The Reluctant Cowgirl Read Online Free Page A

shared with Sabra. A good night’s sleep would help her to make sense of everything.
    A giggle followed by a masculine chuckle drifted from Sabra’s closed door.
    “Great,” Crystal murmured and walked softly into her own tiny room. Once inside, she shut the door and collapsed onto her bed.
    Why had she jumped so quickly into this unofficial rental agreement with her fellow waitress? She stretched out on the soft mattress and knew the answer immediately. The first few years she’d been in the city, she’d lived with four other girls in a boardinghouse room. As the newest paying tenant, her “bed” had been a sleeping bag in the corner. Somehow loneliness in a crowded room is magnified. And she thought she’d smother with it if she didn’t get some privacy. But she’d put one foot in front of the other. And learned to be a better actress.
    Eventually, as her roommates had moved on, she’d worked her way up to a real bed, but when Sabra offered to share this rent-control apartment with her, even though Crystal didn’t know her very well, the lure of having her own room had been too much to resist.
    In spite of their differences, they got along most of the time, and in fairness to Sabra, the redhead did make a point not to have men in the apartment while Crystal was there. But tonight, thanks to the play going kaput and her skipping the cast party, she was home three hours earlier than expected.
    “You pay rent,” she muttered to herself. “You don’t have to hide.” She pulled on an old Razorbacks sweatshirt and a matching pair of maroon sweatpants. When she opened her door, she could hear Sabra talking in her bedroom, so she tiptoed over to the bathroom. Just as she reached it, the door creaked open.
    Her breath caught in her throat. Sabra must be on the phone in her room. Unless she had two visitors.
    Either way, Crystal stared at the floor. In her peripheral vision, she could see feet and ankles. And thankfully, the tattered hem of a pair of jeans.
    She blew out her breath. Not as bad as it could be.
    Her gaze traveled up to where the man had frozen in the act of patting his wet hair with a white towel that draped across his tanned chest. She stared at his brown eyes huge in a pale face. Those oh-so-familiar eyes.
    Her heart skipped several beats before the metal walls came down around it and the door clanged shut. She was wrong. This was ten thousand times worse than she’d imagined it could be.
    “Brad,” she whispered.

CHAPTER 3
    Crystal’s hand flew to her daisy necklace and she tried to find the right words to say. She stared at the man who had proposed to her a week ago ... the man who was supposedly still waiting for her answer ... and drew a blank.
    She’d shared her heart with this man. Told him things no one else in New York knew. He’d held her while she cried, and for a little while she’d had a semblance of peace.
    “Helping Dennis move?” Her heart sat like a heavy block of ice in her chest.
    He shook his head. “Crys, this isn’t what it looks like.”
    “So you’re not sleeping with Sabra?” Her teeth ground together as she said the name.
    He pursed his lips as if considering the question. “Well...”
    Even though she’d known the truth the second she saw him with wet hair and just his jeans on, she’d still hoped. Hoped there was some crazy reason for him being here like this. Disgusted with herself for being so naive, she blinked hard against the tears.
    He held out his hand. “This was all a mistake. Let me make it up to you. Please.” He widened those brown puppy dog eyes in a way she could never resist.
    “Only guess what?” she blurted out. “I’m resisting.”
    “What?” he said, his brows drawing together as he reached for her arm.
    “Never mind.” She took a quick step back. “Get out.”
    He shook his head. “You don’t mean that. You’re just mad. And I don’t blame you.”
    “You don’t blame me? Well, that’s mighty big of you.” How could