Second Chance Rancher by Patricia Thayer Read Free Book Online Page A

was up to, but right now he’d settle for what he could get from the man.
    * * *
    T HREE HOURS LATER , Laurel watched as her new client drove away pulling an empty trailer. Left behind was a beautiful three-year-old roan mare named Ruby Ridge. Laurel was going to be training the quarter horse for reining competitions.
    She was excited about working her horses through the precise patterns of circles, spins and stops. The new corral her father built was a perfect area for the Western-style dressage.
    The past few months she’d been working one of Trent’s horses, Red Baron, a beautiful stallion showing plenty of promise. Now she had Ruby Ridge and a chance to prove herself. With the owner, Kat Bryce, willing to help her horse learn, and Laurel putting in the practice time, how could she pass it up? She’d be building a reputation, too, and the money she’d make would go into the fund to pay back her parents.
    Hearing her name, Laurel turned to see her mother and little Addy walking down from the house.
    She smiled and waved back at her mom, a woman who was an attractive brunette in her early fifties. The best mother ever, even after she’d discovered last fall that Diane Quinn wasn’t her biological mother.
    That discovery came out when Brooke Harper arrived at the ranch, claiming to be her twin sister. And her biological mother was really a Las Vegas singer, Coralee Harper, who spent a weekend with their father, Rory Quinn, before her parents got married.
    All these years, Rory knew about only one child, Laurel. When Coralee was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s, she wanted to see her other daughter before losing all memory and sent Brooke to find her. Now, seven months later, Coralee had been moved into a nursing home only a few miles from the ranch.
    Brooke, who’d been raised by the woman, visited her almost daily, and Laurel got there once or twice a week. Some days Coralee knew her, and some days not. Coralee might be her biological mother, but nothing could ever change Laurel’s feelings for the woman who’d raised her.
    â€œHey, Mom. Hey, Addy.”
    Addy smiled. “Hi, Laurel. Your mommy showed me your old bedroom. I saw your special dollies.”
    Laurel grinned. “You mean Amy and Betsy?”
    The child nodded her head, causing her curls to bounce. “Mimi said she wants to keep them for when you have a little girl, so she can play with them.”
    Laurel looked at her mother and mouthed, “Mimi?”
    Diane shrugged. “I didn’t know what she should call me.” She smiled. “She’s so adorable.”
    Oh, no. She didn’t want her mother to hatch a scheme to get her and Kase back together. As far as she was concerned she’d sworn off men. She leaned forward and whispered, “Be careful. This little conniver will steal your heart.”
    â€œI think she already has,” her mother admitted.
    Just then she saw her truck coming up the road. It parked next to the barn, the door opened and Kase stepped out. Her breath caught when he straightened to his full six-foot-one frame, exposing the width of his broad shoulders and his narrow waist. His long, easy strides took him around to the passenger side, where he helped Gus climb out.
    â€œDaddy! Papa!” Addy cried and took off running toward them.
    Kase turned in time to catch the enthusiastic child in his arms, then swung her around in the air. Addy giggled in delight.
    â€œWill you look at that?” her mother said with a sigh. “There’s just something about a man holding a child that’s so appealing.”
    Laurel couldn’t stop staring when Kase hoisted his daughter high into his arms and kissed her cheek, then held her while Gus kissed her, too. She felt her own chest tighten on seeing the loving scene.
    Kase looked toward her and waved. As his father moved slowly with his cane, the threesome made their way up the drive. Laurel and her