The Reluctant Rancher~Badlands (Contemporary Western Romantic Suspense) Read Free Page A

so filthy rich he owned a big hunk of land with lots of cattle on it. Celeste grinned as she slammed the door and started her car. Perhaps she could think of some reason to call on the gorgeous bachelor. Perhaps she could find a way to at least get his attention. First, he had to notice her, and then she could win his heart and then she could be Mrs. E.J. Kincaid and live in the big mansion with the stately columns on the porch. It looked as she had always imagined Tara would look, at least if Tara was located in north Texas. She pulled out of the parking lot and into the street. She could imagine herself driving his Jaguar. Maybe he would buy her a matching Jag in a different color. Maybe white, or baby blue to match her eyes…
    Celeste drove to her house and pulled into the driveway. She turned off the motor and sat gazing at her small home. The single car garage at the end of her drive yawned open since the door was somehow off track and she couldn’t get it to close. She sighed and climbed out. Her yard needed to be mowed and edged and the shrubs trimmed back. Perhaps, if she played her cards right, she might be able to hit the lottery with the handsome prince at the end of her rainbow.
    She followed the front walk and climbed the steps to her door. No way she was going to be able to make the needed home repairs on her salary…but maybe she wouldn’t have to.
    She walked inside and gazed around at her house. She tried so hard to keep it looking like a page out of Country Home magazine. Her lace curtains and the chintz slipcovers could be featured on the glossy magazine pages. And she had a collection of pink Depression glass and pink and white transfer ware that would rival any major collector. She sighed.
    Why hadn’t she been born under that lucky star? Why had she married big Randall Conway, the lineman on the high school football team? He had told her he was going places and would take her with him. But the only place he had taken her was to the tavern over in Greenville, which was his favorite watering hole. They had purchased this small place as their “starter” home just before Randall enlisted. After his hitch in the Army and tour of duty, he had returned home a slightly different man. Maybe it wasn’t so much that he had changed, but rather, that she had. She had used the intervening years to further her education and graduated from Texas Tech University in Lubbock with a degree in elementary education and a teacher’s certificate. When he’d come back, Randall had been in no hurry to find a job. He’d spent his days watching sports on television and drinking beer. Soon, she realized she had made a terrible mistake and that, no matter how much she wished it, Randall Conway was never going to be anything more than Randall Conway.
    She’d hired Breckenridge T. Ryan to represent her in a divorce action. And all she got for her troubles was this small property. Well, it was something anyway. She had thought that she might be able to snag Breck, but they hadn’t dated since high school and when Cami Carmichael, her snarky little doctor came to town, well Celeste was out of luck because Breck was over t he moon for Cami at first sight.
    Now , she decided it was time to set her sights a little higher. She might wind up snagging a big old cowboy with lots of ranch land and a southern-style mansion instead. And if it didn’t work out, she might be able to trade up for the mansion with her next divorce.
    ~*~
     
     
     
    CHAPTER TWO
     
    Cami finished with her last patient and peeled out of her white lab coat with her name embroidered on the left side of the chest. The crisply starched jacket still said Camryn Carmichael, M.D. and the name of the hospital where she had performed her residency, but this was because she had only been married a couple of months and the coat was still serviceable.
    Although her great aunt had scads of money and property and had provided for Cami’s education, it was a no frills