Page 41
Story: Making A Texas Cowboy
Chapter Twenty
Don’t do it.Don’t do it.
It became a chant in Nic’s head as they walked beside the horse and the pony and their riders back to the barn. It would be a simple, easy solution, but the very idea of it made her too edgy to even think about it seriously.
And the fact that her mother had given her that well-known questioning look the moment she’d heard Jackson say “a place of our own” told her she had thought of it too.
They stopped at the platform Dad had built. Mom ground-tied the patient horse, who was very used to this by now, and Nic went up on the platform to help. Her mother had this pretty well down, but it never hurt to be on standby, just in case.
Once she was back in her wheelchair, she headed down the long ramp, letting the chair pick up a little speed about halfway down, when it would be safe. She let out a whoop Nic knew was for Jeremy’s sake, and the boy laughed.
“That’s pretty cool,” he said.
“Nobody wants to end up in a chair, but if you do, you grab your fun where you can,” Mom said. “Did you know there’s a famous barrel racer who got hurt like I did and still races? They even made a movie about her.”
Jeremy’s eyes widened. “Really?”
The boy glanced at his father, who smiled. “We’ll find it and watch it,” he promised.
“Now,” Mrs. Baylor said, “Nicky has something she’d like to show you that might suit your needs.”
“Mom!” She almost yelped it, making Jackson look at her curiously.
Her mother lifted an arched brow at her. “It would be the perfect solution, would it not?”
It probably would. And she’d have to come up with a pretty good reason not to even offer it, and the only one she could give her mother would cost too much in embarrassment. She couldn’t even plead it wasn’t fit to be shown, because she had just been there and tidied up.
“Dare I ask?” Jackson said, rather dryly. And he asked it of her mother, she noticed, no doubt having seen her own reaction.
“Nicky can explain,” she said cheerfully. “Right now, I need to get inside for a video meeting.”
Defeated, Nic watched her mother head for the house.
“She’s busier than most agents I know,” Jackson said.
She glanced at him, and he was smiling as he watched her mother go. Damn, he was hard to resist when he smiled like that, so warm and genuine.
“What’s goin’ on?” Jeremy asked.
“I’m not really sure,” Jackson answered, then looked at Nic directly, with those famous blue eyes. “What is going on?”
She sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly, calmingly. “I guess I’m showing you something. So unless you feel like walking a half a mile or so, you might as well saddle up Shade. Jeremy, you can just stay aboard Pie.”
“Cool,” the boy exclaimed. Clearly, anything that involved more time in the saddle was good with him.
It took them twice as long to get there as it had taken her the other day, because they went slowly on purpose, so Jeremy and the pony could keep up. Jackson didn’t seem inclined to chat idly, but then, he never did. He rode with the same ease she’d seen before and looked around with interest as they went. Therewere several of Dad’s herd in the biggest pasture, and Jeremy spotted them immediately.
“I thought cows were brown,” he said.
Before she could answer, his father did. “Those are special. Black Angus, they’re called.”
So did he actually recognize them, or had he been talking to Dad?
“Who’s Angus?” Jeremy asked.
Jackson blinked, and Nic couldn’t help chuckling. “Not who, where,” she said. “Angus is a county in Scotland, where the breed originated.”
“Oh,” the boy said with a small nod, apparently satisfied.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41 (Reading here)
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72