The Rancher's Request by Stella Bagwell

Author:Stella Bagwell [Bagwell, Stella]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: C429, Kat, Extratorrents
Publisher: Silhouette
Published: 2007-01-15T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Juliet urged Chigger into a short lope and found Matt and Gracia waiting for her over the next hill. Once she reached them, they continued west for another half hour or more through an area where the land was dotted thick with mesquite and shaded here and there with large live oaks. The grass grew taller and herds of Brahman could be seen grazing around huge clumps of prickly pear and wesatch.

Gracia had been quieter on this leg of the journey, but from Juliet’s observations, she didn’t appear to be sad or pouting. Apparently Matt hadn’t given his daughter much of a scolding and Juliet was relieved. In fact, the girl seemed bubbly and Juliet figured just having her father out with her like this was enough to make her happy.

A half hour later, they reached the San Antonio. The sandy banks were steep, the water below deep and clipping along with a steady current. Since Gracia wanted to wade, Matt decided the three of them would have to ride north to a spot where sand deposits kept the water at a shallower depth.

It took another fifteen minutes before they arrived at a deep bend in the river where a sandbar narrowed the waterway. The bank was shaded with tall willows, wispy salt cedar and thorny mesquite. They chose a spot beneath one of the willows to spread their lunch and Matt tied their mounts nearby.

From their saddlebags, Juliet and Gracia pulled out the lunch fixings and a thin tablecloth to stretch across the sparse clumps of grass. While they worked to ready the meal, the teenager chattered nonstop and from where Matt stood a few steps away, he didn’t miss the happiness on his daughter’s face. When she was around Juliet, she was like a different girl. But then he had to admit that being around the woman made him a different man.

Seeing her again this morning had been like a rock lifting from his heart. He wanted to hum. He wanted to lift his face toward the blue sky and smile. It was a crazy reaction, he realized. But the feelings she induced in him were too pleasant to want to squash.

For their lunch, Juan had made huge sandwiches of smoked pork jammed between slices of homemade German bread. Along with the sandwiches, there were potato chips, baked beans and all sorts of condiments. To follow up with dessert, the old man had packed individual containers of dewberry cobbler. The crust was dusted with coarse ground sugar and though Juliet was certain she couldn’t hold another bite, she couldn’t resist the sweet concoction.

“Mmm. This is absolutely delicious,” she mouthed between bites of the cobbler. “Do you have a cook that made this at your house or does the woman up at the Saddler house cook for you, too?”

“Cook strictly works for Aunt Geraldine, although lots of times she makes enough things to spread around the ranch,” Matt explained. “We have a personal cook at our house, too. His name is Juan.

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