stinky.â
âSheâs growing like a buttonweed,â Casie added. âPretty soon sheâll be asking for the keys to Puke and bringing home strange boys with tattoos and blueââ
âOh for Godâs sake, give me that baby,â Colt said, and setting the lambâs bottle on the table, reached for the infant.
After that there was crooning and teasing and laughter.
The kitchen felt as warm as summer sunshine. Steam and contentment swirled together in a moment of magic as old as time until . . .
âEmily!â Sophie yelled. âWhy are there dirty diapers in the toilet again?â
CHAPTER 4
âW elcome to the Lazy,â Emily said. The couple that disembarked from the rented SUV was handsome, svelte, and polished. Jack circled them, keeping this new human herd tightly packed. âIâd shake your hands, but . . .â She jostled Bliss a little. Baby was dressed in red cable-knit pants and a white sweater. The ensemble had been handcrafted by Cindy Dickenson and made the infant look a little like a Christmas balloon, arms and legs sticking out at incongruous angles. A red stocking cap with a tail as long as her body topped off the outfit. The white puff at the end was nestled near her little green booties. âI donât want to have to worry about shaken baby syndrome.â
Max Barrenger and Sonata Detric laughed on cue.
âYou must be Casie,â the man said. He was five ten in his shiny new alligator boots. His hair was artfully tousled, and his coat was leather. Lambskin, if she wasnât mistaken. Sheâd have to keep him away from Lumpkin. Insecurity wasnât good for anyone.
â âFraid not,â she said. âIâm Emily. Casie is . . .â She glanced around, but true to form, Case was nowhere to be seen. Generally speaking, the Lazyâs owner would rather take a hoof pick in the eye than meet strangers. âOn a tractor somewhere.â
âOh,â Sonata said. Her hair was short, dark, and chic. âI thought Casie was a woman.â
Emily refrained from laughing out loud. She might have been similarly prone to gender profiling in the past. âTurns out being female doesnât preclude one from feeding cattle,â Emily said, and Max chuckled.
âWhat did you think, S.?â he asked. âThat women were forbidden by law to operate heavy equipment?â
Sonata Detric raised carefully threaded brows at him. âActually,â she said, âI thought women would be smarter than to want to.â
Emily felt a wave of protective resentment wash through her. An odd thing, perhaps, considering Casie was ten years her senior. âWell, Iâm not sure if Case really wants to drive the tractor,â she said. âBut cows seem to get hungry every single day, and theyâre not very particular about who feeds them.â
âSo this really is a ranch,â Sonata said.
That statement stopped Emily dead in her verbal tracks for a second. âWere you expecting something else?â
âWell, no.â The woman tilted her chin up and laughed a little. The sound had a throaty musicality to it. âI mean, Max said it was, butââ She shrugged one trim shoulder. The coat she wore was winter white, probably cashmere, and belted snugly at a very narrow waist.
âDidnât you see our Web site?â Emily asked.
âMax made the reservations. Iâve been so busy with work that I just let him take care of things.â She glanced around. Emily didnât bother to do the same. She knew what people saw: pastoral snow-covered hills dotted with white-faced cattle, woolly sheep, and shaggy horses. It was impossible to say if they also recognized the hope, fatigue, or gut-deep contentment that were part and parcel of the struggle to put the Lazy in the black. âI just thoughtââ She shook her head, looking befuddled.
âWhat?â Max asked and grinned.
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