Free The Rancher's Christmas Princess by Christine Rimmer Page A

hair, which she always wore
neatly pulled back in a chignon. “It is possible that I am, yes.”
    Doris blinked and then she and Charlotte laughed together.
Belle got herself a cup of coffee, which Doris let her do without a word of
protest. Then the housekeeper explained that the McCade men were out with the
horses. “They’ll be in for dinner, which is pot roast. I take the food over to
the men in the cabin and leave it in the oven there, ready for them. I leave
everything ready here, too, for Silas and Preston. They usually eat right here
in the kitchen. But with you two and the little one and the bodyguard staying
for a time, I’ve gone ahead and set the table in the dining room. You need me, I
can stay to serve tonight. I’ll just give my Enoch a call and tell him I’ll be
late.”
    Belle said, “The pot roast smells wonderful and we can manage
just fine.”
    Doris frowned. “You sure?”
    Charlotte chimed in. “You go home to your husband.”
    “Well, all right, then.” Doris told them they were not under
any circumstances to clear the table. “I got Silas and Pres trained to put the
leftovers away so’s they don’t spoil. Everything else, I’ll take care of in the
morning.”
    “All right, then,” said Belle.
    “Silas has told me the news,” Doris confided. “About that
darling boy bein’ Preston’s. About you bringing him here to his daddy. About his
mother’s passing. I was very sorry to hear about that, about your loss.” She
shook her head and clucked her tongue. “I never met her, but I understand she
was your friend. It’s a sad thing to lose a friend. Especially one who should’ve
had all her life ahead of her. And so hard on the little boy, too.”
    “Yes,” Belle replied, wondering if it would ever get easier to
speak about Anne. “Hard on everyone. Thank you, Doris.”
    Doris clucked her tongue some more and then set to work
chopping carrots with gusto. “Preston’s a good man,” she said. “I think he will
be a fine father.”
    “As do we,” Charlotte agreed.
    * * *
    Pres came in at a little after five. He left his dirty
boots outside and headed straight up the stairs in his stocking feet to wash off
the smell of horse and manure.
    The door to the kid’s room was wide open. He glanced in there
on his way past and saw Belle sitting on the braided rug by the window. She had
Ben in her arms and was reading him a picture book.
    They looked good together, Belle and the boy. Content. Relaxed.
He felt a little jab of guilt, that he would take the child from her.
    But it couldn’t be helped. The boy was his and belonged with
him.
    Belle read, “The truck goes vroom, vroom,
vroom. ”
    Ben imitated the sound by making a growling noise in his
throat. Then he laughed in delight at his own approximation of the noise.
    “Very good,” said Belle, and kissed the top of his blond
head.
    That was when the boy glanced Pres’s way. He actually tried on
a shy little smile. “Hi,” he said.
    Pres felt a definite tightness in his chest. “Hi.”
    Belle glanced his way, too. Was that gladness he saw in her
eyes at the sight of him?
    Oh, come on. Why should she be glad to see him? She was a
princess and he was no prince. In a month or so, she’d be outta there. She’d go
back to her own world where the men wore designer duds and never smelled like
manure.
    “Dinner in half an hour?” she asked. “I know it’s kind of
early, but I thought it would be nice if Ben could eat with us. He gets hungry
early.”
    “Hawngry,” echoed Ben. “Hawngry, hawngry. Vroom, vroom... ”
    “Five-thirty’s fine,” he said. “We always eat around then
anyway. Dad should be over from his place in a few minutes. I’m just going to
clean up a little.”
    “Doris said she thought there was a high chair up in the
attic?”
    He nodded. “Soon’s I wash off the grime, I’ll go up and get
it.”
    When he emerged from his room ten minutes later, she was
waiting for him in the hallway. “I left Ben