Romancing the Grumpy Rancher by Tamlyn Black

Author:Tamlyn Black
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tamlyn Black
Published: 2023-09-04T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

The dogs both jumped up from where they lay on the rug in front of the crackling fire. Lic ran to the door, tail wagging, and the puppy shook and danced alongside her. Savannah couldn’t hear anything other the rain and wind, so she hoped whatever they’d heard was friendly and wouldn’t want to come inside. Matthew’s warning about bears and other predators that might like to take a bite out of her rang in her ear. She put her glass of wine on the table next to the sofa and got up to check the door was secured.

The cabin was sturdy enough to keep uninvited guests outside, and if push came to shove, there was the rifle hanging on one of the walls a few steps away. Savannah prayed that if something did want to get into the cabin, it would scare off easily enough. She only hoped she wouldn’t have to fire the weapon in order to do that.

Finally, Savannah heard what had the dogs on alert. The sound of an ATV was faint but recognizable through the rain hitting the cabin’s roof. Being so far from civilization and cell service, Savannah almost wished it were a bear rather than a person. Who would be coming up here now in this weather? The cabin was on Riverside land, and Olivia said she would have the place to herself.

Lic’s tail wagging intensified, and she scratched at the door and gave a little whine as the ATV’s engine stopped. There was no noise except for the sound of rain and wind for what felt like a few minutes but couldn’t have been longer than a few seconds. For a moment, Savannah wondered if she should get the rifle down from where it hung on the wall, but Lic’s impatience and enthusiasm to get outside convinced her whoever was on the other side of the cabin door was a friend. Just as she went to unhitch the latch, there was a pounding on the door, and Matthew’s voice called out her name.

“He doesn’t sound all that friendly,” she whispered to Lic, who was now dancing on the spot, clearly impatient for her to let him in.

She opened the door on a very muddy and wet and grumpy-looking Matthew. A gust of cold air almost snatched the door from her hand. The temperature must have dropped forty degrees since she arrived. Water ran from the brim of his hat and the small knapsack he had over one shoulder. Lic sniffed at his hand and seemed to think better of brushing up against him. The puppy showed no such qualms, ran to him, and leapt up at him. Matthew pushed the dog down with his free hand and stepped just inside the door while Savannah nudged the dogs in and closed the cold weather outside.

Matthew dropped his knapsack and began to peel off his soaking-wet jacket while kicking off his mud-caked boots. The shirt he wore beneath the jacket wasn’t muddy, but it was still wet through, and Savannah wondered how long he had been out in the cold rain.

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