Read Online Once a Rancher by Linda Lael Miller - Free Book Online Page A

spirits.
    No question the cat was malnourished and scrawnier than he should’ve been, but he was making progress. “If you were me,” Grace asked Bonaparte, in need of a sounding board, even if it had four feet and fur, “what would you do? Would you ground Ryder? Or will that only make everything worse?” She fingered a strand of her hair. “See this? Well, it’s true what they say about redheads. I’m notoriously outspoken. I get mad, and I get over it, but I do get mad.”
    Her cell phone pinged, indicating a message. She glared at it, let out a measured breath and tried to decide if she wanted to look. A group of executives for a high-end Fortune 500 company was scheduled to stay the weekend, and some of the requests had been on the ridiculous side, but she knew it was part of the job. She’d apologized for not being able to supply a brand of scotch not available within a hundred miles of Bliss County. She’d hired a full-time bartender for the evening and was paying the kitchen staff overtime. She’d checked all the rooms herself and arranged the resort’s signature Welcome Baskets for each one. She couldn’t imagine what might go wrong, but considering how her day was going, anything was possible.
    Ryder was late coming home from school. She hoped he didn’t have detention or something like that. It occurred to her that the text could be from him, so she snatched up her cell and saw with relief that it was.
    I was talking to some guys and I missed the bus. Be there soon.
    The number was unfamiliar. The school had cracked down on students bringing cell phones. If a kid was caught with one, it was confiscated and a parent could come and pick it up from the office. If a kid was caught twice, it wasn’t returned. Grace understood the policy; it would be difficult to teach anyone anything if all your students were playing on their phones during class. But at times like this, it would be nice not to be frantic with worry.
    Be there soon? Some parent must be giving him a ride, because the resort and condo complex was a fair way outside Mustang Creek. As it was, the bus dropped him off at the end of the drive and Ryder had to walk a good three quarters of a mile to get home. Most of the condos were rentals for hikers in the summer and skiers in the winter, so he was the only kid his age who lived there full-time.
    Grace yanked open the door when she heard the car pull up, so she could profusely thank the parent, whoever it was, before she got Ryder inside and ripped into him for fighting at school.
    Not a car but a truck. Moreover, it had a familiar sign on the side. As Ryder opened the passenger door and hopped out, the driver emerged, too, the sun shining on his dark hair. Vivid blue eyes, those striking features—straight nose and sensual mouth... Slater Carson. He was dressed differently than when she’d seen him last, more businesslike in a tailored shirt and dress slacks, but he still wore cowboy boots, and his slow smile matched his stride as he came around the truck. “I found something I thought you might want back. Picked it up along the side of the road.”
    She gave Ryder the look. “Thank you, Mr. Carson. I’ll admit,” she added for Ryder’s benefit, “to being worried half out of my mind. Ryder, go feed your cat, and if you have homework, don’t even think about video games or watching TV. And clean your room, too.”
    Ryder obviously had some sense of self-preservation there, because he didn’t argue, just bolted through the door.
    Slater Carson chuckled. “Guilt. Good strategy. My mother always used that one on me. Actually, she still does. Hey, the kid missed the bus. It happens.”
    â€œThe kid,” Grace informed him in a tight voice, “got into a fight at school and was suspended from his gym class but didn’t mention it to me, and now he’s so busy goofing off with some of the