The Tycoon's Tots Read Online Free PDF Page B

was smart and strong and steady and Chloe had been thrilled a few months ago when she’d finally fallen in love and married. Yet there were times Chloe wanted to shake Rose’s composure.
    â€œRose, surely you haven’t forgotten the woman nearly killed you and Harlan!”
    â€œI don’t know that she was intentionally trying to kill us,” Rose said thoughtfully. “There wasn’t any way she could have known we were riding fence when she started that fire. I think her plans were simply to kill our cattle and destroy our pasture-land. Not murder us.”
    â€œYou’ve too generous a heart, Rose,” Chloe said with a groan.
    Rose shrugged. “The woman is gone, Chloe. I guess I can afford to be a little forgiving.”
    Chloe’s lips compressed to a grim line. “Well, herbrother isn’t gone,” she said. “And I have a feeling he’s going to be a much more formidable foe than Belinda Waller ever was.”
    Beneath the brim of her battered felt hat, Rose’s pale green eyes grew wide with concern. “Why do you say that? Is the man deranged?”
    â€œNo. Wyatt Sanders isn’t deranged. He’s determined.” And Chloe desperately dreaded the moment she would see him again.
    The next afternoon, Chloe decided to give Kitty a break from baby-sitting and herself a chance to spend a bit of time with the twins away from the ranch. After spending all night and the bigger part of the morning worrying and wondering about Wyatt Sanders and his threat to take the twins, she hoped a drive into town would cheer her dismal thoughts.
    The day was sunny and very warm for early September, just the sort of weather that made her want to forget about work and simply stare up at the blue New Mexican sky. Something Chloe rarely got to do these days.
    Before her father, Tomas, had died, there had been at least five wranglers to help work the ranch. Now there were only herself and Rose and Rose’s husband, Harlan, to see that everything got done.
    Many nights Chloe lay awake too tired to sleep. During those times, she’d often thought about her father and how things had changed so drastically since his death. He’d not only left Chloe and her sisters with a pair of siblings, he’d left them very nearly broke. Chloe figured she should hate him for what he’d done, but she couldn’t. Good or bad, he was her father and she’d loved him fiercely.
    Was that how Wyatt Sanders felt about his sister? Chloe wondered as she drove herself and the twins west toward Ruidoso. Was he blind to Belinda’s evil doings becauseshe’d been his sister, or did he simply not know all the fear and damage she’d caused?
    Whatever the case, Chloe wished she could be more forgiving, like Rose. She knew it wasn’t healthy to hold on to her anger. But she feared if she ever let herself weaken toward Wyatt Sanders, he’d find her soft spot, then batter it until she finally surrendered.
    No, the best way to handle Wyatt Sanders, she decided, was to be cool and steadfast.
    Wyatt was in his car, traveling down Mechem Drive, when he spotted the redheaded woman pushing a doubleseated baby stroller across the parking lot
    Even though she was wearing a skirt and her hair was pulled neatly to the back of her head, he could tell it was her. She had that quick, snappy walk that made her curves jiggle in a most feminine, distracting way.
    Glancing in the rearview mirror, he jammed on the brakes and flipped on the turn signal. Chloe Murdock obviously hadn’t come to town to see him, but she was going to, whether she liked it or not.
    By the time Wyatt turned off the highway and parked the car, she was very nearly to the entrance of the grocery market. He called her name and she glanced over her shoulder. The moment she saw it was him she lifted her chin defensively.
    â€œWhat do you want?” she asked as he drew within a few steps of her.
    Wyatt