Page 89 of The Mountain Echoes
“You’re making out with me in a greenhouse, darlin’.”
That makes her smile.
“Stay.” The word is out before I can stop myself.
She frowns in puzzlement.
“For the night.”
She remains silent for a while, and I regret letting my need get ahead of me.
“I’m not ready forthat.” She cups my cheek. “But…I make a mean breakfast.”
This woman is elegant to her toes. If I hadn’t fallen for her already, it would’ve happened now.
“Then I’ll see you at sunrise,” I promise.
I drive her home and keep my hands off of her when I do. She understands because she’s got her hands clasped into one another.
“How do you like your eggs?” she asks huskily once she’s out of my truck.
“Chef’s choice.”
She flushes. “Goodnight, Maverick.”
“Dream of me, darlin’.”
CHAPTER 21
aria
Ihear the lowing before I see the break.
It’s not yet five a.m., and the sky over Grady Ridge is streaked with rust and violet. The air bites sharp—spring still pretending it’s winter—and the grass glints silver with frost.
The bacon on the stove sizzles.
I’m halfway through brewing coffee when the sound registers.
Something’s wrong.
My cattle aren’t where they’re supposed to be.I just know it.
I twist the burner off and rush to the door, yanking on my jacket and shoving bare feet into boots. Cold hits me like a slap as I run toward the south end.
I immediately see their dark shapes moving in the early light, a churn of hooves and raised tails kicking dust across the access road.
Two dozen Angus cows, loose.
“Shit.”
My stomach turns to stone.
I sprint toward the barn, calling out. “Earl! Tomas! We’ve got a breach!”
I find Scout, our old but steady gelding, already saddled from last night’s late feed run. I swing up, fingers clumsy on the reins, and kick him into a lope toward the fence line.
I find the hole in the fence a quarter mile down.
