The Rancher And The RunawayBride: Part 2 Read Online Free

could
     tell.”
    Randi had raised the fork halfway to her mouth. She froze. “How’d you figure that
     out?”
    “You both looked so damned guilty. Like kids caught stealing from the cookie jar.
     I hope you had a bellyache from all the supper you ate, hoping I wouldn’t notice.”
    “Sorry, no.” She chewed the potato salad and swallowed. “I have the most unladylike
     appetite. At least that’s what my mother always told me. She ate little tiny portions
     of everything. It made me crazy. I can stand just about anything but being hungry.
     Heaven help me if I ever have to go on a diet.”
    “You’re strong. All that muscle needs fuel.”
    “A nice way of saying I’d never make it as a model.”
    “Why would you want to?”
    “Why indeed.” She thought about Brady. About how he’d made her heart beat faster and
     her stomach quiver with nerves. What kind of woman did he find attractive? Skinny
     blondes with big boobs? Sultry redheads? She doubted he had a thing for sturdy women
     with uncontrollably curly hair. Just once she would like someone to think she was
     pretty. Her father had been kind and generous with compliments, but they hadn’t been
     enough to counteract her mother’s brutal honesty.
    She still remembered dressing for a dance when she was sixteen. She hadn’t wanted
     to go, but her mother had arranged for a friend’s son to be her escort. A mercy date.
     She’d been standing in front of her mirror, trying to convince herself she didn’t
     look horrible when she’d heard her parents in the hall. Her father had been excited
     about taking her picture, but her mother had stopped him.
    “She’s nothing to look at. Why do you want to remember that?”
    “She’s my daughter,” her father had protested. “She’s beautiful.”
    “Oh, please. Randi’s plain at best. That hair. I’m at my wit’s end with it. At least
     she has decent skin. With those features, if she had blemishes, too, we’d have to
     put a bag over her head.”
    Eight years later, the words still hurt. She knew she wasn’t pretty, but she’d come
     to grips with that. Some days she thought she was actually okay-looking. Time had
     taught her that her mother’s overly critical remarks had little to do with physical
     appearance and more to do with the older woman’s general dissatisfaction that her
     daughter wasn’t a perfect clone. The two of them had nothing in common, save a blood
     relationship.
    “You gonna eat that, or are you just going to stare at it?” Tex asked.
    Randi glanced down and realized she was holding half a sandwich in her hands, but
     hadn’t taken a bite. “Sorry, I was lost in thought.”
    “Judging from the look in your eyes, somewhere far away.”
    She glanced at the cook. “Sometimes you’re too observant, Tex.”
    He grinned. “Part of my charm. It’s one of the reasons they’ve kept me around for
     so long.”
    “What are the others?” she asked, pretending innocence.
    “My cooking, and don’t you say another word about it.”
    She took a bite of her sandwich and chewed. Peter raised his head and sniffed the
     air. He glanced up at Tex and mewed hopefully.
    “Don’t even think about it,” the cook told him. “No tuna for you.”
    Peter blinked, then collapsed back into the crook of Tex’s arm. He yawned, leaned
     against the large man’s chest and closed his eyes.
    “Ten years is a long time to work somewhere,” she said. “First the marines and now
     the ranch. You bond with large groups. What about with individuals?”
    He drew his eyebrows together. “You one of those psychological types? I’m not interested
     in being analyzed.”
    “Just curious. You’re a great guy. Why aren’t you married?”
    Tex cleared his throat. “Never met anyone I cared about that much. The marines kept
     me moving around. Not many women want to put up with that.”
    Randi swallowed and took a sip of water. “Not to mention the fact you loved being
     a bachelor.”
    He