Read Online Matt (The Cowboys) by Leigh Greenwood - Free Book Online

is a good way to thank him.”
    “Can’t we just say thanks?” Noah asked.
    “Sometimes words aren’t enough. This is one of those times.”
    She could tell Noah didn’t understand, but she didn’t feel she could explain it just yet. Maybe in twenty years.
    Dinner had been delicious. Matt was an excellent cook, but he had made her and the children sit at the table while he and the boys wrapped up the leftover food, and washed and put away the dishes. Afterward they had waited in the hall, like uncomfortable guests perched on the good sofa, while Toby and Orin moved their belongings to the loft.
    “There’s no reason for them to move all their clothes,” Ellen said. “They can dress in their old room.”
    “I ain’t dressing in front of no girl,” Toby said.
    “She’s a child,” Ellen snapped.
    “We’ll wake her up,” Toby said. “Orin’s noisy.”
    “I’m not,” Orin said. “You’re the one who’s grouchy before breakfast.”
    “It’ll be better if they move everything to the loft,” Matt said. “We have to be out of the house at dawn.”
    “Then that’s when we’ll get up,” Ellen said.
    “What for?” Toby asked.
    Ellen was angry at herself for letting Toby’s needling goad her into speaking before she thought. It would be easier if Matt and the boys left before she and the children got up. Yet even though it was a sensible solution, Ellen wanted Noah and Tess to feel the same sense of belonging the boys did. They couldn’t as long as they kept being pushed to the side.
    “Naturally they’ll get up when we do,” Matt said.
    Ellen decided she was a capricious female. As soon as Matt agreed, she wanted to argue.
    “We got to act like a family,” Orin reminded Toby. “Isabelle says that’s the only way to stop that preacher from taking me away.”
    “You’ll be safe after Ellen and I adopt you,” Matt said.
    “Nobody’s adopting me,” Toby said.
    “Don’t you want to be safe?” Noah asked.
    “I’m too big to be adopted,” Toby growled, rounding on Noah.
    “Isabelle and Jake adopted Buck and Zeke when they were older than you,” Matt said.
    “And I don’t want any little brothers,” Toby said, looking straight at Noah.
    “Orin’s your brother.”
    “Nobody will be my brother if I’m not adopted,” Toby said. “I don’t need no mother and father. Come on, Orin. We gotta go to bed.”
    “I want to sleep in the loft,” Noah said.
    “I’m depending on you to stay with your sister,” Matt said to Noah. “This is her first night in a new house. She’ll probably be too frightened to sleep unless her big brother is there to protect her.”
    Noah still wanted to sleep in the loft, but Ellen could see he liked the idea of being thought big enough to protect Tess.
    “Can I sleep in the loft if she’s not afraid?” he asked.
    “You don’t have a bedroll,” Toby said.
    Noah turned to Ellen. “Can I have a bedroll?”
    “I think you’d better concentrate on getting a horse first,” Ellen said.
    That proved to be a fortunate thought. Noah immediately forgot about sleeping in the loft.
    “Can we look for my horse tomorrow?” he asked Matt.
    “Matt has a ranch to run,” Ellen said. “You have to wait until he finishes his work.”
    “I can help,” Noah said.
    “You’ll be feeding the chickens,” Toby said.
    “That’s enough,” Matt said. “You and Orin get to bed. We have a rough day ahead of us.”
    The two boys scrambled up the stairs to the loft. Noah’s gaze followed them.
    “You’d better get to bed, too,” Matt said. “Five o’clock comes awfully early.”
    “Get into your nightclothes,” Ellen said. “I’ll be in to tell you good night in a little bit.” As the two children scampered into their bedroom, she turned to Matt. “Do we really have to get up that early?” She had flinched when he said five o’clock.
    “We’re breaking and branding some new horses tomorrow. Jake said they’d be here at daybreak.”
    “What do