Heart of Texas Volume One Read Free Page B

one single day, his levelheaded younger sister had not only gone against his express orders, she’d gone and hired him additional help. A stranger, no less!
    Grady wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, heard it with his own ears. Savannah wasn’t herself. He frowned at Laredo Smith, instinctively distrusting him. One look told Grady the saddle bum was an outsider, a drifter. Not to be trusted. Yet Savannah had invited the man into their home and their lives like a long-lost relative— and offered him employment. The problem with Savannah could be reduced to one simple explanation. She couldn’t see the bad in people. She was just too damn trusting.
    In spite of that, Grady had often admired Savannah for her common sense. But from all appearances, she’d lost every shred of good judgment she’d ever possessed. All within the space of a single day.
    â€œI can’t remember when I’ve tasted better chili,” Laredo said, serving himself a second helping when Savannah passed him the bowl.
    She lowered her gaze and Grady watched, amazed as color seeped into her cheeks. “I appreciate the compliment, but Nell Bishop’s the one who deserves the credit. It’s her recipe.”
    â€œMy compliments to Nell, then, and to you, too.”
    Savannah’s blush deepened. If it wasn’t so pathetic, Grady might have rolled his eyes. The town was full of men who were interested in Savannah, but she hadn’t given one of them a lick of encouragement. Not a one. Then she happens on a complete stranger who doesn’t look like he’s got two dimes to call his own and she practically faints because he compliments her cooking!
    Grady shoved his plate aside, appetite gone. His day had gone poorly. A calf had died after a desperate struggle to save its life, and he wasn’t sure the mother was going to make it, either. He’d had the vet out, and they’d done everything they could, but it didn’t look promising. If that wasn’t bad enough, he’d found a break in the fence line. Luckily he’d been able to repair it before any of the herd had escaped.
    The problems never ended. Day in and day out, he faced one crisis after another, each one heaped on top of all the others. He didn’t know what it was to laugh anymore, didn’t know what it was to spend a night in town drinking with his buddies. Hell, he couldn’t even remember the last time he’d kissed a woman. In six years his life had boiled down to two things—work and worry.
    It seemed a million years ago that he’d been young and carefree. Everything had changed for him—and for Savannah—in the course of an afternoon. The life he’d lived before they lost their parents was little more than a vague memory.
    After a day like this the last thing he needed was for the one constant, the one sane sensible person in his life, to lose her bearings. Go loco on him. Grady glanced at Savannah and he felt his heart twist with sorrow, frustration, guilt. His sister was as lovely as those roses she cared so much about. She was still young and pretty, although she didn’t appear to realize that.
    Grady hadn’t saved the ranch all on his own, nor was he the only one who’d dedicated his life to building back everything they’d lost. He couldn’t have done it without her. Savannah had found a hundred ways to encourage him, lighten his load, and he didn’t thank her nearly enough.
    Regret settled in the pit of his stomach. He shouldn’t have laid into her the way he had when she got home, but damn it all, he’d been worried sick. It wasn’t like her to disappear and not tell him where she was going. In the past she’d always been conscientious about that, and with good reason.
    Even though the risk of her encountering danger was slim, an accident could always happen. It had to his mother and father. Caught in a