Cowboy Mine (3B Ranch Series) Book 1

4

**** Beau pulled Kitt, his huge white stallion up short and watched as none other than Drina Skylard stepped out of the large SUV. Rowdy, as usual pulled up beside Beau and Kitt to greet the new vacationers.

When Rowdy's cellphone buzzed, he looked at the screen and grimaced. "Mmm, somethin's goin' on the arena... Ava is needin' help. She askin' for Topper and I  get over there."

Beau, eyebrows raised, nodded, "Ok, but I would prefer that Topper stay here. Let me know if you need back up." Rowdy nodded, winked and grinned at the pink faced girl and loped off toward the ranch and the large arena. He turned back and watched Miss Skylard and three of the cutest kids he had ever seen follow her depart from the SUV. All three looked to be nine or ten years old. The boys jumped out and immediately began looking around, huge smiles on their faces. The girl, slid out of the truck with an enthusiasm that was much more controlled. She looked excited, yet more than a bit nervous and was all eyes; big, dark eyes. A look of comprehension accompanied a small smile as she watched Rowdy ride away.

She pulled on Drina's arm, "That's one of the cowboys that rode beside us." she whispered, as she watched the red haired cowboy ride away .

Beau watched a big silver Chevy Silverado pull up behind them, hauling an impressive four horse trailer.

"Not a bad lookin' rig." he admired aloud to himself.

As the boss, Beau preferred to meet and greet the new guests himself when possible. He felt it was up to him and/or Rowdy to get a feel of the personalities as they came, and to help get them settled into their cabins. The ranch offered riding lessons for beginners which were usually run by his sister Eve as she was sometimes called, and their helicopter pilot, Topper. In special cases however, Beau or Rowdy stepped in personally. They liked to see for themselves how everyone, particularly kids reacted around the horses.

* * *

Kaylee grabbed her big sister's hand with a loud gasp of shock. She had just realized who the cowboy coming their way was. Drina looked down and noticed that Kaylee, Kyle and Eli were all staring down the long drive. She looked up and saw the biggest, toughest, sexiest man she had ever seen cantering their way. Her jaw nearly dropped when it hit her just who the man was. She knew he was a part owner of the 3B, but it hadn't occured to her that he would actually take part in it.

* * *

Beau pulled Kitt to a stop and tipped his hat. "Howdy, folks." he drawled while dismounting. "Welcome to the 3B Ranch, where y'all come in as Greenhorns and leave as genu-ine Cowpokes. My name is...."

He never had a chance to finish when Eli and the twins all squeaked out his name, huge grins on their faces. "Beau Blanton!" They cried excitedly.

Beau, pleased at their recognition and exuberance, gave them all a smile and shook their hands formally. "And who might you be?" He asked.

Kyle stepped forward and hooked his thumbs through his belt loops, a mirror image of Beau's stance.

"My name is Kyle, this is my sister Kaylee, we're twins, and this is my best friend Eli." He pointed to the big truck, "That's Riley, she's Eli's mom and Ben, he's Eli's step-dad. They're newly weds so they spend a lot of time doing kissy face and huggin' and holdin' hands."

He turned slightly and thumbed toward his older sister, "This is Drina, she's older than us an she's our half sister, but we don't pay no attention to the half part. She's our guardian too, since our mom and dad died in a plane crash. Our dad wasn't really her dad. She had a different one," (thumbing again toward Drina) "but we all had the same mom. She was married to both our dads, but not at the same time. Drina's sort of like a mom now 'ceptin she'd have to adopt us to be that, an we all like the guardian thing cause that way we all still only have one mom an' we don't think we could get used to callin' her mom any hows. Drina's famous like you only she don't ride bulls, just horses. She sings and plays a bunch of instruments like the guitar, violin, and a piano. She makes lots of recordings and personal appearances." Kyle took a huge breath and nodded his head once.