The White Cowboy - Complete BWWM Romance Box Set by Susan Westwood Page A

goats. He figured any more and that would be too much milk. Thankfully he had a cheese maker who would pick up the milk daily. Otherwise he'd have to dump it. He didn't use but a half gallon a week himself.
    "Why doesn't this freeze?" she asked with a shiver.
    Gemma asked questions about everything. He didn't remember Jessica ever being that curious about what he did on the farm. "It's heated, for days like this. I turned it on before I did the cows so it would be ready to go by the time I got here."
    He leaned on the fence and watched his horse frolic, envying the animal's freedom. How nice it would be to not have a care in the world. That said, he'd take the responsibility of animals over taking care of humans. Hearts were so fragile, and he didn't want to break anyone's.
    Or have his own broken again.
    "He's a beauty. I'd still like to ride him," she said.
    She'd joined him at the fence, her boots crunching in the snow. The day was sunnier than the day before, but he knew that a new storm was due in two days.
    He hoped she'd get out of here before then. He understood trying to find your own path. He wished Jessica had shared her need to find her spotlight.
    But she'd found it. He heard one of her songs on the radio on his way into town last time. He had to smile a little, but he would have liked to share that with her. The way she'd shared his time in the spotlight.
    But then maybe she hadn't shared it as much as tried to hog it. He shrugged. Ancient history.
    "I'll let you ride him later. He wants to move around now. Did you see Houdini?"
    "He was around here somewhere."
    "He'll come back when there's food involved," Brandon said. "He always does."
    "Did you find out who he belongs to?"
    "No one claimed him. I put a sign up at the post office saying I had him."
    "I think he's just lonely. I bet if you put him in with Beans tonight, he'll stay put," she said.
    He shrugged, knowing that she had little knowledge of horses. Or any animals, for that matter.
    ***
    Gemma didn't like that he shrugged off her suggestion about Houdini. She could still have an opinion, even if she didn't grow up on a farm.
    "I could be right, you know," she said, her arms crossed over her chest.
    "Maybe."
    "I think you're having remorse about last night and don't want to listen to anything I say."
    There. She'd once again pointed out the elephant in the room. Or in this case, the elephant in the pasture. Sometimes that got her in trouble, but she couldn't change her nature. And her parents had always encouraged her to take life head on. She wasn't going to stop because this pig-headed man didn't like it.
    He sighed, rubbed his nose. "I have to feed the goats."
    He walked away from her as if she had no say in the matter. As if she were inconsequential to his life.
    She ran after him, her boots crunching on the frozen grass. Spike chased her as if he thought this was a game. He ran across her path and she almost kicked him. She tried to dodge out of the way, but twisted her ankle and landed hard on her side.
    Spike licked her face, which she didn't appreciate. Her ankle hurt and so did her side.
    Brandon rushed over to her. "You okay?"
    He knelt down, his gaze roving over her. His hands hovered as if he wasn't sure if he should touch her.
    She bit her lip. "My ankle hurts."
    "Can you walk?"
    He held her arm as she stood up. When she tried to put weight on her foot, she buckled from the pain. "Not yet. Maybe I can walk it off."
    Brandon frowned, then hoisted her into his arms. He carried her to the house as if she weighed nothing. This close to his face, she wanted to kiss the lines of his brow.
    To ease those lines of concern on his face.
    And she wanted to make him hard, if truth be told. So he'd take her, completely, the way he had last night. She wanted to break through this awkwardness that had settled between them.
    Once inside the house, Brandon set her on the couch. He rested his butt on the coffee table and went to work on getting her boot