Maggie's Mountain Read Online Free

she’s been the one who’s had to suffer the most.”
    “What are you talking about? I never said she was as bad as her parents, at least not that I’m aware of. And as far as suffering…she’s still living in Exum when she could’ve moved.”
    Trent grimaced and sighed. “Look, all I’m saying is you should give the woman a break. She put the man she loved and her mother into the ground a little over two years ago. There’s no one left for her. That can’t be easy.”
    He ignored the squeezing of his chest as he listened to Trent. Maggie Mae Cooper, or Brannon, or whatever the hell she called herself, was wiggling under his skin with too much ease after just one long look. The feeling was uncomfortable. He wasn’t used to being the one all tangled up, but damned if that wasn’t just what she’d done to him. And he hadn’t even exchanged a word with the woman yet.
    “You thinking about going after her, Trent? You seem awfully protective.”
    His brother studied him for a moment before shaking his head. “You’re too damn cynical when it comes to people. You always have been. Maggie was in my class at school. I watched her work her ass off trying to keep her grades up and hold down a seven day a week job, just so they’d have enough money to live. She managed to graduate valedictorian, and do you know what most of the town did? They boycotted the ceremony. As for leaving town, yeah, she could have gone off to college, told Exum to kiss her butt and never look back, but she didn’t because she knew her mother couldn’t survive without her here. Maggie worked two jobs, went to a local college and got her degree. I think that’s damned impressive and I won’t say anything against that woman. Mother can rant and rave all she wants; the Coopers and our father made mother’s life miserable, I’m aware of that. But the fact is Maggie hasn’t done anything to hurt our family, ever. She’s done more than enough to prove herself, Hale. If she doesn’t want to sell her family’s land, I am not going to force her.”
    Damn it, he didn’t want to know all of that. He didn’t want to have the picture of the scrawny little kid in the worn out hand-me-downs he remembered struggling to survive. Suddenly it chafed that, when he’d been a teenager, he hadn’t thought about Maggie as a separate person, but only as the Cooper girl. In fact, he’d rarely thought of her at all. Obviously Trent had not only been aware of her, but he’d managed to see past her parents, and for some reason that irritated him even more. Of course, his brother hadn’t been privy to all the issues the Coopers had created. He hadn’t seen their mother weeping, or heard their father cursing, or dealt with their parents’ bloodless arguments. That had been Hale’s job. It still was.
    Without any rebuttal, Hale tossed back the rest of his whiskey and stood. “I’m going up to bed. I’ll see you in the morning.”
    “No, you won’t.” Trent smiled like a kid with a dirty secret. “I’m leaving early and driving into Knoxville for a breakfast meeting with our real estate firm.”
    “Better you than me. Call me when you get back into town so we can discuss what they had to say.”
    With a roll of his shoulders, Hale opened the door and headed up to his bedroom, determinedly shoving aside the wayward thoughts of one gorgeous brunette.

Chapter Three
    Hale wandered through the woods, absorbing the quiet sounds of birds, the rushing brook, the dancing leaves. He’d had one hell of a week, and he needed a break. Ostensibly he’d come to the stables to check out what would be needed for expansion; what he’d really come for, though, was some alone time. He had snuck off, like he’d done numerous times when he was a kid, meandering through the woods and kicking at the thick underlay of dead leaves. It went a long way to easing his nerves.
    He’d spent too many days going over paperwork, making phone calls, soothing worries, and