His by Valentine's Day by Starla Kaye Read Free Book Online Page A

researched--that she was an exceptional foreman. The enormity of what he was doing to her and the ranch hands he'd come to know and respect finally hit him. He was every bit the ass she'd accused him of being.
    "I've got to go," he said suddenly, needing to end this conversation and do much more thinking about the situation.
    "But I'm ready to--" Arnold protested, sounding irritated.
    "Are you okay?" Pete pressed him.
    No, he wasn't. He'd never been faced with this kind of dilemma before. He bought a business, made a few improvements, and sold it for a profit. The same would happen with this sell. Except that now it didn't seem right.
    "I'll get back to you both later. Maybe tomorrow." With that he disconnected and tossed his cell phone on the counter. He would have been happy to see it break as mad as he was, but it didn't.
    He leaned against the counter again, rolled his head back and closed his eyes. What the hell was he going to do now?

    * * *

    "Your guard dog is tough to get by," Scott said in irritation several hours later from her doorway.
    Shawna scooted up in bed, wincing at the still minor tenderness on her bottom. She'd been dozing off and on ever since she finished the amazingly good breakfast. Cade had been right, she'd needed to eat. Already she was feeling stronger. And she was definitely ready for visitors--ones that didn't act so bossy.
    "I assume you're talking about Cade Calloway." She tucked the covers around her waist, wondering what he'd been doing while she'd been napping. Probably buying and selling some other business over the phone. Someone else's dream being bought out from under them...like hers.
    "Are you all right?" Scott walked next to the bed, his face pinched in a frown of concern.
    It annoyed her that he'd noticed her wincing. But no way would she say it had been only a small reaction to still having a sore bottom from being spanked. So she ignored the question. "Did you get the broken fence mended?" He'd mentioned the other day that a large piece was down in the far north range.
    He frowned at her obvious avoidance of his question. "Three of the men are working on it even as we speak. Getting out there in the snow has been tough."
    Snow? That wasn't usually a big problem, unless... She glanced toward the nearby window, surprised at seeing what looked like almost a foot of snow. When had she last looked outside? Before Cade had shown up? She felt guilty for not doing her job as foreman, for not being aware of what was happening around her. All she could say was, "At least there aren't any cattle on that field now."
    "Speaking of cattle," Scott said uneasily.
    The clear worry in his tone had her closing her eyes for a second before turning back to face him. Her stomach was knotting in dread. The tightness in his expression only made the knot grow tighter. "Something has happened, hasn't it?"
    Dammit, she was responsible for what happened on this ranch. The buck stopped with her. And she'd been lax in her duties, all because she'd been sick. No, all because Cade Calloway wouldn't let her get out of this stupid bedroom. Okay, maybe that wasn't fair, but still...
    Beneath his well-worn, wide-brimmed hat, Scott's brow furrowed in anger. "Don't beat yourself up about this because there was nothing you could have done. Nothing any of us could have done."
    At the moment she was glad to be sitting down. She was certain whatever had happened was serious. She pulled in a breath and raised her chin. "Tell me. Now."
    He hesitated, cursed under his breath, clearly reluctant to tell her. "We had some rustlers."
    "What! When?" She shoved the covers aside and flung her legs over the side of the bed. Her head felt like it was spinning, but she couldn't let a little thing like dizziness stop her. This was bad. Big time bad.
    Scott had started toward her, obviously noticing how wobbly legged she appeared. Darn it, she hated looking weak in front of him, in front of anyone. She put out a hand to stop his