Midnight Thunder(INCR) by Vicki Lewis Thompson Read Free Book Online

if you all just sleep in the house, it’ll mean less work for you.”
    â€œBut it wouldn’t be as much fun.”
    â€œI suppose not.” She gazed at him. “Maybe Lexi would be willing to help you get that cabin ready.”
    â€œNah, I can handle it.” He wasn’t sure how to approach the situation with Lexi, but he didn’t want to start out by asking her to do chores that were rightly his.
    â€œGo on home, Cade.” Rosie made a shooing motion with her hand. “You have things to take care of.”
    â€œOkay.” He gave her another peck on the cheek and left the room. Yes, he had several things to take care of, including his broken relationship with Lexi. When he’d been hundreds of miles away, he’d convinced himself to let her go. But that kiss had changed everything.
    Â 

4
    L EXI HAD SHOWERED and changed clothes by the time Cade’s truck pulled up outside. Her frequent trips out of town for riding clinics had turned her into a speed packer, so when Herb had called to ask if she’d housesit, she’d only needed five minutes to pack a bag before heading for Thunder Mountain Ranch.
    Thank goodness she hadn’t been on a trip when Herb had called. Her next gig was more than a week away, and by then— But she didn’t really want to project too far ahead. Despite hearing from her mother that the situation seemed to be under control, Lexi couldn’t erase the memory of Herb’s frantic phone call.
    He was an animal vet, not a people doctor, but if Herb had been scared, Lexi figured there’d been a reason. She was eager to hear Cade’s opinion now that he’d actually seen Rosie. But that wasn’t why her heart hammered and her breathing pattern changed when she heard his boots on the porch as he crossed to the front door.
    It was unlocked because Herb and Rosie never bothered locking up during the day when they were home. Although at one time Cade had enjoyed the freedom to walk right in, Lexi didn’t think he’d assume that he could do it now. Rather than wait for his knock, she crossed to the door and opened it.
    He looked even sexier than he had earlier. Or maybe that hard, desperate kiss had affected how she viewed him. His day’s growth of beard was unusual, or it had been five years ago. He’d always said he kept his chin silky-smooth for her.
    The prickle of his beard this morning had startled her because she wasn’t used to that with Cade. But his lips had felt achingly familiar. Beard or no beard, she wanted to kiss him again.
    He walked through the door and set down a battered duffel bag. “Thought I might as well bring this in so I can shave and shower at some point.”
    â€œGood idea.” Her brisk tone covered a zing of awareness. It had been a natural thing for him to say, yet now she was thinking of stroking his freshly shaven cheek and breathing in the scent of soap. “How’s Rosie?”
    â€œFeisty.”
    â€œYeah?” That surprised a chuckle out of her. “How so?”
    He walked over to the couch and sank down on it. “She let me know that if I’d called the Brotherhood together because I thought she was going to croak, that I’d seriously miscalculated. And she
really
doesn’t want any of us bringing her flowers, FYI.”
    â€œThat’s funny.” Lexi chose an easy chair that was at a right angle to the couch. “Any word from her doctors?”
    He shook his head. “You know how that goes. They’ll want to run a bunch of tests before they say anything definitive. Mom’s convinced herself it’s a false alarm, but...”
    â€œYou aren’t so sure?”
    He took off his hat and propped it on his knee. “No.” Leaning his head against the back of the couch, he closed his eyes. “I want to be convinced, but when I first got there and hugged Dad, I could feel his fear. And he has a medical background,