Love Inspired August 2014 – Bundle 1 of 2 Read Online Free PDF Page A

brow.
    “I kind of fell into this gig, and while I understand baseball one hundred and ten
     percent, I’m not a great organizer.”
    “You run a half-million-dollar beef-and-horse ranch with your father and you can’t
     put together a local ball game?” Doubt deepened her voice. “Really, Jack?”
    “Mostly really, but maybe I made that up because I didn’t want that cowboy hitting
     on you and I’d have grabbed any excuse in the book to walk over here and put a stop
     to it.”
    Her eyes widened. Her gaze faltered. To his dismay, a quick sheen of tears made him
     want to either snatch the words back or reach out and draw her into a hug he thought
     they both could use. “You’re working on the town-history thing, right?”
    She nodded, still quiet.
    “Well, baseball and Jasper Gulch go hand in hand. While so many of the big towns latched
     on to a football mind-set, small-town baseball leagues helped settle these parts.
     There’s almost no other place in the country that produces as many strong contenders
     without a public school baseball program as Jasper Gulch, Montana. And that goes straight
     back to the first settlers. Two of the original Shaw cousins played major-league ball,
     then came back and helped set up the Legion ball programs. There’s a lot of bat-and-ball
     history here in Jasper Gulch.”
    The sheen of tears had disappeared. Her mixed expression said she longed to say yes
     but wanted to say no. He stopped talking and hoped she could move beyond the wrongs
     of the past....
    His wrongs.
    And give him a hand. Because working side by side with Livvie again would feel good
     and right, and not much in Jack’s world felt like that of late.
    “You’re sure of your facts? That two of the boys played ball in the majors?”
    “Twins. Chester and Lester, yes. The family called them Chet and Let. Chet played
     for Chicago and Let played left field for the Dodgers when they were still in New
     York. He actually coached Jackie Robinson for a couple of years before retiring to
     Florida where he worked spring training for the Dodger organization until they moved
     to L.A.”
    “There’s a part of me that hates baseball, Jack.”
    Her words sucker punched him because of course she’d hate the game. He’d dumped her
     because of baseball. Correction, he’d dumped her because of his stupid, self-absorbed
     reaction to not being able to play. “Liv, I—”
    “But—” she held up a hand to stop him, so he quieted down and listened “—I do see
     a direct link between the game and how things settled out here with the Shaw side
     of the equation. If those guys had raised families here, the makeup of the town would
     be entirely different. How do you know all this when you declared baseball off-limits
     eight years ago?”
    “Coach Randolph.”
    The mention of the esteemed coach’s name softened her expression. “I haven’t seen
     him since I’ve been back. How is he, Jack?”
    “He’s all right. The senior league had a bunch of away games this past week, so he’s
     been gone most nights. He lost his wife to cancer about the same time my mom died.
     The kind of thing that pulls folks together around here.”
    “Bound in grief.” She thought for a few seconds before accepting. “I will help you,
     but on one condition.”
    “And that is?”
    “Strictly business. No flirting, hand-holding or long, sweet looks allowed. Got it?”
    “I understand. Let’s shake on it.”
    Doubt clouded her expression as she reached out her hand, and he could tell the minute
     their fingers touched...clasped...that she was in over her head and knew it. He leaned
     down, easing the height difference between them and kept his voice soft. “Mind, Liv,
     I didn’t say I agreed to your terms. I said I understood them. That’s a whole other
     ball game.”
    “I—”
    He left her sputtering as he turned to cross the street. “I’ll come by tonight and
     we’ll go over the plans, okay? Probably close to