Read Online Love on the Range: A Looking Glass Lake Prequel by Rebecca Nightsong - Free Book Online Page B

had given her last night. Then again, it could be from sleeping on a bag of potatoes. The pillow Jett had left with her bedroll was as flat as a Kansas prairie. She’d had to get up in the middle of the night and look for something to put under it. The only thing she’d found was a bag of potatoes.
    “Jett and the boys went on ahead,” Crazy Hoss said. “I’m gonna help you get camp torn down and move on.”
    “Move on?” Marlee scowled.
    “We’re about halfway to our main campsite,” Crazy Hoss said. There’s not enough firewood here to keep us going for a month.
    Marlee gulped.
    A month. Jett had told her it would be a month, but she was hoping that was another cowboy exaggeration.
    Turns out, it wasn’t.
    “Normally, the chuck wagon cook has to clean up and tear down alone,” Fern said. Her eyes shone like that was the best tidbit of gossip she’d come across her whole life. “Prep for supper, pack up the gear, and harness the horses.”
    “Alone?” Marlee squeaked. She didn’t know the first thing about harnessing horses. And she wasn’t crazy about the idea of being left alone with hungry bears prowling the area.
    “Yup.” Crazy Hoss grinned.
    Fern leaned forward. “But Jett told us to stay behind.” She waggled her eyebrows at Marlee.
    “Said ya might need our help,” Crazy Hoss said. His grin was so big, all her groggy brain registered were teeth and whiskers.
    Marlee glared and stabbed at her biscuits.
    “Like a hole in the head,” Marlee muttered under her breath. Jett had already told her the ranch was short-staffed. He must really think she was incompetent if he’d kept two of his cowhands back at camp to babysit her.
    And she couldn’t blame him, because she had slept in this morning…slept right through her first breakfast shift. Whatever she had to prove as a city girl now just got a double helping added. Now, she had to prove she wasn’t a lazy cook who slept in all the time.
    Crazy Hoss stood up and lumbered toward the chuck wagon where he started untying the canvas spread over the makeshift dining area.
    “If I were you, I’d stretch my muscles some,” he threw over his shoulder. “Sore muscles can make a body awful cranky.”
    “It’s not the sore muscles making her cranky,” Fern crowed. “I think it’s a handsome cowboy.”
    Marlee bit her tongue. Lashing out at the people who were helping her wouldn’t earn her any favors. “That’s not how I’d describe him,” she grumbled.
    “Who, dear?” Fern asked.
    “Jett.” Marlee wanted to stuff his name right back into her mouth the moment it slipped out. Yup, she’d stepped right into the older woman’’s trap.
    Fern’s eyes gleamed. “So you do think he’s handsome. And can you believe such a handsome cowboy is single?” She patted Marlee’s knee. “Did you know he’s the only cowboy in these parts with just that one killer dimple?”
    Marlee blinked. Did the woman ever stop with the matchmaking?
    She glanced at Crazy Hoss in a silent plea for help, but the man’s eyes gleamed behind bushy brows as he rolled and tied canvas. He was enjoying this too much to stop Fern. It was up to Marlee to change the subject.
    And the way she’d let everyone down that morning was the first topic that came to mind.
    “I set my alarm clock,” she said. “But the battery went dead.”
    “Don’t you worry none,” Crazy Hoss said. “Jett fried up the bacon himself this morning.”
    Marlee groaned and covered her face with her hands.
    “It ain’t all bad.” Crazy Hoss patted her awkwardly on the back. “It don’t hurt him none to be a cowhand and camp cook at the same time. Back in my day, every camp cook was also a good cowpoke. Most outfits needed him to be in the saddle when he wasn’t slingin’ flapjacks.”
    Marlee sat up straighter. Maybe there was a chance to redeem her pride after all.
    “But not all cooks go out on the trail, honey,” Fern said. “So don’t you worry.”
    “But some do?”