Free The Rancher's Lullaby (Glades County Cowboys) by Leigh Duncan Page A

took in the tears that pooled in Doris’s eyes and dampened her lined cheeks. “Mom, I’m fine,” he insisted. To prove it, he wrapped his arms around her.
    Doris tipped her head, her eyes searching. “But where were you? I was so worried. We all were when you didn’t come back last night. We tried reaching you on your cell phone, but you didn’t answer.”
    Imagining the house in an uproar and him the cause of it, Garrett swore. He tugged his phone from the holder at his side. Not a single bar glowed on the screen to indicate service. “The storm must have knocked out a cell tower,” he said. His stomach clenched as he took in his mother’s red-rimmed eyes. “You don’t have to worry about me.”
    “I know I shouldn’t. You’re a grown man, after all. But when you didn’t come back...” She paused, then studied his face. “Where were you?”
    This time when guilt raised its head and hissed, Garrett didn’t bother getting out of its way. “It didn’t seem right,” he hedged, “skippin’ the jam at Pickin’ Strings without sending word. I stopped in on my way back to the ranch. Lisa was pretty spooked by the storm. After she lost power, I stuck around to, um, make sure she was okay.” He toed the dirt, refusing to explain how he and store owner had passed the time.
    “You’re a good man, Garrett,” his mom said slowly. “I’m sure she appreciated the company. But son...”
    “Yes, ma’am?” Garrett let his best aw-shucks grin slip across his face when Doris punched him on the arm.
    “You ever pull another stunt like this again, I’ll have your hide. We were just getting ready to send the men out looking for you.”
    “Well, it’s a good thing I showed up when I did, then.” Garrett grabbed the heavy box from the cab. “Where do you want this?” he asked, hoping to put an end to the questions.
    “In the pantry.” Doris ran a finger around the rim of her coffee cup. “I’ll get in touch with Ty. Tell him you’re back and in one piece.”
    With his mom trailing behind, Garrett headed for the kitchen. His stomach rumbled at the good smells of bacon and sausage wafting through the door that Chris, the assistant cook, held open for them.
    “Biscuits are in the oven. I’ll ring the bell for breakfast soon’s they’re done.” In all likelihood, the young man had kept the coffee flowing throughout the long, stormy night. Chris raised his cup in a half-salute as he headed outside for a well-deserved break.
    While his mom made a beeline for the coffee pot, Garrett gave the kitchen a quick study. From tall stacks of pancakes with three syrup choices to huge platters of crisp bacon and pitchers of fresh-squeezed orange juice, a breakfast hearty enough to sustain hard-working men through a busy day of cattle ranching crowded the center island. Without looking, Garrett knew the warming oven held a large pan of scrambled eggs Chris would serve alongside the made-from-scratch biscuits. The cook poked his head back inside.
    “Mr. Ty checked in a few minutes ago.” Chris nodded to a walkie-talkie on the kitchen counter. “I told him you were back, Mr. Garrett. He said long as he was out, he’d take a look around.”
    Garrett let a long, slow sigh seep between his lips. Maybe spending the night at Lisa’s hadn’t been his smartest move. As manager, it was his job—not Ty’s—to ride out at first light, check for downed trees and fence lines. Just as it was his job to send the men out to make repairs.
    He swiped a mug from the rack, but his plan to grab some coffee and a shower hit a snag when static rustled from a nearby baby monitor. Seconds later, as LJ’s wails filled the room, he saw his mother’s posture droop. He gave her shoulder a squeeze.
    “It’s okay, Mom,” he said. “You sit and enjoy yourself. You deserve it. I got this.”
    He’d just have to make it through the day with Lisa’s scent clinging to him, reminding him with every move of what they’d done the night