Home on the Ranch--Colorado Rancher by Patricia Potter

Author:Patricia Potter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2019-06-07T13:59:15+00:00

Chapter 10

Lauren tore herself away from the window and went into the kitchen.

It was bustling.

Betty was baking something that smelled wonderful and a woman she didn’t know was busy filling thermoses with coffee and soup.

“Care packages for the drovers,” Sally explained. “The black thermoses are filled with coffee, the red ones with chicken soup. Darn almanac was wrong. It said no rain today.” She turned to the woman next to her. “Meet Ann, Chet’s wife. Ann, meet Lauren.”

“Hi,” Ann said. “I’m glad to meet you, although not this way. Chet’s talked a lot about you.”

“Ann!” Sally cut her off quickly. “Are you through with that bunch of sandwiches?”

“I am,” Ann said. “And I’m going into the dining room to sit down.” She grinned at Lauren. “I’m pregnant.”

“That’s wonderful,” Lauren said. “Congratulations.”

When she left, Sally lowered her voice. “She’s going to stay in one of the rooms upstairs tonight. We don’t want her alone tonight during the storm.”

“How bad is it?”

“Real bad. The winter feeding pasture they’ll move the cattle to isn’t close, and they have to go through some rough areas, and calves have a habit of wandering off. Keeping them together is the hard part. The thunder and lightning don’t help.”

“Chet and Reese seem close.” It was more a statement than a question.

“They are. Chet was born here. Chet’s father worked for our father. The boys grew up together. They’re closer than a lot of brothers I know. Chet and Ann have a house on a creek about half a mile from here.”

“And Chet’s father?”

She shrugged.

Lauren guessed that wasn’t a happy subject. “Reese asked me to look after the kids tomorrow.”

“They’re fine for tonight, thanks to you,” Sally said. “It’s tomorrow that’s the problem. They were really looking forward to the mustangs tomorrow, but that’s out of the question now. So is any riding. Every one of our hands is doing double duty now and we can’t spare any of them to teach or be there for safety reasons.”

“I’ll come up with something,” Lauren said. She just didn’t know what. She’d used the poker card. She didn’t think another day of poker would be much of a worthy pastime. Neither did she think the boys would enjoy a day of Scrabble or playing other card games when ranch hands were outside in driving rain trying to save cattle.

Lauren finally got up and went upstairs. It had been a far longer day than she’d anticipated when she left Covenant Falls early this morning.

She took a long, hot shower, then dropped into bed, but the rain pounding against the windows and the intermittent lightning kept her mind on the men slogging through the weather, particularly one in a yellow duster.

Sleep didn’t come easily. Reese’s kiss was still engraved in her thoughts, and the faces of two men kept popping in and out. How could she have feelings for one when those for the other were still alive?

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