True Blue Cowboy (The Cash Brothers) Read Online Free Page A

the horse’s nose. Hoss had been granted the privilege of naming the trail horses—big mistake. The geezer had named the geldings after rodeo clowns—Bim Bom, Coco, Potato, Bubbles, Doink, Flunky, Pooter, Zig and Zag. The only decent name in the whole group was Warrior, and he’d come with the ranch when Dave Paxton had purchased the place ten years ago. “Anything exciting happen here this weekend?”
    “Millie ran off.” Hoss pushed the wheelbarrow into another stall then took a break.
    “What do you mean she ran off?”
    “Just up ’n’ left.” Hoss sat on a hay bale and drank from the water bottle he pulled out of the back pocket of his sagging Wranglers. After guzzling half the liquid he belched. “Didn’t leave no note. Nothin’.”
    Mack knew the feeling. He’d woken alone in bed the morning after at the El Rancho Motel. Beth had left while he’d been asleep—the scent of her perfume on the bed sheets the only evidence she’d been there.
    “What’s the boss going to do?” Mack asked. “He’s got that group of businessmen coming in from New York on Friday.”
    “He was givin’ a gal a tour of the place earlier.” Hoss shrugged. “Maybe she’s the new housekeeper.”
    “Let’s hope.” Mack was willing to do a lot of things at the dude ranch, but he refused to change bedsheets. “How’s the boss taking it?” Everyone knew Dave and Millie were sleeping together.
    “He doesn’t say much, but I figure he’s hurtin’.” Hoss spit tobacco juice at the ground. “Can’t never trust a woman. They ain’t ever who you think they are.”
    Hoss was speaking from experience. His wife had left him years ago when Hoss was still rodeoing. Heartbroken, Hoss rode the circuit, leaving his sixteen-year-old son home alone to fend for himself. At eighteen his son had joined the military and Hoss hadn’t seen or heard from him since.
    “Maybe Millie will return in a few days. Might have been a family thing.”
    “Millie ain’t got no family.” Hoss stood, the old bones in his bowlegged hips creaking.
    “Wait here.” Mack rolled the wheelbarrow out of the horse stall.
    “Get yer hands off my damned horse shit.”
    “Settle down, old man, before you work yourself into a heart attack.” Mack wheeled the ’barrow out a side door and dumped the soiled hay into a compost pile behind the barn. When he returned, he caught Hoss rubbing his twisted fingers and knobby knuckles—leftover souvenirs from his rodeo career.
    Hoss grabbed the ’barrow. “You competin’ in the Rattlesnake Rodeo at the end of the month?”
    The Rattlesnake Rodeo raised money for the only medical clinic in Rattlesnake, Arizona. The closest town with a hospital was four hours west in Tucson. The residents of Rattlesnake depended on the clinic for most of their medical needs. “Yeah, I’ll probably enter.”
    “Yer brothers gonna ride, too?”
    “Don’t know. Except for me and Porter, they’re all married now and busy with their families.”
    “Might find a wife at the rodeo.” Hoss snorted as he pitched soiled hay into the barrow.
    “Sorry, Hoss. No buckle bunnies for me.” When Mack married, he wanted a down-home girl. Beth’s face flashed before his eyes... Why did she have to be like the other women who came to his concerts and just wanted a piece of him? Mack had dreamed of being a musician all his life, but lately the warning be careful what you wish for rang through his brain far too often.
    He was tired of loose women fawning over him. He was twenty-nine and he’d made a promise to himself that by his thirtieth birthday he’d have found his forever woman.
    That wasn’t going to happen if he couldn’t forget his one-night stand with Just Beth.

Chapter Two
    An hour ago Dave had informed Mack that a guest—the daughter of a former college buddy—wanted a horseback-riding lesson. He checked his watch. She should be here any moment. Mack made sure the saddle on Speckles fit snug in case the horse decided