Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 63469 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 63469 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 317(@200wpm)___ 254(@250wpm)___ 212(@300wpm)
“The point,” I whimpered. “Please.”
“Well, Kevin can move into your place, and his brother can live over the garage.”
“Since you’ll be moving in with Mr. Gentry,” Kevin wrapped it up for me.
God. All these people doing my thinking for me. How lucky was I?
“Why was your house good when I left but not now?”
His smile, in answer, was nearly blinding. “Marla’s pregnant.”
“Oh, buddy,” I said happily, reaching for him. “Congratulations.”
He didn’t take my hand. Instead he leaned in and hugged me. After he let go, I noted that Josie was studying me.
“Are you all right?” I asked her, concerned.
“Because I was orphaned the other day, you mean?”
“Yeah.”
Her eyes warmed. “Yes, boss, because of you I’m okay.”
“I was worried,” I murmured.
“I know you were, and that’s why I love you.”
I looked at her.
“You know how I mean.”
I did. “Josie?”
Her gaze met mine.
“If I move, where will you live?”
“Mr. Joss said that there are many small one-room cabins on the ranch, and he would be willing to let me stay in one, under your supervision, in exchange for me watching his adorable little boy certain days of the week.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. He said he’s teaching several classes next semester and that Wyatt can’t go with him every day anymore.”
“And that’s where you come in.”
“Yes, but only as long as you’re on the ranch too.”
I exhaled sharply. “That’s just him being hopeful. The truth of the matter is, he’ll let you stay with or without me, and I think you should.”
“Why?”
I squinted at her. “You know why. It’s safer for you to be on the ranch.”
She was quiet a moment, and I could see the swell of emotions about to swamp her.
“Josie…it’s not because I don’t think you can handle yourself. I know you’ve been taking karate.”
The instant scowl was far better than having her dissolve into tears. “You know I just started.”
“Yes, but the yells are getting really good.”
“Definitely loud,” Callie agreed.
“Yeah, you scared the shit outta table five the other day.”
“You guys all suck,” Josie grumbled.
Later that night, after the last of my visitors cleared out and Stef brought meatloaf and mashed potatoes and green beans from home that he’d made special for me, I got a call on my cell phone from an unknown caller.
“Hello?” I answered, hoping it was Mac.
“Hey,” he said, sounding exhausted. “How are you?”
“I’m fine, really. Already on the mend.”
“Good. That’s good.”
Something was wrong. And yes, he was more than tired at this point, but still. “You’re still on the sat phone, huh?”
“Yeah. We’re still not close enough to use our regular ones.”
“I should put your number in my phone when you get home,” I teased him, trying to change the mood of our conversation.
“I reckon so.”
“Don’t sound so happy about it,” I said before my brain caught up with my mouth.
“No, I didn’t— That’s not how I—”
“What’s wrong with you other than not being able to see straight?”
“I—I wasn’t there to… I wasn’t there.”
Oh dear God. “Mac Gentry, you cannot blame yourself for being out on the range driving cattle while I was in a fight in Stef’s living room. For fuck’s sake, who could’ve seen that shit coming?”
“I guess Rand did, going by all the yelling and cursing and everything else he did once he heard. I have never seen him terrified and all righteous hand of God at the same time before.”
I was betting not.
“He fell down on his knees when he was on the phone with Stef, and then he didn’t talk for hours, and then once he did…”
“The thunder and lightning started.”
“Yessir.”
“And you thought what?”
“I wasn’t there!” His voice cracked, and I heard all the fear and anger and pain come spilling out. “We had words, you and I, about what we were gonna do and how things were gonna be and—fuck!”
“Go on,” I prodded him because this needed to come out or it would fester and that would be the end of us before we even got started.
“I should’ve been there ’cause you’re…” He trailed off.
“Mac?”
“You’re mine,” he rasped. “You finally belong to me, and what if…”
“But it didn’t,” I soothed him over my breath catching in reaction to him saying I was his. The man had my heart in his hand. “Everything is okay.”
“Yeah, but I could’ve lost—and if I’d been there, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt,” he declared before his voice hardened to ice. “And those fuckers would be in the ground.”
I had no doubt. Mac was a dangerous man, not to be crossed. I didn’t know if all the stories I’d heard were true, about the justice he’d doled out over the years, but I would ferret out all his secrets eventually. We had time.
“I like belonging to you, being yours,” I told him. “But you need to understand something about that.”
“What’s that?”
“I can take care of myself, Mac Gentry,” I said, chuckling. “I’ve been doing it a long time. And that is not to say that the idea of having you looking out for me, because you kinda like me, is not the best thing ever. But I can handle most things that come my way.”