Read Online To Wed a Rancher by Myrna Mackenzie - Free Book Online

That’s a nice motto to live by, I suppose.”
    â€œIt’s not my own. Ms. Drimmons, Sidson School,Grade Five. I didn’t even realize that I’d absorbed or…stolen her motto.”
    He smiled more. “Rachel, you don’t have to confess all your supposed sins to me. Or any of them, for that matter. Plus, as far as sins go, using someone else’s motto isn’t a very big one. All right?”
    â€œI know that, but put together with my lying—”
    â€œWhich I’m not concerned about and we’re going to move past, providing you don’t tell me any more lies. Anything else I should know?”
    She shook her head.
    â€œOkay, then, why don’t we look at the spaghetti?”
    â€œIt’s easy enough to see,” she said, wearing that delicious blush he was beginning to look forward to. “There was something in the instructions about flinging a bit against the wall. I think I may have flung too much.”
    Shane looked to the wall opposite the stove. At least a dozen strands of spaghetti were either making their way down the wall or lying on the floor.
    He couldn’t keep the amused look off his face.
    â€œIt’s not funny.”
    He raised an eyebrow.
    â€œOkay,” she conceded. “It is funny, but I’m not laughing.”
    And then she was chuckling. And so was he. Shane realized that this was the first time he’d laughed since his return to Oak Valley. It felt like a release valve, helping him breathe. And while he knew it was a temporary release, because nothing had changed, for the moment it was welcome.
    â€œCome on, I’ll bet the spaghetti is entirely edible.” He started toward the stove and she followed him. “The sauce is a little burned on the bottom, becausethe heat was a little high, but what’s on top will be fine.”
    â€œI could probably make a meal out of what’s on my shirt.”
    Okay, he could not let that pass, even though everything that was smart and good told him not to look at her shirt.
    He looked…and was rewarded with that glorious, enticing blush again. He also realized that she was right. A lot of the sauce had bubbled out of the pan and plopped onto her shirt.
    â€œI’ll lend you one of mine,” he said. And this time he did the right thing. He locked his senses down and didn’t try to imagine Rachel wearing the same shirt that lay against his skin every week.
    Instead he handed her a colander to drain the pasta. “Let’s eat.”
    She hesitated. “You’re being very generous. I hardly made any headway on the house, and this isn’t the meal you had every right to expect. Why aren’t you firing me?”
    He hesitated. He didn’t want to examine his motives too closely. But an answer that was just as true as any other reason slipped out. “You’re trying, you’re working. That’s the truth, and…there’s one more truth.”
    She looked up at him, waiting.
    â€œFor reasons I don’t want to discuss, I never wanted to come back to Oak Valley and Moraine. Being here is barely tolerable. But…you’re an incredibly interesting person. You distract me from things I don’t want to think about.”
    And now those brown eyes widened. “I…distract you?”
    â€œYes.” He wasn’t saying more. He’d said too much. He hoped he hadn’t been wrong to tell her that. “Shane?”
    â€œLet’s eat,” he said, changing the subject. “And then let’s get back to work. This afternoon I might need you to take some photos. I assume you do know how to use that Hasselblad?”
    Good. She’d raised her chin. He preferred a defiant Rachel to a sad one. Sparring with her, he had to keep his wits about him. That kept him from thinking too much about touching her.
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    Rachel felt much calmer now that she was back on familiar territory. For half a second she