Getting Lucky (A Nugget Romance Book 5) Read Online Free PDF

from deep forest to rolling hills. Cattle country. In the winter, when the fields were blanketed with snow, ranchers trucked their herds to the Central Valley or to warmer climates in Nevada. But now the land was dotted with Angus and Herefords and breeds Tawny didn’t even know the names of.
    When she got to Lucky’s, the place was alive with construction workers. Hammering, sawing, lots of sweaty men eyeing her inquisitively. Surprised they worked on Saturdays, she nodded at a few in greeting and made her way to Lucky’s single-wide. No one answered, and after standing there a while, wondering whether she should go in search of him or go home, a guy wearing a tool belt and goggles took pity on her and directed her to the lodge. That’s where she found a shirtless Lucky swinging a hammer. His arms were ropey with muscle and his shoulders had doubled in width since he was a teen. It was strange seeing him again after all these years, no longer a boy but a man. Then again, he’d never been like the other boys. There had always been a maturity about Lucky that had separated him from the pack. She had a fleeting memory of him picking her for his partner in a silly square-dance class, when no one else would.
    “Thelma’s got more hair on her arms than Grendel,” one of the boys had announced to the entire sixth-grade class. They’d just gotten done reading the Story of Beowulf, and the kid’s pronouncement sent a chorus of laughter through the room, sealing Tawny’s rep as class loser.
    But then Lucky had squinted at the little jerk as if to say I’ll be kicking your ass later , brushed past him, and offered Tawny his arm. That’s when Lucky Rodriguez had first become her hero.
    She took in a deep breath, walked a few more steps into the room, and made her presence known. Lucky stopped hammering and gave her a long perusal.
    “We should go someplace more private—and quieter,” he said as power tools screeched.
    “What are you doing with this place?” she asked, taking a turn around the room and staring up at the open-beam ceilings and the gigantic fireplace. “It’s nice.”
    “It’ll double as a cantina for the cowboy camp and a banquet hall for events.” He seemed anxious to get to their business, but she was curious about the place. For years it had been vacant, the owners deciding that it was more lucrative to lease the land to neighboring ranches as grazing pasture than to run retreats.
    She supposed Lucky’s bull-riding celebrity status would attract a wealthier clientele than church and school groups.
    Lucky grabbed his T-shirt off a sawhorse, pulled it over his head, and led her to another outbuilding. Reaching in his pocket for a key, he unlocked the door and let them inside.
    “What’s this?” she asked.
    “When it’s done it’ll be my office and apartment. Where’s Katie?”
    “She went to the movies with a friend.” Tawny glanced at her phone to make sure she had enough bars in case Cindy tried to call.
    “In her condition, is that okay?”
    “As long as she stays warm and isn’t out for too long. She wants to be like all the other kids and I want things to be as normal for her as possible until we find a donor.” Between the chemo and radiation, Katie had missed out on enough of her childhood already.
    There was no furniture in the room, so Lucky motioned for her to take a seat on one of the staircase steps. “After I left you last night I did a little research on the Internet. We can get a paternity test in Quincy. I just need a swab from the inside of Katie’s cheek.”
    Tawny nodded. She already knew that.
    Lucky joined her on the staircase. “Why didn’t you try harder to get ahold of me, Tawny? Why didn’t you go to my mother?”
    She sat there quiet for a few seconds, then said, “I didn’t want to make trouble for you, Lucky. After what happened at the Rossers’ I didn’t think it would help your situation for people to know that you got me pregnant that