The Cowboy's Christmas Courtship. Brenda Minton

seriously. I had to sell the mare, but I kept the foal. She’s three now.”

      They were walking toward the house at this point. Gage didn’t know exactly how it happened. Maybe she started to walk away and he followed. Or maybe they both started walking as they talked about the mare. It didn’t really matter; it just meant he was losing it. No big deal.

      As they got closer to the house, he glanced toward the corral and the mare that now stood at the opposite side of the enclosure. He whistled and the horse turned, her ears twitching at the sound. She trotted across the enclosure, her legs coming high off the ground in the prettiest dance he’d ever seen. Her neck was arched and her black tail flagged behind her.

      “Nice, isn’t she?” Layla looked at the horse with obvious pride.

      “What are you going to do with her?”

      “I had planned to train her for Western pleasure, but then I realized she was a barrel racer.” She shrugged slim shoulders beneath the oversize canvas coat. “I don’t know...I might sell her.”

      “Why would you do that?”

      She didn’t look at him. He guessed if she did, he’d see tears in her eyes. He didn’t know what he’d do if faced with those tears.

      * * *

      Layla hadn’t meant to tell him that she planned on selling Pretty Girl. But the words had slipped out, her emotions were strung tight and she had confided in the last person on earth she should have been confiding in.

      “Layla?”

      She shrugged.

      “I don’t have the money to haul her around the country or the time to train her. She really deserves to be a national champion.” She stumbled over all of the reasons she’d been telling herself. When she looked up, he was looking at the mare and not at her. She breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t need to see sympathy in his eyes.

      “I’ll buy her.”

      “No.” She practically shouted the word and then felt silly.

      This time he looked at her. “Really?”

      “No, not really. I don’t know. Maybe I won’t have to get rid of her. Vera said I could work nights waiting tables at The Mad Cow.”

      The owner of the local diner had always been good to Layla. When the job opened, Layla had jumped on it. Yes, it added one more thing to her to-do list, but it would bring in a little extra money at Christmastime.

      “When are you going to start working for Vera?”

      She walked up to the corral and reached up to pet Pretty Girl’s velvety nose. The mare nuzzled against her palm, her breath warm, her lips twitching and soft. The mare was her dream horse. But dreams changed.

      A hand, strong and firm rested on Layla’s back. She wanted to shift away from the touch, but she couldn’t. Not even when the hand rested on her shoulder, his strong arm encircling her.

      “Don’t get rid of her, Layla.”

      Why did his voice have to be so soft, so sincere?

      Buck up, Layla. She gave herself the stern lecture and moved from his embrace. “I need to get ready for church.”

      “I’m going to finish that fence.” He reached for her arm and she stopped. “Layla, don’t give up.”

      “I won’t.” She smiled and backed away from him. “And thank you, for the fence, for talking. I’ll see you later.”

      He waved and then headed back to the fence he’d been working on. She watched him go before she hurried across the yard to the house to finish getting ready. As she headed to her room she yelled at Brandon to get up. He wasn’t skipping church. She heard him mutter that he was awake.

      She’d give him ten minutes.

      Now she had to figure out what she would wear to church. She opened her closet and rummaged through the clothes. A stack of notebooks on the bottom of the closet caught her attention. She hadn’t looked at them in years. She didn’t plan on looking at them now. Who needed voices from the past to remind them how it felt to have a broken heart?

      That girl of sixteen was long gone. She had work-callused hands, a heart that didn’t have time for romance and bills to be paid at the first of the month.

      At a quarter to ten she walked through the house, carrying the boots she would wear with her denim skirt and searching for her Bible and her brother. She found her Bible on the table next to the chair she’d fallen asleep in two nights ago. She didn’t find Brandon.

      She slipped her feet into her boots and grabbed a jacket off the hook next to the door. She knew where she’d find her brother. And she was right. He was down at the fence with Gage.

      After tossing her purse and Bible in the truck, she walked down to where the two were working away, laughing and talking like old friends. She watched as Brandon pulled the wire tight and Gage clipped it to the metal post.

      “It’s time to go to church.” Layla shivered in the cool morning air.

      “I’m going to stay here and help Gage.” Brandon didn’t even look up. But Gage met her eyes and she glared, letting him know this was his fault.

      “You’re going to church.” Layla cleared her throat and stood a little taller. “Come on.”

      “Layla, Gage doesn’t go to church, so I’m not going.”

      She heard Gage groan. She shot him another disgusted look.

      He sighed.

      “Guess I’m going today,” Gage grumbled, clipping the last strand of wire. “Come on, kid, before you get us both in trouble.”

      Brandon looked from Gage, whom he had obviously counted on to be his ally, to Layla. “Seriously, you’re giving in to her. Just like that?”

      “Just like that.”

      “I’m not dressed for church.” Brandon tried the argument, and Layla knew it was because she always made him put on his best jeans and shirt for church.

      Gage wasn’t dressed for church, either. His jeans were faded and ripped at the knees. His boots were covered in mud. He obviously hadn’t shaved in a couple of days.

      “Don’t look at me like that,” Gage shot back at Layla, probably because of the once-over she’d given him. “We’re going to church, and this is how we’re going. Besides, I’m about ready to sit down.”

      “So church is a good place to get warm and put your leg up?”

      He laughed, a rich, velvety laugh. “You said it. And I’m driving.”

      “We’re not going to church together.” Layla found herself walking next to him, and even feeling a little bit sorry for him because he walked slower than normal. When she glanced up, she saw his mouth tighten in pain.

      “You’re riding with me. And after church, I’m pretty sure my mom will insist on you all coming over for lunch.”

      “That should be a good reason for me to take my truck, so that you don’t get stuck with us at lunch.”

      “Layla. Stop arguing for five minutes. Please?”

      She stopped, because he looked as if he needed a break. When they reached his truck, he limped around to the passenger side and opened the door for her. Brandon climbed in the back without an argument. She wanted to be mad, but instead she felt a little jealous. After fighting with her brother the past couple of years about everything, he was suddenly compliant, and it had to do with Gage Cooper.

      He had a way of bringing people to his side. She remembered back to high school, even in grade school. Gage had always had a crowd of friends. She’d seen him step between friends who were about to go at it, and somehow, with a