Ranger's Wild Woman Read Online Free

“Did something happen to make you leave?”
    I fell in love with you and had to get away from here knowing you didn’t feel the same about me. And did you have to kiss Cissy?
    Dumb question. There wasn’t a man alive who could resist Cissy.
    That didn’t mean she had to be Heartbroken Hannah. “Did you leave Mason a note?” she snapped back.
    His eyes hooded.
    “Then I assume nothing in particular happened to make you leave.” She settled herself in her seat andstared out the window. Beside her, Archer cleared his throat.
    “I didn’t leave a note. I signed my name to the pithy message Ranger left beside Mason’s plate,” he offered.
    She turned to stare at him, as did Cissy. Archer shrugged. “Seemed like Ranger said everything that needed to be said.”
    “I said I was going to join the military,” Ranger stated. “Did you actually read it before you John Hancocked it? Not writing your own note seems rather lazy, by the way, for a man who nearly wore his fingers out hitting the send button to Australia.”
    “Easy, bro,” Archer said mildly. “Ye ol’ love life is none of thy concern.”
    Hannah shook her head, perplexed. “Besides Mason who works hard, and Frisco Joe who figured it out, and now Laredo, who’s moved to North Carolina to be with Katy like a real man would, are all of you pretty much rascals?”
    “And relationship-dysfunctional?” Cissy put in. “It’s almost scary that the two of you could be in the same truck and not know it.”
    “How was I to know that my twin was a stowaway?”
    Cissy shrugged. “I heard twins had some special extrasensory perception for each other. Y’all seem to be blocking your ESP.”
    “Heaven forbid he could have just asked for a ride,” Ranger complained.
    “Heaven forbid you could have offered,” Archer rejoined.
    “Did I know you’d be up for the military?”
    “Did you think to ask?” Archer demanded. “Why did you think you could leave me behind with His Highness the Hardheaded?”
    Cissy and Hannah both turned to face Archer again.
    “Well, that’s what Mimi calls him,” Archer said sheepishly. “Mason, that is, before she quit hanging around our place.”
    “She probably had to leave out of self-defense,” Hannah said. “Your family isn’t exactly easy for a woman to bear.”
    In the mirror’s reflection, she saw Ranger’s eyebrows peak over his eyes. “How would you know?”
    Caught, because she didn’t want to admit that her feelings had been hurt by Ranger, Hannah said, “Keep your eyes on the road, cowboy. All of us want to reach our varied destinations safe and sound.”
    “And I want to talk about your destination,” Ranger stated. “Where exactly are you two going?”
    Cissy turned completely to face Hannah. “I don’t know that it’s such a good idea to tell him. They’re just going to say that we don’t know what we’re doing.”
    “You said it for me,” Ranger pointed out. “I think it, I know it’s true and now you’ve put it out in the open. We’re all prepared for my reaction, so just say it: What’s your end-of-the-line destination?”
    “I called a friend of mine who runs a gambling riverboat in Mississippi,” Hannah said. “Cissy and Iare going to be hostesses on the boat. Well, I’m going to be a card dealer. I got Cissy a job as a hostess.”
    Both men started laughing, immensely amused by the revelation. “Going to the good ship, Lollipop, ” Archer sang, until Hannah’s annoyed expression brought his tune to an end.
    Ranger turned the truck at an exit ramp, parking at a truck weigh station and rest area. “Okay,” he said sternly. “All ladies out of my truck. I ain’t taking you any farther than this.”
    Cissy hesitated, but Hannah popped right out of the truck. “Fine,” she said. “I can get a better-looking, more polite and chivalrous ride, anyway. One that doesn’t poke his nose in my business and then laugh.”
    “Archer laughed, I just—”
    “Same thing. All you