Free And Then You Dare (Crested Butte Cowboys Series Book 5) by Heather A Buchman Page A

Renie’s belly.
“Not too long before you have a little brother or sister.”
    “I’m having a brodder.”
Willow put her hands on her hips.
    “Is that right?” Dottie
asked Renie, who shrugged her shoulders.
    “Willow changes her mind
daily. Sometime she’s sure she’s having a little sister.”
    “You didn’t find out?”
Bullet asked Billy.
    Billy stood behind Renie
and put his arms around her waist. “We decided it’d be more fun this way.”
    He’d never known that kind
of easy affection. When he refused to marry his daughter’s mother, and told her
he doubted he was the baby’s father, she stopped speaking to him. After the
little girl was born, and the DNA test proved he was her biological father,
they’d tried to be friends. Sometimes they managed okay. Not very often though.
    Callie had done a good job
of hiding her “dark side,” as he liked to call it, until after they got
married. Even then, their relationship wasn’t like Billy and Renie’s. Bullet
told himself he loved Callie, but being around the Pattersons made him question
whether what he felt was really love.
    “Got a minute?” Billy’s
father asked Bullet.
    “Go ahead, “ said Renie.
“I’ll keep an eye on Grey. He and Willow can play.”
    “You sure?” Bullet felt as
though he was always imposing on someone to watch Grey. Once he figured out
where he was going to be based, he’d have to look for a regular babysitter or
day care.
    When Renie waved him off,
he followed Billy’s dad out the back door.
    “I understand you’re going
to be working here with me.”
    “That’s up to you Mr.
Patterson.”
    “Call me Bill, young man. And
my son isn’t giving me much choice.”
    “As I told your son, this
here is your land. If you don’t want to be involved with rough stock, you
shouldn’t be.”
    “Let’s say I changed my
mind. How would you feel about working here?”
      Bullet wasn’t sure what to say. As long as he had a job, he
didn’t really care where he was working. Being in Black Forest was convenient
because he and Grey could stay with Lyric. The drive would be less than half an
hour.
    He’d have to give the place
up he’d just rented in Crested Butte, but that wouldn’t be hard to do. He
hadn’t gotten around to moving much of anything of his into the furnished
apartment. What had been there, he packed to bring himself and Grey here.
That’s how transient his life was now; he could almost live out of two
suitcases. He could make arrangements to give it up over the phone, and send
the keys to the property management company.
    “The job comes with that
place over there.” said Bill, as though he was reading Bullet’s mind. He
pointed east, toward a house that sat closer to the road.
    “Who lives there now?”
    “Nobody’s lived there on a
regular basis for years. Dottie keeps it on the ready though. Just in case.
It’s the house we lived in when we were first married.”
    “My sister has a place in
Palmer Lake. Grey and I can stay with her.”
    “Nah. Workin’ here means
livin’ here. You managed a ranch before?”
    Managed? Hell no. How in
the world could he manage a ranch, take care of Grey, and get on bulls?
    “Son, I asked you a
question.”
    “No sir, I haven’t come
close. I don’t know what Billy told you, but I’m a ranch hand for Flying R.”
    “You think you could
learn?”
    “I know I could, but…”
    “Go on, speak your mind.”
    “I got my hands full Mr.
Patterson. I still ain’t figured out how to take care of Grey and hold down a
regular job, let alone manage a ranch. I wouldn’t know where to begin.”
    “You’d begin by learnin’.
You’d be workin’ with me, learnin’ the ropes. For the time bein’ you’ll only
manage the rough stock portion of the ranch. I got a guy been with me a long
time that manages the cattle operation.”
    That was some relief. He
understood rough stock. It was everything else that gave him pause.
    “There’s somethin’ else
isn’t