brides for brothers 04 - cowboy surrender by judy christenberry Read Free Book Online Page B

when I marry Red, I guess he’ll be your grandpa.”
    Toby’s eyes got even bigger. “You’re gonna marry Mr. Red?”
    Mildred nodded and let her gaze meet B.J.’s for the first time since she’d announced her intentions.
    Still seeing the hesitation in Mildred’s eyes, B.J. gave her her biggest smile. “I’m so happy for you, Mildred.”
    “You’re sure we can work things out?”
    “Of course we can.”
    “If you marry Mr. Red, Mr. Jake will be part of our family, too, won’t he, Mommy? Will he be my brother?”
    B.J. leaned over to smooth Toby’s dark hair from his face. “No, sweetie, Mr. Jake won’t be your brother.”
    “But we have the same birthday, and he’s my bestest friend. Mr. Jake said he’s going to teach me to be a cowboy. The other day he showed me how to rope,” Toby said, his face beaming, “’cept I didn’t learn too good. But Mr. Jake said—”
    “I think maybe we’ve heard too much about what Mr. Jake said,” B.J. said. “But I didn’t know your birthdays were the same. Are you sure?”
    Toby nodded vigorously.
    “Well…that doesn’t mean anything. Mr. Jake isn’t kin to Red,” B.J. hastily explained.
    “Don’t worry, child,” Mildred said, still smiling. “Mr. Jake may be part of your family before you know it.”
    “Yippee!” Toby shouted.
    “Mildred!” B.J. protested.
    “Now don’t go all coy on me, young lady. I wouldn’t have accepted Red’s proposal if I hadn’t seen the way the winds were blowing last night.”

Chapter Five
    Last night all Jake’s problems had seemed solved. But this morning he wasn’t so sure.
    B.J. had cooperated, but she’d also indicated her cooperation was a one-shot deal. Jake had thought last night that he could go along with her decision. After all, he wasn’t looking for anything permanent.
    Now he realized he was going to look like an idiot.
    Ever since sunup, his men had been teasing him about B.J. He’d tried to make light of his behavior last night, telling them he still intended to play the field.
    They’d laughed at him.
    He’d told them he’d never marry.
    They’d agreed, then winked at each other.
    He had in mind to tell them that B.J. was nothing special.
    They wouldn’t have believed him. And he didn’t blame them. That’s why he couldn’t say those words. Because he knew B.J. was special. She was a beauty. She was intelligent. She was a great mom.
    And the best kisser he’d ever run across.
    “Still daydreaming about B.J., boss?” one cowboy called out, and then maneuvered his horse to the other side of the herd they were moving, to make sure he kept some distance between himself and Jake.
    “Get to work, you mangy cuss,” Jake called back, but he couldn’t be angry with the man. He’d brought the teasing on himself by the show he’d put on last night.
    Pete pulled up beside him. “The boys are having a lot of fun at your expense, brother. You okay with that?”
    “I’ve teased a few of them in my time. Turnabout is fair play.”
    “You’re better at this game than I am. I guess I was pretty hard to live with before Janie married me.”
    Jake chuckled. “I believe you could call that an understatement, Pete. You were meaner than a mama bear protecting her cub.”
    “Aw, I wasn’t that bad.”
    Before Jake could assure his brother that he had been impossible to live with, they were distracted by a shout from one of the cowboys, pointing into the distance.
    What had drawn his attention was a truck crossing the pasture, heading in their direction.
    “Something wrong at the ranch?” Pete wondered aloud, watching the truck.
    Jake frowned as he stared at the approaching vehicle. He was pretty sure he’d identified the driver. He couldn’t figure why B.J. felt they should settle their differences in front of his entire staff, but he was afraid that was what she had in mind.
    He cleared his throat. “That’s B.J. She probably needs to talk to me. You wait here with the boys.”
    “But it