Red Hot Rancher. Maureen Child

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СКАЧАТЬ course not.” Gracie took a breath and lifted one hand to push her hair back from her face. “He’d never say anything to you. You think he wants to risk you leaving again?”

      “I told you. And him. I’m not leaving.”

      “And we should believe you,” Gracie said wryly, quirking a brow.

      “Damn it, Gracie, is it going to be like this between us all the time now?”

      “I don’t know. If it is, will you leave?”

      “No.”

      “We’ll see, won’t we,” Gracie said, then turned away before Emma could speak. The anger and hurt in her sister’s eyes was impossible to miss.

      “Wow. Welcome home, Emma.”

      “Right. I’ll get the balloons.” Gracie turned on her heel, then looked back over her shoulder. “By the way, the vet’s coming over later. I’d appreciate it if you’d leave us alone.”

      She was gone before Emma could respond and maybe it was just as well. These “conversations” with Gracie were exhausting and sort of circular. No matter which direction they went, it eventually returned to you left us. And there was no argument to that because Emma had left her old life behind to try for something else. Something she’d dreamed of doing since she was a kid. No one seemed to understand that and for the millionth time, Emma found herself wishing her mom were still alive. Maggie Williams would have understood.

      Emma fumed for another minute or two. Just long enough to make sure she wouldn’t have to walk alongside Gracie back to the house. She’d had no idea when she left Montana that she would completely shatter the relationship she had with her sister. Emma was five years older than her sister and so she’d always looked after Gracie—especially since their mother died when Gracie was fourteen. And now it felt as if they were armed camps on opposite sides of a battle.

      She blew out a breath, finished organizing the shelves and then swept the floor, focusing the burning energy inside toward getting something in her life straightened out. Coming home was turning into a big-scale drama. Her father was deteriorating, her sister was furious and her old boyfriend could barely stand to look at her. If she’d had the energy, Emma might have thrown herself a little pity party. But since she didn’t, she headed for the house and the baby girl who needed her instead.

      Molly was nearly five months old and her personality was, thank God, happy. The tiny girl welcomed everyone with a toothless smile and only cried when she was hungry or wet. You just couldn’t ask for much more than that. Having Molly in her life had been a surprise, but Emma was determined to protect that baby girl. To give Molly the kind of life she’d had, growing up.

      Which was the main reason she was back in Montana taking a mountain of crap from everyone.

      She found her father and Molly in the living room. The baby was on his lap, laughing as Frank made silly faces. Was it her imagination, or did her dad look better today than he had when she’d arrived just a few days before? His eyes were brighter, his hair was combed and he’d shaved. All good signs that Gracie hadn’t bothered to mention. Plus, her little sister had made it sound as if Frank was aggrieved at taking care of the baby but it looked to Emma as if he was having a great time.

      Gracie and she were going to have to have a long talk. Soon.

      “Dad?”

      He turned to grin at her. “Hello, honey, what’re you up to?”

      “Oh, I was just...” She waved one hand toward the outside. “Straightening out the tack room.”

      He chuckled. “You always did have your mother’s neat streak.”

      Emma walked up to him and sat down on the chair closest to him. “Gracie told me Buck quit.”

      He frowned. “He did, but couldn’t blame him any. He’s older than I am and damned if I’m out working the ranch every day.”

      The baby slapped both of her little hands on top of his and then played with his fingers.

      “Got to remember to watch my language now, don’t I?” He grinned down at Molly. “This little darling reminds me so much of you at her age.”

      Emma felt a tiny pang that she refused to identify or acknowledge. “Does she?”

      “Always happy, always looking for the next thing...” His smile faded a bit, but his eyes were still shining. “I’m glad to have you home, Emma, and that’s the truth.”

      She leaned forward, reached out and squeezed his hand briefly. “I’m glad somebody is.” She blew out a breath in frustration. “Gracie sneers at me every time we pass by each other.”

      He laughed. “Well, Gracie’s just put out. She’s done her best these last five years, but she doesn’t have your confidence. Never has. So she doubts everything she does.”

      Emma didn’t like the sound of that. “Well, she shouldn’t. She’s always seemed so sure of herself to me. Even in school, she went her own way no matter what anyone else had to say.”

      “All true,” he mused. “But at the heart of it, she questions herself.”

      “She hates me now.” Emma picked at a fraying thread on the arm of the couch.

      Frank laughed again. “No, she doesn’t. She’s just afraid to enjoy having you back. Probably thinking you’re not going to stay.”

      Gracie wouldn’t be worried about that in the slightest if she knew what had been a huge motivating factor in driving Emma home in the first place. Oh, she had been planning on coming back to Montana, but she’d pushed her schedule up fast for one reason only. But that wasn’t something she could talk about. Not even with her family.

      Watching her, Frank asked quietly, “Is she right? Are you just stopping by for a visit before you take off again?”

      She couldn’t blame her father for the question. When she left, Emma had had big plans. She’d done her best, and put everything she had into making those plans a reality. None of it had worked out and by the end of her time in California she had been wondering why she’d ever left Montana in the first place. Now she’d come home to build different dreams. And this time, she would succeed.

      But it wasn’t only her family and her home that had pulled her back to Montana. It was Caden. The cowboy she’d left behind. The man who could set her body ablaze with a look. The man who starred in her dreams nightly. The man she’d never been able to forget—not that she’d really tried.

      “No, Dad,” she said, leaning forward to lay her hand on his forearm. She wanted him to see her resolve. To feel that she was really back for good. Her gaze locked with his and she willed him to believe her. “Molly and I are home to stay.”

      He studied her for a long moment or two, then pleasure shone on his face. “Relieved to hear that, Em,” he said. “Don’t think I could stand watching you leave again and taking this little nugget with you.”

      “You don’t have to worry,” she assured him.

      “And Molly’s daddy?” Frank asked, sliding her a glance. “What’s he СКАЧАТЬ