When Love Comes Read Online Free PDF Page A

observed.
    Amanda didn’t know how things had come to such a pass. Her mother had never advocated violence. She’d always said it was unladylike. What was it about Broc Kincaid that made her mother and brother think he had the answers to everything?
    “I’d like to knock Sammy Loftus in the head,” Eddie said.
    Amanda ignored him. Eddie’s long-running feud with Sammy Loftus was well-known by everyone in Cactus Bend.
    “Thank you for inviting me,” Broc said to her mother, “but I need to be on my way. Can you recommend a good hotel?”
    “There’s only one,” Amanda said.
    “It’s of very poor quality,” Mrs. Liscomb observed. “You’ll find the best food at the Open Door.”
    “That’s the saloon we used to own,” Eddie told Broc.
    “It’s also the name of our old diner,” his mother reminded him.
    “I’d like to speak to you after you saddle your horse,” Amanda said to Broc. He looked surprised but left the kitchen without comment.
    She wasn’t sure that what she had in mind was a good idea, but it might be the perfect solution to her problems. It was clear her brother liked Broc, but it was equally clear her mother was relieved at the departure of such a severely injured man. She might be impressed by his confidence, but she didn’t approve of unattractive injuries any more than she approved of bad manners.
    For her part, Amanda had almost forgotten Broc’s scars. He had such a strong personality, it was hard to think of anything else. The scars were as much a part of him as the perfect side of his face. Somehow they represented the duality she saw in his personality, the kindness he showed to her and the rough way he’d dealt with Andy. She watched him as he emerged from the barn and led his horse toward her. She guessed he was around thirty, but it was hard to tell. The good side of his face looked very young, but he walked with the confidence of a man who had no fear of what might be asked of him. That was exactly the kind of man she needed to run the ranch, the kind of man who would stand up to Carruthers and Sandoval. Gary would be furious, her motherwouldn’t like it, and it was possible Andy might quit, but she had made up her mind.
    “Thanks again for dinner,” Broc said when he reached her. “Now I’d better be going.”
    “Wait. I want to ask you something.”
    He paused just before mounting his horse, but now that she was on the verge of asking her question, the words seemed to stick in her throat. She would have to justify her decision to her whole family, and she had no way of doing that beyond saying that her instinct made her believe she could trust this stranger. She pushed the words out. “I’d like you to work for us. I want you to be the foreman of the Lazy T.”
    Now that she’d gotten the words out, the expected feeling of relief didn’t come. Broc was looking at her in that inscrutable way again, making her uneasy, making her feel she’d done something stupid and he didn’t know how to tell her.
    “You don’t have to decide right away,” she said. “You can ask people in town about us. We don’t have a large ranch, so I can’t pay you very much, but you could sleep in the house and eat with us.” She made herself stop talking. She was beginning to sound as if she was begging.
    “Just because I can set a shoulder doesn’t mean I know anything about ranching,” Broc said.
    “You said you’d worked on a ranch since the end of the war.”
    “I have, but I’m just a cowhand like Leo and Andy.”
    “I’m sure you know more than those boys. Besides, they need someone like you to organize the work for them, show them how to do it, and make sure it gets done. They’re good boys, but they’re young.”
    “What about your brother?”
    “Gary is nearly as inexperienced as they are.”
    “I mean what would he think about me being put in charge?”
    “He wouldn’t like it, but he’d understand why it was necessary.”
    “Would your mother agree