Free Learning To Love (Contemporary Cowboy Romance) (Carson Hill Ranch series:Book 1) by Amelia Rose Page A

sure as hell don’t talk about her, to me or to any other man. If you can’t remember that order, you’re going to find yourself about one hundred miles out into the desert without so much a hat to swat the flies with. I swear to God, I will leave your carcass out there for the coyotes to tear in two.”
                  Casey shoved Jack backward onto a hay bale with both hands and turned in the other direction, picking up his brush and resuming his animal’s care while watching Jack through squinted eyes. Jack slunk away to lick his ego’s wounds, glaring at Casey the entire time.
                  “I told you before, that one’s dangerous,” Carey said, coming up behind Casey. “Don’t go making an enemy of him, or there’s no telling what could happen out on the range one day.”
                  “I’m going to speak to Dad tonight. That man has to go. He does nothing around here except cause trouble. He may have been a big help to Dad a few decades ago, but now…I’m not so sure.”
                  “You’re right. And by the way, when did you suddenly take such a liking to the little missus Dad picked out? I heard you call her your ‘future wife.’ So does that mean you’re going through with it?” Carey asked, turning away from the group of men lingering among the horses to avoid embarrassing Casey.
                  “It doesn’t seem like I have a whole lot of choice in the matter,” Casey answered, sighing angrily as he cinched the girth on his saddle and buckled it, looping the long leather strap to keep it from dragging beneath his horse. “She’s here, isn’t she? And even if it’s not my plan, I guess even I have to admit the thought of someone spending her day sitting around on the computer or playing on Facebook or whatever the hell it is girls like her do all day, is less than ideal. But spending it inside with Dad and keeping him company…I guess I can sort of admit that it wouldn’t be a horrible thing.”
                  “Whew, I’m glad you see it that way. Watching Dad get up on a horse and try to ride with the herd is enough to stop my heart. If he had someone in the house to keep him company and play Scrabble or something with him, maybe he’d leave this work to us. And besides, I’m sure you could have done worse.”
                  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Casey demanded.
                  “Well, she seems smart, and polite, and she sure isn’t ugly. Maybe it’s like Dad said, you get to know each other and you treat each other nice, then next thing you know, you’re in love. Or something like that.”
                  “Oh, really? Well, let’s see if you’re singing that same tune when it’s your turn!” Casey argued, punching Carey in the shoulder. “Maybe I found the only good looking, good smelling woman in the whole country! I bet the next online ad Dad runs brings us a whole horde of one-legged, cross-eyed girls, who smell like turnips and fart during meals!” He ducked Carey’s playful swat at his head, and succeeded in losing his hat in the scuffle. The brothers tugged and shoved like they had when they were children, stopping only at the sound of static and a scratchy voice coming through the walkie-talkie attached to Carey’s belt. It was followed only a minute or two later by hoof beats tearing into the dirt pen surrounding the barn.
                  “Hey guys! C’mon, there’s a whole pack of coyotes heading toward the creek bed, and we have the Aubrac herd grazing down there now!” The hand who’d ridden in to tell them the news wheeled his horse around and headed back in the direction he’d come from, kicking up a cloud of dust behind him in his haste. Carey and Casey mounted their horses after pulling their shotguns down from the pegs inside the barn door.
                  The brothers and several