The Rancher's Homecoming by Anna J. Stewart

Author:Anna J. Stewart
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2018-09-11T17:29:44+00:00

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FOR ALL THE worrying she’d done about the ranch, she didn’t expect to sleep a wink that night. So when she woke up in the first-floor guest room of the family ranch house, sunlight streaming through the pink curtained window, her foot sticking out of the covers and propped up on a mound of pillows, she wondered if she was still dreaming.

She remembered Chance waking her up multiple times, checking her vision, making sure she was coherent. Katie could only imagine the memories he had of taking care of Maura, but if he resented having to check on Katie, she didn’t see it.

She spotted the bag Chance brought from her house on the table by the window, sagging as if it had been relieved of its contents. On the nightstand beside her sat her cell phone, the small butterfly jewelry box that contained nothing more than the pearl earrings that had belonged to her mother and a solitary gold band her grandmother had worn, along with a silver-framed photo of her and Maura, taken a few months before Maura had eloped with Chance.

Katie brushed a finger down the side of the frame, smiling at the image of the two of them laughing at something ridiculous Chance had said. Or done.

Chance.

Her insides did an odd dance that had yet to find its rhythm. What was happening with him? Why did it seem as if ever since he’d come back, she saw him with different eyes? Not a sister-in-law’s eyes, not even a friend’s eyes. But a woman’s.

“Stop looking for trouble,” she whispered to herself as she heaved her leg off the pillows and over the side of the bed. Her foot immediately began throbbing, but in conjunction with her head. She groaned and bent over. The worst hangover in her life would be preferable to this. Her head spun while her stomach lurched and jumped stronger than a bucking bronc.

Katie frowned and plucked at the yellow tank top she wore, the matching striped pajama shorts. When had she put these on? She had put them on, right? She tried to remember...

The night was almost a blur, but one thing she remembered with absolute clarity was the way the brothers had rallied around her at the clinic. They’d been so protective, so concerned.

Yet she’d done nothing but lie to them—to all of them—for months. Guilt churned in her empty stomach; guilt that couldn’t be eased with a healing hand or kind word or a Blackwell brother smile. Why had she ever agreed to Big E’s ridiculous plan? Why hadn’t she stood up to him, told him he was wrong to manipulate his grandsons into coming home? If only she’d refused his offer of keeping him up-to-date on what was happening with the brothers, or refused to open that safe and anonymously send the water-rights documents to Rachel, or not spread those rumors about Ethan starting up a local vet practice... If only. But what choice did she have when doing

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