Learning To Love (Contemporary Cowboy Romance) (Carson Hill Ranch series:Book 1) Read Free Page B

“Really? Which sons are getting married?” Dee asked, forgetting to pretend they weren’t having a conversation. Crazy Mack banged on the large front window of the bar with the thick plank of wood he kept handy for breaking up late night brawls, pointing a black-nailed finger at the girls and gesturing for them to knock it off.
                  “Does it matter?” Emma answered after Crazy Mack went back to wiping shot glasses with the hem of his shirt. “Have you ever seen all of ‘em up close? When they stand together, the six of them make you think you’re seeing paradise. I’m just saying, they don’t make ‘em ugly at Carson Hill, if you know what I mean.”
                  “I ain’t never seen any of ‘em up close, just when they come through town to do some shopping. By damn, I’d marry one of the little boys if it would get me the hell outta here,” Dee promised with a surly glance in Mack’s direction.
                  “Well, I don’t know about ‘little’. The youngest ones have to be getting big by now. The preacher told me last week that Old Man Carson’s wife’s been gone for at least ten years.”
                  “When have you been speaking with the pastor, Miss Church on Sunday?” Dee teased, purposefully bumping into Emma with her hip as they danced for a small cluster of workmen who’d just stepped off the bus from the fertilizer factory.
                  “That’s between me and his money,” Emma said with a knowing look.
                  “Well, if they’re the two boys I’m thinking of, they’re a good bit older than twelve. Even if they’re only boys, I wouldn’t mind teaching them a thing or two,” Dee hinted. “Every boy needs a good teacher, am I right?”
                  “Don’t even think about it,” Emma warned her. “The Carsons don’t come in here. Their father would skin them alive and you know it.”
                  “Well, then maybe I need to go out to the ranch and see what all this marrying business is about. I could see myself as a rancher’s wife, especially on a place as big as Carson Hill,” Dee said haughtily.
                  “Of course you could. You could teach everyone on the place all about mating!” Emma said with a good-hearted snicker. Crazy Mack banged on the window again. “Of course, getting away from this one would be rough. He ain’t gonna let you go without making you sorry.”
                  “Honey, he’s been making me sorry ever since I stepped off the bus. I knew this part of the state was still a dangerous place, but I sure never thought I’d end up hiking up my skirts for sweaty factory guys and ranch hands for thirty bucks a pop, and that’s before Mack takes his portion. I been doin’ this so long, it’s a wonder I haven’t died of something nasty.”
                  “Yeah, and that ‘nasty’ is what’s gonna keep you off the Carson ranch. They’re so high-and-mighty, they wouldn’t spit on you if you caught fire right in front of their eyes.” Emma continued dancing, turning toward the man who stepped into the shady bar, hoping to catch his interest. She lowered the strap on the flimsy cotton tank top she wore to advertise what she had to offer, but it was a sad state of costume as Mack was too cheap to even send for halfway decent clothes for the two working girls he owned.
                  “There’s no damn sense in paying for fine clothes for these filthy jerks to leave their stinking stains all over ‘em,” he’d once said, ordering the girls back to their rooms above the bar when they’d asked about having decent clothes. “Besides, they ain’t interested in what you’re wearing, they want what you’re hiding underneath.”
                  Emma and Dee let their minds wander to what living on Carson Hill Ranch could have been like