Free The Lonely Heart by K.M. Mahoney Page B

know any of them very well. At the moment, he figured that was a good thing. He probably wouldn’t like them.
    “Steady, boss,” Tommy warned as they tag-teamed a pair of worked-up heifers. “We’ll be done soon. Then you can give them all the boot.”
    Apparently, he wasn’t the only one noticing the crappy behaviour.
    Grady pulled off to one side to give Lance a breather. His eyes sought and found a familiar figure, and a smile tilted the corners of his mouth for the first time in hours. Isaiah and Tobias weaved and dodged, in perfect sync. It was a sight to behold, stirring in more ways than one. Isaiah dodged a mis-flung rope, for once the action not deliberate, and laughter deepened the creases in his cheeks.
    Grady’s half-smile widened. Now this, he liked. Watching man and horse, breathing crisp air and listening to the sounds of nature—minus the blasted cows, of course.
    He wondered if maybe it wasn’t time to make some changes. For once, the thought didn’t make him feel that guilty panic. Sure, the Grady family had run cattle on this land for www.total-e-bound.com

    THE LONELY HEART K.M. Mahoney 55
    damn near three generations. That didn’t mean they had to keep running cattle for another three.
    The thought hit Grady hard. He didn’t have to keep doing this, didn’t have to keep pretending. He could stop dealing with the temporary hands, stop dealing with cut fences and wandering herds and…just stop .
    Why the hell had it taken him so long to realise the truth? No one said he had to be a cattle rancher for the rest of his life. The bank account was healthy and the ranch was turning a profit most years. He had a bit of a cushion, enough to take a few risks. He could sell off the rest of the herd in the spring, start fresh—build the business he wanted, not the one his family had started.
    A surge of confidence came from nowhere, swamping over him. They could keep the current horses, do some training. Micah was damn good with the horses and so was Isaiah.
    Joseph might be at a bit of a loss for a while, but Tommy could handle anything Grady threw at him.
    Maybe it was time to get those Shires, whatever Isaiah’s objections.
    Grady smiled again then let loose a small laugh, garnering some strange looks. But the relief and the certainty were undeniable. For so long Grady had tried to do what was expected of him, trying to make people approve of him. And they never did, never.
    So what had changed? It only took a second for the answer to hit Grady. Watching Josh, how brave that kid was…really, Grady couldn’t do any less. Isaiah would back him on this—
    probably after a bit of an argument, but he would support Grady in the end. Josh would be thrilled. The hands would bitch, but they’d adjust. Everyone else could go to hell.
    Grady patted the sleek neck below him, running his fingers thought the coarse, tangled mane. “Lance, boy, I think it’s time to make some big changes in my life. I think I’m finally ready for it to be my life.”
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    THE LONELY HEART K.M. Mahoney 56

Chapter Nine

    Isaiah stepped onto the porch, zipping up his coat with gloved hands. The ranch was quiet today, the boys hunkering down inside around the wood stove. Isaiah didn’t blame them. The snowstorm that had whipped through the night before had left more than just a thick coating of white on everything. The temperature was down around ‘forget the thermometer, I’m freezing my balls off’ and any sane person was staying inside beside the nearest heat source.
    So what did that say about Isaiah? Probably nothing good. But he was going stir-crazy inside, and if he had to put up with Grady’s crappy mood for one more minute, he was going to snap.
    Isaiah’s sense of fair play took that moment to pop out and remind him that he hadn’t exactly been an angel to live with lately, either. He told his inner voice to shut up, but it didn’t erase that niggling sense of guilt.
    Hell, maybe he just