The Lies Uncovered Trilogy (Books 4, 5, and 6 of The Dancing Moon Ranch Series) by Patricia Watters Read Free Book Online

jobs around the gym and lets him use the equipment, which is good because he's only seventeen and he could be getting into a lot of trouble."
    "Yeah, I imagine staying with my mother works for him too," Rick said.
    Sophie was annoyed with Rick's continued hostility towards his mother, which didn't seem warranted. She was, after all, his mother, and she'd had nothing but kind and loving words about Rick. "You resent your mother because she lives with men, but she and Don are just like a married couple. Don is very sweet to her, doing things the average man wouldn't do, like helping her bring in the groceries and massaging her neck and shoulders after she'd been working out."
    "Yeah, I imagine he'd do that for free room, board and sex," Rick replied.
    "Look, I didn't come here to hash over your resentment towards your mother," Sophie said. "I came to talk to your folks about working on the ranch. Do you know where they are?"
    Rick shrugged. "My dad's at the winery and Jayne and Becca are across the way with Aunt Grace. Incidentally, you might want to go over there and tell everyone hello. They're wondering why you haven't, and I didn't want to pass on to them that since you arrived you've been too drunk to communicate." He went back to what he was doing, as if she weren't there.
    "Not everyone's perfect like you," Sophie shot back, then immediately wanted to retract her words. Rick had never held himself out to be perfect, yet of all the men she'd ever known, he was about as perfect as a man could be. She'd never really thought of him that way before, but Rick had always used his head when making decisions. She tended to act on impulse. She also felt the first stab of remorse for her actions, not for leaving California after learning about Justine's seedy past, but because Rick looked at her differently now. Actually, he didn't seem to notice her at all and that bothered her more than she might have expected. She'd always been the focus of his attention when she visited the ranch, and she took it for granted.
    "I'm far from perfect," Rick said, "but when things gets tough, I'll never turn to pot, booze or sex to solve the problem."
    Sophie said nothing, but as she stared at Rick, who was looking steadily back at her, she saw in him a man who'd one day be the backbone of his family, who'd stay by his wife for better or for worse, in sickness and in health. A grown man now. Not Rick the boy she'd known over the years. He was also a man who’d choose carefully when selecting a wife, and in only two days, she'd shown him that Sophie Meecham was exactly what he didn't want. "Maybe it would be best for me to leave here and not come back," she said, testing.
    Rick sat back and folded his arms. "No, it would be best for you to go back to San Francisco and square things away with your family, and then come back."
    Sophie knew she couldn't do that, not right now. "You expect me to rush back to Justine and hug her and tell her it's okay that she had sex with her professor in order to become valedictorian, and it was fine that she slept with anyone and everyone to get where she wanted to go. How is that different from your mother living with a man she cares about, who also cares about her?"
    "My mother doesn't care about the guy she's with," Rick said. "All she wants from him is what's in his pants."
    Sophie didn't like Rick's straight talk. He'd never been like that with her before and it wasn't the way things should be with them, but she couldn't fault him either since she'd been the one to lay things out in words she never used. "You haven't been around your mother when she's with Don," she said, hoping he'd at least try to understand his mother, who Sophie found sweet, and very enjoyable to be with. "Unlike Justine and the men she slept with, your mother has nothing to gain by being with Don. The problem with you is you're still angry and bitter because years ago, your mother did the unthinkable and left your father for another