Free Damaged Hearts by Angel Wolfe

body. He padded lightly into the room, and lay down between Kat and Angel.  “How protective is Wolfe of you two?”
     
    “Well, I’d demonstrate for ya but I don’t think Wolfe would like you anymore.”  Kat replied.  “For the most part, I’m pretty sure he’d launch straight for your neck.”
     
    “Belle is the same way Rick.”  Angel added.  “But more so with Kat.  They seem to have some sort of bond but Wolfe looks out for both of us, that’s why Kat insisted we both work with him on his training.”
     
    “I have been extremely impressed with what I’ve seen so far.”  Rick stated.  “The hand signals are amazing.  How long did it take to teach him that?”
     
    “Not real long” Kat answered.  “This breed of dog is very intelligent and the hand signals go together with the verbal command.  Before long, you could just give the motion and he would do it.  It works great when we are working cattle; almost as good as the whistle.”
     
    “From now on, I’d like to make sure you both have a dog with you.  Granted, they can’t outrun a bullet but they can alert you to company and they seem like they will do whatever they can to protect you.”  Rick said as a way of making a rule.
     
    “For the most part, James and Frank will be here with you but Rick and I will take turns “visiting” too.”  Matt added.
     
    “I appreciate all you guys are trying to do.”  Kat started.  “But, we have our ranch to run and some sort of life to live.  I don’t want to impose or inconvenience any of you.  “James and Frank will be here and they can help us out a lot.  “As for everything else; we haven’t had anyone out here before so I don’t see where we need to start now.  Unless of course, you and Matt have something to tell me Angel.”
     
    “Kaitlyn, I know how independent you are.”  Rick said, preventing both Matt and Angel from answering.  “I was going to go get Coal and bring him over here anyway in a few weeks to get started on those cows and heifers; there’s no reason why I couldn’t just stay in the bunkhouse and help out with moving the stock and getting your herd bred.  That’s just plain being neighborly if nothing else.”
     
    “Look Rick, like I told Matt; I really appreciate your help but you have your own ranch to take care of and your girls to spend time with.  I don’t want to prevent that from happening.  Really, Angel and I are capable of taking care of our own place.  Plus, we have two more people to help us now.  That’s a lot more than what we had when we started.”  Kat argued.  “Besides, you never let Angel or Matt answer my question….”
     
    They looked guiltily towards each other and then back at Kat thinking before that they had a reprieve thanks to Rick.  That however was not the case and the time had come to let Kat and Rick know what was going on.
     
    “Well…”  Matt started nervously.  “We didn’t plan for everything to happen like this but we’re not sorry it has.  We love each other and had wanted to tell you both about our wedding plans before all this with the cattle took place.  We just hadn’t ironed out the rest of the details yet.  Angel didn’t want to leave Kat here to try to take care of the ranch on her own and I wasn’t sure what direction we should go.”
     
    “Plus, we are expecting a baby in about seven months.”  Angel added looking worriedly at Kat.  “This is not at all how we planned to tell you guys but everything has happened so fast that time just got away from us.”
     
    “That’s not all that got away from you by the sounds of it.”  Kat replied with a sigh.  “I thought something was going on, I just haven’t had the time to think on it enough to figure it out.  I can’t say that I’m ecstatic about it but if you’re happy, then I’m happy for both of you.”
     
    “We both are.”  Rick added coming up and slipping his arm around Kat’s waist.  “Now