Read Online The Rancher Takes a Cook by Misty M. Beller - Free Book Online Page B

shoveling
into their mouths as if this was to be their last meal.
    Another crack of thunder broke just as a
flash of light illuminated through the doorway into the kitchen.
For once, Anna was thankful there weren’t any windows in the dining
hall. Storms had never bothered her before, but these cowboys
gulped their food with pinched brows. Every thunder clap seemed to
add urgency to their movements. They were more familiar with Texas
storms than she was, so if they were worried, shouldn’t she be
concerned, too?
    The meal finished soon after, and Monty
dispatched the boys to help batten down the hatches of the house
and barn, and settle the few livestock left in the corrals. He was
giving orders to Jacob just like the rest of the men. But wasn’t
Jacob the boss’s son? No time to ponder that now. She set to work
clearing the table and washing dishes, moving quickly tonight
instead of the steady pace she usually set for the nighttime
ritual. Lightning continued to flash outside, and the howling of
the wind took on an eerie wail, vibrating the glass window with
forceful gusts.
    When the dishes were washed and put away,
Anna completed a quick wipe-down of the counters and table then
scooped up the lantern and headed toward the den. By this point,
her nerves were rattled enough that she was looking forward to
human companionship.
    As usual, Aunt Lola sewed in the rocking
chair by the fire. Mr. O’Brien propped in the overstuffed chair
beside her, leather-bound book in hand and wire-rimmed glasses
perched on his nose. His face was intent on the page in his hand,
lips quirked into a slight grin.
    Anna settled into her usual seat on the
settee and reached for her mending basket to work on Edward’s pants
with the large tear across one knee.
    Mr. O’Brien looked up and removed his
spectacles. “I tell you, I never do get tired of reading about the
adventures of this Oliver Twist fella.” He held up the book. “Do
you read much, Miss Stewart?”
    “I do love to read. I’m afraid all my books
burned in Columbia, though. I only have my Bible and a Jane Austen
novel that was a gift from my aunt.”
    The wrinkles between his brows puckered.
“Well, books we have a’plenty.” He waved in the direction of his
office. “You’re welcome to any in our library. And if there’s
something you’d like to read that we don’t have, you let me know
and I’ll pick it up in town. I don’t know how I’d have made it
through life without my books.” The twinkle reappeared in his eyes,
and a kinship toward this man welled up in Anna. At the same time,
her heart ached for her old leather-bound friends that had burned
in the fire.
    A sudden whoosh in the hallway signaled the
opening of the front door. It sounded like the storm had blown
inside. The noise was fierce but died down with the thud of the
door closing. Boots clunking on the hardwood floor announced
Jacob’s presence before his tall frame appeared in the doorway.
    “How is it out there, son?” Mr. O’Brien
peered over his spectacles.
    “Wind’s pretty rough. I think we’ll be okay
as long as we don’t get a tornado or a stampede out of the mix. The
boys are setting a watch, just in case.” Jacob collapsed in the
wood arm chair by the fire, across from his father.
    Anna imagined Edward sleeping out in the
smaller bunkhouse, wind howling all around him. “Do you think it’s
safe for the men to be in the bunkhouse tonight? What if there’s a
tornado or lightning strike?”
    Jacob snorted. “Safe enough. The bunkhouses
are built of good, solid pine. If we get any tornadoes, this
place’ll go down as quick as any other building. Besides, those men
have slept through a lot worse.”
    Not Edward. But she refrained from
voicing it. Should she ask if Edward could be allowed to sleep in
the main house tonight? Her brother would most likely be mortified,
but at least he’d be alive.
    Jacob eyed her with a hint of challenge, as
if he could read her mind and planned to