Daddy Wore Spurs (Mills & Boon Cherish) (Men of the West, Book 32) by Stella Bagwell

Author:Stella Bagwell [Bagwell, Stella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, General, Contemporary
ISBN: 9781474002042
Google: Bc7lBwAAQBAJ
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2015-07-01T02:07:50.613000+00:00

Chapter Eight

For now we’re Harry’s parents.

Later that evening as Finn drove the three of them over the western section of the ranch, his words continued to roll through Mariah’s thoughts. To imagine the two of them as Harry’s parents, even temporary ones, was bittersweet.

As a young girl growing up without a mother, and with a father who’d been absorbed in his work, Mariah had dreamed of having a real family of her own. One that was loving and whole and could never be torn apart. When she’d met Kris during her college studies, she’d thought all those dreams were going to come true. Dark-haired and conservative in nature, he’d been the first guy who’d given her a serious glance and she’d naively fallen for his attention. Now she realized what a Pollyanna she’d been to trust him. Even more to believe in her dreams. Real families were fairy tales. At least, in her world they were.

But with Finn sitting only inches away and Harry safely ensconced in his car carrier in the backseat, she couldn’t stop herself from dreaming, or smiling.

For nearly an hour Finn drove the truck alongside a network of boundary and cross fences that were located closest to the ranch yard. Once he’d determined the repairs needed, he decided to follow a dim, overgrown road that would lead them to a portion of the ranch that ran alongside a river.

Eventually, the truck crested a small rise and a stretch of open land lay before them. In spite of the dry spring, the ground was covered with clumps of grass and long-stemmed yellow flowers that bowed with the evening breeze.

Finn braked the truck to a stop to take in the sight. “Oh, Mariah, this is awesome,” Finn declared. “I’m going to guess this is the area where your father grew alfalfa.”

She nodded. “That’s right. And about a mile on west from here is a second meadow that was used for grass hay. There’s some of the irrigation system over there.” She pointed to their left, where long pipes connected to large spoke wheels sat at the edge of the tree line. The weeds growing around the equipment revealed how long it had been sitting idle.

“Did your dad pump water from the river or is there a well around here somewhere?”

“Both. Depending on how much irrigating he wanted to do. The well is somewhere over there by the wheel line.”

“Let’s get out of the truck for a better look,” he suggested. “We’ll leave the doors open and stay right by the truck so we can keep an eye on Harry.”

“All right.”

The jostling of the truck had lulled Harry into a deep sleep. Mariah covered him with a light blanket to protect him from the cool evening air before Finn helped her to the ground.

Once they were standing together at the side of the truck, Mariah gazed around her and drank in the beauty of the nearby mountains juxtaposed with flat river land. Other than the faint sounds of insects and the rustle of leaves, a peaceful silence encompassed them.

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