Free Cowboy Take Me Away by Jane Graves Page A

Shannon. “My job description gets longer all the time.”
    “Use the carpet cleaner with the pine scent his time,” Russell said.
    Cynthia crinkled her nose. “The lavender smells better.”
    “Pine,” he said, and looked at Jessie. “Maybe I should just keep my door shut.”
    “No!” Cynthia said. “Don’t lock her out. She loves the morning sun in your office. And she’ll only scratch on your door, anyway.”
    Russell looked glumly at the cat, as if trying to decide which would be harder—cleaning the carpet or repairing the door.
    Cynthia carried Jessie out of Russell’s office, and he leaned over to brush invisible carpet fibers from the knees of his slacks.
    “I did warn you about her being a long-haired cat,” Shannon said. “They’re more prone to hairballs.”
    “No. It’s fine. Cats will be cats, right?” He put a smile with his words, but the whole presentation was just a tad too cheerful. “Thanks for the medicine.”
    “Thanks for adopting Jessie. She really is a sweet cat.”
    “Yes. She is.”
    But Shannon wasn’t entirely convinced that Russell was convinced of that. But with Cynthia there to spoil her, Shannon didn’t worry.
    “I’m looking forward to dinner on Thursday,” Russell said.
    Oh, God. Please don’t remind me.
    It wasn’t that she didn’t want to spend the evening with Russell. It was the fact that they were doing it at her parents’ house that made Shannon a little apprehensive. Her mother was angling for a son-in-law with “Dr.” in front of his name, which meant she’d insisted Shannon invite Russell to dinner. Eve, Shannon’s sister, would be there, too. Eve always kept the conversation moving, which was a good thing. It was what she chose to talk about that could make the evening go downhill in a hurry.
    “I’m looking forward to it, too,” Shannon said.
    “Well then,” Russell said, “I’ll pick you up at six o’clock on Thursday.”
    “Sounds good,” she said, even though it didn’t. But as long as her mother didn’t invite Father Andrews, his Bible, and “the power vested in him by the State of Texas” to join them, maybe Shannon could escape the evening a single woman.
     
    Late Thursday afternoon, Shannon opened the back door of the barn, hoping for some cross ventilation. But August in Texas could be hell on earth. Even at four thirty it was pushing a hundred degrees, and the air was so still it was as if not a molecule moved. The whole day had felt thick and sluggish, complete with dust and horseflies and the maddening buzz of cicadas. She wiped her forehead on the shoulder of her T-shirt, swiping strands of sweat-soaked hair away from her face.
    She dipped the scoop into the grain bin and dumped it through the opening of one of the horse’s stalls and into his bucket. With the exception of Clancy, a paint gelding with a nasty cut on his foreleg who needed to be confined, she would turn out the rest of them as soon as they finished eating. They’d congregate near the hackberry trees on the eastern perimeter of the property, where they’d drop their heads, let their eyes drift closed, and switch their tails to chase away flies.
    Then she heard footsteps outside. Freddie Jo’s voice behind her. “Shannon? Somebody’s here to see you.”
    Shannon turned around and was stunned into silence. No. It couldn’t be.
    Luke?

Chapter 5
    H eat rushed to Shannon’s face, flooding her with an unnerving sense of being caught off-guard. The brim of Luke’s hat shadowed his face, but what she could see of his expression gave away nothing about why he might be there. He wore a brace on his knee, evidence that he’d probably had surgery, but the physical limitation did little to detract from the strength he radiated with every breath.
    She never walked away after feeding the horses in the summer without stalks of hay in her hair and a sweat-soaked shirt, so she didn’t need a mirror to know what she looked like right then. She shoved a strand of