Free The Cowboy Imports a Bride(The Cowboys Of Chance Creek #3) by Cora Seton Page A

horticulture to anthropology, art history to beekeeping, and everything in between. But when he tried to sit down and read, he soon found himself on his feet again. He supposed he could have gone for a walk, but the concrete sidewalks and crowded buildings didn't call him at all.
    He wanted to be near Morgan. To touch her again. Needing to distract himself from that train of thought, he gestured to the grapes and asked Duncan, "How long has your family been in the business?"
    "Three generations," Duncan said proudly. "My granddad bought this land. It's part of my blood."
    "Like my ranch back home. The Mathesons have lived there since 1848," Rob said. "Feels strange to be away from it."
    "So you and Morgan are getting hitched."
    "Yep."
    "Should have known there was someone in her life. Come on, let me show you around."
    Rob thought he'd find the tour annoying, since he'd really come to see Morgan, but to his surprise he found it fascinating. At first Duncan seemed to want to talk more about Morgan than about the grapes, and Rob had the sneaking suspicion the man had the hots for her, but after he'd asked a few pointed questions about the rootstock, irrigation and the kinds of pests they had to deal with, Duncan launched into explanations and couldn't seem to stop talking. Rob imagined he rarely had an audience that was actually interested in the minutiae of growing such a finicky crop, but he'd spent enough time around his mother to know what questions to ask, and to process the information he received in return.
    Most of the farmers he knew in Montana grew wheat. He'd never thought about the possibility of cultivating grapes. He itched to be back at Morgan's apartment, where he could look up the wineries she'd mentioned on the Internet and see if any were near to Chance Creek. Most likely not. He'd have heard of them, wouldn't he?
    Of course, he and his friends drank beer and whiskey, not wine.
    His parents had quite a cellar-full laid in, though. Maybe they knew more about it.
    "You must need a lot of workers to tend these fields," he said. Duncan raised a hand to shade his eyes and scanned the rows of grapes.
    "There." He pointed and Rob squinted against the glare. He saw a number of men bent over the plants some rows away. "Most of them come up from Mexico for the harvest."
    "Migrant workers?"
    Duncan shrugged. "A few of them have done such a good job we've hired them permanently. We were able to help them immigrate to Canada and become citizens. The rest come and go. Let's see how they're doing."
    Rob hung back when they approached the men hard at work. They all wore baseball caps to protect their faces from the sun. A few had tucked towels under their hats to hang down over their necks for further protection. They needed cowboy hats, he decided. Maybe seeing his would give them the right idea.
    "Raoul, Thomas, Eduardo, meet Rob Matheson. He's visiting Victoria and I'm giving him a tour of the winery. Raoul and Thomas work for us permanently. Eduardo here is new this year."
    The men all murmured greetings. Thomas took Duncan aside and launched into a discussion about the grapes and the exact day he thought they would be ready to harvest. Raoul and Eduardo gazed at Rob expectantly. He searched for a way to carry on the conversation.
    "Do you like it here?" he asked.
    Both men shook their heads yes emphatically. "Living here is like living in paradise," Raoul said. "I can feed my family, house them, they have medical care."
    "Only thing is," Eduardo said, his accent more pronounced than Raoul's, "the food." He shook his head. "Very bad."
    Raoul laughed. "Not enough Mexican food in Victoria," he agreed. "We need more immigrants. Maybe your wife someday, eh?" he nudged Eduardo. "Eduardo hopes Mr. Cassidy will take him on permanently, too. Help him immigrate, like he did me." He turned to his friend. "You have to work, work, work! First here in the morning, last gone at night, like I did all those years." To Rob he said. "I