Christmas with the Rancher: The Rancher / Christmas Cowboy / A Man of Means. Diana Palmer

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СКАЧАТЬ walked into the house muttering about the rooster.

      “Trouble again?” Shelby asked. She was curled up on the sofa watching the news, but she turned off the television when she saw her son. She smiled, dark-eyed and still beautiful.

      “The rooster,” he sighed. He tossed his hat into a chair and dropped down into his father’s big recliner. “I bought us a bull. He’s very nice.”

      “From Cy Parks?”

      He nodded. “He’s quite a character.”

      “So I’ve heard.”

      “I bought Maddie a cameo,” he added. “In that tearoom halfway between here and Jacobsville. It’s got an antiques store in with it.” He shook his head. “Beautiful thing. It’s hand-painted…a pretty Spanish lady with a fan, enameled. She had a fit over it. The seller died recently and had no family.”

      “Sad. But it was nice of you to buy it for Maddie.”

      He pursed his lips. “When you met Dad, you said you didn’t get along.”

      She shivered dramatically. “That’s putting it mildly. He hated me. Or he seemed to. But when my mother, your grandmother, died, I was alone in a media circus. They think she committed suicide and she was a big-name movie star, you see. So there was a lot of publicity. I was almost in hysterics when your father showed up out of nowhere and managed everything.”

      “Well!”

      “I was shocked. He’d sent me home, told me he had a girlfriend and broke me up with Danny. Not that I needed breaking-up, Danny was only pretending to be engaged to me to make King face how he really felt. But it was fireworks from the start.” She peered at him through her thick black eyelashes. “Sort of the way it was with you and Maddie, I think.”

      “It’s fireworks, now, too. But of a different sort,” he added very slowly.

      “Oh?” She didn’t want to pry, but she was curious.

      “I’m confused. Maddie isn’t pretty. She can’t sing or play anything. But she can paint and sculpt and she’s sharp about people.” He grimaced. “Odalie is beautiful, like the rising sun, and she can play any instrument and sing like an angel.”

      “Accomplishments and education don’t matter as much as personality and character,” his mother replied quietly. “I’m not an educated person, although I’ve taken online courses. I made my living modeling. Do you think I’m less valuable to your father than a woman with a college degree and greater beauty?”

      “Goodness, no!” he exclaimed at once.

      She smiled gently. “See what I mean?”

      “I think I’m beginning to.” He leaned back. “It was a good day.”

      “I’m glad.”

      “Except for that damned rooster,” he muttered. “One of these days…!”

      She laughed.

      He was about to call Maddie, just to talk, when his cell phone rang.

      He didn’t recognize the number. He put it up to his ear. “Hello?”

      “Hello, Cort,” Odalie’s voice purred in his ear. “Guess what, I’m home! Want to come over for supper tonight?”

      He hesitated. Things had just gotten complicated.

      Maddie half expected Cort to phone her, after their lovely day together, but he didn’t. The next morning, she heard a car pull up in the driveway and went running out. But it wasn’t Cort. It was John Everett.

      She tried not to let her disappointment show. “Hi!” she said. “Would you like a cup of very nice European coffee from a fancy European coffeemaker?” she added, grinning.

      He burst out laughing. “I would. Thanks. It’s been a hectic day and night.”

      “Has it? Why?” she asked as they walked up the steps.

      “I had to drive up to Dallas-Fort Worth airport to pick up Odalie yesterday.”

      Her heart did a nosedive. She’d hoped against hope that the other woman would stay in Italy, marry her voice teacher, get a job at the opera house, anything but come home, and especially right now! She and Cort were only just beginning to get to know each other. It wasn’t fair!

      “How is she?” she asked, her heart shattering.

      “Good,” he said heavily. “She and the voice teacher disagreed, so she’s going to find someone in this country to take over from him.” He grimaced. “I don’t know who. Since she knows more than the voice trainers do, I don’t really see the point in it. She can’t take criticism.”

      She swallowed, hard, as she went to work at the coffee machine. “Has Cort seen her?”

      “Oh, yes,” he said, sitting down at the little kitchen table. “He came over for supper last night. They went driving.”

      She froze at the counter. She didn’t let him see her face, but her stiff back was a good indication of how she’d received the news.

      “I’m really sorry,” he said gently. “But I thought you should know before you heard gossip.”

      She nodded. Tears were stinging her eyes, but she hid them. “Thanks, John.”

      He drew in a long breath. “She doesn’t love him,” he said. “He’s just a habit she can’t give up. I don’t think he loves her, either, really. It’s like those crushes we get on movie stars. Odalie is an image, not someone real who wants to settle down and have kids and live on a ranch. She can’t stand cattle!”

      She started the coffee machine, collected herself, smiled and turned around. “Good thing your parents don’t mind them,” she said.

      “And I’ve told her so. Repeatedly.” He studied her through narrowed eyes. His thick blond hair shone like pale yellow diamonds in the overhead light. He was so good-looking, she thought. She wished she could feel for him what she felt for Cort.

      “People can’t help being who they are,” she replied quietly.

      “You’re wise for your years,” he teased.

      She laughed. “Not so wise, or I’d get out of the cattle business.” She chuckled. “After we have coffee, want to have another go at explaining genetics to me? I’m a lost cause, but we can try.”

      “You’re not a lost cause, and I’d love to try.”

      Odalie was irritable and not trying to hide it. “What’s the matter with you?” she snapped at Cort. “You haven’t heard a word I’ve said.”

      He glanced at her and grimaced. “Sorry. We’ve got a new bull coming. I’m distracted.”

      Her pale blue eyes narrowed. “More than distracted, I think. What’s this I hear about you taking that Lane girl with you to СКАЧАТЬ