This Time for Keeps by Maureen Child

Author:Maureen Child [Child, Maureen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Author Published
Published: 2012-12-05T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

"Will ya lookee there," Red Taylor said, then whistled, low and long.

Seth frowned at him. The laziest man in three counties, Red snatched at every opportunity to quit working. Why Seth just didn't fire the man, he couldn't have said. Except that when Red finally did decide to sweat a little, there wasn't a better horseman in Montana.

"Get back to work," he muttered, not even bothering to turn and see what had captured the other man's attention. The kid still had to finish packing the wagon and Seth wasn't about to let the cowhand forget it.

"Yes, sir, boss," Red said with a grin that made him look like a freckled jack-o'-lantern. "But you ought to see what I see."

Sighing, Seth glanced over his shoulder toward the main house. His stomach twisted into knots immediately and his heart pounded violently in his chest.

Nora. She'd cut her hair. Instead of a long, thick braid hanging across one shoulder, her shining black hair fell in loose, graceful waves that ended just below her jawline. By this time, he shouldn't have been surprised at anything she did. But he was.

His gaze swept over her quickly, thoroughly. Those jeans of hers seemed to be shrinking. They hugged her well-shaped legs and pulled tight across her hips and bottom. Her white cotton shirt was tucked into the waistband of her pants and her boots were already looking well worn. She walked purposefully, no small, dainty steps for this Nora. And yet, she managed to be more enticing than a woman draped in silks, slowly crossing a ballroom.

He reached up and tugged the brim of his hat lower over his eyes, hoping to hide his reaction to her.

"Ain't she somethin’!” Red whispered to no one in particular.

Seth flashed him a quick look, scowled, and muttered, “Why don't you get saddled up and go help Vance ride fence on the upper range?”

"Dad burn it," Red grumbled. "Boss, you know Vance don't need any help and won't want it from me anyhow."

True enough. In fact, most of the hands didn't have the patience to deal with Red's youth.

"B'sides," Red added in a last-ditch attempt to avoid riding fence, "if I'm out with Vance, I won't be around to go with ya on your cow hunt."

Seth's mouth tightened as he shot the kid a quick look.

"It's not a cow hunt," he said, disgusted. "It's a cow count."

Red laughed and shook his head. "She sure is somethin', ain't she?"

That she was. In the short time the new Nora had been around, she had half the men on the ranch trippin' on their tongues whenever she walked by. Why, he'd even heard her talking to J.T. about joining their weekly poker game when she got back from this damned trip of hers.

He glanced at the boy beside him again. True. Richard had said that he would drive the wagon so there was really no need to have Red along. But Seth would feel better with one more pair of hands to count on.

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