Read Online Destined for Love (Love in Bloom: The Bradens, Book 2) Contemporary Romance by Melissa Foster - Free Book Online Page A

taken her out of the house for a discussion, and none of them were to relay positive news.
    Once they’d cleared the yard and were deep into the property by the cattle field, her mother’s shoulders relaxed, and she slowed her pace.
    “Mom, what’s wrong? You’re starting to scare me a little.”
    “Honey, please don’t let your father know I said anything. Normally, I wouldn’t talk about family business, but you’re an adult, and with what’s going on, I think you need to be aware—”
    Jade touched her mother’s arm to get her attention. When her mother took a breath, Jade said, “Mom, you’re rambling. I won’t tell Daddy. Is he sick? Are you sick?”
    “No, it’s nothing like that.” Her mother looked at her then, giving a little shake of her head and letting out a sorrowful sigh. “We might have to sell the ranch.” She choked on the last word, holding back tears. Her hand covered her chest.
    “Sell it? Why? I thought the business was doing well.” Sell their home? The ranch was the only home she’d ever known. She and her brother had grown up there, and her father had owned the property for forty years. The feud . She wondered if not selling the property that they owned with the Bradens had had a severe impact on their finances. The Bradens had plenty of money, but she wasn’t so sure that that was true of her family.
    “Your father has worked very hard to take care of all of us. He’s a good man and he runs an honest business. It would kill him to know that I told you about this before he did.”
    “Okay, I won’t say anything. You have my word.” Sell the ranch?
    “He thought the business would bounce back, and it hasn’t happened. The bank has been very gracious and for three years has fronted us the money to continue, but now…” Her eyes ran over the fields, the cattle, the house.
    “Mom, if the property that Dad bought with the Bradens was sold and he received half of the profit, would that enable him to keep the ranch?” She searched her mother’s eyes as she contemplated the question.
    “With what land is going for now, there’s a good chance it might, but your father is a prideful man. That property is dead to him.”
    But not to me .
     
    “WHAT THE HELL are you doing?” Rex hollered at Treat, who was loading the truck with fencing materials.
    “Whatever animal got the fence in the winter has been back. There’s a twenty-foot section torn out in the lower pasture.” Treat threw another roll of wire into the truck. “Are you all right? You seem on edge.”
    “Fine.” Rex was far from fine. He’d stewed all night over the way things had ended with Jade, and what made it even more difficult was that every thought he had carried with it her scent, her taste, the image of her writhing with pleasure as she moaned beneath his touch. He’d spent the night angry and aroused, and it was a deadly combination. Anger surged through his limbs, and no matter how he tried to quell the mounting confusion, it kept ending the same way—as one bursting ball of rage.
    “Wanna come give me a hand?” Treat asked.
    Treat didn’t shy away from the grueling physical labor, and he was able to use his honed negotiating skills to save them thousands over the course of just a few months. The man was a stealth businessman. Stealth or not, he was in Rex’s line of fire.
    “Leave it. I’ll take care of it later,” Rex snapped.
    “No, I’ve got it.”
    Rex wanted a fight. He was aching to release his pent-up frustrations. “I said, leave it,” Rex challenged.
    Treat set the last of the wire in the truck and leaned against the tailgate. “What crawled up your ass and died?”
    Rex took a step forward and fisted his hands. He ground his teeth so hard he was sure they’d crack, but he didn’t care.
    “Take a breather, Rex.”
    Treat took a step toward the front of the truck, and Rex strong-armed him, stopping him in his tracks.
    “What the hell? We’re too old for this shit, Rex.