Free SECOND CHANCES AT MG RANCH by Karen England Page B

causing him to jump like he had been caught red handed at doing something illegal. Giggles of laughter escaped her mouth before she could stop them.
    “I didn’t mean to startle you. My mom and dad were wondering if you would like to come up to the house and have lunch with us.” She chose her wording carefully; she didn’t want him to think that it was her idea to invite him.
    After what she had learned last night, she had decided to try to keep as much distance as possible between them. Loren also needed to make for certain that she kept her feelings to herself.
    Hopefully by keeping her distance from him, she would begin to think about him less, and she was hopeful that thinking about him less would make this love sick feeling in her stomach go away much faster.
    He smiled at her, loving the soft expression that laughter brought to her beautiful face, and the way it may her eyes light up.
    He appeared to be in a cheery mood, she observed. “But what do you want?” he asked, catching her off guard.
    “What?” she stammered.
    “I asked…
    “I know what you said,” she blurted out, interrupting him. “Lunch will be served in fifteen minutes if you wish to join us.” She spun on her heels to leave without another word or glance in his direction.  Her words had come out rather sharp but she didn’t have a mind to care at this particular moment.
    “See you in fifteen minutes. It is always a pleasure to see your parents,” he called after her sarcastically.  It irritated her that his mood was still so cheery.
    Sam sensed that something was wrong with her. He had been hoping that she had enjoyed last night as much as he had, but apparently she had not. Come to think of it, she had been more than a little quiet and tense on the drive home.
    It had him wondering what might have upset her. She seemed to get along well with Missy. He would make a point to ask her later and if she wouldn’t give him any answers, he would just have to put a little pressure on Missy. He would find out what he wanted to know one way or the other. That was just his nature.
    As promised, Sam arrived at the house for lunch in exactly fifteen minutes. Josh met him half way across the back porch with his hand extended. They shook hands.
    The weather was a little unusually warm for this time of year, making it a nice day for lunch outside. Some old folks around town were saying that the unusual weather pattern indicated a big snow was headed their way. Loren loved snow, and was hoping that their assumptions were correct.
    “Nice to see you could join us, Sam. I hope Loren hasn’t been too much trouble for you.”
    “No, she hasn’t been much trouble at all.” Sam replied to Josh, but he was looking directly at Loren when he spoke. Of course Josh didn’t seem to notice, but Amy did.
    If her instincts were correct , Sam was a bit taken with Loren and vice versa. Since their arrival, she had noticed that Loren tensed up every time that Sam’s name was mentioned and now that he was present, the tension was much more obvious.
    Sam pulled out a chair to sit down between mother and daughter. His eyes met with Loren’s and held them for a few minutes as he planted his backside firmly on the seat.
    Loren had a feeling that he was thinking about the dinner that they had shared just a few days ago at this same table. She wondered if he was thinking about the kiss they had shared as well? She mentally scolded herself for letting the memory slip back into her thoughts, and pulled her eyes away from his in an effort to clear her mind.
    Loren subconsciously floated in and out of conversation during the entire lunch. Her mind kept slipping away to the memory of Sam kissing her in the rain. Why did she keep doing this to herself? It was pure torture!
    It would probably help if Sam would stop brushing his knuckles up against hers every chance he got. She even tried scooting her chair a little further over to the right to put a little more distance