Free The Ranger And The Widow Woman by Stella Bagwell Page A

him?”
    “He did. But they’re still in the ice chest. The refrigerator was shut off. He was waiting for it to cool down.”
    “Roy and I decided to unplug it. Our son gets home so rarely these days the whole inside would mold over between visits.”
    The woman’s remark surprised Violet. She’d sensed that Charlie was fond, even proud, of this place. And Texas wasn’t all that far from here. Did he stay away because he had to or because the need to come back home rarely hit him?
    “When—uh, was the last time Charlie was here?” Violet asked her.
    With a grimace Justine shut the door and crossed to the cabinets where she pulled a white apron from one of the drawers and tied it around her slender waist. “About a year ago. Of course it hasn’t been that long since I’ve seen him. Roy and I travel to Fort Worth from time to time.” Glancing at Violet she asked, “Where are you from? I hear the South in your voice.”
    “Georgia, originally. Texas the past few years.”
    “I’ve never been as far east as Georgia. But I’ve been to Mississippi. We rode down the river on a steamboat. I’ll never forget it. All that history and beauty.”
    Amazed at the woman’s open friendliness, she could do little more than nod.
    Justine opened the cabinets and pulled down a plastic canister of flour. “Actually, there’s a lot of history and beauty around here, too,” she went on. “And not unlike the South, there was a war fought here, too. First between the settlers and the Apaches. Then came the Lincoln County range war.”
    “I’ve heard of it,” Violet replied. “Movies have been made about the fierce gun battles between the ranchers. But I didn’t realize the range war was in this area.”
    Justine opened another cabinet door in search of a bowl. “On this very ground,” Justine told her. “You’re in Lincoln County.”
    Violet settled Sam in a chair at the table, then joined Charlie’s mother at the counter. Just being in the same room with the woman made her feel disheveled and awkward and totally out of place.
    “Is there something I can do?”
    With sudden misgivings, Justine glanced at Violet. “Oh, I’m sorry, Violet. I guess it looks like I’ve just barged in and taken over.”
    “It doesn’t—” she cleared her throat “—please, don’t apologize. It’s your place to take over. I’m—just here because of—circumstance.”
    Justine waved away her words with a wooden spoon. “It doesn’t matter why you’re here, honey. I’m sure Charlie wants you to feel at home, and I do, too. So dig out some bacon or sausage or whatever the Kid brought to eat, and we’ll have breakfast.”
    Violet couldn’t believe Charlie’s mother was being so warm and accepting to a woman she’d only met minutes before. She’d never had a mother-in-law. Brent’s mother had passed away when he’d been a young child, and Rex had never remarried.
    She knew most of the bad mother-in-law stories she heard were wildly exaggerated. Still, she figured the woman who got Justine for a mother-in-law would be lucky indeed.
    While Justine mixed the pancake batter, Violet put on a skilletful of bacon and sausage to fry. Once it was sizzling, she poured Sam a glass of orange juice and sent him out on the porch to drink it.
    She was placing plates around the farm table when Charlie walked into the kitchen. His only attempt at modesty was a pair of faded blue jeans, and as Violet’s gaze dipped downward over his bare chest, she knew she’d never seen such raw sensuality in her whole life. He looked like a man who pumped iron, but Violet seriously doubted his job allowed him any time for the gym. More than likely he got all those muscles from lifting women into his arms.
    Sandy hair flopped into his sleepy eyes. He raked it back with a rough hand, then skimmed a glance over Violet before turning his attention to Justine, who was yet unaware her son had entered the room.
    Without a word he walked up behind her and