The Doctor's Cowboy by Trish Milburn

Author:Trish Milburn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-09-25T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Chloe reached the end of the hallway just as Owen asked, “Why does it smell like flowers in here?”

“Because I took a bath.” She thumped the front of his hat, nearly tipping it off his head, as she walked past him toward the kitchen. “You should try it sometime.”

“I bathe. Just not going to come out smelling like flowers. You got a hot date or something?”

She ignored him, but he followed her as Garrett and her dad filed in behind him.

“And if you’re going out, who’s cooking dinner?”

She stopped and turned back toward him, causing Owen to pull up short and the others to almost run into the back of him. “I’m not going out, but even if I was it wouldn’t hurt you to slap together a sandwich.”

When she spun and continued into the kitchen, she heard Owen mutter, “What’s gotten into her?”

Chloe entered the kitchen in time to see Wyatt scraping hard to get something out of a skillet. Okay, that didn’t look promising. Still, she’d give him the benefit of the doubt. He was trying to help even though she would be happier if he took it easy. She supposed that might be too much to ask for, however.

“Um, you put the hurt guy to work?”

Wyatt looked at Owen. “No, I volunteered. Earn my keep.”

“That wasn’t necessary, son.”

Something about how her dad called Wyatt “son” made Chloe feel as if Wyatt had shifted a little more firmly into the picture she was getting used to seeing in her family kitchen. It was strange, and dangerous, how easily that had happened. If she knew what was good in the long run, for all of them, she’d make a stronger effort to keep her distance.

“I’m not one for sitting around doing nothing and not paying my own way.”

Her dad nodded once in understanding because he was much the same. It hit Chloe just how much they were alike—hardworking, self-sufficient and with a good dose of stubbornness thrown in.

As her dad and brothers washed their hands in the kitchen sink, Chloe moved to help Wyatt, only to have him wave her toward the table. Not wanting to dispel her good mood from the bath by arguing, she took her seat, followed quickly by the rest of her family.

When Wyatt put a bowl of what appeared to be mashed potatoes on the table, Chloe bit down on a twinge of worry. It looked as if Wyatt had done battle with the potatoes and they’d won. But looks didn’t always matter with food. It was the taste that counted. Next came a bowl of beets he’d gotten from one of the cans in the pantry. Finally, he placed a plate of fried chicken on the table. She spotted a few charred spots, but she pretended as though she didn’t see them.

With all the food now on the table, Wyatt slid onto his chair. Chloe could tell he was wiped out, that he’d probably done too much. Damn fool man.

They started passing around the food, and she realized just how hungry she was.

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