Claiming the Rancher's Heart Read Online Free Page A

toward the doorway. “I’ll clean up later.”
    Moments later, Stacie was sitting on a burgundy leather sofa listening to Josh finish his story about the fire that had threatened 180,000 acres several years earlier.
    “I was fortunate,” Josh said. “The damage to my property was minimal. It could have been so much worse.”
    Stacie studied the rugged cowboy who sat on the sofa a mere foot away from her. “You love it, don’t you?”
    He tilted his head. “Love what?”
    “The land. Your life here,” Stacie said. “I see it in your eyes. Hear it in your voice. This is your passion.”
    “From the time I was small, all I’ve wanted to do was be a rancher.” His expression turned serious. “This land is part of me, and it will be part of my legacy.”
    “What about your parents?” Stacie asked, realizing that up to this point they hadn’t discussed family at all. “Are they around?”
    “They live in Sweet River,” Josh said. “My dad runs the bank. My mother is the director of nursing at the hospital.”
    Bank? Hospital? “I thought you’d grown up on a ranch?”
    “I did,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone. “But my father was never into it. As soon as I returned home from college, he turned the place over to me.”
    “Sounds like the passion for the land skipped a generation,” Stacie said in a light tone.
    Josh lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “It’s a great life, but definitely not for everyone.”
    Stacie wished her family had the same attitude. Why couldn’t they understand that what worked for them didn’t work for her? That’s why she’d gone away to college and stayed in Denver after graduation rather than returning to Michigan. She wanted to find her passion, her purpose, not lead a life she hadn’t chosen.
    A coyote howled in the distance, the eerie sound drifting in on the breeze through the screened patio door. Stacie shivered. “It’s so quiet out here…so isolated. Do you ever get lonely?”
    “I have friends.” The smile that had hovered on the edge of his lips most of the evening disappeared and his shoulders stiffened. “I see my parents at least weekly.”
    “But you live by yourself.” Stacie wasn’t sure why she was pressing the issue, but the answer somehow seemed important. “Almost an hour from civilization.”
    “Sometimes I get lonely,” he said. “But when I have a family of my own, it’ll be different.”
    “The solitude would drive me bonkers.” Stacie took a sip of coffee. “I need people. The more the merrier.”
    “It’s important to know what you want and what you don’t.” Josh’s expression gave nothing away. “I need to find a woman who could be happy with this kind of life.”
    “Cross me off that list,” Stacie said, keeping her tone light.
    Josh’s gaze never left her face. “I’ve never been much for lists.”
    Regardless of his obvious reluctance to hurt her feelings, she knew he’d made his decision, just like she’d made hers. No matter what the computer thought, she and Josh weren’t meant to ride together into the sunset.
    She took another sip of coffee and gazed out the screen door, feeling a little sad at the thought. Which made absolutely no sense at all. “The good thing is we haven’t completed our first date and we already know it’s not going to work.”
    “What’s so good about that?”
    Didn’t he understand that she was doing her best to see the glass as half-full? “We don’t have to waste time—”
    “Are you saying tonight was a waste?”
    She exhaled an exasperated breath. “No, but—”
    “I don’t think it was a waste at all,” he said. “I can’t remember the last time I’ve had this much fun or ate such a delicious meal.”
    He smiled and her pulse skipped a beat. Yikes. She’d never thought a cowboy could be so sexy.
    Stacie placed her cup on the coffee table. “I should be getting home.”
    “Not yet.” Josh reached forward and gently touched her face, letting his finger glide