MONTANA SKY 07.5: Angel In Paradise Read Online Free PDF Page A

ends.”
    “I imagine that marriage didn’t meet with your grandfather’s approval.”
    “Nope. The two stayed away from Sweetwater Springs. By my mother’s account, they were deliriously happy.”
    “Named their babies after angels,” she teased.
    He slanted her a glance. “Look who’s talking, Angelina .”
    She laughed.
    “Then my father was killed, and everything changed. With a babe in arms and pregnant with another, my mother had no place else to go…and my grandfather never let her forget it.”
    “What a mean old man.”
    “I remember riding with him around the ranch…his pride in our land, a pride he passed on to Gabe and me. Learning to be cowboys…. He wasn’t all bad.” Rafe shook his head. “Stubborn, though.”
    Angel laughed. “He’s not the only stubborn Flanigan.”
    Ah, I’ve coaxed her out of her shell. Rafe raised his eyebrows. “How about narrow-minded? Or ruthless and controlling?”
    “You’re not any of those!” Her response was obviously instinctual.
    Hope rose in him.
    Angelina paused. “Are you?”
    He narrowed his eyes. “You couldn’t accuse me of anything worse than being like my grandfather.”
    “Have you any idea what he had in mind for you and Gabe’s legacy?” she asked, daring to bring up the forbidden topic.
    Something hot went through him, an old anger. “Leave it, Angel,” he said more sharply than he wanted. “Don’t ruin this… time we have.”
    She sat back in the seat. “All right, Rafe. But I will be heard. Soon .”
    ~~~
    The tables on the waterfront deck of Joe’s Cajun Seafood crowded each other and overflowed with locals and tourists alike. Rafe knew Angel wouldn’t try to talk business where they could be overheard, and he’d be safe to enjoy her company for a few hours, without the stress of having to deal with whatever brought her here.
    Angel had never participated in a crawfish boil, and he taught her how to pinch off their heads and suck out the meat. After a squeamish attempt or two, she was soon peelin’ and eatin’ like a local.
    They stuck to neutral topics such as their favorite books and movies, finding many in common and arguing amiably over others. They shared about their travels to different parts of the world, mostly for business—Angel on quick trips to Europe for her law firm, he on the delivery of his Paints to their new owners in various parts of the southeastern U.S.
    The more they talked, the more he saw her shoulders relax. The fine lines around her eyes crinkled when she smiled. He even coaxed a laugh from her a couple of times.
    Stuffed, they waddled, as Angel said, although she walked as gracefully as ever to the carriage.
    He helped her into the driver’s seat.
    She cajoled him into letting her handle the reins, and he lounged against the seat, watching her profile. No one seeing her now would know this sweet-looking woman, wearing a tank and shorts and driving the carriage, was the same one who’d earlier been dressed in the conservative business suit.
    But the change went deeper. As Angel had relaxed, she’d shed her proper attorney attitude, became more the friend he remembered.
    The night deepened. Stars speckled the blackness above them. The lights of the carriage illuminated their path. A fat pearly moon drifted into the sky.
    It must be getting late. Rafe glanced at his watch. “You’ve missed the last ferry. Left five minutes ago.”
    She gasped.
    Even though he did want her to stay, Rafe hadn’t realized the time. “You can bunk at my place. I have a guest room.”
    “I’ll have to text my boss.” She made a face. “He won’t be pleased.”
    “Just work a ninety instead of eighty-hour week when you get back to compensate.”
    She sighed. “I don’t want to think about my job.”
    He pulled the carriage into the yard in front of the stable.
    The door to the chicken house opened, and Chip shuffled out, muffling a yawn with one hand.
    “Little early to be fallin’ asleep, don’t you