Chapters (43)
- Cover
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Epilogue
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- Readers Guide
- QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
- About the Author
- What’s next onyour reading list?
His chance to meet people who’d see how curious and willing his horses were, instead of frowning like his uncle and saying his way took too long. People whose hands wouldn’t tighten on their purse straps when they saw him, their eyes dropping to the sidewalk too fast to catch his friendly smile.
He hadn’t expected the change to happen overnight, though, and he hadn’t won himself any ground by arguing with Bill at the rodeo. He already had an uphill climb to endure with whatever conclusions Bill had drawn about LJ: whether they were because of the color of his skin or the fact that the older man’s head barely came up to his shoulder and Bill was used to being the top dog on his own ranch. Or maybe because he was a man in his twenties, like Andra’s attacker must have been.
The problem was that when somebody treated him differently, he could never be entirely sure what part of him it was they didn’t like, so it always ended up feeling like all of him.
LJ started down the hallway. His mama hadn’t raised a coward, even if his toes fidgeted with every step.
When Andra said her father thought she was leading LJ on, the old anger had boiled in his chest, and he hadn’t cared about his new start. He cared that she believed he had something different to offer. But if he didn’t convince her father of the same, he wouldn’t be around long enough to see if he could prove her right. And back home, he was going nowhere.
LJ stopped in front of the fourth room on the left, his hands flexing at his sides. He balled one into a fist and used it to knock on the door.
A low chuckle sounded from beyond. “Stacia, if you tempt me with one more piece of that blueberry pie, the only horse that’ll be able to carry me is a Clydesdale.”
LJ opened the door. “Not Stacia.” He stood tall, trying not to think about the price of the thick rug he stood on. “I was hoping you might have a minute free so we could talk.”
Bill Lawler stared at him from over the top of plastic drugstore reading glasses. Slowly, he swung his chair away from the desktop monitor so he faced the door. “Why don’t you have a seat.” He pulled off his glasses and tossed them onto the desk.
Bookcases lined the room, most of them stuffed with old ledger books, vet manuals, and trophies. So many of the latter they were crammed in by layers instead of displayed one by one. Atop each one, golden horses gleamed tauntingly.