Free Her Heart for the Asking (Book 1 - TEXAS HEARTS) by Lisa Mondello

would welcome the helping hand."
    "Unless the drive is in a few weeks, I won't
be here this year either."
    "Are you planning on leaving soon?"
    She sighed and brushed away the tendrils of
hair the wind from the opened window was blowing in her face. 
"I don't want to.  But I can't hang around here forever hoping
I can convince Hank to have surgery."
    "Hank doesn't have forever.  Any
luck?"
    "Every time I bring up the subject, he puts
me off.  He doesn't want to talk about it.  Then Aunt
Corrine gets upset and leaves the room.  They're beginning to
look an awful lot like my parents did when I was a kid."
    They were both quiet a moment.  The
sound of the wheels running over dry pavement ate into the
silence.
    "I was hoping..." Beau started.  He
didn't have to finish.  It echoed her exact feelings on the
subject.
    Hank.  What was she going to do about
him?  He didn't have forever to make up his mind about
surgery.  In the few days she'd been at the Double T, she'd
seen how much his condition had deteriorated.  Just being out
in the hot sun this morning had beaten him to the ground.
    Ever since she could remember, Hank had
loved rodeo and ranching.  When she was young, she'd seen him
in a few rodeos.  He'd been off the road for years, but he
still entered a few now and then.  There was a spark that
ignited to a flame in each of those cowboys who entered the shoot
to mount a bronc or a bull.  She'd seen it in Hank many times
when he was talking of rodeo or getting ready for a ride. 
    And she'd seen it in Beau that
morning.  He loved to ride.  Part of her loved to watch
him ride, too.  Although for the last eight years she hadn't
been to a single rodeo, the sudden rush of adrenaline that used to
hit her when the shoot opened came charging back.  Her heart
pounded so hard in her chest she thought it would explode.
    She knew she should have followed Hank back
into the house.  Instead, it was as though she’d been
transformed back to sixteen.  She caught the twinkle of pride
in Beau's dark eyes and it took her breath away.  As it always
did.
    All my dreams are about you, Mandy.
    Why on earth did he have to say that? 
She didn't believe a word of it, of course.  Beau had always
flirted with her.  He had enough cowboy charm to fill the
quota for the entire state of Texas.
    She recalled how she'd spun on her heels and
charged back to the house with her fists balled merely to hide the
fact that she'd actually been flattered by his words.  They'd
been stupid words said at the exact right time and her heart
actually did a flip.  She was half afraid she'd humiliate
herself further by adding a girlish sigh to it and knew she needed
to put some distance between her and Beau.
    And now she was alone with him again.
    "I saw you on that mare this morning," she
said.  "Aren't you itching to get back on the road, too?"
    "It can wait a while."
    She stared at him for a moment, watching his
profile as his eyes remained on the road ahead.
    Dreams .  She hadn't been Beau's
dream. 
    "You always said you wanted to rodeo."
    "Yeah."
    "And no regrets?"
    "Just you."
    Foolish, foolish, foolish.  
She'd walked right into that one and still she couldn't believe
she'd done it.  What was she fishing for anyway?  Some
admission that part of what Beau had said was actually true?
    "I find it hard to believe mine was the only
heart you ever broke, Beau Gentry."
    He lifted a shoulder in a lazy shrug. 
"I wouldn't know."
    "Really?  No one special girl who made
you turn your head before climbing into the shoot?"
    He turned to her then, flashing her a smile
that seemed so sexy and sincere all at the same time.  She
hated when he did that.  "You're the only woman who ever made
my head spin, Mandy."
    She sputtered.  "You’re so full of it.
"
    Beau chuckled, and it made her all the more
irritated.  "I'm never any place long enough for something
special.  Who knows, maybe there were a few broken hearts
along the way but not because