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

the melodramatic side. He shook as unexpected laughter bubbled through him. Mary was hiding her own smirk behind tightly pressed lips. He met her eyes and suddenly the laughter dried up.

The chirping of the birds, the sounds of chatter and laughter faded, and all he could see was Mary. Kind, beautiful Mary. Her hair shimmering, her eyes pinned on him, widening when he didn’t look away. A strange and almost foreign feeling swept through him. He leaned forward.

“Mister Lou!” Josie tugged on his sleeve. “Will you swing me around like those kids?” She slid between him and Mary, ending what had been an intriguing moment. He shook his head to clear it and then gave Josie a wink.

“I’ll swing until you can’t stand anymore. Let’s go.” He followed her to the elm, letting her grip his palm as she skipped beside him. A different feeling filled him, something close to contentment.

When he was gone to Asia, he’d look back and hold these memories dear.

Chapter Eleven

Mary didn’t want Lou to sell the ranch.

There. She could admit it to herself. After watching him with Josie yesterday, laughing and relaxed, she realized the life she’d built here wasn’t enough. Lou had been right. She needed more than what she had. She was ready for more.

Thoughtful, she pinned a towel on the line, thankful for the sun that dried each piece of laundry. Her mother was in the house with Josie, teaching her to weave baskets. The delicate scents of desert drifted around her and for a moment she closed her eyes as the refrains of yesterday’s hymn swept through her heart.

Then sings my soul, my savior God to thee.

How great Thou art, how great Thou art.

Humming, she reached for a shirt and clipped it to the line.

“Mary.” Lou’s voice rose above her humming.

She turned, shading her eyes from the glare of sunlight, trying to pinpoint his location. She heard him behind her. She whirled, hand to her chest.

“Are you sneaking up on me?”

“Do you have a moment to talk?” He squinted at her.

“I’m almost done. What do you wish to speak of?”

“Plans need to be made,” he said gently.

Her spine stiffened. She pinned a bread cloth to the line, avoiding his gaze. “Have you told Gracie and Trevor you’re selling the ranch? Don’t you need their permission?”

“I have it.” He gestured toward the house. “Why don’t we go up for lunch and talk a spell.”

“Lunch isn’t quite ready.”

“We’ll speak here, then.”

She felt his perusal to the marrow of her bones and suppressed a shiver. Lately it seemed as if he’d been looking at her differently, more deeply, as though he truly saw her. She found the interest both intoxicating and terrifying.

Refusing to meet his eyes, she plucked a towel from her basket and stretched it evenly on the line. Lou took a clip from her waist and pinned the cloth.

She wrinkled her nose at him. “If you’d rather do this, I can go prepare lunch. Since you’re apparently not busy.”

“I’m busy.” He shifted closer, and suddenly she became aware of how much larger he was than her, and yet she felt no fear, only an odd fluttering below her ribs that prompted her to step back. She reached for the remaining sock in the basket.

“I can meet you up there.” She wanted her voice to remain steady, but it came out wrong, breathy and not at all like her.

Thankfully, Lou turned and paced away, toward the small porch of Trevor’s—her—house. Stifling a sigh, she hung the sock and then trudged after him.

Perhaps he wished to speak of the ranch sale or of her mother’s presence on this property. Resolve hardened within her and gave life to her steps.

Heart thumping and breath a tad thin, she followed Lou onto the porch. She settled in the chair next to his. Close enough to smell the Wrigley’s in his pocket and see the stubble on his chin. “You’re in need of a shave.”

He cocked his head, catching her gaze with his. “I was going to ask you to do that for me this afternoon.”

“Me?” she squeaked.

“Yeah, we’re heading out tomorrow morning, early, and I don’t have time to get to a barber.”

She swallowed her denial. The man needed a shave and a trim, but she’d only given them to James. Rarely had she touched Lou, and now it seemed they were thrown together all the time. It did not bode well for her nerves.

“Josie does not wish to go.” She heard the stubborn note in her voice and didn’t care.

“I’m gonna be honest with you.” Lou peered at her, forehead furrowed. “If we don’t take her home, my bosses will be sending someone to do it for us. I’ve bought as much time as I can but any longer and we’re liable to be charged with some kind of wrongdoing.”

“That’s not right.”

“Life isn’t about what we feel. You’re saying it’s not right, but what about Josie’s mother? How’s she feeling, knowing her daughter never made it safely to relatives?” Lou frowned. “What’s gotten into you? I’ve never known you to be so unreasonable.”

Mary recoiled. “It is not I who is unreasonable here. You’ve wanted to get rid of her since the very beginning.”

“I just wanted her to be cared for, out of danger.” His eyes were inscrutable.

She stood and paced near the steps, pushing her skirt in front of her knees as she moved back and forth.

Lou stepped in front of her, placing his palms against her shoulders. She stopped, unable to move forward because he’d effectively ended her momentum. Annoyed, she glared at him.

“Remove your hands.”

His eyes narrowed. “She’s not ours, Mary. You’ve got to let her go.”

No. The word echoed in her heart, a lonely, distant wail that couldn’t seem to make it to her lips. She didn’t want to let Josie go. She wanted to hold her and love her and raise her. Spin in the sunlight with her a million times more.

His grip loosened, and he crossed his arms across his