Carrying the Rancher's Heir

Carrying the Rancher's Heir Read Free Page B

Book: Carrying the Rancher's Heir Read Free
Author: Charlene Sands
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my—”
    â€œGot it.” He wanted out of this conversation and the reminder of that night.
    â€œYou do? You believe me?”
    â€œDoesn’t make a bit of difference if I believe you or not, but yeah, I do believe you. I may not have social skills but I’ve got good instincts.”
    â€œIt makes a difference to me. I’m glad you believe me. I mean, since we’ll be seeing each other from now on. Your opinion matters.”
    It shouldn’t, he wanted to say, but kept his lips sealed.
    His cell phone rang and he was glad for the interruption. Callie had a vulnerable expression on her face and Tagg was a sucker for a female in distress. He lifted up the phone. “Gotta get this.”
    She smiled weakly and nodded. “Goodbye, Tagg.”
    He watched her walk to her car and get in. Once she started the engine and circled around to the gravel road, he answered Clay’s call. “What in hell were you thinking hiring on Sullivan’s daughter?”
    Â 
    â€œI’m so glad you called, Sammie. I really needed to hear your voice today.” Callie leaned back on her bed, resting her head against the daisy pillow sham, speaking on the phone with her best friend and onetime college roommate.
    Her bedroom on Big Hawk Ranch looked the same as it did when she was a child. The pale yellow and cornflower blue walls spoke of a brightness that Callie didn’t feel these days. She’d come home from Boston because her job there had ended just about the same time her father’s health had taken a turn for the worse. She felt the timing was right. She’d missed living in Arizona. She’d missed the ranch. But once she’d returned, she’d found that while everyone else had moved on with their lives, Callie’s life had remained stagnant. The room her mother had decorated when Callie was just a girl was oneof many perfect examples. The Hawk never wanted the room changed and Callie had acquiesced.
    â€œYeah, you sound down this morning. There’s something wrong. So what’s going on?” her friend asked.
    â€œI…I just miss you.”
    â€œI miss you, too,” Sammie said. “And you know there’s nothing holding you there. You can come back to Boston anytime. I’ve got an extra room in my apartment that has your name on it. But, hon, I know that missing me isn’t what’s putting that tone in your voice. What’s up?”
    â€œYou know. The usual. My father.”
    â€œThe Hawk? He’s at it again? What did he do this time?”
    â€œIt’s a little complicated right now.”
    Callie wasn’t ready to share everything with Sammie, especially the guilt she felt about her secret. But she could tell her the most basic truth, which was that she’d reached her boiling point with her father last month. She’d thought that having a college degree, having lived off the ranch for several years and having reached her twenty-sixth birthday would have made a difference with her father. But she’d come to the bitter realization that he would never change. Oh, she did love him. In many regards he was a good father, but his need to control the outcome of her life had gotten out of control lately.
    â€œYou know I was dating a man named Troy, right?” she asked.
    â€œRight. The tall, blond carpenter.” He’d come to the ranch to build a new pool house and Callie had hit it off with him. “I thought you were still dating. I mean, the last time we talked you didn’t say you weren’t.”
    â€œI didn’t tell you what The Hawk did because I was so furious with him, I needed some time to let it sink in. My daddy just doesn’t get that I can make decisions for myself.He can’t see it as a control issue. He thinks he’s looking out for me the way a father should.”
    â€œHe’s overcompensating for you not having a mother. Trying to be both parents at

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