Texas Lonestar (Texas Heroes Book 4) Read Online Free

supplement her ranching income was not only fun, it paid well. “Forty-two, forty-three.” Lennon stood on tiptoe to see everyone. George had come to stand beside her, Sally hung out the window counting fireflies.
    “Dammit,” she fussed. The last two mornings, there had been a few head missing. For the next few minutes, they were quiet, tallying the cattle. “The count for the past couple of nights has been off,” George said, leaning on his cane. “There’s supposed to be a hundred-seventy-six in this section and I only count a hundred-sixty-three. That’s thirteen gone.” They’d hoped a fence might be down, but Lennon had ridden the perimeter and found nothing out of place.
    “Let me get you two to the house.” Lennon let out a long sigh. “I’ll come back to make another pass. I want to make sure before I alert the authorities. If I find tracks at the gates or if the fence has been tampered with, I’ll call.” There really was no other explanation. If they hadn’t gotten out by themselves, somebody had helped them. They don’t just fail to show up. Cattle don’t usually find better things to do than eat.
    “Cattle rustling. Dirty business. You’d think society would’ve outgrown this crap,” he grumbled as they climbed back into the beat-up old red truck.
    “It happens, even in this digital age, George. Thieves will always be thieves.” Lennon held on to the window frame and let the cool air blow against her face as her old friend drove home. Sally had fallen asleep while they worked. They’d gotten her up before the crack of dawn. At five, she was still far too young to leave at the house on her own. “I just don’t understand why we’re having all of this bad luck. Sugar in the tractor gas tank. Somebody took a baseball bat to one of the gates. Waterlines are busted. Mailbox shot up with a BB gun. Do you think it could be kids just being kids?”
    “Maybe, for that stuff. I don’t think kids are stealing cattle though.”
    Lennon closed her eyes, dreading the phone call. “You know - I’d almost rather deal with the rustlers than the sheriff.” Who would’ve ever thought Colin Ferguson would end up the law in Hudspeth County? “We’ve got a better chance of striking oil digging for turnips than him helping me with this mess.”
    “He’s a fool, always has been.” George Morgan still remembered the night little Lennon had come home crying from the dance. “Flora, bless her soul, told him off the week before she died. That woman loved you more than anything.”
    “Except you,” Lennon grinned at him. “You were a lucky man.” She brushed the silky blonde hair from Sally’s damp brow. “I miss her and Daddy so much. And Mama, of course.”
    “Yea, me too–me too. Can you get the gate?”
    Lennon jerked her head up. “Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention. Deep in thought.” She bounded out and opened the gate, holding it until George drove through. After she’d latched the aluminum gate, she just hopped up on the tailgate of the pickup and waved him to go on. The view in front of her was majestic–the mountains vied with the sky and she didn’t know which was more beautiful. But the landscape wasn’t sufficient consolation for the loneliness she endured. Face it - her life hadn’t turned out the way she’d hoped. There was no loving husband anywhere on the horizon. The only people she had to love and care for was her elderly neighbor and her cousin’s unwanted child–well, unwanted by her cousin, but very much wanted by Lennon. Sally had been hers from the day she came home from the hospital and she always would be.
    Once George parked, Lennon went to the cab to pick up her little treasure. “We’ll let her sleep until I get the pancakes cooked.” She took her time walking, not only because Sally was a good load, but also because George was slow. “Do you need some new overalls?” she asked, noticing the ones he had on were looking a little worn at the hem and