Page 4 of His Cowboy

Blossom put her head over my shoulder and bumped my back so that I was closer to her. I wrapped my arms around her neck and breathed in her scent.

“What the fuck?” the man said. “Who in the hell are you?”

“Hush, Rory,” the other man said.

I took a step back, putting my hands over Blossom’s face, my fingertips trailing down her nose and tickling her lips. “Hi there,” I said. “Do you want to take her back to her pasture?”

The two men looked at one another. The one wearing a shirt shrugged and shook his head. The other nodded. His eyes narrowed as they looked at me, assessing. Probably wondering where the hell I’d come from.

“Where’s it at?” I asked.

“Follow me,” he said. His face looked familiar. But I couldn’t quite place him. I didn’t remember much from the day that she had been picked up. And I never dreamed that I would find her right here. I guess this was just my lucky day.

Chapter 3

Reese

“Boys! Come on into the house,” Momma called from the front porch. It was amazing that we could hear her from where we were at, but she had many years experience shouting for us to come inside. Old habits died hard.

Rory looked at his watch.” We best get in for lunch, or she’s gonna holler again.”

I nodded and looked to Perry. He seemed to just stare at Blossom as she ate her grain. We had her tucked away in her stall now, where she could stay for a while. Later she’d go out for her afternoon exercise.

“You might as well come inside as well. I suppose we have a lot to talk about,” I said.

He snapped his gaze from Blossom to me, then looked down at the ground like he couldn’t quite meet my gaze. He nodded, though, and followed when I turned to leave. We trudged our way back to the house and went inside. I slipped off my boots and reached for my hat to put on the hook, only to realize it wasn’t there.

“Goodness gracious, Reese, you’re not even wearing a shirt. Did y’all have to chase that horse down again?” Momma asked as we stepped into the dining room. Perry followed behind Rory and I.

“Yeah, Momma, she got out.”

Rory and I sat down at the table Momma already had set for lunch. It was a large spread, as always. The extras would go to our bunkhouse that the ranch hands lived in.

“And who’s this?” she said. She smiled wide, ever the welcoming host, as she took in Perry.

Perry had kicked off his boots when we’d walked in, same as Rory and me, and now he stood nervously in the doorway of the dining room. He smiled slowly, the corners of his mouth quivering from nervousness.

“Um, my name is Perry. I just…” He looked to me and to my brother. He cleared his throat. “I, um, I used to own Blossom. Well, my mom did, she, uh, sold her.” There was no hesitation to the smile that split across his face. “I’m just so happy she’s still here.” He let out a breath. “I thought I would just stop and see where y’all sold her to and have to track her down, but she’s here. I can’t believe she’s here.” He cleared his throat.

Poor guy looked about as skittish as a newborn colt.

“Well, aren’t you the cutest,” my mom said.” Come on in, lunch is getting cold.”

“Oh, I don’t wish to intrude, but maybe sometime I can come back and talk to you all about… Well, I’d…” He shuffled his feet, nerves seeming to take over his body and render him speechless.

“Nonsense, you’re here, you helped catch a loose horse, that earns you a meal. Sit,” she commanded in that kind way, leaving no room for argument. “We can talk over lunch. These boys have about an hour break before they need to get back out there.”

She looked to me, her eyes conveying that I needed to play nice and encourage him to come in.

“Come on then,” I said. “She’s going to hound you until you do.”

Momma had the food set out on the table family style as she always did. Rory and I both sat down and began filling our plates. Perry sat down, his eyes widening as he took in all of the fixings for sandwiches.

“Oh wow,” he said. “This is quite the spread.”

Ma’s brow furrowed. “It’s just sandwich fixings and some leftover side dishes from the past few nights. I did make fresh cookies though.”

“Why aren’t they on the table?” Rory asked.

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