Christmas Kisses with My Cowboy. Kate Pearce

to the ranch for us. Mom was calling to get the vet, even before he knocked part of the fence down and ran away. She’s going to be really mad.”

      Parker noted that the horse had no saddle on. “You didn’t try to ride him bareback, did you?” he asked.

      She grimaced. “Mister, I don’t even know how to put a saddle on him. I sure can’t ride him. I’ve never ridden a horse.”

      His black eyes widened. “You don’t know how to ride?”

      “Well, Mom does,” she said hesitantly. “She grew up on a ranch in Montana. That’s where she met my daddy. She can ride most anything, but she’s been on the phone all day trying to get the movers to find a missing box. They think it went back East somewhere, but they haven’t done much about finding it. It had a lot of Daddy’s things. Mom’s furious.”

      He shook his head. “That’s tough.”

      “She said we’ll . . . uh-oh,” she added as a small SUV came down the road, pulled in very slowly next to the man and the child and the horse, and stopped.

      “Who’s that?” Parker asked.

      “Mom,” Teddie said, grimacing.

      A blond woman wearing jeans and a black T-shirt got out of the SUV. “So there you are,” she said in an exasperated tone.

      “Sorry, Mom,” Teddie said, wincing. “Bartholomew ran away and I ran after him. . . .”

      “Bartholomew?” Parker asked.

      “Well, he needed a fancy name. He’s so pretty. Handsome.” Teddie cleared her throat. “He did.”

      “He broke through a fence. I was on the phone trying to find a vet who’ll come out and look at him, and when I went out to tell you what I found out, the horse was gone and so were you!”

      “I was afraid he’d run in the road and get hurt,” Teddie said defensively.

      China blue eyes looked up at Parker. “Oats, huh?” she asked as she saw the feed bag over the horse’s muzzle.

      He nodded. “Quickest way to catch a runaway horse, if he has a sense of smell,” he added with a faint smile.

      “She’s Katy,” Teddie introduced. “I don’t remember who you are,” she added with a shy smile at the tall man with the long black ponytail.

      “Parker,” he said. He didn’t offer any more information, and he reached out to shake hands.

      “You work for Mr. Denton, don’t you?” Katy asked, and her expression told him that she’d heard other things about him as well.

      “I do. I’m his horse wrangler.”

      She drew in a long breath. “Teddie, you never leave the house without telling me where you’re going.”

      “Sorry, Mom.”

      “And obviously the horse doesn’t need a vet immediately, or he wouldn’t have gotten this far!”

      “You know about horses, do you?” Parker asked her.

      She nodded.

      “Come here.” He smoothed down the horse’s leg and pulled up the hoof. “Have a look.”

      “Dear God,” she whispered reverently.

      “If they lock his owner up forever, it won’t be long enough,” he added, putting the hoof back down. “There are deep cuts on his hindquarters, and on one of his legs as well. One needs stitches. I imagine an antibiotic would prevent complications from the hooves as well, if you got Doc Carr on the phone.”

      She made a face. “He’s on another large-animal call. I left my cell phone number for him.”

      “Your daughter knows very little about horses,” he began. “An animal that’s been abused is dangerous even for an experienced equestrian.”

      “I know. But she was so upset,” came the soft reply. “She’s lost so much. . . .”

      “She can learn how to take care of him,” Parker interrupted, because he understood without being told.

      “Yes, and I can teach her. But it’s going to take time. I’m in a new teaching job. I’m not used to grammar school children. I taught at college level. . . .”

      “We have a community college,” he pointed out.

      She gave him a long-suffering look. “Yes, I’m on the waiting list for an opening, but I couldn’t wait. There are bills.”

      “I know about bills.”

      “So I got the only job available.”

      “You aren’t from here,” he said.

      She nodded. “My husband’s mother was from here. She was a Cowling, from the Dean River area.”

      “I know some Cowlings. Good people.”

      “She and my husband’s father had a ranch in Montana where they were living when my husband was born. After her husband died, she came back here to live, on the family’s ranch. She ran it herself until her death early this year. She left my husband the ranch. He was going to sell it, but he was . . . he . . . anyway. It took us some time to get moved here.”

      “It’s a good place to raise a child,” he said, and he smiled gently at Teddie.

      “She’s going on thirty,” Katy said, tongue-in-cheek, as she glanced at her daughter.

      He chuckled. “Some mature faster than others.”

      “We need to get Bartholomew home,” Katy said, and she was staring at the horse as if she wondered how exactly they were going to do that.

      “Give me a second to get Wings and I’ll be right back.” He didn’t explain. He just went around the side of the house.

      “Honestly, Teddie,” Katy began, exasperated.

      “I’m sorry. Really. But he ran away!”

      “I know. But still . . .”

      “Next time, I’ll come get you first. I will.” Her eyes pleaded with her mother’s.

      Katy gave in with a sigh. “All right. But don’t let it happen again.”

      “I won’t. Poor old horse,” she added, looking at the palomino. “Mr. Parker said that he’s been abused.”

      “He seems to know a lot about horses,” Katy agreed, just as Parker came around the house leading a white mare.

      “What a beauty,” Katy exclaimed involuntarily.

      “Wings,” he said. “She’s mine. Two years old and my best girl,” he added with a smile.

      The horse had a halter and bridle, but no saddle.

      Before they could ask what he meant to do, Parker took the oats gently away from the palomino and put them beside the road. He caught the horse’s bridle, led it to the mare, and vaulted onto the filly’s back as if he had wings himself.

      “Okay,” he said. “Lead on.”

      They laughed. He made something complicated so simple. Teddie and Katy piled into their vehicle and led the way home, with Parker bringing up the rear riding one horse and leading the other. Both went with him as easily as lambs following a shepherd.

      * * *

      The house was in bad shape, he noticed as he stopped at the front porch and tied Wings’s bridle to it. He patted her gently.

      “Just stay right there, sweetheart. Won’t be a minute,” he said in a soft, deep tone, running his fingers along her neck. She looked at him and whinnied.

      He went to get the palomino’s bridle and led him, along with the woman and the