Read Online Not the Marrying Kind by Christina Cole - Free Book Online

alongside her, she kept
her eyes on the road ahead, refusing to look at her mother, father,
or sister.
    “Don’t suppose it would do much good to ask
you to get in.” Pa’s voice wasn’t as strong as it had once been,
but his words were clear.
    “Nope. Wouldn’t do a bit of good,” she
replied.
    "Suit yourself."
    The buggy passed by. Nobody looked back. Kat
saw her pa flick the reins over the horse’s rump. She sighed and
covered her mouth with her hand to keep from choking on the dust
stirred up. Damn her and her own stubbornness. She’d actually
expected Pa to climb down, find a switch from a sapling tree, and
insist she get back into the buggy where she belonged.
    Guess he was tired of fooling with her and
didn’t mean to put up with any more nonsense.
    “So be it,” she said aloud, staring after
the buggy as it disappeared around the next bend in the road.
    If her pa thought he could wear her down,
maybe even break her, he had another think coming. His own
obstinacy only made her more determined. Maybe he had something up
his sleeve, but his tricks didn’t worry Kat. Nothing could
undermine hard work and honest efforts. Whatever he was up to, it
didn’t matter. She meant to succeed.
     
    * * * *
     
    Monday morning dawned clear and bright, an
obvious good omen for the coming day. Not that Kat believed in
omens—something about that word always made her think of the devil
and his tricks—but she did believe in signs, especially heavenly
ones. When she was a very young girl one of the previous ministers
at the church, long before Virgil Kendrick had come to lead their
little flock, preached about the sin of looking for signs. Mankind
wasn’t supposed to go around asking for verifications for their
decisions. Actions were to come from faith alone.
    It didn’t make much sense to her then. It
still didn’t make much sense. A loving God would surely provide a
few signposts along the way, wouldn’t He? If one of his daughters
felt unsure of which direction to turn, wouldn’t any loving father
provide help?
    Kat frowned as she threw the saddle over
Sadie’s back, her mood irrevocably spoiled by thoughts of her
pa.
    Sabotage .
    An ugly word if she’d ever heard one, and in
her time hanging around with the hands at the Rocking P, she’d
heard plenty of words—good, bad, and ugly, indeed.
    “I’m not letting him get away with it,” she
said in a quiet voice. Silly though it might sound, talking to
Sadie always soothed her. Maybe it was because the pretty palomino
never talked back, never disagreed, never tried to change Kat’s way
of thinking. The horse whinnied softly, and nuzzled her soft, warm
nose against her owner’s shoulder. “All right, girl,” Kat said,
tightening the cinch strap then patting Sadie’s neck. “Let’s get to
work. We’ve got a tough job ahead of us.”
    When she saw Joshua riding toward her, she
straightened in the saddle, waved her hat in the air, and called
out to him.
    “Nice morning,” he said, tipping his own hat
in greeting.
    “We don’t have time to talk about the
weather, Mr. Barron, and if you’d ever worked a cattle ranch
before, you’d know that.”
    “Sorry, missy, but—”
    “That’s another thing,” she snapped, her
eyes narrowing on him as though she were bringing him into the
sights of a shotgun. “Either call me Kat, or keep your mouth
shut.”
    “Fine. Call me Joshua.”
    He left off any admonitions about keeping her mouth shut, Kat noticed. Maybe she had been a touch
rude.
    “Sorry. I’ve got a lot of things on my mind,
running this ranch being only one of them.” How much should she
tell him? Did he need to know about Reverend Kendrick, about Pa’s
desires to marry her off to the lackluster minister, about Emily
Sue’s claims of sabotage?
    “Yes, Miss Kat, I imagine you do.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” She
bristled, taken aback by his unexpected friendliness and his
willingness to agree with her. She was accustomed to men