Free Texas True by Janet Dailey Page A

Lute,” he called, opening the stall gate and stepping out. “Get on down here for a minute?”
    A dark, skinny young fellow in a ragged blue T-shirt sauntered into Erin’s view. “What’s up, old man?”
    â€œNot much. I need a break and Will doesn’t want this young lady left alone in the stall. Could you spell me for a few minutes?”
    â€œSure. I could use a rest.” He sank onto the chair as Jasper hobbled toward the barn door. He had sharp, black eyes like a bird’s, and his worn leather gloves looked too big for his thin wrists. “Hi, I’m Lute,” he said.
    â€œI’m Erin.” Her gaze sized him up. He looked old enough to be out of school, but not by much. “Do you work for my dad?”
    â€œThat’s what I’m doing here, working.” He spat out the last word as if he’d just bitten into a bad strawberry. “Sky gave me this so-called job. He’s my cousin.”
    â€œOh.” Erin shifted to face him, interested in learning more. “Sky never talks about his family. I didn’t know he had any.”
    â€œSky’s mother was my dad’s sister. She died when he was little, and our family raised him. So he’s almost like my big brother.”
    â€œWhat happened to his father?”
    Lute shrugged his bony shoulders. “Who knows? He was just some white jerk who knocked her up. That’s why Sky’s got blue eyes. But he’s mostly Comanche, like me.”
    â€œOh.” The young man did look something like Sky, Erin thought. But he was darker, his build smaller and more wiry, his features narrower.
    His gaze had wandered to Tesoro. “That’s a fine-looking foal,” he said.
    â€œHe’s going to be my horse.” Erin laid a possessive hand on her foal’s back. “Sky’s already helping me train him. It’s called imprinting. That’s what I’m doing here.”
    â€œSky’s an important man on this ranch, isn’t he?”
    â€œMy dad says he’s the best horse trainer in Texas. That’s why cow ponies raised on our ranch are worth so much money. And that’s why we’re getting more colts for him to train, so we can sell them.”
    Lute raised one jet-black eyebrow. “I hadn’t heard that. Maybe Sky will give me a better job when those colts get here. I’m good with horses, too. When’s it supposed to happen?”
    â€œThis spring, after the roundup, we’ll be building extra pens. As soon as that’s done, Sky can bring in the horses he wants and work with them over the summer.”
    â€œHe’s going to need some help. Maybe you can put in a good word for me.” He rose, glancing back toward the barn door. “I see our old friend Jasper’s coming back, so I’ll get back to work. Nice talking to you, Miss Erin Tyler. Maybe we can talk again.”
    â€œMaybe so. Thanks for keeping me company, Lute.”
    â€œSee you around.” He opened the gate for Jasper and left. As he ambled away, Erin saw him take a cell phone out of his pocket, flip it open, and punch in a number.

CHAPTER 4
    S lad Haskell slid out the back door of his red club-cab pickup. While his fingers tossed the condom and stuffed his privates back in his jeans, his eyes scanned the shadowy parking lot behind the Blue Coyote. Not that he was worried. The hour was late, the two remaining cars empty. Nobody was looking. And even if they were, what the hell. Everybody in town knew that Jess was a whore.
    As his zipper closed with a satisfying snick , she came around the truck, pulling her little denim skirt down over her thighs. He had her usual payment ready—the small packet of white powder that he slipped out of his pocket and down the neck of her blouse. Whether she meant to resell it or snort it herself didn’t matter, as long as she knew better than to tell anybody where it came from. Stella would likely guess