Texas Heroes_ Volume 1(28)

The peaceful glow dimmed. “I didn’t make it for you, but I’m willing to share it.”

Back to kicking puppies, Boone? “I have to go.” He turned to leave.

“With no breakfast?”

“Last I looked, I’d been taking care of myself for a few years.”

One glance back showed a parade of emotions—hurt, chagrin…the beginnings of anger.

Good. An armed camp was far safer.

“Fine.” She squared her shoulders. “If you change your mind, it will be there.”

When Maddie turned away, it should have made Boone feel better.

It didn’t. As she moved into the next posture, he felt like a kid who’d been sent to the corner, robbed of the fun the others were having.

But he’d sent himself there.

She made him crazy. She made him feel too much. He didn’t know how to hold her at a safe distance when she was so damned easygoing. Or how to like himself for trying.

“Thanks for the coffee.”

Maddie just nodded and kept going.

Boone headed to the barns, head fuzzy from lack of sleep and stomach empty of everything but a sour taste, knowing he had no one to blame but himself.



An hour later, Boone saw Maddie walk into the barn with a basket and look around. Jim stepped out of a stall close by and grinned from ear to ear.

“Well, good morning to you, Maddie.” Jim sniffed appreciatively.

“Hi, Jim. How are you today?” Maddie returned the smile. She glanced around and spotted Boone. Her smile dimmed.

“I was okay, but by the smell of that basket, I’m hoping I’m about to get a lot better.”

“It’s cinnamon-oatmeal bread. I don’t think Boone had time for breakfast, but even if he did, I thought you and Sonny might enjoy bread fresh from the oven.” She shot Boone a sassy glance that dared him to complain.

“Hell—I mean, heck, Maddie, I hope Boone is so stuffed he can’t take a bite. It smells great.” Without hesitation, he dipped his hand inside. One bite, and he closed his eyes in bliss. “Take me now, Lord. It can’t get better than this.”

Boone listened to Maddie’s laughter and couldn’t help smiling himself. His stomach rumbled, and he turned back to the horse he was checking.

“Don’t go anywhere, Maddie. I have to feed one more horse. Boone, you stay right where you are until I eat my fill, you hear?”

When Jim walked away, Maddie looked down the barn, straight at Boone. “It’s foolish for you to turn this down. You work too hard every day to miss breakfast just because you’re afraid of me.”

The woman definitely had a mouth on her.

Boone stepped out of the stall, latching the door, and snorted. “The day I’m afraid of you is the day the sun comes up in the west.”

Maddie smirked. “Then you’ll have some, I take it.”

His stomach was yelling at him to dive into that basket, but he held back.

She sobered. “I know this is awkward, Boone. The whole situation is not what either of us wants, but we just have to make the best of it. You don’t need to like me for us to get along.”

Beside her now, Boone’s hand stopped in mid-air. “I never said I disliked you.” Hell, he liked too much about her.

The quick flare of something dark and almost hurt in her eyes surprised him.

But before he could figure out what to say next, she opened the cloth covering the basket and held the basket closer to him, changing the subject. “So these are your horses?”

Boone’s mouth was too full of heaven for him to do more than nod.

She glanced at Slow Dance, the palomino stallion on which he was hoping to build his future. “Who is that? He’s really handsome, isn’t he?”

Boone swallowed. “You ride?”

Maddie smiled, almost bashful. “No, but I’ve always thought it would be wonderful.”

“You don’t want to try one like Slow Dance for your first horse. He’s pretty even-tempered for a stallion, but that’s not saying much.”

“You’d let me ride one?” Her eyes were wide as saucers.

Oh, hell. What had he just done? When what he most needed was to stay as far away from her as possible, here he’d gone and opened the door to spending more time together.

But he couldn’t take it back now, not when she looked so thrilled. You’d think he’d handed her diamonds from Tiffany’s.

He could make it Jim’s job, and he probably should. But something within him balked at the thought of not being the first one to see Maddie’s delight, if it meant that much to her.

“It’s okay, Boone. I understand. You’re too busy.”

Boone focused on her and saw the disappointment cloud her sparkle. A man who would dim Maddie’s glow ought to be shot.