Читать книгу The Maverick Returns - Roz Denny Fox - Страница 3

Coop saw the house first

In the fading sunlight it looked more than weathered. The clapboard was badly in need of paint and the barn appeared to be in even worse condition. He also saw that several head of cattle had strayed through a broken section of wire fencing.

He slammed on his brakes. In the distance he noticed a skinny woman, a blonde, who had a small child hanging on to her jacket, attempting to shoo the animals back.

“Hold on,” Coop yelled after he set his brake and rolled down one window. “I’ll come give you a hand.”

The woman’s head jerked around in surprise, as if she hadn’t heard his engine and had no idea anyone was on the road.

Cooper swept up the straw cowboy hat he wore when working out in the sun and leaped down from the cab. He began turning the closest cattle back into the would-be enclosure.

At last the final stubborn rangy steer in the group of two dozen or so crossed over the squashed wire. Facing the woman, who stood closer to him now, Coop dragged his shirtsleeve across his brow. When he opened his eyes, shock traveled from his suddenly tight jaw straight to his toes.

Though a great deal thinner, and her sky-blue eyes far more lackluster than when he’d last seen her, the much-talked-about widow was none other than Cooper’s first love, Willow Courtland. Willow, who’d married his arch enemy, Tate Walker.