Count on a Cowboy Read Online Free Page A
Author: Patricia Thayer
is a small operation, and that’s how we want it. Less stress. Now that’s exactly what we have right now. Stress.” He shook his head. “Shows you can’t trust everyone. If you need anything, just call my cell.” They copied each other’s numbers. “Guess that’s it. I’ll be staying in the cabin next door so I can be here quickly. Good night.”
He walked out, climbed in his truck and drove off. Then she saw him stop just a few yards down the road. A few seconds later a light went on and she could see the outline of the cabin. Okay, she wasn’t alone. A warm feeling spread through her: she wasn’t used to being watched over.
* * *
T WO HOURS LATER , Brooke tugged at the multicolored quilt over her and leaned back against the queen-size bed’s carved headboard.
The silence was deafening. Not even a television for white noise, or a computer to get up and Google something.
She sat up. What was she doing here? She had a great opportunity for a job at a large chain hotel. She needed to be in Las Vegas. She couldn’t let this opportunity slip through her fingers. Not when she could get a better paying job to help with her mother. So much of Coralee’s special care wasn’t covered by her insurance.
The heck with it. Brooke finally got out of bed, but wrapped the quilt around her pajama-clad body to ward off the chill. She walked into the main room and turned on the wall heater, then sat down on the sofa. Only a soft light from the kitchen area illuminated the space.
She released a long breath, and looked around. This place was so different from her one-bedroom apartment in the shoddy part of town. Once she got her new job, she hoped she could afford to move. And if she could get her mother on better insurance that would help with some of the extra expenses.
Over her lifetime, Brooke had accepted Coralee’s faults and weaknesses—men being at the top of the list. So why would she walk away from a man like rodeo star Rory Quinn? Maybe he didn’t want Coralee. At the very least, wouldn’t he have paid child support for his children? And why did her mother tell Rory about only one baby?
Tears welled in her eyes as Brooke thought back to the years of struggle while Coralee tried to make it as a singer. She could even remember all her mother’s promises.
“All I need, sweetie, is that one big break, then we’ll have a nice home, and you can have all the toys and party dresses a little girl could want.”
There was never a big break, only more jobs in sleazy clubs, more drinking and men moving into their apartment to cover Coralee’s disappointment. Brooke shivered. Some of the men were frightening and others were abusive. And then there were the ones who’d stolen everything from them.
Years of overindulgence with alcohol and cigarettes, until Coralee’s voice and looks were gone. She could only find work as a waitress in a diner.
That job had ended last year when her fifty-two-year-old mother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. Then six months ago in January, Brooke found she couldn’t leave her alone any longer. Not when she began to wander off from the apartment, left water running in the bathtub, and took things from the store without paying.
She had no choice but to move Coralee into assisted-care living. She found a small group home that would take Alzheimer’s patients. Brooke was also lucky that she could work there to offset some of the cost of the care.
Brooke wiped the tears from her cheeks. She didn’t have the money for live-in help. The only chance she had to make their lives better had been to finish college. Even with the possibility of her new job, it was still going to be rough going.
So the trip here had taken a lot of her meager savings, and every minute Brooke stayed in Colorado meant she wasn’t working. The family living here didn’t have that problem. Laurel Quinn had no idea what it was like to be Coralee’s daughter.
Chapter Three
At 4:00 a.m. the next
He walked out, climbed in his truck and drove off. Then she saw him stop just a few yards down the road. A few seconds later a light went on and she could see the outline of the cabin. Okay, she wasn’t alone. A warm feeling spread through her: she wasn’t used to being watched over.
* * *
T WO HOURS LATER , Brooke tugged at the multicolored quilt over her and leaned back against the queen-size bed’s carved headboard.
The silence was deafening. Not even a television for white noise, or a computer to get up and Google something.
She sat up. What was she doing here? She had a great opportunity for a job at a large chain hotel. She needed to be in Las Vegas. She couldn’t let this opportunity slip through her fingers. Not when she could get a better paying job to help with her mother. So much of Coralee’s special care wasn’t covered by her insurance.
The heck with it. Brooke finally got out of bed, but wrapped the quilt around her pajama-clad body to ward off the chill. She walked into the main room and turned on the wall heater, then sat down on the sofa. Only a soft light from the kitchen area illuminated the space.
She released a long breath, and looked around. This place was so different from her one-bedroom apartment in the shoddy part of town. Once she got her new job, she hoped she could afford to move. And if she could get her mother on better insurance that would help with some of the extra expenses.
Over her lifetime, Brooke had accepted Coralee’s faults and weaknesses—men being at the top of the list. So why would she walk away from a man like rodeo star Rory Quinn? Maybe he didn’t want Coralee. At the very least, wouldn’t he have paid child support for his children? And why did her mother tell Rory about only one baby?
Tears welled in her eyes as Brooke thought back to the years of struggle while Coralee tried to make it as a singer. She could even remember all her mother’s promises.
“All I need, sweetie, is that one big break, then we’ll have a nice home, and you can have all the toys and party dresses a little girl could want.”
There was never a big break, only more jobs in sleazy clubs, more drinking and men moving into their apartment to cover Coralee’s disappointment. Brooke shivered. Some of the men were frightening and others were abusive. And then there were the ones who’d stolen everything from them.
Years of overindulgence with alcohol and cigarettes, until Coralee’s voice and looks were gone. She could only find work as a waitress in a diner.
That job had ended last year when her fifty-two-year-old mother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. Then six months ago in January, Brooke found she couldn’t leave her alone any longer. Not when she began to wander off from the apartment, left water running in the bathtub, and took things from the store without paying.
She had no choice but to move Coralee into assisted-care living. She found a small group home that would take Alzheimer’s patients. Brooke was also lucky that she could work there to offset some of the cost of the care.
Brooke wiped the tears from her cheeks. She didn’t have the money for live-in help. The only chance she had to make their lives better had been to finish college. Even with the possibility of her new job, it was still going to be rough going.
So the trip here had taken a lot of her meager savings, and every minute Brooke stayed in Colorado meant she wasn’t working. The family living here didn’t have that problem. Laurel Quinn had no idea what it was like to be Coralee’s daughter.
Chapter Three
At 4:00 a.m. the next
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