Read Online The Rancher's Dance by Allison Leigh - Free Book Online Page A

laughed and leaned her blond head across the table toward Lucy. “He ought to. That’s Mark Strauss. Scott Strauss’s baby brother.”
    Lucy winced. “Baby is right,” she muttered. She’d gone out with Scott Strauss a few times in high school and his little brother had been just a toddler then. “This getting old business is for the birds.”
    â€œI don’t even want to hear the word old, ” Sarah interjected. She was sitting next to Lucy. “Yesterday, Eli told Max that he wasn’t going to ever get married until he was old like we were.” She gave a mock shudder. “Talk about out of the mouths of babes.”
    Lucy couldn’t help but laugh. Sarah was a year youngerthan she was. And even though her husband, Max, was more than a decade older, he hardly fit the definition of “old.” The guy was the local sheriff, and as hard and handsome and fit as sin.
    For that matter, every one of the women she was with had won the lottery when it came to seriously attractive husbands—both outwardly and inwardly. Lucy was the only one at the table who wasn’t married with a growing family.
    And just then, as much as she loved them all, that fact made her feel like the sore thumb. “When is Courtney supposed to get here?” Of all the women Lucy counted among her cousins, there were only a few who weren’t married. Courtney was one. She was a registered nurse and only twenty-five. The rest were even younger—from early twenties all the way down to three.
    Lucy’s family, no matter the generation, was nothing if not prolific.
    â€œCourtney said she was switching shifts at the hospital,” Mallory offered. She was an obstetrician and had become the latest addition to the Clay family when she’d married Lucy’s cousin Ryan, who was also Courtney’s brother. “She’s still on nights.”
    â€œWell.” Lucy eyed Angeline, who was leaning back in her chair. She had her hands folded over her enormous belly and still managed to look beautiful with her exotic South American heritage. “I guess if Angel there goes into labor, it’ll be good we’ve got an O.B. with us. Once Court gets here, we’ll have a whole medical team.”
    Angel gave her a lazy glare. “I’m due in two weeks. I am not having the baby this weekend. Brody would never let me live it down. I had to use all of my feminine wiles to get him to agree to drive us up in the first place.”
    J.D.—who was as blonde as her sister Angeline wasdark—snorted. “It figures that you, who are about twelve months pregnant, would still have some wiles left to wield.”
    Angeline eyed J.D. “As if you and Jake weren’t doing the horizontal up until the last minute before Tucker came along?”
    â€œProbably all that hot, sweaty sex is what brought on the premature labor,” J.D. agreed, grinning wickedly, and they all laughed. Tucker had come early—very early—which had been a worry for everyone, but the infant was making up for his slow start with astonishing speed.
    Then the Strauss boy returned, doling out their second round of drinks before taking their food orders, which not surprisingly, were as eclectic as their drinks had been. Courtney arrived soon after, and then their party was complete. Lucy just sat back and absorbed their laughing, easy company.
    Yes, she did miss all of this when she was away.
    Her fingers toyed with the stem of her wineglass as her gaze drifted from their faces around the bar. A familiar brown head had her stiffening, though.
    Sarah noticed and glanced over, too. She leaned her head closer to Lucy’s. “Got a problem with your folks’ builder?”
    â€œNot at all,” she answered swiftly, looking away from Beck as he made his way through the crowded bar toward a table across the room.
    He was with two other men. Judging by the strong resemblance, Lucy