Read How to Handle a Cowboy for Free Online Page B

eyes narrowed to slits. Joshua turned away from the spider he’d been watching and looked up at Ridge then set his face carefully in that exact same mulish expression, doubling the amount of male disgust aimed at Sierra.
    Flinging up her hands, she turned away. “Why don’t you go back to your ranch and rope some cows or something?”
    She took a few steps away, taking a turn with Josh’s spider. She didn’t know why Ridge’s refusal to help felt like a betrayal or why her eyes were tearing up.
    Oh, yes she did. Back there in the closet, she’d felt a stirring that told her coming to Wynott might not be a death sentence for her love life after all. And that had made her happy and hopeful, despite the fact that she’d been hoping Wynott would kill her love life. The little town’s empty streets were supposed to be a sanctuary, not a sentence. You couldn’t make relationship mistakes when there was nobody to have a relationship with.
    But Ridge Cooper was different from any man she’d ever met.
    Nothing’s going to hurt you. Not while I’m around.
    She knew she could take care of herself. But if she had a man who said that kind of thing and really meant it, she’d be able to step out into the world more confidently. She’d have backup, and that would make her braver.
    Turning away from the spider, which was disgusting anyway, she joined Josh and Ridge. The man had knelt down to look the boy in the eye. He’d put his dirty old hat back on, and looking down at his broad shoulders hunched over the boy, she felt a twinge of tenderness that surprised her.
    â€œGood job being a man, Josh.” Ridge tousled the fine, blond hair. “Men keep their promises.”
    Joshua turned and blessed Ridge with a radiant smile, hero worship shining in his eyes.
    Tears stung behind her eyes again and she wished, for the umpteenth time, that she could shut off her emotions. Most nights she went to bed feeling wrung out like an old dishcloth. She’d been in police work for three years, social work for four, and if she didn’t toughen up, she wouldn’t make it through the fifth.
    Blinking fast, she scanned the street again. Find the boys . That was priority number one.
    â€œHey.” Ridge nudged the side of her high-heeled boots with his toe. To her surprise, his mulish expression had softened. “Keeping promises matters to me. Especially with kids. I couldn’t let that go.”
    â€œI get it,” she said. “Let’s just find them, or we won’t have any kids left to make promises to.”
    â€œIf I was them, I’d go to the Mini Mart.” Ridge turned to Josh. “They got ice cream there?”
    â€œYep. And sodas.” The kid turned his worshipful gaze back to the cowboy. “They got beer too, if you want some.”
    Sierra winced. She’d read Joshua’s file, and the cowboy was dead right about the promise breaking. The kid’s dad hung on longer than the mom, but he’d been a mean drunk who took out his heartbreak over his marriage on his own child. It made her burn inside just to think of it. With his pale skin, small frame, and big glasses, Joshua was about as helpless a victim as you could find.
    â€œYou think your buds are having ice cream or soda?” Ridge asked.
    â€œNeither,” the kid said eagerly. “They’re down behind the junk shop, playing in the cars.” The second he said it, he clapped his hand over his mouth. Tears sprang to his eyes. “I told,” he said. “I wasn’t supposed to tell.”
    â€œWell, I kind of tricked you, so that doesn’t count.” Ridge ruffled the boy’s hair in an easy, fatherly way. “You did your best, right?”
    â€œYeah.” Joshua nodded, but he looked miserable, and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “Just stupid.”
    â€œYou’re not stupid. I’m sneaky, that’s