Cutter Mountain Rendezvous Read Online Free PDF Page A

cracked it open a couple inches, and stepped inside a large room with the same oak floors and pale peach walls. Two floor-length windows faced the large covered front porch. The side window framed a weathered barn. “Nice.”
    “Thank you. And no furniture, you’ll notice.”
    “You did hear me say I slept on Bobby’s couch last night, right?”
    “I heard. I just didn’t believe.”
    “Believe it. That floor looks like heaven.” He moved through the room and into the bathroom with sparkling fixtures. “You’ve got to know I’m salivating over that shower.” He turned to see her frowning at him. “Can I shower while you call Judge Ludlow?”
    “Hold up on those plans I see flying around your head and follow me. I’ll need you to dig out your driver’s license.”
    “You wouldn’t be related to Davy would you?” He pulled his wallet from a back pocket.
    “Possibly.”
    “Damn. I had a coonskin cap when I was a kid.”
    “Walt Disney was the marketing genius who started that trend. It was so successful he tagged the coonskin cap to Daniel Boone when that series started. Boone probably never wore one in real life.”
    Colton listened to Kate as he trailed behind her and admired her furnishings. It was high-end mountain decor with a timeworn river stone fireplace. Rustic oak floors held thick deep burgundy rugs with Indian designs. Much like out West.
    Kate had a few bucks. That or she had a sweet divorce settlement.
    They walked into the large kitchen, and he made a low whistle. Granite counters, light cherry cabinets and professional chef-quality kitchen appliances. He knew about these things after spending months with a decorator on his place back in Chicago. “Two refrigerators and two dishwashers?”
    “I’ll need them if I have a full house,” she said while pouring coffee into large yellow stone mugs. “That two-story foyer is twenty-five foot wide by fifty foot deep. I intend to make it into a communal sitting and breakfast area. Cream? Sugar?”
    “Both.”
    She opened one of the refrigerators and poured fat-free half-’n-half into an old-fashioned cut-glass cream pitcher. Peanut butter cookies were arranged on a yellow plate from a cat-shaped cookie jar and set out with the coffee on a round pedestal table painted a pale yellow with dark green placemats. “Sit. I’ll go make a few calls.”
    She disappeared up a staircase that ran behind the refrigerator wall with her coffee mug. He reached for a peanut butter cookie. They were homemade. He ate two more in the cozy kitchen, silent except for the hum of the appliances and her voice off in the distance.
    He eyed a Barbie coloring book and crayons at the other end of the table and reached across a bowl of fresh fruit to grab it. Kate had a kid? Unbelievable.
    Something rubbed up against his leg. “Jesus.”
    The chair scrapped the floor as he gave his booted foot a swift kick. A large gray cat yowled and headed up the staircase with its tail straight up in the air. A small bell tinkled from the cat’s collar.
    “Sorry, puss. How about telling your owner to shake a leg.”
    He pulled a pink crayon from the box.
    The name Lindsay was signed at the bottom of a colored picture. Cute. The kid autographed her work like a pro.

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Four
     
    “Meow.” Tinkerbelle wound around Kate’s ankles. She reached down to pull the heavy cat onto her lap and listened to her dad’s amused tone.
    “You’ve a celebrity under your roof.”
    “Never heard of him.” She ran her hand over the cat’s soft fur. His body vibrated beneath her touch before he bolted away. “Never cared much for baseball. He said he’s injured. Do you know the particulars?”
    “No. Some kind of accident. Don’t recall the details.”
    “Do you think its okay to rent him a room?”
    “Why not? You wanted to be an innkeeper. An idea your mother and I aren’t wild about.”
    Kate felt the sting of his disapproval much like Cousin Jeff. More pressure