Frisco Joe's Fiancee Read Free

check on her father.
     
    “S HE’S NOT COMING ,” Frisco said, hanging up the phone.
    “Mimi is abandoning us in our hour of need?” Last asked, his tone surprised.
    “See if we ever go fix her sinks when they back up again,” Laredo grumbled.
    “She’d be over here in a snap if it were Mason calling for help,” Ranger grumbled. “That woman’s a jill-in-the-box when it comes to him, popping up like crazy whenever he decides to wind her crank.”
    “I’ve never known exactly which one of them was winding whose crank,” Navarro commented.
    Calhoun laughed. “She’s been real prickly ever since you drank too much champagne at the Christmas party two months ago and sang that stupid Mimi-and-Mason, sitting-in-a-Christmas-tree—”
    “Shut up,” Archer said loudly, the author of the musical ditty.
    “Yeah, she has been different since then,” Last said. “Maybe if you’d act your age and not your hat size, we wouldn’t be struggling with this right now. She’d be over here—”
    “No.” Frisco shook his head. “No, this is our problem. We can take care of it ourselves.”
    The brothers glanced at each other, then huddled around the window. It looked like a garden party on the lawn. There were more women than the ranch had ever seen on the property at one time, and considering there were twelve brothers in the family, that was saying a lot.
    Frisco cleared his throat and drew himself up tall, realizing that the mantle of family was clearly on his shoulders. He was determined to bear it well. “I’ll explain that this is a simple miscommunication problem.”
    Laredo looked at him. “Do you want us for backup?”
    “I think I can handle this. The ladies might be intimidated by all of us.” He was somewhat intimidated by all of them—he hadn’t expected twenty anxious women to show up today. No doubt there would be some initial disappointment that there was no position available, but he could get money out of the Malfunction Junction Ranch’s petty cash to give them for the return bus trip.
    “You go, bro,” Bandera encouraged. “We’ll be cheering you on from in here.”
    “That’s right,” Tex agreed.
    “Couldn’t we keep just one?” Last asked. “Maybe the little blonde over there, holding the baby?”
    Frisco peered out, immediately seeing what made Last pick her out of the crowd. “She’s not a puppy. We can’t just ‘keep’ her. Anyway, she’d get lonely out here. Even Mimi gets lonely, and she was born in Union Junction.” He frowned for a second, thinking that the petite blonde would be more tempting as a date than a housekeeper. In fact, he wasn’t certain he’d get any work done at all if he knew she was in his house, cooking his meals, making a home for him.
    His mouth began to water at the thought of home-cooked food, prepared by caring hands. A strange humming buzzed in his ears as he watched her press the baby’s head against her lips in a sweet kiss. The baby was crying, probably cold from being outside in February’s brisk chill, despite the bunting encasing the small body. “What would we do with a baby out here, anyway?” he murmured.
    They all looked dumbfounded at that.
    Fannin shook his head. “Definite drawback. I guess.”
    “Maybe we could have them in for a cup of cocoabefore we take them to the station,” Last suggested, his tone hopeful.
    “No!” Frisco knew exactly where his youngest brother was heading with that idea. Once the ladies were in the house, maybe Frisco would soften his stance…. Last had a sensitive heart where other people were concerned. He had reason to be a bit delicate—too young to really remember when their mother, Mercy, had died; too old not to question why their father, Maverick, had left them for parts unknown. He would sympathize with a single mother and her child.
    But this was no place for a woman, a baby or soft hearts. “We can’t, Last,” he said firmly, meeting his brother’s eyes. “I’ll go tell