The Ranch Hand Read Online Free
everything.
He glanced at the long, winding dirt road that led from the ranch to the main road. Carol wasn’t back from town yet, though she had a four-wheel drive and chains if it came to that. She’d be okay, even if it got nasty.
His horse nudged him and snorted as he led her back to the stables. He set a calming hand on her neck, but a low-grade nervous tension buzzed inside his stomach.
She would be fine. She was a perfectly capable driver. Hell, she’d driven in Colorado weather all her life. He was being an overprotective fool about it.
He thought about calling her cell phone, urging her to be careful and decided against it. He could see no way to do it without coming across as a condescending ass. He sighed, shook his head, and went to finish up as the snow came down like a white sheet, covering everything.
* * *
Carol’s business in town took longer than she’d planned. She’d hoped to be in and out before the storm, but the grocery store had been packed with people stocking up before the snowfall. When she’d finally finished and loaded the big grocery run for the ranch onto the truck, she’d run into more delays at the feed store. The delivery truck hauling hay and oats had been late, again because of the freak storm.
Because of the delay, she was forced to kill time in town, having lunch at a little greasy spoon called Curley’s Corner, staring out the window at the ominous gray sky. Normally the food there was great. Today her BLT had tasted like sawdust and she’d set it aside unfinished. It wasn’t the sandwich though; it was her. She was worried about the coming storm, fretting about the frozen food she’d bought…and still brooding over last night. The way Harlan had seemed to draw away from her after she’d told him the news she was leaving, though he’d done his best to hide it. Then surprising her with that wonderful kiss.
No, she wasn’t going to think on that anymore. Either the kiss or the leaving. The food would be fine, too. She’d packed the meat safely in a cooler she always used for the long trip, but she didn’t have room to fit all the ice cream inside. There had been a doozy of a sale on ice cream, near a third off, and she couldn’t pass that chance up, daydreaming of ice cream cones, ice cream sundaes, ice cream shakes…until she’d discovered that flat meat packaging fit far better in the cooler than six tubs of ice cream. Nothing to help it now. That fence had fallen. Three ice cream gallons sat in plastic bags in the back of the truck. It was cold out, but not cold enough to keep the ice cream solid forever if she didn’t get back on the road soon enough.
Forget the ice cream; it was the late hay delivery that really worried her. They needed the supplies, and if the storm were truly bad, they might not be able to get back into town for a few days. There might be enough hay bales at Snowbrook to see them through…but then again maybe not. She didn’t like to gamble—not with livestock, and never with their horses, which, in her mind, were closer to employees. She meant to uphold her end of the deal with those horses—food and shelter in exchange for their hard work. She was determined to stick it out and come through for them. Actually, now that she thought about it, she guessed she considered the horses closer to family.
The snow started coming down hard an hour before the delivery truck arrived. At first it didn’t stick, melting away on the asphalt, the building roofs, and the car hoods. But as she waited for the tractor-trailer to unload, the snow began to linger on the surfaces cold enough not to melt it right away. When Billy and Carl had finally helped her load her trailer with hay and supplies, the three of them had worked fast in the snowfall. Two, going on three, inches of snow covered the ground already. It stuck to her cowboy hat, her jacket, clung to her boots, left icy cold kisses on any bit of exposed skin.
Now she carefully
He glanced at the long, winding dirt road that led from the ranch to the main road. Carol wasn’t back from town yet, though she had a four-wheel drive and chains if it came to that. She’d be okay, even if it got nasty.
His horse nudged him and snorted as he led her back to the stables. He set a calming hand on her neck, but a low-grade nervous tension buzzed inside his stomach.
She would be fine. She was a perfectly capable driver. Hell, she’d driven in Colorado weather all her life. He was being an overprotective fool about it.
He thought about calling her cell phone, urging her to be careful and decided against it. He could see no way to do it without coming across as a condescending ass. He sighed, shook his head, and went to finish up as the snow came down like a white sheet, covering everything.
* * *
Carol’s business in town took longer than she’d planned. She’d hoped to be in and out before the storm, but the grocery store had been packed with people stocking up before the snowfall. When she’d finally finished and loaded the big grocery run for the ranch onto the truck, she’d run into more delays at the feed store. The delivery truck hauling hay and oats had been late, again because of the freak storm.
Because of the delay, she was forced to kill time in town, having lunch at a little greasy spoon called Curley’s Corner, staring out the window at the ominous gray sky. Normally the food there was great. Today her BLT had tasted like sawdust and she’d set it aside unfinished. It wasn’t the sandwich though; it was her. She was worried about the coming storm, fretting about the frozen food she’d bought…and still brooding over last night. The way Harlan had seemed to draw away from her after she’d told him the news she was leaving, though he’d done his best to hide it. Then surprising her with that wonderful kiss.
No, she wasn’t going to think on that anymore. Either the kiss or the leaving. The food would be fine, too. She’d packed the meat safely in a cooler she always used for the long trip, but she didn’t have room to fit all the ice cream inside. There had been a doozy of a sale on ice cream, near a third off, and she couldn’t pass that chance up, daydreaming of ice cream cones, ice cream sundaes, ice cream shakes…until she’d discovered that flat meat packaging fit far better in the cooler than six tubs of ice cream. Nothing to help it now. That fence had fallen. Three ice cream gallons sat in plastic bags in the back of the truck. It was cold out, but not cold enough to keep the ice cream solid forever if she didn’t get back on the road soon enough.
Forget the ice cream; it was the late hay delivery that really worried her. They needed the supplies, and if the storm were truly bad, they might not be able to get back into town for a few days. There might be enough hay bales at Snowbrook to see them through…but then again maybe not. She didn’t like to gamble—not with livestock, and never with their horses, which, in her mind, were closer to employees. She meant to uphold her end of the deal with those horses—food and shelter in exchange for their hard work. She was determined to stick it out and come through for them. Actually, now that she thought about it, she guessed she considered the horses closer to family.
The snow started coming down hard an hour before the delivery truck arrived. At first it didn’t stick, melting away on the asphalt, the building roofs, and the car hoods. But as she waited for the tractor-trailer to unload, the snow began to linger on the surfaces cold enough not to melt it right away. When Billy and Carl had finally helped her load her trailer with hay and supplies, the three of them had worked fast in the snowfall. Two, going on three, inches of snow covered the ground already. It stuck to her cowboy hat, her jacket, clung to her boots, left icy cold kisses on any bit of exposed skin.
Now she carefully
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