Blame It On The Cowboy. Delores Fossen

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      “Reese.” Again, that was it. Hell, Bert wasn’t cooperating with this at all.

      “She looked familiar,” Logan continued. “I just wondered how you’d found her?”

      “She came into the café, asked about the help-wanted sign that I had in the window. I gave her a trial run to see if she could cook. She can, by the way. I hope you enjoyed that burger she fixed.”

      He hadn’t. Logan hadn’t eaten a bite of it, so rather than lie again, he just made a sound of approval. “Reese dropped it off at my office after I had to leave. I wasn’t there, but she left it with Greg.”

      Considering Logan had told Reese that Greg would be picking it up in the first place, he was even more suspicious that the woman had personally delivered it.

      “You probably heard that Maggie’s got to have some surgery,” Bert added a moment later.

      Maggie, Bert’s wife, and yes, Logan had heard. Female problems, which was the only thing Logan had listened to after hearing those two words. “I hope Maggie will be okay,” Logan said.

      “Oh, she will be. Female problems,” Bert repeated. “But it means I’ll be out of the kitchen for a while. Reese said she’d have no trouble pulling double shifts for me.”

      Logan was even more leery. Why was she being so accommodating? Of course, the obvious reason might be that with double shifts she would be earning double pay, but Logan wasn’t ready to cut her that kind of slack just yet.

      “So, Reese had references when you hired her?” Logan pressed.

      “Oh, I get it now. You’re wanting to make sure she’s experienced enough to do the catering job for Della?”

      No, that wasn’t it at all. “Is she qualified? What did her previous employers have to say about her?”

      “Didn’t check them out after I tasted a couple of things she cooked for me. The woman bakes, too. Melt in your mouth pies and cakes. She did this lemon thingy that had all the customers going on about it.” Bert paused. “But if you’re worried about her, I can check her references. Are you, uh, worried about her?”

      The question was reasonable, but Logan heard something in Bert’s tone. He’d used the word worried but what he really meant was interested. Hell’s bells. Bert thought Logan was looking to hit on Reese.

      “I just want to make sure Reese is the right person for the catering job,” Logan clarified, though he was dead certain that wouldn’t quell any of Bert’s interested suspicions since Logan hadn’t even known about the catering job before this phone call. “If you could follow through on her references, I’d appreciate it.”

      “Sure. I’ll get back to you.”

      Logan ended the call, ready to go inside, but once again his phone buzzed. Good grief. At this rate, he’d never get in the house, but again it was a call he needed to take.

      Jason Murdock’s name was on the screen.

      Logan and he had been friends since high school, and when Jason had taken over running his uncle’s large ranch about thirty miles from Spring Hill, it made sense for them to do business together. Jason had cows to sell, and Logan needed to buy huge herds so he could resell in smaller groups and make a profit.

      But there was a problem with Jason.

      “If you’re going to give me another pity deal,” Logan said when he answered, “then I don’t want it.”

      “Good. Because you’re not getting pity from me. I don’t do pity deals, pity fucks or pity anything else. I needed to unload those cows because I didn’t have the room for them.”

      Logan wanted to believe him, but their friendship might have caused Jason to bend his no-pitying rule.

      “I’m calling about Helene,” Jason said a moment later. “And yeah, you can hang up if you want, but her mother, Mary, called me this morning. She was boo-hooing all over the place. She wanted me to try to talk you into seeing Helene.”

      “No.” Logan didn’t have to think about that, either. “Why would Mary call you?”

      “Because she figured you’d just hang up on her. Let’s face it, Logan, you’re not exactly the forgiving sort.”

      He wasn’t, and Logan liked that just fine. “Why did Mary want me to see Helene?” Logan asked.

      “Hell if I know. And she wouldn’t say. She just said it was important.” Jason paused. “You know if you ever want to talk about what happened that night with Helene, all you have to do is call me.”

      “Thanks but no thanks.” Logan had enough of those images in his head without reliving them through conversation.

      Clowns and liars.

      “If Mary calls back,” Logan told his friend, “have her call me directly.” Not that he especially wanted to talk to his ex’s mom, but he also didn’t want her pulling Jason into this.

      Logan ended the call and went inside to ask Della about this catering issue. However, the moment he opened the door, he realized he might not be able to make a beeline for the kitchen as he’d planned. That’s because Lucky and Cassie were down on their knees in the foyer. At first Logan thought he’d walked in on something sexual—always a possibility where his twin was concerned—but then he saw that this was something much more intimate.

      Lucky was proposing.

      He was in the process of slipping an engagement ring on Cassie’s finger, and Cassie had tears in her eyes. Judging from her smile, they were tears of a happy variety.

      “Crap,” Lucky grumbled. “Sorry. I didn’t want you to see this,” he added to Logan.

      Perhaps because Lucky thought it would bring back bad memories of Logan’s own botched proposal. It did, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t happy for Lucky and Cassie. They were suited for each other, though that wasn’t apparent to them when Cassie had come back into Lucky’s life almost four months ago.

      “I didn’t like Lucky being on his knees alone,” Cassie said, getting to her feet. “I said yes.”

      She held out the ring for Logan to see. Since he still hadn’t closed the door, the sunlight caught the diamond just right, causing it to glint into his eyes.

      It was their mother’s ring.

      Of course, Logan had always known that it was Lucky’s to use if he wanted. Despite their mother only being in her forties when she’d been killed, she had made it a habit of saying which jewelry she would leave for each child. The engagement ring she’d wanted for Lucky. The wedding band for their kid sister, Anna. Logan had gotten her pearl necklace and Riley a gold bracelet.

      Precious mementos.

      But to Logan the most precious thing was his father’s pocketknife. That meant as much to him as the engagement ring had meant to Lucky.

      Logan gave Cassie a kiss on the cheek and his brother a hug. “Congrats to both of you. It’s СКАЧАТЬ