Riding for Love (A Western Romance) Read Online Free Page B

younger siblings.
    In the last game of the season his senior year, as the pros were hot on his tail with contracts, Ed broke his ankle in several places by an opponent wishing to make a name for himself. His dreams of playing in the NFL were as crushed as the bones in his ankle. Where Tom had accepted what life threw at him, Ed couldn’t handle the disappointment.
    By the end of the semester, Ed started drinking. With only five months to go, he dropped out of the university and returned to this farm, where he proceeded to make life hell for everyone. If Ed couldn’t be happy, neither could anyone else.
    At times Tom thought it was lucky Ed and Linda had only Eve, so Ed couldn’t make anyone else’s life miserable. At other times he wished they’d had a houseful of kids for Ed to spread out his spite.
    As time went on, Linda retreated more and more into herself. No longer getting pleasure from hurting his wife, Eve became his next target. During her teens, she occasionally tried to fight back, but became like her mother, quiet and reclusive.
    Then Eve met Denton Johansen. In spite of what happened later, Tom was grateful to the young man. Not only did he get her away from home, but he brought laughter and confidence into her life. He never saw two people more suited to each other. Even Ed’s persistent ridicule of his daughter couldn’t bring her out of the clouds she’d lived in that year with Denton. It took his betrayal to do that. Not only did she lose her boyfriend, but she didn’t have his support during the death of her mother.
    Awful to think, and something he voiced to only one other person, but while Linda didn’t deserve to die, Tom thought it’d turned out to be a good thing. Linda had been set free from her tyrannical husband and Eve from her father.
    The subsequent trial for homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle sent her father to prison, allowing Eve to get on with her life. With her parents and Denton gone, a fierce determination to succeed and prove she wasn’t like her father developed.
    Eve graduated from college in hospitality, travel, and tourism. With his financial help, she turned the dilapidated family farm into a riding ranch for the summer and fall, and a playground for cross-country skiers and snowmobilers in the winter. After years of hard work, they now had a fairly successful business.
    He turned to the young woman beside him. Pride welled up again, bringing tears to his eyes. If only a man would ride into her life to love her, the way she deserved to be loved. There was so much of Linda in her, and maybe that’s why he loved her so much. Had Linda lived . . .
    He sighed. No sense living in the past. Look where it got Ed. Tom touched Eve on the arm. “Well, kiddo. What about Max? No doubt he’s smitten with you.”
    Eve nodded. “It’s just that . . .”
    “He doesn’t make the earth spin faster and bring a blush to your face.”
    “Something like that. I have a date with him tomorrow night. I wish I could convince him just to be friends.”
    Tom patted her hand. “I’m afraid he wants more than that, dear girl.”
    With mutual ease, he enjoyed the scenery with Eve. “You know what you have to do, don’t you?” When she remained silent, he gave her an answer. “You need to find out what happened with Denton and Marie so you can get over him once and for all and move forward.” He planted a kiss on her cheek when she didn’t respond.
    “Well, this isn’t getting the place ready for customers, girl.”
    Her face lit up, and she chuckled as she grabbed his arm. They headed to the barn. “No, sir, it isn’t. We have to muck out the barn.”
    “Clean out the cabins.”
    “Repair and put away the winter toys,” she added.
    Arm-in-arm they continued to rattle off the chores to complete before the first of the customers hit in three weeks’ time. Their list became more outrageous as they thought of their future demanding guests.
    “Pick up twigs.”
    “Turn the