Read Online Standoff at Mustang Ridge by Delores Fossen - Free Book Online Page A

must be some good underneath that gruff exterior.”
    Royce took off his coat as well and put it over Sophie’s. “If there is, I haven’t found it yet. He definitely wouldn’t offer me a hug like your old man did you back at the sheriff’s office.”
    “Yes,” she said softly. “He loves me. I just wish he were more responsible.” She paused. “How do you think your father found out about the pregnancy lie?”
    He huffed, tried to rub away his headache. “I don’t know, and we won’t get the answer from Chet until he’s good and ready to spill it. But my guess is that Travis asked around to find out if we were seeing each other. Those kinds of questions wouldn’t stay secret long in a small town.”
    There was also the possibility that someone had seen Sophie and him at the party and had started a rumor about a one-night stand. It wouldn’t have been much of a leap to go from that to a pregnancy.
    Yeah. That’d be a tasty bit of gossip.
    “What was all that ‘following in your footsteps’ about?” she asked.
    Royce didn’t huff again, but he wanted to groan. He was hoping Sophie wouldn’t mention that, and he was sorry he’d let his temper get the best of him. About that, anyway.
    “My mom got pregnant before she and my dad were married. In fact, that’s why they got married. Chet had gotten her pregnant and her father forced a shotgun wedding. Mother was a city girl, not at all happy living on a ranch. And even before she got cancer, she was miserable and unhappy.”
    “I’m sorry.” Sophie reached out and touched his arm.
    Royce wasn’t exactly comfortable with the sympathy. “Your parents don’t appear to have had a good marriage, either.”
    “No,” she agreed. “They divorced when I was seven. My mother got full custody of me, and we moved to Chicago. I had to beg her just to see my father and brother.”
    Well, Royce sure hadn’t known that. “I thought you stayed away by choice.”
    She lifted her shoulder. “Sometimes I did. It was easier than arguing with my mother, something we always did when I wanted to see my dad. And after college, my life and job were in Chicago so I had even more reasons to stay away.”
    “You ran your mother’s charity foundation,” he remarked. “Still do.”
    Sophie blinked as if surprised he’d known that. Royce was surprised, too, but when it came to Sophie, little details about her just seemed to stick in his head. He blamed that on the attraction, but the truth was, he’d found her interesting—in an “opposites attract” sort of way.
    “I remember when you moved back here last year,” he said. Yeah, definitely opposites, but that hadn’t stopped him from noticing her.
    “I remember, too. Stanton introduced us at a get-together at the Millers’.” She eased her hand from his arm. No longer touching him. “You hated me. Maybe still do.”
    Royce opened his mouth to deny that.
    “I heard you call me Prissy Pants, among other things,” she added. “And you made your disapproval crystal clear.”
    Royce couldn’t deny that. He had. “I tend to steer clear of women who aren’t comfortable in jeans and boots.” He groaned at the sound of that. “Except you look pretty darn comfortable in those jeans.”
    Hot, too.
    Royce especially didn’t want to voice that.
    Her mouth trembled a little as if threatening to smile. But no smile came. However, she touched him again. Well, not him exactly, but when she scrubbed her hands up and down her arms, she brushed against his sleeve.
    “So, you didn’t hate me. You hated my clothes,” she commented.
    Now Royce felt himself smile. And God knows why, because he didn’t have anything to smile about. He had a hundred things he should be doing instead of standing there while Sophie sort of touched him. Still, it felt good not to see the fear and worry in her eyes.
    Oh, man .
    He had that thought a moment too soon because when she looked up at him, the worry was back.
    “I’ve dragged you