Fired Up by Mary Connealy Read Free Book Online

and there are sugar cookies. We can visit while I get a noon meal started.”
    â€œRuthy,” Dare said, reaching out to stop her from leaving the room, and suddenly his weight shifted and Ruthy was holding him upright. “Is there somewhere I could lie down for just a few minutes?”
    Glynna rushed to Dare’s other side to help bear his weight. She looked at Ruthy across the broad expanse of Dare’s chest, each of them with one of his arms around her neck.
    â€œWe’ve got a spare bedroom right this way.” Ruthy guided them to the room Glynna had slept in alone. Itwas now unused, and Ruthy had done her best to give everything in it to Glynna just yesterday. But Glynna had enough bedsteads, and so she’d refused to take this one. Now she was glad of that.
    Glynna, mindful of Ruthy’s possible condition, tried to bear more than her share of Dare’s weight.
    Ruthy quickly stripped back the blankets, and the two women eased Dare to a sitting position.
    â€œI’ll just rest a few minutes,” Dare said. His head drooped forward, and Glynna steadied him. Then he seemed to gather his wits and reached for his boots.
    â€œWhat were you thinking coming out here, Dare Riker?” Ruthy said.
    Glynna brushed his hands aside and pulled his boots off, reminded of the times she’d tended her first husband when he’d come home battered.
    After dropping his second boot with a thud, Glynna looked up from where she knelt at his feet to smile. It was wasted on him because his eyes were already closed. Glynna and Ruthy helped him to lie facedown on the bed, and then Glynna pulled a blanket over him.
    Janny had followed at a distance, and she now stood in the doorway.
    â€œShould we leave him?” Glynna asked. She thought he’d fallen asleep too fast. “Is he unconscious?”
    â€œNo reason he’d pass out,” Ruthy said. “He’s just exhausted and wounded and needs more rest, the half-wit. Why’d he think he could come out here today?”
    Glynna, feeling like she was betraying Dare, shook her head as if confused. “Men are just stubborn, I reckon.”
    â€œWe’ll look in on him from time to time.” Ruthy guided Glynna away, and the three headed for the kitchen, closing Dare’s door behind them.
    â€œLet’s get coffee,” Ruthy said. “I’ll do some quick work to start a meal and then we’ll sit in the front room.” She bustled toward the stove. “We’re close enough to him in the kitchen that we might wake him with our chatter.”
    Glynna loved the idea of chatter. She and Janny ate a few delicious cookies while Ruthy worked with amazing speed and skill. Ruthy pulled the coffeepot close to the edge of the stove and lifted it to serve Glynna.
    â€œIs the coffee all right?” Ruthy wrinkled her nose. “I might’ve let it boil too long.”
    Glynna’s stomach had been turned by coffee when she was with child. “It smells fine to me.” Taking the cup from Ruthy, Glynna took a sip. “It tastes fine, too.”
    â€œI’m going to have tea instead, I think. Janny, do you want a glass of milk?”
    Once Ruthy got everything in order, they followed her to the front room, which held ugly memories for Glynna. As they settled into soft chairs and shared their drinks and talked, some of those memories faded a bit, replaced by this pleasant interlude. It was perilously close to normal.

Chapter 4
    â€œYou slept all morning?” Luke asked as he rose from the kitchen table. “Why’d you come if you were feeling so puny?”
    â€œI underestimated how beat up I was, I guess. I felt pretty decent when I first woke up, but after the ride out here, I was all done in.”
    Glynna thought Dare looked much better after a long nap, and he’d done more than his share of eating, so he must be feeling better. She also knew he wasn’t ready to discuss