Page 83 of Wyoming Heart

“You’re the rancher from Wyoming,” he said, slurring his words.

She nodded. “It’s just a little ranch, though,” she replied gently. “Not anything as big as yours and Cort’s.” She shook her head and sighed. “It looks as if you could ride all day and never leave Latigo.” She frowned slightly. “Latigo. That’s the leather strip on the saddletree that tightens the cinch,” she mused.

He chuckled. “Well, the history of the ranch is in a book somewhere.” He waved his hand in the general direction of a floor-to-ceiling bookcase in an adjoining room. “But the legend is that the first owner, a Spanish grandee, caught his hand in one while he was tightening the cinch and got dragged to the front gate. He had a grand sense of humor, apparently, because that’s the name he gave the ranch. It’s been Latigo ever since.”

“I like it,” she said.

Vic looked toward his son. “You never said she was pretty,” he chided.

Cort chuckled as he joined them. “You never asked.” He raised his voice. “Chaca, any chance of coffee and cake?”

A small, dark woman poked her head out of the kitchen. “Do you see that?” she asked, indicating a piece of equipment on an end table. “That is an intercom. You push the button and I answer.”

“More fun to just yell,” Cort retorted with a grin.

She threw up her hands. “You are the most troublesome man...” She stopped dead when she saw Mina. “Oh, excuse me,” she said hesitantly and she moved farther into the room, wiping her wet hands on the long, embroidered apron she was wearing. “I am Chiquita, but everyone in the family calls me Chaca, for short,” she said softly.

“Mina,” came the soft reply. She shook hands. “I’m very happy to meet you. I’m Cort’s wife.”

“Wife!” Chaca gaped at him. “You got married? I am so happy! I never thought you would give up those horrible women and bring me somebody so nice!”

“Obviously, you underestimated my ability to attract somebody so nice,” he chuckled.

“This is obviously true.” Chaca sighed again and shook her head.“Bienvenidos,”she said to Mina. “I will bring coffee and cake at once, for you and Cort.”

“And why not for me, too?” Vic demanded.

“Because you broke my best crystal serving dish this morning and I am not speaking to you,” she huffed, and went off into the kitchen.

“I sat on it,” Vic muttered, aware of amused glances. “Well, she had it in a chair cleaning it and didn’t tell me and I sort of sat down hard. Damned thing. Could have ruined my new pants.”

Cort just shook his head.

“So you got married.” Vic smiled at Mina. “You remind me of Cort’s mother,” he added softly. “She had hair like yours, and a sweet, gentle nature.”

“Mina likes to knit, too,” Cort added, smiling at her. “She’s a homebody. Oh, there’s one other thing. We’re going to make you a grandfather in a few months.”

“A grandfather.” Vic had to fight tears. “And this one will be where I can get to know him,” he said quietly. “I’ve missed seeing my other grandkids. They live so far away. And they don’t visit much.”

“You’re never home, much,” Cort drawled.

“Well, I will be, when this one comes.” He frowned at Mina. “He married you because of the baby?”

Mina laughed. “He didn’t know about the baby until after he proposed.”

“Well!”

“It’s been the happiest two days of my life,” Cort confessed. “I wasn’t sure she’d have me.”

“Silly man,” Mina said softly. “I loved you the minute I met you.”

“She stomped on my foot and dared me to have her arrested,” Cort chuckled, telling on her.

She flushed. “He made fun of me because I was talking about how much I liked to knit.”

“I swear that I’ll never make fun of you again,” Cort said, hand over his heart.

“You’re only saying that because you don’t want your foot stomped on again,” she teased. But in the back of her mind was her profession and his misconception that she’d spend their married life knitting and raising children. Well, she could do both, of course. But she might have to depend more on her commando group to sit and tell her about adventures, rather than go with them. She had a feeling that Cort wasn’t going to be understanding if he knew what she’d been doing with her life since she started writing books. And there would be the inevitable tours when she’d have to travel to sign books at the various venues, including independent bookstores where she already had readers who loved her work. In fact, there was a tour scheduled the following month. How was she going to tell him?

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