Lone Star Rancher Read Online Free PDF

and slid the fastener up the strings and under her chin to keep the hat from blowing away in the wind. Then she headed outside to explore.
    In the back, she discovered a lovely swimming pool. A small pool house, in the same style as the main one, contained a kitchen with Coke and beer in the refrigerator and microwave popcorn in the cabinet.
    Okay, so she was nosy, she admitted when her conscience prodded her for snooping.
    A hot tub held pride of place in the large room and an etched-glass door opened into a cedar-lined sauna with benches on three sides. There was also a full-size bathroom and next to that, surprisingly, another bedroom, making the pool house into a guesthouse, too.
    â€œCharming,” she remarked to herself, then closed the door and continued her journey of exploration.
    Beyond the homestead were some barns, stables and sheds. From a velvety green field came the drone of a tractor. She spotted the huge machine but couldn’t discern who was in the enclosed cab. Clyde or whoever was operating the equipment was cutting alfalfa.
    Again she inhaled deeply, letting the wonderful scent flow down inside her, all the way to her roots, which sprang from the rocky Texas soil. She couldn’t believe how nostalgic she’d been for home without even knowing it.
    She exhaled loudly, enjoying the ambiance of the ranch. In New York, life could be so hectic…and usually was.
    Here, ah, here, there was a sense of peace—
    â€œOof,” she said, pitching forward against a fence post, then the ground, as something hit her on the back.
    Startled, the ever-present fear of the past few months raising its ugly head, she rolled over and got a good licking in the face. Fright dissolved into laughter.
    â€œWho are you?” she asked, sitting up while a black-and-white dog, mostly border collie, frolicked all around her.
    â€œSmoky,” a familiar voice answered.
    Jessica smiled at Clyde, who’d entered the yard through a nearby gate, and leaned on her elbows while he stopped a couple of feet from her.
    â€œSmoky, down,” he ordered when the dog jumped up and planted his paws on the man. “Sit.”
    The dog obeyed at once.
    Clyde leaned forward and offered Jessica a hand. When she clasped it, he pulled her to her feet. “Sorry about Smoky,” he said in his butter-smooth baritone. “He’s never met a person he didn’t like.”
    â€œI like him, too.” She scratched the collie’s ears.
    The dog rewarded her by closing his eyes and leaning into her hand in apparent ecstasy.
    â€œYou’ve made a slave for life,” Clyde remarked. “I’ve got to run into Red Rock to pick up a part for the baler. Do you want to go?”
    She really would have liked to ride along, but she shook her head and thanked him for the offer. “I don’t think I should be seen in town. My sister and her family live in Red Rock. They don’t know I’m in the area.”
    â€œAre you worried that they might be watched?”
    â€œYes.”
    A frown nicked a line across his forehead. “Maybe you shouldn’t stay here alone.”
    â€œIt should be okay. Roy can’t possibly know where I am. Violet and I were careful to talk away from my condo and never on the phone.”
    A sardonic expression flickered through his eyes. “A wise precaution, I’m sure,” he murmured.
    Jessica realized he didn’t take the threat seriously. Another thought—almost as horrifying as that of being stalked by a madman—came to her. Surely he didn’t think she and Violet had planned her visit in order to…to…well, to catch his attention.
    That idea had never entered her mind.
    Anger bubbled in Jessica. Her friend had told her many times while they were growing up that the boys had to fight off females all the time. Huh. If he was conceited enough to think she was chasing him, he could think again!
    â€œYou seem to have lost your