Jeannie Watt - Winning the Cowboy's Heart

“I’m not going to get on her,” he said, speaking for the first time since the start of the demonstration. “She’s done enough for one day. I hope I’ve been able to show you guys something during this demonstration. If there are any questions…?”

Several hands shot up and Regan leaned back in her seat as Madison began fielding the questions.

After the demonstration, Will was surrounded by people—mostly women, Regan noticed as she gathered her notebook and purse—and although he was polite, she had a feeling that like the mustang mare, all he wanted to do was escape.

WILL WATCHED REGAN LEAVE the arena over the head of a woman who was outlining her horse’s behavior in a rather long-winded manner. He redirected his attention and listened, thinking that this woman’s only problem was that she babied her animal. When he told her that, she wasn’t happy with the answer. She wanted her horse to mind her because he loved her, not because she was the boss. Will opened his mouth to tell her that horses were not wired that way, but instead he just nodded. If she’d sat through both his and Del’s presentations and hadn’t yet picked that up, then she was only going to hear what she wanted to hear. Some people couldn’t understand that affection and boundaries could actually go hand in hand.

When he’d answered his last question, he found Kylie in the front row where he’d left her. Sadie was gone, but another girl had taken her place.

“Honest,” she was saying to Kylie as Will approached. She suddenly noticed that Will was there. “I gotta go. See you tomorrow.”

“What’s that all about?” Will asked after the girl left.

Kylie frowned. “She said that she saw a guy who looked just like you in Elko yesterday.”

Will felt an instant tightening in his midsection, but before he could think of something to say, Kylie screwed up her forehead and said, “Gee, Dad. You don’t suppose it’s Uncle Brett, do you?”

CHAPTER FOUR

“WELL, do you think it was him?” Kylie repeated a few seconds later.

“Might have been.”

“Aren’t you curious?”

Kylie was certainly curious. She always had been and the older she got, the more curious she’d become. He didn’t blame her. The kid hardly had any relatives and the few she did have were not part of her world. So far, they’d only had a few brief discussions about Brett and the fact that Will and his brother hadn’t been in contact for more than a decade. She’d eventually stopped asking, but he knew she still wondered about her uncle.

“Get your stuff together.”

“Dad.” He frowned down at his daughter’s perplexed expression. “Don’t you ever want to see him again? I mean, was what happened really bad?”

“It wasn’t good.” Will made an effort to sound matter-of-fact. “And maybe someday Brett and I will get together and hash things out, but I don’t think it’s going to be any time soon.”

Kylie bit her lip and let the subject go, even though Will knew she wanted—deserved—answers. He couldn’t give her answers just yet. And he didn’t know if he ever could.

They started toward the truck, Will carrying the saddle and blanket and Kylie carrying the halter and rope.

“You know, Dad, you did really good in your demonstration.”

“Thanks, kid.” He appreciated her changing the subject, but he knew they’d be facing it again one of these days.

“You might try talking a little, you know, like Del does. Madison does all right, but I think people’d like to hear you explain more of it.”

“All right,” he said. “I’ll try. Anything else?”

“Nope.” She flipped the end of the rope as she walked. “Sadie was kind of weird today. She kept looking around, instead of watching the performance. And she asked me if I wanted to buy makeup with her when we go to Elko. I said okay, but,” she puckered her forehead, “whenever we put on her mom’s stuff, I forget and rub my eyes and it gets all over.”

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