Betting the Rainbow (Harmony) by JODI THOMAS Read Free Book Online

her sister, but Abby was too busy watching the good-looking redhead across the bar.
    “It’s impossible to believe those two are related.” Abby frowned as Chester and his cousin started toward them. “All the good genes must have gone over the pond to Scotland.”
    “Just one dance is all I need,” Dusti begged.
    “All right, I’ll dance with Chester while you talk, but if you go with this crazy scheme and win any money, Dusti, you follow your dream. I’ll stay and run the farm while you’re gone.”
    Dusti shook her head. “We’ll argue about it when I’m in the top ten, and we see how much money I’ve won. Every brain-dead cowhand thinks he can play poker, so I should be able to learn in a few hours.”
    Abby’s frown grew. “All right, but don’t trade anything but eggs or pecans for lessons.” She stared at the handsome man coming toward them. “And I’m going to be right by your side as chaperone. After all, it’s my duty. The last guy you flirted with asked me to marry him after you turned him down, just so he could be close to you.”
    Dusti wasn’t really listening. She was plotting. She’d do whatever it took to win and give Abby her dream, even if it meant practicing day and night until she was a pro.

Chapter 7

    BUFFALO’S BAR
    R ONNY L OGAN HADN’T PLANNED ON MAKING HER HOMECOMING so public for a while, but two reasons drove her to Buffalo’s Bar on Saturday night. One, her former neighbors and good friends were playing.
    Despite Border Biggs frightening her when she’d met him, she loved the tattooed kid dearly. He reminded her of an alley cat. Once she fed him, he was loyal for life. In the early days when she’d first left home and moved in next door to Border and Beau, she’d fallen asleep every night listening to Beau Yates play. His music seemed to float in the night for a long while even after he’d turned in. Border might not have the great talent Beau had, but he made up for it by being a solid friend to Beau.
    The second reason she came tonight was the hope that in the crowd no one would notice her. Except for a dozen people, most folks in Harmony didn’t know her well enough to rush up and ask questions. Her best friend, Summer, was home with her baby and planning to marry her handsome fireman. Mr. Wright, the funeral director, would never hang out in a bar, and Cord McDowell had texted her a few weeks ago to tell her he and his wife would be traveling most weekends this summer with her prized horses.
    So, as the lights dimmed and the show began, Ronny slipped into the back of the bar to hear Beau Yates play his guitar and sing.
    Tears were rolling down her cheeks ten minutes later. If possible, he’d gotten better in the year she’d missed hearing him. He and Border were still kids to her even though they were bound to be twenty-one or twenty-two by now. The boys who’d lived in the other half of the duplex might not have had much in the way of family, but they’d had each other as friends.
    Within days they were like family to her also. Then, a year later when her first love came back to Harmony to die, they’d been there for her. She’d traveled the world in the dozen months since the funeral, but she’d never stopped missing them.
    “He’s good, isn’t he?” A low voice came from behind her.
    “Better than good.” She smiled up at Brandon Biggs, Border’s older brother. “How are you, Big?” If people came in small, medium, and large, Big was made in extra large, and as near as she could tell, his heart matched his size.
    Smiling proudly, he nodded. “All I can say is that from where they started, they didn’t have anywhere to go but up. I used to order pizza and feed them during practice sessions just to give my ears a break.”
    Memories flooded back as she watched the tattooed biker playing backup. He’d found her hurt on the road one rainy night and gently taken her home so Marty could doctor her up. The Biggs boys were gentle giants.
    Last year