Rancher's Twins: Mom Needed by Barbara Hannay

Author:Barbara Hannay
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2011-09-19T04:00:00+00:00

It shouldn’t have been so much fun—working hard and staying up till nearly midnight to get the last rainbow stripe in place. Holly enjoyed every second of the project.

Early in the evening, while the undercoat was drying, Gray boiled a billy on a small gas ring and made tea. He had milk and sugar in a battered old cooler and even a packet of cookies.

They sat on rickety camping stools in the middle of the messy shed, drinking sweet hot tea from chipped enamel mugs and eating cookies.

‘Yum,’ Holly said as she helped herself to a second one.

‘Good to see a girl with an appetite.’ Gray took a second cookie as well. ‘Chelsea was always so careful about what she ate.’

‘All dancers seem to diet. They’re very strong-willed,’ she suggested.

‘Obsessed,’ Gray said tightly.

Holly now knew better than to pursue this sensitive topic. After all, she’d come here to hold out an olive branch.

Smiling, she said brightly, ‘So tell me, Gray, does your hat still fit?’

He looked at her with puzzled amusement. ‘Last time I tried it. Why?’

‘Janet and Ted have both been praising you to the skies this week and I thought you might have a swelled head.’

Looking down at the curls of shaved wood on the floor, he shrugged. ‘That pair are biased.’

‘Maybe, but they’re not easily hoodwinked. They told me you’re a brilliant cattleman, highly respected and looked up to by others in your industry. Ted said that when you took over the reins here ten years ago, you dramatically improved the carrying capacity and diversified the cattle breeds. And you placed yourself at the cutting edge of land management and water conservation.’

Gray was staring hard at his mug. ‘Sounds a bit grand when you put it like that, but when I’m out, driving around, I listen to a lot of agricultural radio programmes. It’s a good way to learn things.’

‘According to Ted, you hoard all that info in your brilliant memory and then put it into practice.’ Holly smiled. ‘He also said you’re fantastic with figures. He called you a human calculator.’

Gray shrugged again. ‘That man has far too much to say. I’m not paying him to gasbag.’ His eyes flashed a cheeky challenge. ‘And why are you trying to flatter me?’

‘I’m not flattering you. I’m giving you positive feedback. You can blame my teacher training.’

‘Yeah, right.’ He gave a smiling shake of his head. ‘But shouldn’t we be working out how we’re going to paint these rainbow walls?’

They decided on a plan. They would start at the top with orange just beneath the red roof, then progress downwards through blue and purple to finish with green at the base.

With the plan settled and the undercoat dry, they got back to work. After a short trial run, Gray admitted that Holly could produce the most even spray paint finish, so they agreed that he should hold up the cardboard shield for her.

As they worked, she engaged him in safe topics—mostly about the twins and their first week of school.

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