The Marriage Badge by Sharon De Vita

Author:Sharon De Vita
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 2000-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

It was seriously dark and very late by the time Colt let himself in the back door of the sprawling Blackwell Ranch. He’d stayed on at the construction site of the Home later than usual just to be certain everyone would be gone by the time he got home.

Something he’d been doing for more than a week now in an effort to keep his distance from the doc.

The moment the kitchen door shut behind him, he smelled it, and groaned. There was no disguising that smell. He should have known. Sadie and her traditions.

Christmas trees.

The whole house reeked of pine. On the Friday, two weeks before Christmas, Sadie started her annual tradition of preparing the house for the holiday.

Grateful now that he’d stayed at the site late, Colt walked into the kitchen, flipped on a light, and pulled a beer out of the fridge, deliberately avoiding looking at the large decorated tree sitting in the corner of the big family kitchen and the twinkling lights that cast a soft amber glow throughout the room.

“Did you have any dinner?” Sadie asked with a scowl, marching into the kitchen to snatch the bottle of beer out of his hand just as he tipped the bottle back to take a drink. “No drinking until you’ve eaten. You know my rules.”

Although Sadie’s age was a closely guarded secret, she still looked to him the same as she had the day he’d arrived on the Blackwells’ doorsteps.

Short and stout as a fireplug, with steel gray hair pulled back neatly into a bun, and snappy blue eyes that could freeze you on the spot, Sadie never seemed to change. She always wore a print house-dress covered by a crisp, freshly pressed and starched apron, and always smelled like vanilla.

Colt looked longingly at the beer. “Come on, Sadie,” he wheedled, reaching for the beer, only to have her slap his hand away. “I just left the Home, and I didn’t have time to eat. I put in almost twenty hours today. One beer on an empty stomach isn’t going to kill me.”

She paused and took a long, slow look at him. “You look like hell, boy. I didn’t raise you to be a fool, working yourself night and day, not eating. What is the matter with you?” Planting her hands on her ample hips, she narrowed her gaze on him. “And why aren’t you out partying with your brothers? You guys aren’t fighting again, are you?” She shook her head. “’Cuz if you are, big as you are, I’ll take a switch to you, I will.”

Grinning, he shook his head. It was an idle threat Sadie had been making for as long as he could remember.

“Course not, although I was tempted to deck Cutter this afternoon, but I managed to restrain myself.”

“Humph.” Cocking her head, she gave him a measured look. “So why aren’t you out with ’em? Not like you to pass up a good time. You ailing, boy?” She took a step forward, stood on tiptoe and placed a hand to his forehead, checking for fever the way she had when he was a boy.

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