Free Once a Rancher by Linda Lael Miller

is the second time he’s really messed up in the last few days. You’re being very understanding, when I’m mad as hell because he can be so thoughtless. Part of me wants to ground the kid until he’s eighteen, and another part wants to ask him how he feels, but I know he won’t answer that. Anyway, yes to the drink. Thank you. If I stay here, I’ll probably end up chewing Ryder out—again.” She paused. “Let me get my purse. Okay if I drive with you? I can walk back later.”
    She turned in a swirl of long red-gold hair and outrage and stalked into the house. Nice long legs and firm backside. He liked the view. Slater also agreed that the irate redhead and the truculent teenager should probably be apart for a little while before they had their next conversation. Ryder had seemed tense in the car, and Slater had left him alone. First of all, it certainly wasn’t his business, and second, he remembered how he’d dealt with life at that age. A knee-jerk reaction to criticism had been his default setting back then. In the end, after thinking it over, he’d usually decided that maybe his parents weren’t complete idiots after all.
    Now, as a parent himself, he was well aware that his opinions might be scorned first and reluctantly respected later.
    Grace reappeared with a black leather bag over her shoulder and a more relaxed demeanor. “He apologized,” she said as Slater opened the passenger door. “That’s something. All I told him was that I was going back to work. He apologized on his own.”
    â€œYou just won the lottery of boyhood maturity markers.” He closed the door and went around the truck, sliding into the driver’s seat. “There’s an unwritten rule in the land of teenage boys that you don’t ever apologize for anything until you’re willing to admit you were wrong. I think I was about thirty when I crossed that line.”
    What was it with him and how a woman laughed? The sound of her laugh was...well, it might be a cliché, but musical was the word that came to mind. Her response made him grin, and his groin tightened. Or maybe it was the way she crossed those sexy legs. Or the way her breasts were nicely outlined by her blouse when she leaned forward.
    It had been a long time since he’d felt as interested in a woman as he was in this one.
    Maybe long enough to qualify as never.
    That thought set him back.
    It was only lust, he reminded himself as he backed out of the driveway. He barely knew her so the attraction was mainly physical. But fate did seem to be tossing him in her path. Or perhaps it was the reverse. She was no less aware of him...
    He wondered about her life as a police officer and could only imagine some of the remarks she’d heard, since law enforcement didn’t usually deal with the finest society had to offer. He asked conversationally, “So, how long were you a cop?”
    â€œEight years.” To his disappointment Grace tugged her skirt down a little. She raised her shoulders in a shrug as she said, “It was an interesting journey. I thought at one time, with the usual starry-eyed optimism, that a degree in criminal justice and a belief in right and wrong enabled a person to make a difference.”
    â€œI’m guessing the optimist turned into a cynic?”
    She considered that for a moment. “Actually, no. She’s still around—the optimist, that is—but older and wiser. She learned about the world we live in, and about people in general, and not all of that was good. But the stars are still there, winking in the night sky.”
    Slater laughed. “I see them, too, once in a while. I think you’ll like Mick Branson, by the way. The friend we’re meeting, that is. He’s a major investor, as well as a good buddy of mine. Be warned that he could be the most self-possessed, understated person I’ve ever met. The sense of humor