Rocky Mountain Dreams & Family on the Range by Danica Favorite (summer beach reads txt) 📕

making money. The cooler weather is doing in ranchers all around us. I talked to Doc about you joining on as assistant in Burns since the town is growing so much. He seemed amenable to the idea.”

“It’ll be hard to get Mary a job, seeing her skin’s dark.”

“The people in Burns are familiar with her. I don’t think she’ll have trouble, but no matter what, I’ll make sure she’s taken care of.” Even if he went broke doing so. She deserved the best, and he’d make sure she had it.

“And how about her feelings on the matter? She’s uncomfortable around people. Given her history—”

“She’ll be fine,” he interrupted. He couldn’t escape the subject of his housekeeper no matter where he went, it seemed. “She takes stuff to town all the time. Miss Alma will watch out for her, and I’ll take care of the financial end.”

“Speaking of that woman, she’s invited Mary to some kind of lady event on Saturday. So’s you best stay here till then.” James flashed him a pointed stare before pushing himself out of the seat and heading for the door.

“What time?”

“Noon.”

Great. Another week trapped at the ranch when he could be tracking down his shooter. After returning Josie first, of course. Though he was trying to draw that out until he heard a little more about her family. No matter how uncomfortable she made him, no way would he put her in a dangerous situation.

He shook his head, got to his feet. He didn’t want to think about Josie or Mary. He just wanted to return to the way life was before.

Simple.

He headed to the door, feeling weak but not dizzy. The fact that his legs carried him to the hallway without buckling was reason to say thanks to the Creator...if they were on speaking terms.

And they weren’t. Mary could keep her God for all he cared.

The God he used to serve...

He slowed near the stairs, breathing heavier than he’d like. Maybe he’d rest a bit on the porch. Get some sunlight and fresh air. Take his mind off matters too weighty for a beautiful summer day.

He shuffled to the door, let himself outside and found a spot on the steps in a patch of sunlight that immediately seeped into his bones and spread through him in a liquid spill of relaxation.

Decisions, decisions. He closed his eyes and leaned against the railing. What was he going to do? The ranch’s secrecy had been compromised, but even worse, the weather proved that trying to ranch in this desert was a futile effort. Scents caressed his face. Would he miss this place? It had served its purpose, but he didn’t need it anymore. Yet he hesitated. Mary seemed more than ready to move on. Now that she had her own place, she’d probably have her mom move in.

That foolish mother who’d abandoned her daughter to run off and search for a man. Granted, she’d been looking for Mary’s father, but that didn’t excuse things, to his way of thinking. And then there was Mary’s kidnapping and the huge part her mother, unbeknownst to Mary, had played in it. He frowned. Mary was asking for trouble by inviting that woman to live with her.

Could she handle any more betrayals? His gut hurt just thinking about it.

The memory of Mary’s arm beneath his palm, warm and small, heated his cheeks. She hadn’t seemed afraid of his touch, didn’t cower the way she had the first few years she’d been hired on as housekeeper. Not that he’d touched her often.

Nah. She was like a little sister. That was it. Someone he cared about and wanted to protect.

Even if she seemed determined to escape protection by moving into Trevor’s old house.

As he rested, a sound tinkled in the distance, reaching his ears on the breeze. The laughter grew louder, uncontrolled giggles that swept over him in a swirling dance and left him listening for more.

He opened his eyes, shading his vision with a hand against his forehead. Nothing to the front of the house. Cautiously he stood, scanning the periphery of the house, but he still couldn’t distinguish the source of the sound.

A strange and painful yearning had started in his chest, right below the vicinity of his wound. As shrieks floated on the afternoon’s breeze, lingering in the scents of summer, the warmth of sun, Lou found himself drawn forward, away from the safety of the porch and toward the laughter that seemed just beyond his reach.

He poked past shrubs and sparse grasses, toward a lush little valley that lay behind the house. The tiny indentation of land was always filled with wildflowers and grass in summer. A verdant patch, one of the many that had fooled neighbors into thinking the Harney desert area might make good land.

As he walked to the sound, a wedge of guilt niggled at him. Mary should know he figured on joining the ranks of sellers. He just needed to find the right moment to tell her. Had planned to before getting shot. Though he didn’t farm, cattle sales had been declining for a good number of years now. There was no reason to keep this place anymore.

He ignored the guilt and kept up toward the valley, the growing laughter hooking him as thoroughly as the bass he used to catch with his brother when they were kids.

As he neared, his steps slowed, the sounds he heard filling him with a mixed kind of joy and pain. It was moments like this, in the sun-drenched air, that he wished desperately to hear Sarah’s laugh one more time, to see the crooked toothless grin Abby had given him the day he’d left on assignment.

Before he’d come home to find—Nope, he wasn’t going there. Forcing the memories to the side, he reached the edge of the valley.

Only feet away, Mary and Josie twirled in rhythmic abandonment. His breath stuttered to a stop, then rushed in as adrenaline began knocking through his system.

Josie’s blond curls bounced and glistened,