Falling Softly: Compass Girls, Book 4 Read Online Free

family members, worried that Vivi had picked it up in a store and forgotten to pay for it. Swallowing hard, she took back the gift, slipped the bracelet onto her wrist, then drove toward Compass Ranch and the rest of her life beyond those fences.

Chapter Two
    Sterling barely escaped the laser stare of her cousin, Hope, as she transferred her grandmother to the other young woman’s care. Normally they’d sit and chat awhile, enjoying their time with Vivi. Brew some tea, share ranch gossip and cook dinner together so their grandmother didn’t attempt to operate the stove without subtle supervision.
    Not today.
    With her obligation complete, Sterling needed to escape before she ensnared the rest of her family in the turmoil she’d already been exposed to after Dr. Martin’s sentencing. Dramatic? Maybe, but that’s how it felt.
    Rolling the windows down, she let the wind whip her chestnut hair around her face. The tips lashed her and made her eyes water. At least, that was what she identified as the culprit when moisture trickled down her cheeks while she passed through town.
    She bounced along in her retro Jeep, letting the rural scenery soothe her. Nature did that for her. It always had.
    Blacktop transformed into gravel and tar. Shops became houses and then occasional farms. As the miles ticked by, plowed fields gave way to grasslands. They rolled off to where they met the mountains in the distance. Crystal clear water, which would be freezing if she parked and dipped her toes in, streamed beneath the old wooden bridge she rumbled across. In the distance, a trio of wild mustangs galloped.
    Red rocks and scraggly silverberry bushes inspired a design. Finally, the perfect thing to do with those unusual garnets she’d had lying around popped into her mind. She searched the road ahead for a place to pull over so she could haul out her sketchbook to capture the flash of brilliance before it passed.
    Except just then, she spotted the glint of sunlight off something distinctly not natural. A hunk of metal. As she crested a gentle hill and neared, she realized it was a busted truck. Way out here, miles from town, it would be irresponsible for her to leave without checking on its most likely stranded owner.
    Slowing down, she approached the vehicle. From this distance, it was easy to detect the open hood and the wisps of blue smoke drifting from the engine of the rust bucket. Not a good sign.
    But when she got closer still and noticed the man leaning against the clunker, she whistled.
    Enormous, he reminded her of a sequoia. Earthy, strong and beautiful. Majestic. One glimpse at him had a thousand ideas sparking to life. Her pencil would be worn to a stub before she could draw them all.
    His hair beat hers in both the intensity of its inky blackness and the thickness of its straight length. Classic Native American features made his face bold and strikingly handsome. But his relaxed pose, ankles crossed with arms up and back on either side of him—splayed across the top edge of the truck bed—had her swallowing hard.
    Sterling squirmed in the driver’s seat.
    Despite his seeming casualness, his broad chest puffed outward, making it clear he could take care of himself. Even if she’d been a two-hundred-and-fifty pound rancher in his prime, she’d have been no concern for this guy.
    More sharply than she intended, Sterling hit the brakes, stirring up some dust as she bobbled onto the shoulder behind his vehicle. Instinctively, one of her hands flew to her phone, nestled in her wristlet. She peeked at its screen, double-checking the strength of her signal out here. Thank goodness for satellites.
    Furiously, she swiped her finger across the device, sending her cousins a quick text. I found a stray smoking hot man on the side of the road. Going to play the Good Samaritan. Probably give him a ride into town. If I don’t text you back in an hour with details, he turned out to be a psychopath, has eaten me alive and is burying the