Operation Cowboy Daddy Read Online Free Page A

gone.
    His stomach gurgled in anticipation as he pulled into the café parking lot. He frowned when he saw two familiar pickups also there. The men from the Humes ranch must be having a late lunch, too.
    As far as all the cowboys on the Holiday ranch were concerned, all the men who worked on the neighboring ranch were lowlifes and creeps. One of them was now in jail, looking at plenty of prison time for kidnapping Trisha Cahill, who worked here as a waitress and who was the love of Dusty’s life.
    Tony got out of his truck and walked through the café door. He immediately spied Lloyd Green, Zeke Osmond and Ace Sanders from the Humes place seated in a booth. He headed for an empty stool at the long counter, pleased to see Trisha working that area.
    She greeted him with a huge smile. “A little late for you today, Tony,” she said.
    “I had a few other things to attend to this morning.”
    “Clay and Sawyer were in a little while ago and filled me in on the latest news. Where is the baby now?”
    “Do you know Mary Redwing?” he asked.
    Trisha nodded. “A nice woman. Her grandmother is definitely a pip.”
    “They’re going to take care of the baby until Amy shows back up again...hopefully in the next day or two. How are you and Dusty doing? I haven’t had much of a chance to talk to him the last couple of days. You still like living with that crazy cowboy?”
    She flashed him a bright smile again. “He’s wonderful, we’re wonderful.”
    “When are the wedding bells going to ring?”
    “We’re not having a real wedding. We’re just going to sneak away one of these weekends and get married at city hall. We’re already married in our hearts.”
    “He’s a lucky man, Trisha.”
    “And I’m a lucky woman. And now, what can I get for you?”
    He ordered a hamburger and fries and ate quickly as he mentally tried to make a list of what Mary might need.
    He was almost finished eating when the men from the Humes ranch walked over to him. “Hey, Tony, I heard through the grapevine that you have a little papoose,” Lloyd Green said and then snickered.
    “Are you going to teach him how to hunt with arrows?” Zeke asked.
    “Or maybe how to scalp somebody?” Ace added.
    Tony turned around on the stool to face the men, his blood boiling at their utter disrespect, the vile offensiveness of their words.
    Flashbacks from his painful childhood raced through his head, flashbacks that had made Tony hate the very blood that flowed through his veins.
    All three men balled their hands into fists. It was obvious they were spoiling for a little entertainment in the form of a fight. Tension snapped in the air.
    “Ignore them, Tony,” Trisha said softly, yet urgently.
    He had been taught by the tough Cass Holiday to never start a fight, but she’d also told him never to walk away from one.
    He was just about to get off his stool when the chief of police, Dillon Bowie, entered the café. “Afternoon, gentlemen.” His gray eyes narrowed. “Is there a problem here?”
    “No problem.” Lloyd moved the toothpick in his mouth from one side to the other as he backed away from Tony’s stool. The two younger men followed his example and stepped back.
    “We were just on our way out,” Zeke mumbled. The three hurried out the door.
    “They’re a bunch of jerks,” Trisha exclaimed as Dillon took the stool next to Tony’s.
    The lawman’s eyes bore into Tony’s. “Don’t tell me there’s new bad blood brewing between all of you.”
    “Like Trisha said, they’re just a bunch of jerks,” Tony replied as his blood slowly returned to a more normal temperature. “Anything new on the investigation?”
    Tony didn’t have to say specifically what investigation—there was only one that he was interested in and only one that had been the talk of the town for months.
    Dillon’s eyes darkened. “Nothing new.”
    “Would you tell me if there was something new?” Tony asked.
    Dillon gave him a dry grin. “Probably