Matt (The Cowboys) Read Online Free

welcome me to the ranch?”
    Matt knew what she meant. He also knew he couldn’t answer that question the way she wanted. “Of course. I think your children will like living on the ranch.”
    “They’re not my children. They’re—”
    “They’re orphans. We’re all orphans. It seems natural we should stick together.”
    “Mabel Jackson says Noah’s a menace.”
    “He’s a high-spirited boy who needs an outlet for his energy. If I give him a horse to ride and care for, he’ll have something more to think about than letting chickens out. If he doesn’t, no harm’s done as long as he gets them back before the coyotes eat them.”
    “You really wouldn’t mind having two more kids around?”
    “I can use a couple of extra hands.”
    “They’re children,” Ellen snapped, “not cowhands.”
    “Even children do chores. It makes them feel useful and keeps them out of mischief.”
    “What about me? Will cooking, cleaning, and washing make me feel useful and keep me out of mischief?”
    He couldn’t help but smile at the anger that flared in her eyes. “I started cooking, cleaning, and washing when I was nine. I think we can work something out.”
    Her skeptical expression said she thought he might just be looking for a housekeeper.
    “Toby and Orin do their share.”
    “It doesn’t sound like you need a wife.”
    He didn’t. He didn’t even want one. “Look, Miss Donovan, there’s no point in tiptoeing around the catamount. I need a wife if I’m going to keep Orin. You need a husband if you’re going to keep your kids.”
    “Noah and Tess. They have names.”
    “I’ll remember that, but there’s no point in pretending things we don’t feel.”
    “Do you know what people say about me?”
    “I don’t listen to gossip.”
    “A lot of people believe I’m a strumpet. Some think I’m a lot worse.”
    “People say a lot of things they don’t mean. They just like something to gossip about.”
    “You believe me?”
    “Why shouldn’t I?”
    “Because the Lowells say I’m guilty.”
    “They would, wouldn’t they?”
    Ellen looked at him like he had just grown an extra head. “You’re either the most generous man in Texas or the biggest fool.”
    “I imagine I fall somewhere in between. Now, about this marriage…”
    “I haven’t said I’m going to marry you.”
    “You haven’t said you aren’t.”
    “You haven’t asked me.”
    He was a fool. Just because she knew why he’d come to town didn’t mean she didn’t want him to act like this was something more than a business arrangement.
    “Miss Donovan, would you do me the kindness of becoming my wife?”
    She glared at him. “Why should I?”
    She knew why. She knew he knew she knew why. Isabelle would say she was trying to salvage her pride. Well, he’d let her. He had no pride to preserve. “We need you, the boys and me. A woman has a civilizing effect on men. I’m sure you’d be able to turn us into respectable human beings in no time.”
    He thought he saw her lips twitch.
    “I never heard such nonsense.”
    “Isabelle says a man without a woman to make something of him isn’t worth the bullet it’d take to shoot him.” He didn’t think Isabelle meant it, but she’d said it often enough.
    “I’m not interested in turning you into something worth more than a couple of bullets.”
    “Stop being hard to get along with,” the sheriff said. “You got no choice. You marry Matt or you lose your kids.”
    Matt wished the sheriff had kept his mouth shut. Nobody liked being backed into a corner, especially a woman when it came to marrying.
    “Nobody’s going to make you a drudge,” Matt said. “We’d consider it an honor to have a woman about the place.”
    “How can I know I’m going to be safe stuck out on that ranch with you and those boys?”
    “He’s gonna be your husband,” the sheriff said. “It’ll be his job to see no harm comes to you.”
    “I know all about men,” Ellen said. “They’ve only