Page 68 of The Cowboy's Bullfighter
“Oh.” Damn. Well, he would just have to wait the oh, twenty seconds, he guessed.
“Here we go.” The guy got out, and Brooks thought he should have asked his name. “Do you need me to help prepare some stalls?”
“I did that while the kids were making cookies,” Coop said, walking up to meet them. “So, let’s do this so you can get to Boulder to see your sister, Ted.”
“Oh, the boss told you, huh?” The guy grinned. “Should have known he would tell you all, Mr. Adams.”
“I appreciate you driving them up.”
Brooks glanced back and forth between them. “What the heck is going on?”
“I have a friend who raises cutting horses down in Texas. He sent a couple of his stock up for you.”
“To breed?” His eyebrows went up.
“Nah, to keep,” Ted said. “Though they are a breeding pair.”
Once the gate opened and the mare was out… He sucked in his breath. “Holy shit. Look at her.”
The mare had perfect conformation for a cutting horse, and she was a gorgeous roan color with a few white markings.
The stallion was—Well, words failed him there.
“Coop. How did you do this?”
“Oh, you know. Harry is retiring next year, and neither one of his kids give a hoot for horses. So he’s going to sell most of his stock, but these were his two favorites. So he gave me a good deal since you’re just starting your own stable, and he liked the idea of someone using his prize pair to do that. They won’t just disappear into some rich asshole’s bloodline.”
Brooks stared at the pair, then shook off his shock. These two needed to be in the barn, and he needed to get the heat on in there, just on super low. They would have to adjust to the cold up here nice and easy if they’d come from Texas.
“Merry Christmas, Brooks. Here’s the papers and all.”
Brooks blinked at Coop, just about stupid. He’d been given a lot of gifts over the years, but this was absolutely stunning. “Merry Christmas. I?—”
He grabbed Coop, kissed him, good and hard, then let him go. “I got to get these babies inside.”
“Pansy and Max. Have fun.”
“Oh, I will. Lord have mercy.” He beamed at Coop, then started with Pansy. She was so damn pretty, and she was well-formed to have babies, nothing delicate about her. Coop stayed with Max, as Ted had unloaded and headed off with the trailer post-haste.
The other horses whinnied and called, desperate to meet the new guys.
Pansy pranced, clearly eager as well. “You only have to stay in quarantine a few days, lady. I bet your old owner had all the tests and shots you needed to cross state lines.”
She bobbed her head, as if she were agreeing with him, hooves clicking as she danced.
He put her in her stall, then started the heater system he’d put in place. It was solar, which he was super proud of. Coop had let him have carte blanche, even offering to help finance things.
Then he went back for Mr. Max.
Lucy was sitting on the fence, watching Max with wide eyes. “He’s awful pretty, isn’t he?”
“He is. I don’t know his temperament yet, though, so you need to stay up there, right now, okay?”
She chuckled and nodded. “That’s what Uncle Coop said.”
“Stallions can be a little picky about company,” Coop murmured.
“That they can. Once I get him in a stall, you can come meet Miss Pansy, okay? She seems to be a dollbaby.”
