Luck Be A Lady (Destiny Bay Romances-The Ranchers Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page B

with every kind of plant, it provided a respite from the desert atmosphere. There she could grow things that belonged in a more humid and temperate climate.
    So why was she still out here in the desert? Good question, and Cody’s questions of the night before had brought that back into play. She’d been born and raised by the ocean. Sometimes she yearned for the cool breezes, the peace of the massive ocean. She’d married young and never been back except for short visits. But her husband needed to be in Las Vegas and once he’d achieved fame and fortune as one of the top jet boat racers in the country, this was where they stayed, close to his sponsors, close to the lakes where he did most of his racing. They’d settled in, had Tammy, and by the time Tim had been killed in that awful accident, roots had been sunk in the sand and it just seemed too late to move on.  
    She smiled a little sadly to herself, brushing loose dirt off the skirt of her simple, scoop-necked, checkered dress. “I guess it’s true,” she whispered, reaching up to touch the ballerina-fat blossom of a hanging fuchsia. “You can’t really turn your back on your roots.” She grinned at the plants lining the benches all around her. “Remember that, you guys,” she told them sternly.
    A shout from outside drew her attention. She went to the window. In the vacant lot next door to the nursery, Tammy was throwing a ball against a wall and catching it. Her face was flushed and her lower lip was caught by her teeth. All in all, she was a picture of in tensity.
    Kelly smiled again, relaxing against the windowsill and watching for a few choice moments. Tammy was determined to be the first female ball player drafted by the Dodgers, and Kelly wasn’t about to stifle her dreams with warnings of reality.
    “At least she has dreams,” she thought wistfully, then stiffened as she caught sight of her own reflection in the windowpane. The faint, misty mirror image reminded her of a younger Kelly, the girl she’d once been. She’d had dreams then, too. The world had been an open opportunity just waiting for her to explore it. Where had that young girl gone? she wondered, her melancholy mood growing. The dreams were dust now. She had no time for them. She had a living to make and a daughter to raise. She did what she had to do. Dreams were a luxury out in the real world.
    “Not quite true,” she corrected herself. Tammy was still her dream. Tammy was all she had left. Looking back out, she smiled again as she watched her daugh ter catch a high ball she’d thrown for herself. When she was ten years of age, Kelly remembered playing with dolls and setting up lemonade stands with teddy bears in chairs as the prime customers. But Tammy took after her father. He would have been so proud.
    She closed her eyes for just a moment. Sometimes it felt like they were so alone, she and Tammy. All alone.
    She opened her eyes again and sighed, leaning on her elbows to watch Tammy chase an errant throw into the street. Alone was actually how she liked it. Most of the time.  
    Of course, they had Glenn. But he was just a friend and could never be anything more, no matter how much he wanted to. Still, she felt the need for someone else to share the burdens, to put an arm around her when the days seemed to last forever.
    There hadn’t been anyone, not since Tim had died. Tim. She hated thinking of him. The pain always flashed for just a moment, and for fragments of a second a picture of the crash appeared before her mind’s eye. No matter how well she thought she’d gotten used to the image, it surprised her every time, making her gasp again and her heart beat just a little faster. She clenched her fists, forcing the memories away and looked outside—just in time to see a red Porsche stop in the nursery parking lot.
    She didn’t doubt for a moment that it was Cody Marin. Mesmerized, she stared as he emerged from the little car. He was dressed like a model from the pages