Texas Lonestar (Texas Heroes Book 4) Read Online Free Page A

around the pockets. He preferred to wear blue and white striped ones. Lennon teased him that he looked like a train engineer instead of a retired rancher.
    “Nope, I’ve probably got enough to do me for the rest of my life. After all, I’m eighty-three years old. How much time can I have left?” he groused as he opened the screen door and held it open for Lennon and the small child in her arms to walk through.
    “You’d better have a long time left on this earth. I need you, you know.” She placed Sally gently down on the couch, taking the time to glance at a framed quilt block her mother had embroidered. It was words Lennon tried to live by. Love Lessons . As Lennon stirred up the batter for the pumpkin pancakes and squeezed fresh oranges for juice, she let the old familiar words roll over in her mind… Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
    No, love never failed and she wouldn’t let her little family down either. After she’d dished up the pancakes and fed George and Sally, Lennon washed up the dishes and made sure her two favorite people had everything they needed before she returned to work. “I’ll be back soon. Let her watch cartoons as long as she wants to.” George raised a tired hand in acknowledgement. He looked about ready for a nap. “Sally, be a good girl for me,” she called.
    “Yes, Lenny,” Sally answered automatically, her big blue eyes glued to the animated characters on the television screen.
    “If things get to be too much, you could always sell to Rooster Daniels.” George said, speaking out quietly from his leather recliner.
    “Bite your tongue,” Lennon sighed out the words. “Apache Springs is our home. We’ll work things out,” she assured the old man as she left the house. Lennon wished she felt as confident as she sounded. This time, she decided to take her horse instead of the truck. No problem seemed insurmountable once she was in the saddle.
    “Giddy-up, Firefly.” She gave the black mare free rein. “Let’s see what you can do this morning.” They set out across the green meadow, heading to the north fence-line. Lennon didn’t hold out much hope of finding the cattle, but it would’ve been nice to just run up on those thirteen head grazing down by the pond. But after riding for about an hour–she found the problem. A gap in the fence. One that had been cut and the wires slipped back into place over hastily driven ten-penny nails. Tire tracks in the dirt told her the rest of the sad tale. “Foot a duck,” Lennon whispered under her breath. “Foot a big duck.”
    She was going to have to call Colin after all.
     
    *  *  *
    “I’m sorry, Lennon.” Colin said, although to Lennon’s ears he didn’t sound too sorry. “Here at the Sheriff’s office we’re busy with real criminal activity. As you should well know, being this close to the border, we have immigration issues out the kazoo. The county’s also dealing with heavier traffic due to the excavation and exploration out on Round Top. Are you sure you just didn’t miscount or move some of your cattle to a different section of your ranch and just forget about it?”
    “No, Colin. I didn’t just forget,” Lennon said tiredly. “Someone stole over a dozen head of my cattle. I know what I’m doing and I know how to do it. I’ve been running this ranch alone for the past seven years.” Lennon couldn’t have kept the frustration out of her voice if she tried.
    “Well, we both know why you’re alone,” he said snidely. “Don’t go getting your panties in a wad, Ms. Haley. Just because you’re a spinster doesn’t entitle you to demand a man come out to your ranch to investigate some trumped up excuse of a