could handle the storm. What an inane bit of stupidity.
    When had he decided he could control everything?
    He hadn’t closed the door after watching Amanda drive away and now he stared across the land that had been in his family for over a hundred and fifty years. It was in this place his roots ran deep and was from his ancestors’ example that he’d become the man he was.
    Being used to control was a good thing, he reminded himself. It had driven him to where he was in his career as an attorney. It would get him through this. Taking another deep breath, he began to relax as his mind cleared and the pain began to recede.
    Good blood ran through his veins. Hardworking, upstanding—well, upstanding except for his good ole great-great-great-great-great-grandpa Oakley—him being upstanding was questionable. By and large the Turner men and women were tough. Generations past had stared across this land that stagecoaches had crossed on their way to this old stagecoach stop. Like this house, his ancestors had stood the test of time and so would he.
    His brothers had been right in bringing him home.
    This place had always been good for his soul.
    Two months. He would get