Home Is Where Hank Is (Cowboys To The Rescue 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

good?”
    “Sure does. I’ll bet my silver spurs our new cook rode in today.”
    “Hell, Jed. That ain’t no bet. You could tell it ain’t Claire’s cookin’ cause there ain’t no smoke floating out the door.”
    Alex threw Claire a sympathetic glance, but the girl just shrugged, picked up the large bowl of mashed potatoes and pushed her way into the dining room. Alex followed with a plate of biscuits. She set them on the table, then turned to greet the hands who stomped noisily down the hall.
    She smelled them before she saw them. The acrid scent of sweat mixed with the earthy odors of manure and dirt drifted in ahead of three cowboys. Alex flexed the fingers that wanted to scratch her nose as they filled the doorway. Stair-stepped in height, they all wore jeans showing a thick coating of dust and hats that threw their faces into shadow. Long-sleeved Western-style shirts showed stains of sweat, and boots caked with dirt still had spurs attached.
    The three stopped as one and stared at her as if they saw a ghost. Alex stared back, wondering if they were the Three Stooges or the Three Musketeers.
    “This here’s the new cook, boys,” Claire told them. “Alexandra Miller.”
    “Hey,” she said nervously. “Y’all call me Alex.”
    “What’s the matter, boys?” Claire taunted. “Cat got your tongues?”
    The shortest cowboy recovered first. With black eyes and sandy blond hair that stuck out at odd angles, he came forward and tipped his hat. “Howdy, ma’am. I’m Buck. I don’t know what sight’s purtier, you or that plate of steaks.”
    The tallest came next. Skinny as the railings supporting the banister, with a large nose and a prominent Adam’s apple bobbing in his neck, he resembled the image Alex had always had of Ichabod Crane.
    “I’m Jed. Pleased to meet ya.”
    “I’m Derek,” the next one said. Though not the tallest, his black hair and mustache, coupled with green eyes, would make him stand out in any crowd. “The boss sure pulled one over on us this time. We thought you was a heifer like the last—oops, pardon me, ma’am. Don’t mean to speak ill of the departed.”
    “The last cook died? ” Alex asked in alarm.
    Claire glared at Derek. “Of course not. She moved to Texas to be with her grandbabies.”
    He grinned. “Well, she departed, didn’t she?”
    The atmosphere suddenly changed, and Alex knew before she turned that Hank stood in the doorway. She had the same sensation she’d had at the café and in her car. Electricity surged from him. It flowed around her like an aura, making her skin tingle. She turned to find his eyes on her.
    Had she thought Derek handsome? That cowboy faded into the yellowed wallpaper when Hank walked into the room.
    “’out time you made it in, boss,” Derek complained. “We’re starving.”
    Claire poked Derek as she walked to her chair. “You’re always starving.”
    “That’s right, little filly. Starving for you.” Derek shot out an arm to capture her waist, but Claire eluded him.
    “But not my cooking.”
    He grinned and pulled out her chair. “That don’t matter. I can cook.”
    “What, beans?”
    He sat in the chair next to her. “Any way you like ’em.”
    The other hands took the chairs across the table, but Hank paid them no mind. His attention stayed on a pair of golden-brown eyes that wouldn’t let go of his. He’d seen this woman a total of two times and already she seemed familiar. She’d bound her chestnut hair with a rubber band like the first time he’d seen her. His fingers ached to remove it, to see the light shimmering down the waves like it did that afternoon.
    He forced his boots across the floor and found himself removing his hat. “I see you made it in okay.”
    She nodded. “Claire came home soon after I arrived. I didn’t have to wait outside long.”
    “Why didn’t you just come on in? The door’s never locked.”
    A frown wrinkled her forehead. “I couldn’t do that.”
    “Why