The Cowboy Takes a Bride Read Online Free

could feel her humiliation all the way from where he was. She drove away, but not before she turned to glance over her shoulder at him.
    One last time.
    For no good reason, he had an overwhelming urge to call her back. Ask her to stay a spell. See if he could get her to smile. Stupid impulse, but there it was.
    She’s not Becca.
    ’Course she wasn’t. He knew that. Joe rested his head back against the trough; every muscle in his body ached.
    Ila walked up. His sister-in-law was the opposite of her half sister, Becca. Tall and dark and tomboyish, with a husky voice and a tendency toward klutziness, she put him in mind of the actress Angie Harmon. He and Ila had been friends since first grade. Long before he married her younger sister.
    “Who’s the misfit?” she asked.
    “Dutch’s daughter.”
    “Aw, the princess bitch.”
    “Aren’t you being a bit hard on her?”
    “After how she treated, Dutch? No way.” Ila raised an eyebrow and peered down at him. “How in the hell did you get in this predicament?”
    “Mornin’, Il. You’re looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.”
    “Don’t try to sweet-talk me, Joe Daniels. What in the hell happened? When I left last night you promised me you were going to bed. Looks to me like you spent the night in the horse trough again.”
    “Jose Cuervo.” He winced against the pain shooting through his skull. He turned his head, letting his eyes stray for a lingering glance in the direction of the car disappearing in a dusty cloud toward Stone Creek.
    “One hundred percent city girl,” Ila said, following his gaze. “She’ll have the ranch up for sale and be gone in a New York minute. Nothing to worry about.”
    “What if she sells the place to some Dallas land developer. Can’t have that.”
    “Good point. Better head her off at the pass.”
    “I’ve got to convince her to sell the acreage back to me,” he grumbled. “I had no idea Dutch was going to drop dead three weeks after we signed the papers or I never would have traded him the land for Some Kind of Miracle.”
    “What if she demands more than the land is worth? She seems like the money-hungry type to me.” Ila snorted.
    He loved Ila like a sister—hell, like a brother; she could match any man in the saddle or with a gun or a fishing pole or her knowledge of football—but she had zero tolerance for girlie-girls or big-city ways. “I’d pay it.”
    “With what? All your cash is tied up in the ranch and cutting horses.”
    True enough. Joe was a millionaire a couple of times over, but it was all on the books. Nothing liquid he could readily get his hands on. “Why’d Dutch leave the ranch to her? Why didn’t he just will it back to me?”
    “Maybe he felt guilty for running out on her when she was a kid,” Ila said.
    Joe glared, but that made his head hurt worse so he stopped. “It wasn’t Dutch’s fault. He tried. Mariah didn’t want anything to do with him. Dutch finally figured it was best if he just kept his distance.”
    “You suppose a child might see things differently?”
    “Now you’re taking her side? A minute ago you were giving her the back side of your tongue.”
    Ila spread her palms. “You know how I like to play devil’s advocate.”
    Joe tried to lever himself from the horse trough, but he was so stiff he was having trouble pushing up.
    “Here,” Ila said, and stuck out her palm.
    He grabbed hold of her big, solid hand and she tugged him from the trough. His boxer briefs clung to his skin, but he wasn’t self-conscious. Ila was like one of the guys. He didn’t have to worry about the usual male/female sexual tension stuff with her.
    “This may seem like a dumb question,” she said, “but how is it you ended up with your pants off, but your boots on?”
    “Long story,” he said.
    “Let me guess. You’d been into the Jose Cuervo because you buried your best friend two years to the day after you buried your bride. You were getting ready for bed, thought of Becca,