Between Strangers Read Online Free Page A

“The ranch was always home for a good friend of mine. His family has lived on the land for nearly a hundred years.
    â€œThey’ve got a formidable operation there with many different kinds of businesses. Sheep. Cattle. They breed show horses and champion stock bulls, and do lots of other profitable things, as well. My friend’s dad, Buck Stanton, hired me to run the stock contracting end of the business.”
    â€œStock contracting?”
    â€œYeah. We supply the livestock to rodeos. Our operation isn’t big enough yet to produce the shows themselves. But we’ll be getting there someday.”
    â€œYour ranch raises the bucking horses and those mean ol’ bulls?”
    The question brought an automatic grin. “There’s a bit more to it than that. I acquire bucking stock at auction, study the genetics of breeding good buckers and make sure the stock stays rank by pasturing them far away from humans.
    â€œSo far we have a crew of thirty in my division. Vets, chute men, transporters. The whole deal is growing by leaps and bounds.”
    â€œGoodness,” she said with a slight chuckle. “I hadno idea so much went into that sort of thing. Have you been doing it very long?”
    â€œNot long,” he told her with a shake of his head.
    â€œI see.”
    There was something in the way she said the words that told him she had questions not yet spoken aloud. He just didn’t know what answer to give if she wouldn’t ask the question.
    Nothing for him to do but keep talking. Maybe he’d hit on the right answer by accident. Plus…all this talking was helping to keep him alert and was making the time go by quicker.
    â€œBut the ranch is definitely my home now,” he told her without a second thought. “It’s great not having to travel all the time.”
    â€œBut you’re traveling now. Was this trip for business?”
    His thoughts on this trip were still all jumbled in his head. Grief and regret mixed together with a final release of duty and the promise of a brand-new life. He wasn’t sure he could talk about it just yet.
    â€œNo,” he grunted. “My grandmother passed away. I felt it was my duty to attend her funeral in New Orleans.”
    â€œYour ‘duty’?” Marcy asked in a quiet voice. “I don’t understand.”
    Hell, he’d managed to say the wrong thing after all. He really did not want to talk about this.
    â€œIt’s not important,” he said quickly. “What’s important is that I’m headed home. And if I’m lucky, I’ll make it there by Christmas Eve.”
    â€œDoes your family celebrate that with special traditions?”
    â€œDidn’t know I had much family left. And now that Grandmother Steele is gone, I guess I’ll never know much about that side of the family.” Now why had he let that slip? Jeez, he was sure saying way too much to a stranger. “I hope to make the Stantons in Montana my family from now on. They’ve done more than give me a job—they’re more like family than just friends and employers.” Again, that was just too much to say. What was the matter with him?
    â€œBut you don’t have a wife and kids waiting for you back in Montana?”
    Ah. He had a feeling that was the question she’d been wanting to ask. He’d noted over the years that it was a question most women asked when they first met a man.
    â€œNo, ma’am. Not as yet. But I’m hopeful that’ll be changing real soon. Now that I’m building a home, I intend to have everything that goes with it.”
    â€œOh? You’re engaged, then?”
    He shook his head. “Not yet. But I expect that Lorna Stanton will consent to marry me when I propose at the family’s traditional Christmas Eve party. So…no, as of this moment, I’m not engaged, either.”
    â€œDid you mean to say that this Lorna is your