Chance McCall Read Online Free PDF

body and not a damned, lumpy mattress.
    Memories of his past and the secrets that lay between them always kept him at a distance. Yet nowhere on the Triple T could he work and not come face to face with reminders of her presence. She was an integral part of his life. Telling her how much he loved her would be impossible, though. Just as impossible as facing how much she loved him.
    Her life with her father had not changed. Marcus seemed to care for Jenny, but he was never around when she needed him.
    When she’d graduated from high school, it had been Chance who’d stood at the foot of the stage with camera in hand, mingling with parents of the other graduating seniors. Jenny had accepted her diploma. He’d snapped the picture. And the smile on her face as she’d walked toward him had nearly stopped his heart.
    Marcus had missed her graduation, as he’d been away on one of his constant trips. He’d refused to cancel, though he’d offered to hire a professional photographer to commemorate the occasion and then presented her with a new car as a graduation present. Jenny had refused the offer of a photographer but calmly accepted the car and his off-hand apology. She didn’t need her father. She had Chance.
    College had loomed on the horizon, an ominous reminder that Jenny would leave the Triple T…maybe for good.
    Chance had alternated between dismay that she would be out of his sight and relief that it was what he needed to put their relationship back into perspective. Only that hadn’t worked. After one semester, she’d transferred to a school closer to home and commuted.
    He hadn’t realized until after she’d come home that Christmas, how she’d suffered from the distance between them, and how much he’d missed her company.

    “Somethin’ smells good,” Henry said, shutting the kitchen door with a slam. He raced Chance for a place by Juana’s fireside.
    “Jenny’s coming home today,” she said, as if that explained everything.
    Chance’s stomach knotted, reminding him of something he’d spent a sleepless night trying to forget. Jenny!
    Her first semester at college was finally behind her. Houston seemed a lifetime away. The lines around his mouth tightened as he stepped closer to the warmth of the free-standing fireplace in the corner of the room. How was he going to get through the next three and a half years without seeing her? And then a worse thought arose: What if she fell in love with some college boy and never came back at all?
    “Where’s Marcus?” Henry asked. “Chance saw a pack of coyotes yesterday when he was out checking on that new crop of calves. Reckon we should hire that hunter and his dogs like we did last year and get rid of them varmints before they get rid of them new calves?”
    Juana shrugged. “He called about an hour ago. He’s going to stay over in Dallas again tonight.”
    Chance frowned. Dammit! He was doing it to her again! Jenny would come home…and no one would be there for her. The selfish son-of-a-bitch! It was Christmas, for God’s sake!
    Henry sidled over to the cabinet and snuck a couple of Juana’s freshly baked oatmeal cookies, stuffing one quickly into his mouth before she could catch him.
    “Figgers he wouldn’t be here,” Henry muttered, bent on talking and swallowing at the same time. “Shuda’ took care of it on our own anyway.”
    Juana glared. “You’ve had enough cookies.”
    Henry grinned.
    “I’ll call the coyote hunter myself,” Chance said. “Mind if I use the phone in Marcus’s office? I think the man’s number is in his Rolodex.”
    Juana nodded and handed Chance a cookie as he walked past her.
    Henry frowned. “How come you told me not to eat no more and then gave him a cookie?”
    Juana’s eyebrows rose. “Because you’re already three ahead of him. That’s why! I saw you sneaking cookies earlier. I’m no fool, Henry Thomas. You go on with Chance and get out of my kitchen. I want things special for Jenny.”
    Henry