The Cowboy SEAL's Challenge by Julianna Morris

Author:Julianna Morris
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-03-02T16:31:50+00:00

* * *

SAUL DIDN’T MEET Anna Beth’s perceptive gaze. She couldn’t know the nights he hadn’t slept, all too aware he’d be responsible if his grandson got killed in a war before he even came of age.

“What else do you want to know about Celina?” he asked, hoping Anna Beth wouldn’t ask about Jordan. She’d come to her own conclusions, no matter what he said, and his grandson must have given her an earful. But the truth was, he hadn’t been able to handle knowing he’d failed Jordan and had hoped the navy would give him something better.

“What do you want to tell me?”

Saul thought about it. “After our daughter started school, Celina wanted to learn how to pull a calf. I was teaching her when she got sick.”

“You mean helping a cow deliver her baby. Do you need to do that very often?”

“Often enough, and more with heifers. That’s a first-time mother. Longhorns don’t have much trouble calving, but I can’t see having them on the Soaring Hawk. Let ’em stay in Texas.”

He went on reminiscing about his wife, saying things he’d kept in his heart since she was first diagnosed with leukemia. Things he hadn’t even told Paige. How good Celina had been, how patient and brave, how he’d started missing her before she was gone and wished he had made the days they’d had together count for more.

Anna Beth kept working, nodding periodically and throwing out an occasional question. She’d already painted the high ceiling and two of the walls with impressive efficiency. He mused that a woman like her would have been a good partner on the ranch, a thought that seemed disloyal. Not that Celina had wanted him to remain alone; she’d urged him to remarry so their little girl would have a mother.

Celina would have liked his jailor and laughed at the way she kept putting him in his place.

“You haven’t said anything for over five minutes,” Anna Beth commented, breaking into his thoughts. “You can’t have run out of things to talk about.”

“I told you the most important parts.” Saul felt at peace for the first time in a long while. Anna Beth was a good listener. “I’ve signed a paper for Jordan to show employees, saying he’s in charge. Maybe you could take it to him when he gets back.”

“You need to take it to him yourself.”

Saul sighed. “My grandson doesn’t want to see me.”

“He would if you tell him about Paige’s phone call yesterday.”

That was true. Jordan’s feelings toward Paige were a mystery, but he seemed fond of Mishka. He might want to hear how the little one’s medical appointments had gone.

Saul got up. “I’m going to sit on the porch. You have paint on your nose.”

Anna Beth’s chuckle followed him through most of the house.

She had a good sense of humor for a jailor.

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