Cameron Dane Cowboy Waltz

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.Jed erupted with laughter.He couldn’t help it.The sight of Booker—good God, Jed had never seen eyes snap with such irritation while skin flamed such a deep crimson—tickled him to his core.Other than a bruised ego, Booker appeared fine.Booker, with Tim now at his side, strolled toward the trash area, both young men growing smaller the farther away they got.Catching his breath from laughing, Jed said, “You all right, Marcy?” as the dark-haired woman moved to his side.“Been run into by bigger and worse animals than Booker there.” Planting her hands on her hips, the plump, petite woman looked up at Jed with the stink eye.“Why don’t you call him by his real name?”Jed could see Booker in the distance, paused yet again by another worker on the circuit.With Booker’s arms only half-full now—Tim had taken some of the burden—Booker responded to whatever the cowboy had said to him with such wide gestures in that one free arm it animated his entire body.In answering Marcy, Jed still couldn’t stop smiling.“I call him Colt because of exactly the kind of thing that happened just now.He got so excited he couldn’t focus, and he got tangled up in you.He hasn’t outperformed the nickname yet.When he does, I’ll stop.”“You act like such a hard-ass sometimes,” Marcy muttered, “but you’re gonna keep him, and everybody knows it.He works damned harder than any three guys you could grab in this place put together.Why are you still making him sweat through a trial period? Booker is a sweet kid.Let him off the hook and tell him he has the job.”Jeez.Jed rolled his eyes.“When one month is over, he and I will talk, and he’ll probably get the gig.It’s good to be hungry for something sometimes.”“If you tease him too much, he won’t know he’s wanted, and someone else might make him a better offer.”“He’s mine.” Jed barked his response with the precision of a sniper’s bullet, not a hint of teasing or friendship in his tone.Shit.“Don’t even think about edging in on my territory.”“Better let Booker know quick,” Marcy answered, still amiable as hell.“If you don’t, someone else will express an interest, and it might look more enticing to Booker than what you and Cliff have on the table.”White heat tore through Jed, and he locked his body stiff.“Are you looking to do something that’ll end our friendship, Marcy?”Marcy remained as easy and open as Jed had ever seen her.“I see an employee who anyone here would kill to have, and so I’m just offering some friendly advice from someone who has her ear to the ground.Do with it what you will.” She squeezed his tension-filled forearm.“See you later, sugar.I have a husband to track down.”As Marcy walked away, Jed could still see Booker, this time chatting with a different face in this familiar crowd.The kid couldn’t get more than ten feet without someone waving at him or grabbing him for a quick conversation.Jed scanned the growing group working and milling in the area—all of them owners or employees, all connected to the rodeo, most of whom Jed recognized as colleagues if not exactly friends.Studying them through a new lens, Jed thought everyone now looked like a predator out to poach his guy.Fucking bastards.Jed had been the only one with the insight to see the potential for a top-notch employee in a green kid like Booker.He’d been the only one willing to put his reputation on the line in order to get Booker hired and give him a shot.Only now, a mere fourteen days later, Booker looked like a star with the threat to shine with a million watts of power, and everyone suddenly wanted his light shining in their companies.No fucking way.Booker wouldn’t jump ship anyway.More than a hard worker, Booker possessed loyalty; Jed had sensed that in the young man from the very beginning.Booker wouldn’t be seduced into a larger outfit with a few more dollars and empty promises.Booker had character, a trait that couldn’t be bought.Still, without bothering to lock anything, Jed started to stride through the crowd.Something in his gut he couldn’t define pushed his legs toward Booker and the magnetic beacon that seemed to draw all into his sphere.By the time Jed reached Booker, Booker only had Marcy’s nephew at his side once more.Barely throwing Tim a glance, Jed homed in on Booker and pronounced, gruff as hell, “Probation is done.You’re hired.Don’t let me down.”Booker stumbled, and his mouth gaped.Finally he whispered, “Thank you.I won’t.”With a stiff nod, Jed turned and walked away as fast as he’d come.Otherwise he might have stayed, ripped those trash bags out of Tim’s hands, and helped Booker himself.The urge to keep the young man at his side, under his tutelage and influence, rode hot and hard inside Jed.Yet as much as Jed wanted Booker in his employ, he hadn’t liked the feelings of possessiveness that had come over him when Marcy had threatened to take him away.Jed took care of himself, and he did not rely on anyone other than family.Ever.Fuck.But you nearly started a fight with a friend over this kid.That’s not normal.Maybe Jed should throw Booker to Marcy right now and find someone new to take his place.Not a chance.A fisting tightness clamped Jed’s chest.He forcibly ignored it and walked on.Booker would settle in.Jed would too.They would find a routine, and everything would be fine.Chapter TwoBooker stood on the top rung of a paddock on Cliff’s run-down property, waiting and watching breathlessly as Jed—so handsome in jeans, boots, Stetson, and a shearling-lined denim jacket—led a spritely young horse from the barn toward the corral.This horse had prestigious bloodlines, and Cliff had purchased the animal—Destiny—with the hopes of luring buyers to take another look at his operation.According to Jed, the five-year-old bucker had a winner’s spirit in his eyes and the passion to earn a spot on the tour.Eight and a half months had passed since Booker had signed on as Jed’s assistant.For Booker, each day that came and went—where he got to live, eat, and breathe a life with Jed and these beautiful horses—he experienced the meaning of bliss [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Pokrewne