Read Online Love Drunk Cowboy by Carolyn Brown - Free Book Online

cream cheese and a cappuccino with skim milk and extra vanilla. It had been years since she’d had a big country breakfast, probably the last time she was in Terral.
    Traitor, she thought as she touched her noisy stomach. One day in this place and you already want to dive right into country eating.
    “After we eat breakfast, that batch of eggs should be ready to put in a sink full of cold water and we’ll start the next batch to boiling.”
    “I told you…”
    “I know and, darlin’, if you don’t get the Easter fever the first time you dip an egg into dye, you can put on them fancy shoes and go on about your business. Granny and I did this every year. Several years ago the folks decided to use plastic eggs and fill them with candy, but not Granny. She said that bunnies didn’t lay eggs one day a year to be replaced by store-bought plastic eggs and as long as she was alive there would be real eggs. She carried enough clout in town that no one argued with her, but no one would help either so I got recruited. From day one I loved it. I’m doing it this year in memory of her.”
    “Okay, okay, I’ll help. No more guilt trips.”
    Rye’s face lit up when he looked down at her in the close quarters. He raised the fork he was using to turn the bacon and said, “Be it known that this country boy will never buy a plastic egg. He vows to uphold the tradition of the real Easter egg until his dying day.”
    “We’ve got a lawyer coming around in a few hours. I’ll get him to work up an affidavit and notarize your signature on that profound statement.”
    A sensitive man with his looks. Just what you’ve been searching for, young lady.
    Austin could swear her grandmother’s voice had entered her head or else the old girl had come back to life and was standing behind her. She looked over her shoulder but the only person there was Rye in his tight fitting jeans, a three button yellow knit shirt with a slightly wrinkled collar, and dark hair that needed a trim two weeks before. He really was what she’d been searching for, but why did she have to find him in Terral, Oklahoma, right on the edge of hell?
    I’ve told you all about him for years. Didn’t you listen to a blessed thing I said? He’s a good, honest man. Verline’s voice argued with common sense inside Austin’s head.
    Austin had said, “We have a lawyer coming.” That little word “we” put another big smile on Rye’s face as he turned the bacon to be sure it was cooked just right. He stole long sideways glances at Austin as she stirred the gravy, amazed at how comfortable she was in the kitchen. He’d found a woman who set his heart to doing double time but she was a fancy lady, not someone who’d be at home at a rodeo or riding beside him on a tractor. Now what was he supposed to do and where did he start?
    She looks like she’s pretty well at home in the kitchen and that’s a plus. He could hear Gemma’s arguments. Come on, Rye. If you don’t get married soon our parents are going to be too damned old to even enjoy their grandchildren.
    Hey, he argued silently with his youngest sister, it’s not written on stone that I have to marry before the rest of you do. Don’t wait on me.
    Irish rules, remember. Daddy said we got to do it in the right order and I’m getting tired of waiting on you. We’re all going to be gray haired and walking with canes by the time you find someone that’ll meet the long list of ridiculous qualifications you’ve got. I wish you’d never gotten that damned tattoo.
    He was gazing out the kitchen window without seeing a thing.
    When he finally blinked, Austin was doing the same thing.
    He touched her arm lightly, letting his fingers linger just a beat longer than he should have. “What are you thinking about?”
    She looked around quickly to find him staring into her eyes. “What are you thinking about? You were staring out the window all the way to eternity. If you burn my bacon after getting me up before