Free Rocky Mountain Ride (Rocky Mountain Bride Series Book 7) by Lee Savino Page B

more content than he had in his entire life.
    A few hours later, he felt the effects of a sleepless night, when Juan came to alert the household of the latest crisis. Under the cover of night, cattle thieves had come, spooking the herd and causing a stampede.
    Cage and Sebastian worked with the vaqueros to rustle the cows, calming and counting them.
    “Ten missing, señora,” the hired men told Francesca as she rode by.
    “Chivington and I will ride the perimeter, see if we can find them,” Cage volunteered, and she thanked them. Sebastian waited, but she made no mention of the night before, nor did she look at him.
    They found five more cows.
    “What do these men get paid for if not watching over the cattle?” Sebastian grumbled.
    “It’s the size of the herd,” Cage explained. “They need more vaqueros, but can’t afford them. But the price of beef is too low for them to slaughter or sell.”
    “Damned if they do and damned if they don’t.”
    “That’s the farmer’s life. Everything hangs in the balance.”
    “Bloody shame. This farm would turn a profit, if they had the money to run it properly.”
    “Take care, my lord,” Cage said quietly. “It’s one thing to help out a pretty widow. Investing funds is another matter.”
    “I know, I know, but, dash it all, I want to help.”
    They drove the five found cows to rejoin the others, and the sight of Francesca’s relieved face when she saw the returned cows had Sebastian almost pledging money on the spot.
    “Found them just a few fields over,” Cage said. “Whoever did the stealing did a sloppy job. Or they just wanted to cause trouble.”
    “I’ll take an incompetent thief any day,” Sebastian said light heartedly and watched Francesca’s mouth quirk with a shadow of a smile.
    “I thank you,” she said. “We have almost all of the returned now.”
    “Señora,” Juan called, riding up to them. “Your brother in law, Diego Montoya, is here offering to help.”

She shook her head. “We don’t need it.”
    A few minutes later, a tall, dark haired man, dark and dashing with stylish clothes came riding up with a small contingent of men.
    “Diego,” Francesca said. She sounded so tired.
    “Sister,” the man greeted her. “I fear I may have unwittingly caused this. Across the way, I had my men move the cattle, and they must have spooked and stampeded your herd. If you wish, we will look for them.”
    “Thank you for your generous offer, Diego, but we have it under control,” Francesca said.
    Keeping his head down, Sebastian moved closer to listen to the conversation.
    “We should work together. It makes no sense to divide our forces in this way.” Diego said. “I am the only family you have left.”
    When Diego had ridden away, Sebastian pushed his horse closer.
    “Is this common? Moving cattle in the middle of the night, causing a stampede?” he asked.
    Francesca shook her head.
    “Seems rather foolish business.” Sebastian watched the men pull the cows out of the water.
    “Diego is not stupid,” Francesca spoke softly. “He wants my land. If he cuts off the water supply, my crops will die. He thinks it’ll be easier to convince me to turn the farm and ranch over to him.”
    “Turn everything over to him? Would you do that?”
    “If I cannot keep the ranch afloat, I might have to.” She ran a hand over her face.
    “My lady, my men and I are at your disposal. Let me know what I can do to help.”
    “I am going to sweep the borders,” she said. “Ride with me?”
    “I thought you’d never ask,” he muttered to himself, then rebuked himself sternly. She was inviting him on a reconnaissance mission, not a tryst.
    She held herself with such formal poise, the passionate woman locked up tight. His hands itched to peel the layers from her. He knew just what to do to tease her out.
    But he kept the conversation clean, acting the perfect noble guest as they circled around her lands.
    He did crack jokes until he got a smile.