The Rancher's Return by Kathy Douglass

Author:Kathy Douglass
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-11-22T15:23:53+00:00

* * *

“What are we going to do today?” Elias asked.

Raven sighed. This was so unlike her son. Generally he found ways to entertain himself. He was either helping her father or reading. Kenny had gone to visit his grandparents on the last day of school and would be there until the end of the week. Elias had other friends, but most of them lived in town, an hour away from the ranch. The youth center had a lot of activities for kids, but again it was in town. Raven didn’t like the idea of leaving him at the youth center all day, but it didn’t make sense to spend two hours in the car if he was only going to spend a few hours there.

“What do you want to do?” He was old enough to come up with ideas of how to occupy himself.

“I was thinking we could go for a horseback ride. We haven’t done that in a long time.”

His definition of a long time differed from hers. They’d gone riding just last week. But since she did enjoy riding with him, she didn’t quibble. She could fit in a ride and still get her work done. “That sounds like a plan. Get changed and meet me in the stables in fifteen minutes.”

Elias was dashing from the room before she’d finished her sentence. He was just as crazy about riding his horse as he was about superheroes. He’d grown bored of riding on the acres near the house, but he was too young for her to consider letting him ride to the far reaches of the ranch by himself.

She rummaged through the refrigerator and pulled out leftover fried chicken and cold cuts. In under ten minutes she put together a large lunch then met Elias in the stables. He’d saddled Evening Dream as well as his horse, Dark Knight, and was holding them by the reins.

As they mounted their horses she asked, “Which way do you want to ride today?”

He didn’t hesitate but pointed toward the Cordero ranch. “That way.”

She hadn’t ridden that way since the night she’d forced her heart to say goodbye to Donovan. Of course, that goodbye had turned out to have been a bit premature. She wondered if her letting go of Donovan and his unexpected return were somehow linked. She shook her head. That was a crazy idea.

“Why not?”

“What? Oh, I wasn’t saying no to you. That’s a good idea. Let’s go.”

As they went, Raven took time to actually look at the ranch. It really was beautiful. She might be biased, but their ranch was the most scenic in all of North Carolina. The grass was a deep shade of green and the trees were mature, filled with thousands of leaves. There was nothing but untouched beauty as far as the eye could see.

After about twenty minutes they came upon several deer drinking from a stream. A ranch kid used to being exposed to nature, Elias stopped talking so as not to startle them.

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