Lily's Cowboys Read Online Free PDF

in the hearth with a neat stack of wood next to it. Lily had gone out at first light to explore the barn area and had met some of the men who worked on the ranch. Introducing herself as the new housekeeper, she had invited the men inside to enjoy some biscuits and sausage gravy and coffee. Brad Edwards, Harold Baker, Clive Simmons, and Ed Hammond had all worked at the ranch for the past ten years or more. Brad and Harold worked with the horses, while Clive was the ranch foreman and Ed worked on the equipment. Lily listened as the men talked about the day to day activities on the ranch. They normally ate in the kitchen connected to the bunkhouse although Ed and Clive each had a small cabin of their own nearby. Clive was married. Ed had never married and both Brad and Harold volunteered to marry Lily right then and there after tasting her biscuits and gravy and coffee. Lily blushed at the two younger men’s flirting.

    She learned a lot from the men about the Cunnings. They were known for being hard working and honest. Most of the men on the ranch had been with them five years or longer because they enjoyed working for them and respected them. Although Allen had been gone a lot over the past eight years, he had come home frequently and worked side by side no matter what the job with the other men. Ethan was known for helping out the men and town’s people. Clive talked about how one of his sons had gotten into trouble with some drugs and needed help. Ethan had made sure the boy had gotten into a clinic to help sober him up and gave him a job on the ranch during the summers when he was out of school. Caleb worked as hard as any of the men. He had saved one of the ranch hands last summer from drowning after the man’s truck had swerved to miss a deer. Caleb had come upon him right after the accident. The man had been trapped by the steering wheel and the truck cab had been filling with water. Caleb had broken through the windshield and was able to pull the steering wheel back far enough for the man to get free. It wasn’t so much the big things the men said that gave Lily a better understanding of the men they worked for, it was the way they talked about them. She could tell they cared for and respected each of the men.

    Lily worked most of the morning on the downstairs rooms. She avoided Allen’s room for now. She still wasn’t quite sure how she was going to handle him. So far there hadn’t been any sound out of the room. In the early afternoon she planned to strip all the beds upstairs and play with the laundry chute. She was going to have fun with it and couldn’t wait to see how the dumb waiter worked. Opening the curtains in the den, she gasped as she saw the floor to ceiling bookshelves lining the wall. She immediately fell in love with the room and knew this would become her favorite place to hide. Smiling, she walked around the room staring at the pictures on the antique tables and running her hands over the bindings of many of the books. There was one wall with windows set on each side of a set of French doors leading out onto the covered back porch area. If she was still there during the spring and summer she would have to sit outside on the porch and read. She worked in the room for almost an hour when she heard a noise against the wall. Recognizing it as the water turning on Lily smiled wickedly. Now would be a good time to check out Allen’s room while he was in the shower. If she was lucky, she could clean most of the room before he finished.

    Lily hurried down the hallway and stood outside Allen’s door for a moment with her ear pressed against the door. Knocking softly, she cautiously opened the door to peek in when she didn’t get an answer. Sure enough she saw a light under the door to what had to be the bathroom. Hurrying inside the dark room, she left the door open to the hallway so she could start throwing things out. The first thing she noticed was the smell. The room definitely had a male odor