The Rancher's Second Chance (Martin's Crossing Book 3) Read Online Free

get back to the breakfast crowd or Ned is going to hunt me down.”
    Brody smiled. Ned, short for Nedine, was a big lady with graying auburn hair and a gruff demeanor, but she was all heart. Duke said she was the best waitress in the state. He told her that often. Especially after he’d ruffled her feathers.
    Duke left, and Brody leaned back in the chair and tried to relax. Unfortunately he was all too aware of the woman just feet away from him. Aware of her soft breathing. The quiet sob in her sleep. It all pulled him toward her in a way he hadn’t expected and didn’t want. He just should have called the police when she’d shown up. He should send her to friends. There were other people she could have gone to.
    So why him?
    To torment him, he guessed. The only one who could control that was him. He would take control now before he got too far in. He’d keep her at a distance. He’d remember how it felt to have his heart trampled. Memories resurfaced, and not the ones he wanted. Of course he didn’t remember the night when he’d rounded the corner of his trailer and saw her with Lincoln. Instead, he remembered how it had felt to hold her in his arms.
    He rubbed his hands down his cheeks and shook his head. Heartache, pain, disillusionment—he drew all the memories in and let them simmer as he looked at the woman asleep on the couch, her face bruised by the fist of another man.
    He waited until he heard Oregon show up, then he made his way into the section of the building where her store was located. Oregon had a talent for making things. She made clothes, hand-painted Christmas ornaments and jewelry. He didn’t know much about her art, but he knew enough to be impressed.
    When he walked through the door, she turned from the shelf she was straightening and smiled at him. She was a tiny thing with dark hair and big gray eyes. And her daughter, Lilly, was the spitting image of Duke.
    “I heard I have a visitor.” She moved some things around, then settled her serious gaze on him. “You okay?”
    “I’m good. She isn’t. Do you mind if she stays here for a while?”
    “Of course not.” Oregon pointed to the coffeepot on the shelf behind the counter. “Need a cup?”
    “No, I thought I’d go help Jake.”
    She narrowed her eyes to study him. “Really?”
    “What?”
    “You’ve avoided horses like most people avoid snakes.”
    He shrugged and didn’t offer explanations. He hadn’t offered an explanation to anyone about anything. He’d lived his life that way, because from the time he’d been a kid everyone had told him to put on his big-boy jeans and get over it. He’d gotten over his mom walking out on them. He’d gotten over his dad drinking his life away. And whatever he was feeling inside, he kept it to himself. For the most part.
    As Duke had told him a long time ago, they all had stuff they had to deal with.
    “He asked me to help him out today. I know Duke is at the restaurant. I don’t want to leave Jake shorthanded.”
    She dropped her gaze to his leg the way Duke had. “Should you be riding?”
    “Yep. So can you let her know where I’ve gone?”
    “Yes, I’ll let her know.”
    Brody started to walk away but stopped. “If a guy with straw-colored hair and a big grin shows up here asking for her, tell him you don’t know who he’s talking about.”
    Worry clouded her features. “I will. Brody, are you sure you should...”
    “Yeah, I should.”
    He walked away before she could guess he wasn’t as sure as he acted.
    * * *
    Lincoln chased her through the dark, his face a mask of anger and cruelty. Grace ran but her legs were tired and heavy, and it was hard to breathe. Then suddenly they were in a clinic, and Lincoln told her in quiet, reassuring tones that it was the right choice. She shook her head, knowing he was wrong and that she couldn’t do this. She couldn’t take the life growing inside her. It was her baby. Hers to love. Hers to protect.
    Grace woke up with a start. She