Heartbreak Ranch by Anastasia Ryan Read Free Book Online Page A

time together, as a family. Where have you been the last couple of nights? You never seem to be at the lodge with everyone else.” Carson’s tone was biting as he interrogated her.
    Graysen was growing annoyed with Carson’s overprotective routine. He seemed to forget that she wasn’t ten anymore. “I went back to the cabin early last night. I had a splitting headache, and I didn’t really feel like being around a bunch of people. Besides that fiddle music grates on my nerves. I have half a mind to write a letter to Tim McGraw and tell him to shove his fiddle music where the green grass grows. Oh and his buddy, Kenny Chesney, too. I might find his tractor sexy but not with that God-awful fiddle music playing in the background.” Graysen hoped her little tirade would throw Carson off the scent of her whereabouts for the past few nights.
    No such luck. Carson looked at her for a moment before he focused on a second helping of pancakes and nonchalantly added, “I saw you talking to that Marlboro Man, the ranch hand ... what’s his ...?”
    “Colt.” She regretted responding so quickly, knowing she was probably giving herself away. Carson glared at her.
    “Yeah ... that guy ...” he said slowly after pausing a moment.
    Harper decided to join in on the conversation and made matters worse. “Is he that hot cowboy we saw on the trail yesterday?” She snickered.
    Graysen tried to kick her beneath the table. She missed. “Yes, he is,” Graysen grudgingly admitted.
    “So you think he’s hot?” Carson asked accusingly.
    “No!” Graysen raised her voice defensively. She grimaced because she’d let Carson bait her. “Harper obviously thinks he’s hot.” She tried to shift the focus of the conversation back to her younger sister.
    “Is he the one we met our first night? The one Mrs. Edmiston introduced to us?” her mom asked. “Well he seemed like a nice enough young man ...”
    Harper giggled and poked her sister in the side teasingly. “Sis, do you have a thing with him?”
    “A thing? As in a boyfriend/girlfriend sort of thing? Is this something I should know about?” her father interrupted.
    Graysen peeked at her father and almost groaned. He didn’t sound one bit happy with the direction the conversation was taking.
    She snapped, “I don’t have a thing with him!” She stormed out of the lodge and walked back to the cabin. “I think she definitely has a thing,” she heard Harper whisper before she was out of earshot.
    A few hours after their tense breakfast thanks to Detective Carson Beaufort, Graysen’s mom came into the bedroom to check on her before they left for the hike. Graysen convinced her mother that she felt a migraine coming on and wanted to nap in a dark bedroom that afternoon.
    Graysen questioned herself for backing out of spending time with her family for a man she hardly knew. She felt a twinge of guilt for making a story up so she could meet up with the handsome ranch hand, but she dismissed the idea almost as quickly as it entered her mind. Graysen was inexplicably drawn to Colt and she didn’t want to fight her feelings any longer.
    Glancing at the clock, she darted from the bed to get ready. She took a quick shower, washed her hair and quickly dried it with a blow dryer, and ran the straightening iron over it a few times. Unsure of what to wear to learn how to ride, she decided on a pair of cutoff white denim shorts and a bright red shirt. She tied the shirt a bit above the jeans’ waist so it showed off a sliver of skin. She slid her feet into her lipstick-red boots to complete the outfit. She secured her hair in a loose ponytail and stared at her reflection in the mirror.
    As she walked across the ranch, she noticed it was almost deserted. It seemed as though every guest must have gone on the hiking trip today. She wondered why Colt had asked to meet her at that time. The barn doors were open and she peeked inside. Colt was in the same place he’d been last night, kneeling