Cowboy Rush (Dalton Boys Book 5) Read Free Page A

the dreams that went with it. She was going to find a new position. She’d begin with an advertisement. If anything, her daddy had given her a good start—her name. Nobody would guess she was female until she came for the job interview. After that, her wits and skills would earn her a place on the ranch.

 
    Chapter Two
     
    “I brought Witt’s favorite dessert.” Shelby bustled past Kade and settled a glass dish on the kitchen counter. “It’s still warm.”
    Kade stood back from the whirlwind, just watching and shaking his head as every Dalton family member crowded inside.
    “Must be caramel apple cobbler.” Momma peeked beneath the aluminum foil covering and the sweet scent of apple drifted out.
    “Kade, grab the door for Maya, would you?”
    Gladly. The kitchen was a hot-bed of activity on Sunday afternoon. Women chiding husbands and children for getting underfoot. The brothers stripping off their church clothes and doing a few chores before scrubbing up for dinner at the big farmhouse sink.
    He opened the door and Maya plopped Addie into his arms. He barely fielded the little girl before Maya shoved by him carrying her toddler who was wearing only one boot. The child’s foot was encased in mud.
    On second thought… “Is that pig shit I smell?”
    Maya gave him a look that said she didn’t appreciate his bad language. “Yes, it is. Your niece thought it would be fun to get into the pen and chase the pigs. She lost a boot in the process but the big old sow wasn’t letting me in to get it.”
    Kade couldn’t help but chuckle at his sister-in-law’s incensed tone, her accent thicker when she was riled. “Here. You take Addie and give me Emma. I’ll take her out and hose her off.”
    They juggled children and he did as promised, using the hose on his niece. She squealed at the cold water and he wondered where her sock was. Once he took her inside with her toes damp and pink, most of the Daltons were settled at the big table.
    As he glanced at the faces, his heart gave a strange hollow gasp. After Sunday dinner, the brothers would take their families home, leaving Kade on his own. Times like this he wished like hell he had spare hours to go look for a wife. But ranch duties always called.
    At the table, plates were heaped with roast beef and potatoes with gravy. One of the ladies had made green beans with a creamy dressing so good Kade ate two helpings. Of course, the roll basket was emptied and he didn’t get a second one. But Shelby’s dessert made up for it, especially when Momma added a scoop of homemade ice cream.
    Talk shifted between cattle to finding Emma’s lost sock and boot to what Disney movie Hank’s family would cozy up with later. Soon Kade’s brothers were carrying their kids back out the door and the kitchen was empty.
    Kade sat there, feeling a despondence he was becoming all too familiar with. He stared at his hands. Rough with work, his knuckles were still healing from the fight with his brothers.
    “Kade.”
    He looked up at his father’s gruff tone. Pa crossed the room and turned his chair backward to straddle it. “I need you to make a drive for me.”
    “Okay. Do we need seed?” They’d been discussing a second planting of corn though it was late in the season.
    “No. Hank found a ranch hand and I need you to go after him.”
    “That’s good news.” It didn’t surprise him. His eldest brother had always been quick and efficient.
    “His flight lands at six.”
    “Where’s he coming from?”
    “Don’t know. This is all Hank told me. I thought you wouldn’t mind making the trip since…” He didn’t need to finish. Kade knew all too well he was the extra around here—the lost sock.
    He pushed away from the table. “I’d best get on the road if I’m going to make it in time. What’s the guy’s name?”
    “Ryan Hunter.”
    Kade gave a nod. He looked forward to making a new friend and having some camaraderie again. With his brothers so involved in their own