Espino, Stacey - Hogtying the Cowgirl [Ride 'em Hard 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Read Online Free

them and still wasn’t one hundred percent sure their wife was with them for the right reasons. It was her nature to be suspicious. Trust had to be earned.
    The interior of the barn was dim, the hay dust thick. She heard the scrape of a shovel on the concrete floor in one of the far stalls. “Landon?”
    His dirty-blond head peeked over the top of a stall. With his height, he had no problem spotting her as she approached despite the six-foot-high partitions. “What are you doing here?”
    “No, what are you doing mucking out for the Carsons ? They shouldn’t be giving you the shitty work when you offer to help out.”
    He shook his head, using the back of his forearm to wipe his brow. “It’s paid work.” He leaned the shovel against the wooden stall boards and used one curled finger to signal her closer. She stepped into his personal space as requested, and they shared a platonic kiss. “They know you’re here?”
    She dismissed his question. “What do you mean paid work? Why?”
    “Angel, my parents are going through a rough time. The feed store is suffering now that one of the big boys has moved into town. They can’t compete with a giant.”
    “I didn’t even know. I still go by every week to get my supplies. They never said anything to me.” Landon’s parents were like family. His mother often invited her over for dinner, saying she missed not having a daughter of her own.
    “They’re proud. You know how they are. God willing, things will settle out, but for now I need cold hard cash.”
    She felt bad for the Wilders and wished there was something she could do to help. Angel would hand over her fifty-five hundred in a heartbeat, even if it meant never getting her stallion, but she knew Landon would never take it. He was a proud cowboy, born and raised on the prairies, like her. “You should have called me.”
    “For what? I’m just doing what needs to be done, is all. Now, why’d you come down here? Ain’t you still on unfriendly terms with the Carsons ?”
    “Not for too much longer, I hope. I came to find you, but I feel bad asking anything of you now.” She’d tell her mother and Aunt Wendy about his parents tonight. They’d stir up some action in the community to help out the older couple.
    He reached for his white T-shirt hanging over the stall divider. He mopped his slick chest and shoulders. “Angel, you’re pissing me off with the pity talk. Now what are you here for?”
    She took a breath. “I went to the auction yesterday morning to bid on that stallion I had my eye on. But some new money outbid me.” Angel reached out and touched his arm, not expecting it to feel as hard as iron. “Landon, I have to have that horse.”
    “If you were outbid, what do you suggest I do?”
    “My brothers have a lot of weight in the community. If one of them went to reason with him, he may just see the logic in selling the horse back to me.”
    “Uh-huh?”
    “Well, I can’t very well ask one of my brothers to do it. They’re already furious I took the trailer. There’s no way in hell they’ll help me.” She bit her lower lip. “That’s where you come in.”
    “I don’t think I’m gonna like this.”
    “Please, please, please. He’s new. He won’t know you from one of my dumb brothers. Come on, do me this favor and I’ll muck out the rest of the barn, no charge.”
    He was quiet for a while. When he finally smirked, she knew he was on board. “You best get to shoveling.”

    * * * *

    Clay attached a training lead to the stallion and led him to the ring next to his new barn. He should be learning the lay of the land and unpacking, but all he could think about, besides the little spitfire from yesterday, was the horse awaiting his instruction.
    He spent hours with the horse, using a combination of treats, praise, and skilled discipline. By the time he heard a pickup truck rumble up his private drive, he’d worked up a sweat, and the deep blue sky was now lit by the full strength