Blue Moon Promise by Colleen Coble Read Free Book Online Page B

Where is he?” he asked Jed.
    “Taking care of his horse. He said he’d be in after that.”
    “What about this fellow who hit you?” Nate asked.
    Lucy’s stomach clenched as she listened to her brother’s story. “Bandits?”
    Nate shrugged. “Hard to say. Could be a drifter looking for anything he could steal.”
    The tightness in his shoulders made Lucy think he wasn’t saying what he really thought. “You don’t think you should check it out?”
    “You heard your brother. The man rode off. He’s long gone.”
    She decided to let it go too. Jed was going to be fine. “We’d better get that coffee for your pa, or he’ll take a switch to you.”
    Surprise flickered across Nate’s face, and he lifted one eyebrow. “Figured him out already, huh?” He stared into her eyes, then his shoulders slumped. “I guess we’d best declare a truce for now. But don’t think this situation will stand, Miss Lucy. I can’t quite see you happy here.”
    Lucy bit her lip and held out her hand. “Truce, Mr. Stanton. I see I shall have to prove myself to you.”
    Her small hand was enveloped by his large, calloused one. The contact sent a thrill of awareness through her, and she nearly jerked it away. She searched the gray depths of his eyes. Did he feel the same attraction she did? If he did, he hid it well.
    Nate released her hand and turned toward the cookstove. “I reckon your first lesson better be coffee. A cattleman can’t live without it. It warms him up on those cold nights on the cattle drive and wakes him up after a night spent tossing on the hard ground.”
    Lucy followed him to the stove. Nate grabbed the handle of the battered coffeepot and poured the dark liquid into a tin cup. “Sugar ruins the taste.” He handed her a cup. “Take a swig.”
    Repressing a shudder, Lucy took the cup of coffee and raised it to her lips. She mustn’t let him think she was too weak to even stand up to the taste of coffee. If learning to like the vile liquid was a necessity, then she would do it. She took a gulp of the coffee, and the bitter taste nearly made her gag. Managing a smile, she lowered the cup.
    “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
    “Do you want the truth?” A smile tugged the corners of her lips.
    “Yeah.”
    “It’s not as bad as cutting my finger off with a dull knife, but that’s about all I can say for it.”
    Nate stared at her for a moment, then a laugh rumbled in his throat. A shiver skittered through her at the sound. With his face lit with amusement, he was entirely too appealing. A dimple in one cheek and the white flash of his teeth softened the tanned planes of his face, and even his towering height and broad shoulders seemed less intimidating.
    Nate poured a cup for Jed. “Here, boy. If you aim to be a cattleman, you’d best learn too.”
    Jed took it cautiously, then sniffed it. His nose wrinkled, but he took a big swallow. His eyes widened and he coughed. “Good,” he choked out.
    Lucy and Nate both burst into laughter. The moment of camaraderie warmed Lucy’s aching heart. Maybe things would turn out right yet. She hadn’t come this far to fail now.
    NATE PUSHED OPEN the door to his father’s room with Lucy and her siblings on his heels. What would he do if something happened to Pa? It had been just the two of them so long. Cholera had carried off his mother when he was two, and he had only vague memories of a gentle voice singing to him and a soft lap that smelled of something sweet. And Roger had been roaming the country for years. Maybe Pa was right. It might be time for him to take a wife. But he wasn’t some greenhorn who needed his father to pick out a wife for him.
    His pa was sitting up in the bed, some color in his face. He smiled when he saw the cup in Nate’s hand. “Coffee, just what the doctor ordered. And Lucy’s pretty face will help as well.” He winked at her, and Nate heard her soft laugh.
    “I don’t remember ordering any such thing, Henry.” Doc Cooper