How to Catch a Cowboy (Riverrun Ranch Book 3) by Karen Foley

Author:Karen Foley [Foley, Karen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, romance
ISBN: 9781952560231
Publisher: Tule Publishing
Published: 2020-06-17T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Thunder rolled overhead, deep and rumbling. Standing on the terrace, Holt watched as lightning briefly illuminated the night sky. A breeze had kicked up, stirring the branches in the live oaks and cypress that surrounded the house. The storm would be on them soon. In between lightning strikes, the night was unrelentingly black.

“We’re in for a doozy,” observed Evan, who stood beside him with a beer in one hand. “You were right about moving the herds up to the high pasture this morning.”

“They should be fine,” Holt assured him. The high pastures had several three-sided shelters and they’d installed lightning rods, which would draw any strikes safely away from the cattle. “This will move through and blow over tonight.”

Another crack of thunder split the air, and Evan jumped. “Damn, but that sounded like it was on top of us.”

“I’m going to check on the momma cows,” Holt said. “I don’t need them getting spooked and injuring themselves.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

Hearing the reluctance in Evan’s voice, Holt grinned. Evan hated thunderstorms. At least he no longer hid in his closet as he’d done when he was a child, but Holt wouldn’t ask him to come down to the barns, not when there was a good likelihood they could be caught in a deluge. Even Sam had disappeared, as he usually did when a storm came up.

“No, I’ve got it covered.”

“Excellent. I’ll go through the house and close up the windows,” Evan offered.

Three days had passed since Holt and Jessie had grabbed coffee together in town. Tonight was her night off, but she’d left all the fixings for grilled burgers, as well as a batch of homemade potato salad and chocolate moon pies with a thick, creamy filling for dessert. Holt had thrown the burgers onto the grill for himself, Evan, and Gus, but realized he hadn’t seen Jessie since lunch. He didn’t know if she was still on the ranch, or if she’d gone out for the evening.

As reluctant as he was to admit it, even to himself, they had turned a corner in their relationship since they’d had coffee together in town. He no longer avoided her at mealtimes, and she seemed less nervous when he was around. He looked forward to seeing her throughout the day and realized he’d missed her at dinner that night. He wished he knew where she was at the moment.

“Have you seen Jessie?”

Evan shook his head. “Nope. The last time I saw her was this afternoon. She was heading out to visit Rosa-Maria. Do you want me to check and see if she’s returned?”

Holt told himself he wasn’t worried about her. She was a grown woman, as Emmaline had pointed out. Besides, he didn’t need to give Evan the wrong idea about himself and Jessie. “No, thanks. I think she knows the generator will kick in if this thing knocks out the power.”

Another deafening crack of thunder caused them both to look upward. “Yep, that’s my cue to go check the windows,” Evan said.

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