LITMIR.BIZ

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number of wranglers and stable boys were already hard at work, and she could easily see why the Sandbur was one of the largest and wealthiest ranches in the state of Texas. But whether that wealth had played into Paul Saddler’s death was yet to be seen.

      “We’ll take them outside and mount up there,” Lex told her. “Can you lead Hannah?”

      “Sure. I’m not a complete greenhorn around horses.” He handed Hannah’s reins to her, and as they headed toward the open barn door, the gray mare fell into obedient step behind her. “One of my best childhood friends owns horses and keeps them stabled at the edge of the city. We’ve ridden together since we were small girls,” she told him. “Only lately, I’ve gotten out of practice. She has to fly back and forth to California to care for her ailing mother.”

      He glanced over at her. “That must be stressful. What about your mother? Does she live in San Antonio?”

      Christina caught herself before she grimaced. Frowning at the mention of her mother wouldn’t make a good impression. Especially to someone like Lex, who obviously adored his mother. But he could hardly know the sort of life that Retha Logan had lived. He couldn’t know that in her fifty-one years of life, she’d already gone through six husbands and was now working on her seventh.

      “No, she lives in Dallas.”

      “You see her often?”

      “Not too often. She stays busy, and so do I.”

      “What about your father?”

      His questions were simple and something to be expected. Even so, they made her feel very uncomfortable. Especially when she was the one who usually did the asking, not the answering.

      “He still lives in San Antonio,” she conceded. “You see, my parents divorced when my brother and I were teenagers. So it’s been a long time since we were all together as a family.”

      “Oh. Sorry.”

      Thankfully, they’d reached the open yard in front of the horse barn, and Christina halted her forward motion. “Can we mount up now?”

      “I’m ready,” he agreed, allowing Leo’s reins to dangle to the ground and turning toward her. “Let me help you.”

      “Won’t your horse run off?” she asked, with dismay.

      “No. He understands what I want him to do.”

      “Smart horse.”

      He chuckled. “That’s the only kind we raise here on the Sandbur.”

      Christina stood to one side as he slipped the bridle reins over Hannah’s head.

      “Put your foot in the stirrup, and I’ll give you a boost,” he said.

      His boost turned out to be a hand on her rump, pushing her upward, but when she landed in the seat of the saddle with hardly any effort at all on her part, she couldn’t be cross with him.

      As he swung himself onto the back of the paint, she said, “I suppose that’s a technique you use to help everyone into the saddle.”

      He laughed under his breath, and Christina realized she’d never heard a more sexy sound.

      “Well, just the women. None of the men around here need help getting into the saddle.”

      Women. No doubt he had girlfriends in the plural, she thought. He had that rakish, devil-may-care attitude that drew women like bears to a beehive. She ought to know. Mike had been a charmer deluxe, the smoothest-talking man she’d ever run across. Still, that shouldn’t have been any excuse for her to go on believing his gaff for four long years. Once she’d finally smartened up and left, she’d vowed to never believe anything a smooth-talking man said without some sort of action to back it up.

      Lex nudged his horse forward, and Christina quickly drew the mare abreast of Leo. As they moved away from the barn, he pointed in a westerly direction.

      “The river is that way, and that’s where my sisters love to ride,” he said. “But the trail is rough. We’ll go north today and travel the road that leads to the vet’s house. Maybe later, after I see how well you can ride, we’ll go to the river one day.”

      Christina had only suggested getting out this morning because she’d believed it would be a way of getting Lex to relax and talk more freely about his father. She’d not been thinking about future days or spending any more casual time with this man. But now that they were riding along, their stirrups brushing, the wind at their back and a crooked, contagious grin on Lex’s face, she could very easily imagine doing all this again. It was a dangerous thought…especially since it seemed so tempting.

      “I promise not to hurt Hannah or myself,” she assured him.

      Forty minutes later, they reached a small stream with a low wooden bridge. On the other side of the little creek was a small house shaded by oaks, a barn and a network of cattle pens. Before they crossed the bridge, Lex suggested they stop for a break. After dismounting, he tethered their horses to a nearby willow tree and pulled the thermos of coffee and plastic-wrapped cookies from his saddle bags.

      “Is that the vet’s house?” Christina asked as they took seats on the side of the bridge.

      “Yeah, Jubal and his family live there. He’s our resident veterinarian. I don’t think any of them are home at the moment, but I’m sure you’ll get a chance to meet them all later. Angie has a teaching degree, but for now she’s staying home to take care of their daughter, Melanie, and baby son, Daniel.”

      Another real family, Christina thought wistfully. The Sandbur seemed to be full of them, reminding her just how unsuccessful she’d been in finding a man to love her and give her children.

      “Sounds like a nice family.”

      “They are,” he agreed, then handed her the bag of cookies. “Here. I’d better warn you that you can’t eat only one. They’re too good.”

      After a breakfast of eggs and biscuits, she wasn’t the least bit hungry, but after one bite of pecans and chocolate chips, she couldn’t resist eating a whole cookie and wistfully eyeing those that remained.

      He took a short drink from the thermos cup, then passed it to her. For some reason, drinking after the man felt very intimate. As Christina sipped the hot liquid, she felt her cheeks grow unaccustomedly warm.

      “So your father was a rancher, too,” she commented after a few moments of easy silence had passed.

      He picked up a tiny piece of gravel and tossed it into the shallow water. “For most of his early life—before he went to work in the oil business. And even after that, he helped here on the ranch as much as time allowed. Even to this day, I don’t know half as much about cattle as he did. He was a very intelligent man.”

      There was love and pride in his voice, and Christina wondered how it would feel, to know her father had lived an admirable life. She was very proud that Delbert Logan was now staying sober, holding down a good job and taking care of himself, instead of expecting someone to take care of him. Still, she couldn’t help but envy the relationship Lex had clearly had with his father.

      “That’s what I keep hearing.” She smiled at him. “It’s obvious that you were very close to him. Did he spend much time with all his children?”

      “As much as possible. My sisters were very close to our father, too. But whenever he was home on the ranch, he and I were practically inseparable.”

      “So you were living here on the ranch at the time of his death?”

      He nodded grimly. “I hadn’t been out of college long and had moved back home from Texas A&M. God, I’m just thankful he got to see me graduate.”

      No doubt, Paul Saddler would be proud of his son if he could see him now, Christina thought. Lex appeared to be a man who loved his family deeply and was dedicated to doing his part to keep their ranch successful.

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