April, Dani - Raven's Ranch (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme) Read Free

soon as possible because he had some urgent business to discuss with her.
    Okay, Raven thought to herself, Connor was telling her the truth about her grandfather, so she could at least believe his cover story.
    When Leroy announced they were officially closed, and the last customers had gone, the help was allowed to get themselves a drink or a bite of food from the kitchen. Raven poured herself a shot to steady her frayed nerves.
    The other serving staff left to go to Tony’s party, and Raven pitched in to sweep the floors and wipe down the counters and the tables along with a couple of young busboys of such a low rank at the club that they always got cleanup detail.
    As she worked, she wondered if Connor was outside waiting for her. Somehow she hoped that he was. She really wanted to see him again, mostly to talk about her grandfather, but she couldn’t deny also because of that soft, unspoiled beauty he had about him.

Chapter Two

    Raven wore a black leather jacket out into the parking lot of the club. The : a.m. air was rather chilly. She also carried a motorcycle helmet. She owned a small Kawasaki. It wasn’t much, but for Raven it was her pride and joy and the way she got from point a to point b in the busy city.
    She approached her bike and looked around the almost-empty lot, wondering where Connor was. Maybe she should have given him her phone number, she thought, but hell, it was too late for that now, and he was probably long gone anyway.
    She climbed on top of her bike and kicked off the stand. She was about to pull the helmet over her head when a beat-up old pickup truck drove up in front of her in the parking lot.
    “That’s a cool bike,” Connor called to her from the open window of the truck.
    “Oh hey!” she yelled back at him, realizing she was actually happy to see him. “You did wait for me.”
    “One thing I’m always good for is keeping my word,” he assured her.
    “Sorry I made you wait,” she told him, feeling awkward. “You know, it’s kind of late. Maybe we should talk about this some other time.”
    “If you don’t mind a whole lot, Miss White, I think we should talk about the Lazy L as soon as possible.”
    Raven wanted to hit herself. Here she was happy to see him one second and the next, suggesting they do this some other time. This man was making her crazy and she still didn’t even know him.
    “There’s an all-night diner two blocks north of here,” she told him.
    He gave a half smile and motioned to his truck. “Hop in,” he told her.

    They were each having scrambled eggs and bacon with coffee. Raven took hers with lots and lots of cream and preferably a pinch or two of sugar, but Connor took his strong and black. The all-night diner was only half-full at this hour, and it was a nice place to sit and talk and watch the lights of traffic pass outside on the Chicago streets.
    “You see, Miss White,” Connor was explaining in between mouthfuls of scrambled eggs which he devoured with a ravenous appetite. “You and the Lazy L were about the only good things your grandfather had left in his life.”
    “I’m just Raven,” Raven told him, though she halfway enjoyed the way he deferred to her and called her by her surname.
    “Miss White…Raven…That’s going to be hard for me to remember,” Connor told her, a shy smile playing across his face. “I never called your grandfather anything except Mr. Spencer in all the time I worked for him, even though he was much more than just a boss to me.”
    “Well I’m not my grandfather,” Raven reminded him, and delicately chewed her food.
    “But you’re the boss now,” Connor said, and Raven came up to meet him with a startled gaze.
    “What do you mean I’m the boss now ?” she asked.
    “Just that, you are the boss of the Lazy L now. Your grandfather left you everything he had, including the Lazy L. That means I’m working for you now.”
    Raven sat in the booth and digested her food and Connor’s words. She was the