The Rancher's Bride Read Online Free PDF Page A

told the two women, “I’m still feeling sorta testy.”
    Kitty and Chloe exchanged worried glances. Rose never felt testy over anything—quietly concerned maybe, but never angry or irritated.
    “Why? What happened between you and our neighbor?” Chloe asked.
    “Like I said, I went to see him. I didn’t want to, but I made myself.” Rose offered Adam a spoonful of pureed chicken. The baby smacked his lips in appreciation. “And I guess it’s a good thing I did, or we might have—”
    “What?” Kitty prompted when Rose stopped in midsentence.
    “You’re not going to believe what he showed me.”
    “His naked chest?” Chloe asked dryly.
    Rose shot her sister a cool look of disapproval. “The man is running out of water.”
    “So are a lot of other people around here,” Kitty spoke up. “Why, Vida was just telling me yesterday they were having to haul their drinking water from Ruidoso.”
    “So is that why Mr. Hamilton cut our fence and drove his cattle onto our land? To give them a drink?” Chloe asked in disbelief. “I can’t really see what good that was going to do. Cattle have to have water every day. Or—” She looked at her sister with raised eyebrows. “He didn’t leave them on our land, did he?”
    Rose shook her head. “No, he didn’t leave them on our land, but he intends for us to—” She couldn’t go on. Her throat closed around the words, forcing her to swallow several times before she could speak. “He wants us to open up the Bar M to him so that his cattle can reach our part of the river.”
    The two women stared at Rose in stunned silence, then finally Chloe burst out laughing.
    “You know, I always wondered why that man was single,” she said once her laughter had trailed away to a chuckle. “He’s got looks to die for, but apparently he doesn’t have a brain to go with them.”
    “Just hush, Chloe, you haven’t heard it all,” Rose scolded wearily.
    “You mean there’s more?”
    Adam was banging his fist on the high-chair tray. Rose quickly pushed another spoonful of food at the baby.
    “Oh, yes. It seems that several months ago, more than a year to be exact, our father borrowed money from Harlan Hamilton.”
    “No!” Kitty said with a sharp gasp.
    The humor suddenly vanished from Chloe’s face. “How much?”
    Rose repeated the amount and once again the two women stared blankly at her.
    “The worst part is,” Rose continued, “Daddy put the Bar M up as collateral.”
    Chloe rocketed to her feet. “He couldn’t have! He wouldn’t have!”
    Her face stiff, Rose said, “He did. Harlan has it on document. And I’ll assure you it was all very legal.”
    “You mean, if we don’t or can’t repay Mr. Hamilton, the ranch could belong to him?” Kitty asked fearfully.
    Rose nodded. “That’s just about the size of it.”
    “So what are we going to do?” Chloe asked sinkingly. “If we sell our stock there’s no way the ranch can make money!”
    Adam began pushing away the offered spoon, indicating to Rose he was full. She wiped the baby’s face and hands, then began filling her own plate. She wasn’t going to let what her father had done, or what Harlan might do, ruin her supper.
    “We’re going to open up our land to Mr. Hamilton and hope that he’ll be patient about the loan. Right now, he says water is the only thing he wants from us,” Rose told the two women.
    Like a fallen rock Chloe dropped back into her chair. “Oh Rose, you’re so gullible where men are concerned. You haven’t been around them enough to know they’ll tell you anything that suits them—no matter how far from the truth it is.”
    Rose leveled a dark look at her sister. “Oh, I think you know I learned all about men a long time ago, Chloe. That’s exactly why I stay away from them. But as for Harlan— we have no choice but to trust him. He’s holding all the cards.”
    Chloe sagged against the back of her chair.
    Kitty looked at Rose. “What do you think about this