Home Is Where Hank Is (Cowboys To The Rescue 1) by Martha Shields Page A

minute. I’ve seen catalogs around the house. Boots are over a hundred dollars, and those are the cheap ones. I can’t afford—”
    “You don’t have to. I’m buying.”
    “What? Oh, no, you aren’t. You’ve already advanced me enough to pay for my car. I’ll be so far in the hole I’ll never be able to leave.” Her eyes narrowed. “Or is that your plan? You thinking of bringing back indentured servitude?”
    Hank felt his jaw tighten at her accusation. “This isn’t an advance.”
    She crossed her arms over her stomach. “I told you, I don’t take charity.”
    He cursed under his breath. Now that she’d told him about the orphanage, he knew why. And he didn’t blame her. But she needed these boots, and he was dead set on buying them for her. “This isn’t charity. You’ve earned them by doing more than your share of work around the house. Even if you hadn’t, you’ll pay me back when you feed me and my men on the trail drive. But you can’t feed us unless you learn to ride. And you can’t learn to ride with those crummy little shoes you wore the other day.”
    Her chin rose a notch. “I did okay. You said so yourself.”
    “Yes, but you were on the gentlest mount at the Garden. What will you do when you’ve got a horse that won’t go faster than a rough trot? You’ve got to be able to put some pressure on it, and you can’t do that with those shoes.”
    “Then I’ll ride Maisy all the time.”
    He shook his head. “Maisy’s going on twenty. She’s too old for hard work. I started you out on her because she’s gentle, but if you do any real riding, you’re going to have to use one of the other horses.”
    She continued staring at him belligerently. Though she didn’t offer any more arguments, he could see the wheels working in her head.
    Before she could voice them, he said, “I’m looking at it like another piece of tack I have to buy. It’s equipment I need to run my ranch.”
    “You don’t buy boots for any of the hands,” she pointed out.
    He shook his head. “That’s not true. I’ve bought boots for a few down-and-out cowboys over the past eight years, and I know my father did.”
    Her eyes narrowed at being lumped in with all the other charity cases. Before she could draw breath to blast his statement, he hurried on. “You wouldn’t expect to buy your own saddle, would you?”
    That took her by surprise. “No.”
    “Then what’s the difference?”
    Her face said she saw a lot of difference. “It just seems like a frivolous expense since I’ll only be using them for one trail drive.”
    He lifted a brow at still another reminder that she was leaving, but he wasn’t about to give in. “Aren’t you the one who offered to bring lunch to us when you learn to ride?”
    “Yes, but—”
    “Then you’ll use them for more than one trail drive, won’t you?”
    Alex rolled her eyes, signaling her surrender. She swung her feet around and slid to the ground. “All right, all right. But nothing fancy.”
    “Nothing cheap, either.” He closed the door to the truck. “I don’t buy equipment often, but when I do, I buy quality.”
    She placed a hand on the horseshoe that served as the door handle for the store. “Then you pick them out. I don’t know anything about boots.”
    He put his hand over hers and pulled the door open. Realizing he’d be holding her leg as he pushed on the boots, he grinned as she ducked into the store. “Darlin’, that’ll be my pleasure.”
     
    Alex wriggled her toes in her new boots as she waited by the café door for Hank to pay the check for lunch. He’d insisted she wear them today “to break them in.” She couldn’t remember owning any shoes like them. At first she found it hard to walk. The stiff brown leather came halfway up her shins, and the sole was reinforced with a steel shank so it didn’t bend. That combined with the two inch heel made her feel like she was slapping the floor with every step.
    But she had to admit they