Righteous Lies (Book 1: Dancing Moon Ranch Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

the door, but when she went
to negotiate the steps, Jack simply picked her up and carried her, as if it was
the natural thing to do with a pregnant woman on a snowy day. And Grace didn't
protest. Although it felt odd being carried by a man, it was also kind of nice.
She put her arms around Jack's neck and got a whiff of something spicy.
"Umm," she hummed, as the aroma of man and musk tickled her nostrils.
    "You
having another contraction?" Jack asked.
    "Uh,
no," she replied. "The cold air kind of shocked me."
    "The car
will be warm," Jack said, setting her down at the curb.
    Grace looked
inside the vehicle, and said to Sam, "Where is Susan?"
    "She and
Ricky are with Susan's folks in Portland while Ricky has some tests run and
gets his treatment at the children's hospital," Sam explained.
    Grace was
curious about the boy's illness but didn't think it her place to ask after what
Sam and Susan had gone through earlier, learning that the clinic botched their
chances for finding a genetic match with the child growing inside Susan, a
child that was also Marc's son. A child that should be hers . For some reason, that hadn't settled in. But it was. Slowly.
    Until a few
hours ago, she'd imagined the child inside her to one day be a towheaded
toddler with mischievous blue eyes and a sweet disposition, and someday have
his father's droll sense of humor. Somehow she'd have to morph that image into that
of a dark eyed, dark haired child who would one day tower over her. She looked
at Jack, a preview of the man her child might one day be. At least he'd be
handsome. Willful and inflexible, but most definitely handsome...  
    A thud in her
tummy brought her hands pressing against it.
    "You
okay?" Jack asked.
    She nodded.
"Just a solid kick in the belly. He's active right now."
    To her
surprise, Jack slipped his hand beneath her jacket and put it on her tummy, and
Grace didn't stop him. His broad palm was warm. Their son would also have big
hands, and that didn't seem so bad. A whole new image of the child growing
inside her was beginning to take hold...
    "I hate to
break up this father-son bonding," Sam said, "but the cat's
fussing."
    "Her name
is Mei Ling," Grace insisted.
    Sam looked at
the cat, then at Jack, who shrugged, and said, "Get used to it."
    Forty-five
minutes later, they turned off the main highway to the Oregon coast onto a
snow-covered county road with ruts where other cars had passed. After following
it for about another fifteen minutes, they turned onto yet another snow-covered
road, a narrow one, and passed through a tall ranch gateway made of upright
timbers with a cross bar. Hanging from the cross piece was a sign with the
words, DANCING MOON RANCH, along with the vague image of a moon, which Grace
assumed was the ranch brand. A few hundred feet further was a compound that
included several barns with attached corrals, numerous outbuildings, a string
of log cabins along a creek, several log homes belonging to Jack, Sam, and
their widowed mother, as Jack pointed out, and a huge guest lodge.
    As they
approached the lodge, Grace stared at the place that would be home for the next
week. The large two-story building was made of massive logs, with front-facing gables
on both ends, and a steep roof for shedding snow. A porch ran the full length
of the front of the lodge, terminating at an immense stone chimney.
    After pulling
up to the front entrance, Jack helped Grace out and up the front steps to the
porch then started to unload. Jack had just set the last of the cat
paraphernalia onto the porch when a woman dressed in jeans and a denim shirt,
with a quilted vest over it, stepped out of the lodge. Appearing in her late-forties,
Grace assumed the woman was Flo. She looked at Grace with curiosity, then eyed
the cat in the cat carrier with an expression that said, that cat won't be staying
inside , then looked at Jack for confirmation. Jack took Grace's elbow and
said to Flo, "This is Grace Templeton, the mother of my son. She's