Cook County: Lucky in Love Read Free Page A

whipped, I’m not complaining.”
    They reached the cabin, and he was surprised to see a window pane busted out and the roof sagging under the weight of a huge branch that had fallen on it some time ago. “I guess no one’s going to be getting lucky in there anytime soon.”
    “I don’t know about that. Shouldn’t take you long to fix it and move in.”
    He whirled around. “Move in?”
    “Yep. It makes sense to live on the ranch if you’re going to be here breeding horses.”
    “You just have everything figured out, don’t you?” Lucky’s tone came out sharp, and from the look in Chance’s eyes, he knew his brother had picked up on it.
    “Do you have a problem with the idea? I thought you’d be glad to be offered such an opportunity.”
    “Why, because I couldn’t earn it on my own?” He turned away from the love shack and barreled back the way they’d come. “I’m thirty-four years old, Chance. It’s time to quit babying me.”
    “How am I doing that?” his brother asked as he caught up to him. “I want to breed horses, and I just happen to have a brother who’d be a great man for the job. Of course I’m going to offer you the opportunity before I’d even think of anyone else.”
    “You’ve created the job as a way to watch over me,” Lucky challenged as they reached the area he planned to use for his horse breeding venture. “Poor Lucky, he gambles away all his money and he’s getting too old. He can’t ride the circuit much longer. He’ll never get out of that trailer park.”
    “I’ve never thought that.”
    He stopped and raised an eyebrow at his older brother. “Never?”
    Chance had the grace to look away. “You gotta admit, you’ve had some rotten luck, bro.”
    Yeah, he’d found two dead women in the space of three months, the second one being his mother. “Skill beats out luck,” he said calmly despite the anger roiling in his gut. “It’s skill that’ll get me some fat purses this season. I can get myself out of the trailer park, if I want to leave it.”
    “Don’t you?” Chance eyed him, his gaze full of incredulity. “The place isn’t exactly a happy part of memory lane. There’s not a single inch of it that doesn’t have some awful memory etched into it, whether it be a beating by the hand of one of Mom’s boyfriends, or a place she passed out after too much booze. Not to mention…”
    His voice trailed off, but Lucky knew what he’d been about to refer to. “The bedroom where Mom shot up her last set of drugs. You don’t need to remind me. I’m the one who was there to find her.”
    “And you’re never going to let me forget it, are you?” Chance lifted his Stetson long enough to thrust a hand through his dark hair. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there when Mom died. Okay? I’ve said it a hundred times. I don’t know what else I can do.”
    “Buying me a job and home isn’t the solution,” Lucky snapped, then heaved out a calming sigh. Now he felt bad. It wasn’t his brother’s fault their mother was a drug addict or that she’d killed herself. And it definitely wasn’t his fault Lucky had picked up a wacko who also offed herself three months earlier. “I’m sorry. You don’t deserve this attitude. I’m just… I’ve got some stuff to work through. In the meantime, I don’t know about this horse breeding idea.”
    Chance nodded, jaw set. He definitely wasn’t happy.
    “Fine, but at least think about it. I really want to do this, but I don’t know enough about breeding quality horses, and my hands will be full with the cattle. I’d rather have someone I can trust to do a great job than just anyone off the street.”
    “I can understand that.” Lucky glanced back over the land. “When are you going to start building?”
    “Today. That’s why I went ahead and hired in a full crew of ranch hands despite the herd not being very large. I have quite a bit of improvements planned, and I want them done as quickly as possible.”
    “I’ll