No Strings Attached (Last Hope Ranch Book 1) by Amanda McIntyre Read Free Book Online

earlier in the evening and her friend had offered her apologies more than once.
    “I told Wyatt that you’d decided to pursue a child of your own. He was feeding Gracie. I was in the kitchen. His response was ‘that’s nice.’ And that it was it. He must have mentioned it to Rein, but I have no idea how it got started around town.”
    Sally didn’t blame Aimee. News like this doesn’t stay sedentary, once revealed, for very long. It’s as though it takes a life of its own. She had shrugged and found herself easing Aimee’s torment with having told Wyatt. “Chances are it will die out when the next ‘big’ thing comes along.” And she made the decision to put the strange day behind her.
    The wind outside whistled around the corner of the house, making Sally glad to be nestled inside with her best friends. “Okay, ladies, help me make a list of potential candidates for the auction.”
    “Sam Tanner?” Liberty suggested. “He’s single, well—a widower, right? But the guy could be Sam Elliot’s stunt double.” She smiled, then seemed to ponder. “But I bet he does his own stunts.” She popped a charred marshmallow in her mouth.
    “There is Evan Littlefield, Jr. Didn’t he just come back to work with his dad over at Montana West Bank?” Angelique piped up.
    Sally added the name to her list. Evan was not necessarily her cuppa , though a nice man, so she understood… mostly from Betty. Mentally, she chided herself for being as much a part of a paying passenger on the gossip railway in this town as a victim of it. “Who else? We have Tyler on board.”
    “Oh, how about Reverend Bishop from church?” Aimee offered. The Kinnison clan and a few friends had had a private baptism ceremony for Grace a few months back one Sunday after church. It’d had been the Reverend Adam Bishop’s first baptism since taking over the First Church of Christ from the retiring Pastor Riggs. “He seems like a nice man and he’d certainly be on board to help Ellie and the shelter out if he could.”
    “I saw him at the store the other day,” Angelique remarked. “He’s kinda cute… in a very clean-cut sort of way.”
    “Polar opposite of Dalton, you mean.” Liberty interjected with a grin.
    Angelique shrugged. “Always had a soft spot for bad boys, I guess.”
    “Well, Dalton can try all he wants to give off the bad boy vibe, but deep down he’s a total family guy. You can see that with how he is with Emilee,” Liberty said.
    Angelique smiled and gently rubbed her hand over her swollen belly. “We’re all very excited about adding another one to our family.” She and Dalton had only just reconnected after years of separation after a single night of unbridled passion left Angelique pregnant with Emilee. Last year, Angelique’s husband escaped jail and in a fit of revenge found and attacked Angelique where she’d been assisting at a veterinarian clinic in Billings. She survived and, by some miracle so had her and Dalton’s unborn baby. She hadn’t known she was pregnant when attacked. Dalton had wasted no time after Angelique recovered in getting married at the courthouse and making sure his name appeared officially on Emilee’s birth certificate.
    “Is it a boy?” Aimee asked.
    “That’s what the radiologist indicated with my ultrasound the other day.” Angelique smiled. “Emilee called it. I’m starting to wonder if she really does have her great-grandmother’s gift of being a seer.”
    “Dalton must be over the moon,” Sally said. She was so happy things had turned out as they had. Given the circumstances, it could have been much worse.
    “Oh yeah, and you should see him and Emilee planning out the nursery.” She grinned as though picturing them in her mind. “Emilee is very emphatic about what colors her brother is going to like. Dalton’s not really fighting her on any of it.”
    “The girl does have some kind of gift, that much is true.” Liberty shook her head. “That could get