Baby Fever_A Billionaire Secret Baby Romance by Brooke Valentine

Author:Brooke Valentine [Valentine, Brooke]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PPI
Published: 2018-05-14T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Modern-day ranches have much in common with the ranches of western lore. Oh, the conveniences are new: running water and electricity; motor vehicles; access to computers, cell phones, and the like; strains of cattle vastly improved by breeding and immunization.

On the whole, however, outbuildings remain the same. There are the cow sheds and the machinery sheds, the stable, various corrals for various purposes, pastures spreading out to the horizon of God’s green earth, a combination bunkhouse, kitchen, and dining hall for employees (complete now with television, air-conditioning, extra-large bathroom, stereo equipment, and laptops plugged into Wi-Fi). Most places even boast an in-ground pool of magnificent proportions.

“Are you up for a walk?” Ben wanted to know of Caroline, as they emerged from the family room’s back door onto the terrace.

“I don’t know. How many miles are you talking about?”

“Maybe a quarter or so. You can see the barn from here.”

Sophie had already skipped happily ahead, with Tom following along in that deceptive cowboy stroll that simply ate up the distance. Pausing, Caroline plopped her ball cap down over her hair and pulled it firmly into place.

“Huh. Nice hat,” Ben, surveying it, said with disparagement.

“What’s wrong with my hat?”

Another challenge. Damn. Was there no end to the challenges she issued?

“You’re living on a ranch now, lady. You need yourself a gen-u-wine Stetson.”

“Indeed. Will you have Marilou pick one up at the nearest Cavender’s?” she blurted out, before giving the thought a chance to percolate through her brain and halt short its being uttered.

Astonished, he stopped dead to stare at her. “Well, maybe I will. What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing. I’m sorry, my remark was entirely uncalled for.” And made her appear a jaundiced, distrustful, snaggle-toothed harpy. “All right, tell me about what we’ll be seeing on today’s tour.”

Lips thinned by annoyance, he lifted one disdainful shoulder. “I thought it would be good for you to know your way around, to have an idea what’s where, to meet whoever happens to be around at the moment.”

“Sophie and I have been taking walks,” she told him, anxious to make amends, “back that way, into your beautiful timber.” The sweep of her arm pointed the direction. “I hope that’s all right.”

“Whatever’s good for Sophie is all right with me. You don’t have to ask permission, Carrie. You have a right to be here, to do what you want. You’re my wife.”

What exactly does that word entail? she wanted to snap at him, irritated anew by his cavalier attitude. And was then just as irritated by her own reaction. Perhaps she needed some anger management classes, before she turned into a complete shrew.

Head lowered, gaze fixed on her sneakers scuffing through the graveled drive, she was wondering how badly she would have to screw up before he called this experiment a failure and tossed her out on her keister.

“It’s shady,” she finally volunteered into the silence.

“Yeah, it is. Grandpop chose a good site.”

Animal sounds from the distance reached them: an occasional lowing from cattle in their fields, a whicker or whinny from moving horses, the startling caw of a crow flying overhead.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.