Her Cowboy Dilemma. C.J. Carmichael

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      Chapter Two

      Dan Farley settled his coffee cup into the holder of his truck, then wolfed down the cinnamon bun in two minutes flat. Sweet and spicy...just like Cassidy Lambert.

      The little witch.

      So she was back in town. Judging from all the baggage in her truck, she was done with school. Would she be staying in Coffee Creek? Or moving on? Corb had mentioned she was studying accounting and thinking of working in Billings, but that her mother had other plans.

      He didn’t really care how it panned out. The little minx was trouble. And he intended to keep his distance.

      For the longest time she’d been nothing but the cute younger sister of his best friends B.J., Corb and Brock. With no siblings of his own, he hadn’t really minded when she tried to tag along with them—but Brock was always looking for ways to get rid of her.

      He said she talked too much. Which was true.

      He complained that she tried to boss them around. Also true.

      But she had redeeming characteristics, among them a soft, yet courageous heart. So many times she’d come to him and her brothers expecting them to help a baby chick that had fallen from its nest, a fawn struggling with a lame leg, a farm cat with distemper, eyes weeping from disease, matted fur over a scrawny body.

      Brock and Corb would brush her off, but he’d always done what he could to save the animal.

      And then Cassidy turned twenty-one and the person who needed saving was himself....

      An incoming call prevented him from dredging up further unwanted memories. He pressed the button on his steering wheel to patch it through.

      “Hello?”

      “Farley?” It was Liz Moffat, his right-hand woman at the office. Besides being his receptionist, the thirty-three-year-old mother of four also did a pretty good job of running his private life, as well. “I just had a call from Maddie Turner.”

      “I’m on my way to Coffee Creek Ranch right now.” The Lamberts’ place was only fifteen miles from Silver Creek Ranch. Maddie Turner and Olive Lambert were sisters, though they hadn’t spoken to one another in over thirty years.

      “When you’re finished there, could you swing by Maddie’s place? One of her cows is having a difficult birth.”

      “I’ll do that.”

      “Oh, and Amber wants to know about tonight. If you think you’ll be able to make it in time for a movie.”

      He wanted to say yes, but knew better. “Tell her probably not. I still have to check out the Harringtons’ lame cow.”

      “Maybe things will go well at Maddie’s and you’ll be able to do both.” Liz had fixed him up with Amber and was lobbying hard for the relationship to work.

      “Maybe.” But he doubted it. Maddie Turner didn’t have the head for business that her older sister did, and she’d been struggling financially for the past five years. She wouldn’t be asking for his help if the situation with her cow and unborn calf wasn’t dire.

      But first he had the situation at the Lamberts’ to deal with. And maybe another chance to see Cassidy?

      No. If she knew he was there, she’d avoid the barns, the way she usually did.

      * * *

      C ASSIDY WAS DRIVING about ten miles over the posted speed limit on the secondary road out of Coffee Creek. Plus, she was taking sips of her coffee. And nibbling on her cinnamon bun. So she couldn’t claim to be the injured party when she saw the flashing lights of a patrol car behind her five minutes after leaving town.

      She pulled to the side of the road, turned off her music and waited.

      Sun beat in warmly through the windshield and she could hear a meadowlark’s song drifting on the fragrant spring breeze that wafted through her open windows. Ahead of her the pavement curved and she tensed as she saw the flower wreath affixed to the simple white cross that marked the spot of the accident where Brock had died last July.

      She’d been so busy thinking about СКАЧАТЬ