Free Her Christmas Cowboy by Adele Downs

 
    Chapter One
    “I never want to hear the word ‘but’ again!” Daisy
said to Musket. “You did a great job, girl. No buts about it.”
    She loosened the cinch that secured the
saddle to make the horse more comfortable, planning to walk Musket
the last half mile to the police stables at the edge of the city
park while the mare cooled down. “At least our partnership is
ending on a positive note,” she added, giving the horse an
affectionate pat.
    Musket had performed well during their chase
and apprehension of a burglar in the business district.
Fortunately, no shots were fired before backup was called and Daisy
arrested the suspect, but her sergeant’s words during their morning
meeting still rang in her ears. “We put you on
notice weeks ago that Musket wasn’t meeting our standards of
performance. We warned you this might happen. You and Musket are
both good police, and we’re not blaming you, but…”
    The quarter horse continued to underperform
during crowd control and remained skittish around loud noises, so
she was being sent to an expert for additional training. If the
mare couldn’t adapt to the demands of police work, she’d be
returned to her donor. The sergeant advised that a two-year-old
thoroughbred mare had been promised to the department…but wouldn’t
be ready for partner assignment until its training was done. Daisy
would be relegated to desk duty over the Christmas holidays and
into the New Year.
    Not everyone—equine or human—was suited for
mounted patrol. Daisy wondered sometimes if she and Musket were
kindred spirits whose attachment was based on their fear of
failure.
    “I’m sorry I let you down.” Daisy placed a
hand on Musket’s smooth neck while they strolled side by side on
the park trail. The sound of her boots and clomp of the horse’s hoofs made a lively percussion
that failed to lift her mood. “A more experienced rider might have
helped you improve.”
    Daisy knew better, but she couldn’t help
feeling responsible for Musket’s lackluster performance. Though she
was barely out of equestrian training herself, and in no position
to teach, she understood the complexities of mounted police work.
Despite being an experienced cop, she’d had to start over when she
transferred from Pennsylvania to Texas to join the mounted patrol.
The learning curve was greater than she’d anticipated, and some
days she wondered if moving to Houston had been a mistake.
    A mistake that might be rectified by the
email she’d received two days earlier.
    Daisy rubbed the folded printout of the
message in her pocket like a worry stone. She’d read the invitation
so many times she’d committed it to memory. A friend, who’d
sympathized after her partner in her former unit was killed, knew
of an opportunity in a department not far from the place she’d once
called home. If she got the job, she could return to Pennsylvania
and start fresh there. The offer was time sensitive, though, and
she had to apply by the New Year.
    How different her life might be if the
opportunity had come months ago, before moving to the south! She’d
never been further inland than Ohio, and the Texas landscape looked
as foreign to her as the earth did to the moon. Only Treymont
Woods, the sexy hard-bodied cowboy who’d helped restore her
confidence after she’d almost fallen to pieces, seemed convinced
she’d made the right choice by coming to Houston. The riding
lessons she’d taken from him at Breezy Meadows Ranch had prepared
her for the toughest police training of her life.
    Falling in love with Trey had been the easy
part. The blue-eyed, sandy-haired ranch hand had done something no
man had ever done, on or off the force. He’d looked into her heart,
identified the wound, and found a way to stem the bleeding.
    Daisy’s step lightened with thoughts of Trey,
and she relaxed in companionable silence with Musket until two
young girls on sparkly purple bicycles rode up beside them.
    “I like your Smokey the