Read Online Between Strangers by Linda Conrad - Free Book Online Page B

looked at me that way. In your heart, she is different.”
    He took a deep breath and ran a hand across his mouth before he spoke. “My heart has nothing to do with anything. We don’t want the same things. And after I drop her and the baby off in Cheyenne, we’ll never see each other again.”
    Marianne watched him in silence, still smiling softly.
    â€œI swear, we haven’t so much as touched,” he protested. “And I don’t intend to ever touch her, either.” It burned a hole right through his gut to say that—and mean it. But there were some things you just didn’t do. “We’ve only recently met and she’s going to a new job. A job that will take her overseas for six months.”
    He shook his own head now, trying to clear it. “I’m in the middle of building a home in Montana on the ranch. It’s the first place I’ve ever felt that I really belonged.” He set his jaw and turned back to the door. “Whatever might’ve been between us is impossible.”
    Before he could put his hand on the doorknob, Marianne had one more thing to say. “Impossible or not, Lance. You can’t just turn your back. Not if what you will be missing is a chance at magic.”
    Speechless and suddenly angry, Lance muttered under his breath. Another fanciful female and that “magic” junk.
    Hell.
    He slammed out the door and drew in a deep lungful of frosty air. Everything he’d ever wanted was waiting for him back at the ranch in Montana. Another few days and all of this would be nothing more than a fading memory.
    At least…he could only hope so.
    Â 
    Marcy shifted the baby in her arms and walked into the café’s kitchen. “You have a lovely home, Marianne. It’s so convenient to your restaurant. Thanks for letting me use it to clean up and change Angie.”
    â€œYou’re most welcome. Have a seat.” She dried her hands on a cloth towel and nodded at the kitchen table. “Lance said for you to wait for him here where it’s warm. He’s outside irritating my husband while he finishes up on the roof.” Marianne chuckled, tossed the towel and pulled out two chairs so they could sit down.
    â€œIn the spring, Hank and I are planning on enlarging the café,” Marianne told her as she arranged the baby so they could sit together. “And by next fall I’m hoping we’ll be able to add on to the house. It depends on how the business does.”
    â€œHow do you like living so far out in the country?” Marcy propped the baby on her lap. “Lance told me that your husband has roots and family nearby. So I suppose he’s happy here. But how do you like it? Are you ever lonely?”
    Marianne’s smile broadened into a grin. “Heavens no. Lonely? That’s a hoot. We’re so busy with the business that I barely have time to take a bath, let alone think about being lonely.”
    Angie started to fuss. Without asking, Marianne reached around, picked up a clean spoon and handed it to the baby. “Besides, it was me that wanted to move back here and start this business.
    â€œHank has a brother, Bobby, who lives west of here about fifty miles. Bobby and Lance were competitors and best buddies on the circuit when Bobby fell in love with a friend of mine. At about that same time, Bobby was offered a job at the new casino that was opening up on the reservation in Pine Ridge and he decided to move back home and settle down.”
    Marcy jiggled Angie as the baby tapped her spoon on the wood table.
    Marianne patted the baby’s cheek and smiled. “Bobby has two kids and a terrific house on ten acres now. He’s doing great and they’re real happy. After Hank and I started going out, we would stop in to visit with Bobby and Vicki when we’d get a moment free from the circuit. I began to yearn for a simpler life with no traveling and a big family all