Read Online Montana by Debbie Macomber - Free Book Online Page B

Noon, and she wasn’t dressed yet. Not that he was complaining. It saved time.
    â€œWhat are you doing here?” she demanded, placing her hands on her hips. The action tugged open the front of her robe and offered him a tantalizing peek at her breasts.
    â€œGuess,” he said with a snicker. He loosened his belt buckle, in no mood to play games.
    Her bravado quickly disappeared and she backed away from him. “Our agreement was once a month.”
    â€œThat’s not the way I remember it.”
    Pearl might have been pretty at one time, but too many years of making her living on her back had spoiled whatever had been attractive about her. Her makeup was applied with a heavy hand—not like Molly Cogan’s. Monroe frowned as he thought about the old bastard’s granddaughter.
    â€œI…I don’t want you to tie me up this time.” Pearl’s voice trembled a little. He liked that. Just the right amount of fear, enough to make her willing to do things she might not do for her other customers. But then he wasn’t like the others. The Loyalists owned Pearl, and she did what he damn well pleased, whether she wanted to or not.
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    Gramps had insisted Sam accompany Molly into Sweetgrass, and although she couldn’t see the sense of it, she hadn’t made a fuss. The boys were far too interested in exploring the house and unpacking their belongings to be bothered with errands. So Molly had left them with Gramps.
    Actually she’d hoped to use the time alone with Sam to find out what she could about her grandfather’s health. The old man seemed pale and listless this morning, although he’d tried to hide it from her.
    Gramps’s old pickup had to be at least twenty-five years old. Molly could remember it from when she was a child. The floorboard on the passenger side had rusted through, and she had to be careful where she set her feet.
    The ride started off in a companionable enough silence. Every now and then she’d look at Sam, but he kept his gaze carefully trained on the road ahead.
    She’d spoken first. “Are you from around here?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œMontana?”
    â€œNope.”
    â€œWhere else have you been a foreman?” she’d asked, trying a different tack.
    â€œI haven’t been.”
    â€œNever?” she asked.
    â€œNever,” he repeated.
    That was how their entire conversation had gone. In the forty minutes it took to drive into Sweetgrass, Sam didn’t respond once in words of more than two syllables. Stringing together more than a couple of words appeared to be beyond his capabilities.
    Molly had hoped to ease into her conversation, get to know him before she dug for answers concerning her grandfather’s condition. But no matter how she approached him, Sam Dakota remained tight-lipped and uncooperative.
    Molly gave up the effort when the town came into view.
    â€œOh, my,” she whispered.
    If the Broken Arrow Ranch had changed in nine years, Sweetgrass hadn’t. Main Street seemed trapped in a time warp. Foley’s Five and Dime with its faded red sign still sat on the corner of Main and Maple. Her grandmother had often taken Molly there as a child so she could watch the tropical fish swim in the big aquarium. The hamsters, racing about in their cages, had intrigued her, as well. In addition to pets, the store sold knickknacks and tacky souvenirs to any unsuspecting tourist who had the misfortune of dropping by. Not that there’d ever been many tourists. In retrospect, Molly decided it must be the bulk candy displayed behind the glass counter that kept Foley’s in business.
    The bank’s reader board, which alternately flashed the time and the temperature, was directly across the street from Foley’s. Sweetgrass Pharmacy and the barbershop were next to the bank. Molly wondered if the singing barber had retired. As she recalled, he’d done a fairly good imitation of