Free The Rancher by Kelli Ann Morgan Page A

Cole followed suit.  Amass of people huddled together and wereshouting out in excitement near the townlivery.  Raine finished tying his horse tothe wooden rail and turned to Cole.  “Looks like trouble.  I’m going to go andsee what all the fuss is about.”
    Cole nodded.   If anyone could stoptrouble it was Raine.  He knew Raine was

    content  working  alongside  him,  but watching him make his way through the crowd to the center of the action, Cole again wondered why he’d never pursued his love of the law.  Heaven knew he was
    better with a gun than anyone Cole had ever met and his sense of justice was unparalleled.
    “Either of you strangers lookin’ to get yerself a wife?”  Cole looked up to see a small, round, balding man walking out of the barbershop chuckling.
    “Not today.”  Cole stared at the man, whose unruly moustache still had crumbs from his breakfast. “Maybe not ever.”
    What an odd question,   he thought, patting Maverick on his side. Surely, his mother hadn’t...
    He shook his head as he started walking

    away, but stopped at the thought. Turning back over his shoulder, he found the man still staring after him with ruddy cheeks and a wide toothy grin, shooing him forward.
    She wouldn’t.
    Cole moved into the crowd to find
    Raine.  It didn’t take long. Raine was inthe center pulling apart two men activelyengaged in fisticuffs.  Cole caught his eye.  Raine jerked his chin upward in twoabrupt movements toward the quaint,white structure that appeared to serve asthe church. Cole worked his way throughthe whispering assembly of onlookers asthey migrated toward the center of town.
    As he neared the church the smell offresh paint lingered in the air and Coleguessed the building had just received a

    fresh coat.
    One of the branches of an oak tree at the
    back of the church yard protruded just above his head and he raised his arms to
    lean against it.  He froze when a woman, draped in an old woolen army coat, caught his stare. When she made eye contact, he could not bring himself to look away.
    She smiled in his direction before
    turning to climb the steps.  At the top of the church steps, she slowly turned around and looked warily out at the town, assessing something.  She bowed her head to remove her black Stetson.  Loose curls, the color of wheat with rich auburn sun kisses, fell down around her shoulders as she roughly shook her head from side to side.  He was intrigued.  She pulled her coat tighter around her neck, her fiery

    tresses spilling over her shoulders in direct contrast with the green wool. Her lips were full and inviting and Cole found himself unable to take his eyes off her.  He stood mesmerized, taken in by the passionate flair he saw in her eyes.  From this distance he could not distinguish their exact color, but found himself wanting to know.  A small unexpected smile touched his lips as a long whistle, loud enough to put any trail boss to shame, shot out from between her fingers.  He unwittingly took a step toward her.

    Chapter Five

    Just as Abby was about to run down thechurch steps and away from so manyinquisitive eyes, the dark-haired strangersmiled awkwardly, once again challengingher to state her purpose.  A small crowdhad gathered around her and she spotted atleast seven marriageable age men.  Sheswallowed the lump in her throat andsmiled as demurely as she could.
    “Now that I’ve got all yer attention, Iguess I should tell you why I’m here.” Shefelt nervous for the first time in a longtime and didn’t like the feeling one bit.
    “All of you,” she paused, glancing atthe town’s newest visitor, then corrected,

    “Well,   most   all of you know me, and you know my ranch.”
    “McCallister’s sellin’ their ranch,” a young cowboy yelled out to his friends over near the saloon.
    “Marcus Dingle,” Abby chastised, “we are doing no such thing.”
    Her words were barely audible