The Cattle Drive [The Armstrong Brothers of Cedar Creek] (Siren Publishing Classic) by Rebecca Joyce Read Free Book Online Page A

right there with his teenage son only fifteen feet from you, she thought to herself.
    Yes, it has been a very long time since you had a man’s hands on you, let alone his lips, but damn, you’re married. You can’t go around kissing every male thing on the planet like that, even if it did taste good. It isn’t right, let alone decent.
    Then it hit her.
    Like a force known only to God, the air was ripped out of her. She wasn’t married anymore.
    She was widowed.
    She was alone.
    There was no husband waiting for her at home. There was no one.
    For the last two years she had held out for the hope that the accident was a bad dream, some nightmare that she would soon wake up from. She waited for the day that she would walk into her bedroom and there would be Robert, waiting for her. But he was never going to be there. He was gone. The rush of emotions flooded her like a tsunami slamming into her heart. As the realization hit her, a door closed within her, signaling the end of a chapter in her life. She was single once again, and there was nothing that she could do about it.
    Her head was throbbing, the pressure pounding against her temples. Realizing the finality of her husband’s death and listening to the bickering men was too much. She needed to get away. She quickly looked for an escape. She wanted to be alone. Besides, she just wasn’t in any mood to deal with Kenny or Justin, her ranch hands that had worked with her from the very beginning.
    The day was one complication after the other. Adding to her frustrations, Kenny had just informed her that Justin left the corral open.
    Lowering her head, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she listened to the men.
    “I think I know how to lock a corral,” Justin firmly said.
    “Yeah, just like you know how to saddle a horse,” Kenny replied.
    “That was only one time, ’cause I was too hungover to even walk.”
    “And what about sorting the herd?”
    “How was I supposed to know I needed glasses? Besides, I wasn’t the one who drove the truck into northeast fence.”
    “It was dark, and the lights weren’t working!”
    Rachael shouted, “Enough! You two are driving me nuts.”
    “Sorry, boss lady,” they both said in unison.
    “Stop calling me that!”
    Together they looked at each other and smiled. “Yes, boss lady.”
    Rachael ran her hand down her face out of annoyance, when she heard a truck approaching. Sitting on the saddle, she turned and saw Henry slowly driving across the range. Instantly looking to the sky above, she whispered, “thank God,” and turned Mystic and rode out to meet him.
    “Hey, Henry, what brings you out here?” she said as she came to a stop near the truck.
    “I’m looking for a summer job. I heard that you are looking for some summer hands to help you here on the farm?” he asked, getting out of his old beat-up ’57 Chevy.
    “Well first, this isn’t a farm, it’s a ranch. I raise cattle for breeding and for beef. Have you ever worked a cattle ranch before?” she asked, amused at the shock on his face.
    “This is a cattle ranch? I have been here almost two months, and I have never seen one cow.”
    “Longhorn, Henry. They are called Texas Longhorns.” She laughed.
    “Well, I still want the job if you are still looking,” he said.
    “Well, I don’t know. Since you have never worked a ranch, you would have to be taught everything, and if I remember correctly, you don’t even know how to ride.”
    “You are correct.” He laughed.
    “Well how about this. School isn’t out for another two months. In that time, you come out here after school and learn the ropes. At the end of two months, we’ll have this discussion again, deal?”
    “I can do that,” Henry said, starting his truck. “Thanks, Rachael.”
    “Oh, Henry,” Rachael said, getting the kid’s attention. “Next time you come out here to talk to me, make sure your butt is sitting on a horse,” she said, turning Mystic and laughing.
     
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