Free Emmett by Diana Palmer

kids to see me. You’d have time to spend with them. You’d have a second chance, Emmett.”
    He could use one, but he didn’t want to admit it. “That’s an idea.” He didn’t add that it was going to get him closer to Melody than San Antonio was. He didn’t know why it exhilarated him to think of being close enough to see her when he liked, but it did.
    â€œCall Ted and talk to him,” Tansy suggested.
    â€œI suppose it wouldn’t hurt.”
    It didn’t. Ted Regan knew Emmett’s reputation in rodeo and he didn’t need to ask for credentials or qualifications. He offered Emmett the job on the spot, at a regular salary that was twice what he was pulling down on the rodeo circuit.
    â€œBesides, it may turn into a full-time job,” Ted continued in his deep, Texas drawl. “My present manager just quit. I don’t know if I can spread myself thin enough to manage the ranch and keep up with my purebred business. I’m buying and selling cattle like hotcakes. I haven’t got time for the day-to-day routine of ranching.”
    That was what worried Emmett. If he left his own ranch, he’d have to let Whit manage it for him. Whit was good, but could he hold it together?
    â€œWe’ll have to talk about that later, but I will think about the offer,” Emmett promised. “And thanks, I’ll take the job.”
    â€œI’m glad,” Ted replied. “I know you’ll do it right.” He gave Emmett a date to report and concluded the fine points of the agreement.
    When he hung up, Emmett called the kids together and sat down with them.
    â€œWe’re going to move to Jacobsville and I’m going to manage a ranch there,” he began.
    Guy glared at his father with pale, angry eyes in a face as lean and strong as Emmett’s. “Well, I’m not moving to Jacobsville,” he said curtly. “I like it here.”
    Amy took her cue from her eldest brother, whose pale eyes dared her to go against him. “Me, too,” Amy said quickly, although not as belligerently. “I’m not going, either, Emmett!”
    Emmett looked at Polk. Polk didn’t say a word. He just looked at the other two, grinned and nodded.

Chapter 5
    O nly a week ago, Emmett might have lost his temper and said some unpleasant things to the kids. But he’d mellowed just a little since his concussion. He was sure he could handle the children’s mutiny. He smiled smugly. It was just a matter of outsmarting them.
    â€œThere are horses there,” he remarked. “Lots of horses. You could each have one of your own.”
    â€œWe live on a ranch, Emmett,” Amy reminded him. “We already have a horse each.”
    â€œThere’s the Astrodome in Houston,” he added.
    â€œThere’s the Alamo here,” Guy said.
    â€œAnd the place where they film all the movies, outside town,” Polk added.
    â€œAll our friends are here,” Amy wailed.
    He was losing ground. He began to lose some self-confidence. “You can make new friends,” he told them. “There are lots of kids in Jacobsville.”
    â€œWe don’t want new friends.” Amy began to cry.
    â€œOh, stop that!” Emmett groaned. He glared at all three of them. “Listen, don’t you want us to be a family?” he asked.
    Amy stopped crying. Her eyes were red but they lifted bravely. “A family?” she echoed.
    â€œYes, a family!” He pushed back his unruly dark hair from his broad forehead. “I haven’t been much of a father since your mother left us,” he confessed curtly. “I want us to spend more time together. I want to be able to stay at home with you. If I take this job, I won’t be away all the time at rodeos. I’ll be home at night, all the time, and on weekends. We can do things together.”
    Guy stared at him warily. “You mean, things like going to movies and goofy