True Blue Cowboy (The Cash Brothers) Read Online Free

with our guests.” Dave smiled. “Folks like to listen to their tall tales.”
    Cowboys. Beth would never hear that word again without thinking of Mack. Even now—thirty-four days after their night at the El Rancho Motel—she couldn’t get his image out of her head. She didn’t understand how a few hours with an almost complete stranger had left a lasting impression on her. First on the get-her-life-back-in-order list was to forget Mack.
    Dave stopped at the adobe cantina and held the door open for her. “This used to be an old mission outpost for Jesuit priests several centuries ago.”
    Beth spun in a slow circle, taking in the plastered walls and dark wooden beams crisscrossing the ceiling. A large fireplace took up a good portion of the room and resting on its mantel were portraits of Spanish matadors. A pair of sofas and chairs covered in cowhide sat near the fireplace. “It’s beautiful.”
    “This was the main room of the mission. The third owners of the guest ranch converted it into a saloon and a dance hall.”
    “Wow, this place is full of history.”
    “There’s information about the ranch in the guest packet in your cabin.”
    “How many owners has the ranch had?” Beth asked.
    “Seven. The land that the ranch sits on used to be part of a three-million-acre grant from the King of Spain to the Ortiz brothers of Mexico.”
    “How long ago was that?”
    “1812. The Gadsden Purchase was signed in 1854, determining the border between Mexico and the United States and the ranch fell inside the U.S. boundaries.”
    “Who got the land after that?” she asked.
    “Former Union Colonel William Sturgis bought the property and renovated the mission. When the Mexican Revolution came, Pancho Villa fired on the main house.”
    “By main house you mean the building with the lobby and dining room?”
    He nodded. “You’ll see the cannonball embedded in the stucco wall when we go inside the building.”
    She wandered closer to the bar and ran her hand over the horse-saddle seats. “Cute idea for stools.”
    “There have been a lot of famous guests at this ranch over the years.”
    “Politicians or actors?”
    “A few of both. Author Margaret Mitchell wintered at the ranch and Zane Gray also wrote here.”
    Beth found the information fascinating. “Any presidents?”
    “Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson. We’ve had a couple of ranch guests through the years report seeing an apparition in this room. You’ll let me know if you spot one, won’t you?”
    “I don’t believe in ghosts,” she said. Seriously—she majored in business and math in college. She possessed an analytical brain. Logic, not emotion, ruled her actions and decisions, which was probably why she couldn’t put her night with Mack behind her. She’d acted out of character—normally she dealt with facts not feelings—but the country-western singer had broken down her barriers and reached a touchy-feely place inside her that she hadn’t known existed.
    “We’re empty right now, but we’re full up on the weekend.” He walked to the door. “Be sure to take advantage of your stay and go horseback riding.”
    “I’ve never been horseback riding.”
    When they stepped outside, Dave said, “One of our trail hands will give you lessons.”
    Beth couldn’t imagine herself riding a horse. Then again she’d never envisioned herself entering a motel room with a stranger.
    There was a first time for everything.
    * * *
    “N EED HELP WITH THAT , H OSS ?” Mack stepped into the barn late Sunday afternoon and caught the retired rodeo clown struggling with a wheelbarrow full of soiled hay.
    “Best get out of my way unless you want a pile of road apples fallin’ on yer fancy boots.”
    When Mack had taken the job at the dude ranch, the sixty-five-year-old Hoss had been the first employee his boss had introduced him to. The surly man had made it clear the barn was his domain.
    Mack stopped in front of Speckles’s stall and rubbed