Second Chance Ranch: a Hope Springs novel (Entangled Bliss) by Cindi Madsen Page A

rusty, and you know I was never good at roping anyway. I always secretly cheered for the calves to get away. Not when you were competing, of course, because I wanted you to win, but—”
    “I’m not talking about the roping—although I really did think I taught you better than that.” He’d only seen the end of the throw, if you could even call it that.
    She raised a haughty eyebrow, one corner of her mouth hinting at a smile, and now he was thinking about her confession that she’d cheered for the calves and trying not to be amused by it. Not that it was a big surprise. In high school he’d repeatedly assured her all the animals at the rodeos were well taken care of, and she’d often chased calves down to try to pet them like overgrown puppies. He resisted the urge to tease her more, because that’d only lead down a road he wasn’t going with her again.
    He jerked his chin toward Eli. “I’m talking about the kid.” While her ability to make people happy was something he’d seen—and experienced—before, getting through to someone that hell-bent on being angry was a whole new level.
    “Eli? Seems like a good guy.”
    Good guy? Really? He narrowed his eyes at her, trying to see if she was serious. She stared right back, and he could see her jaw clench, the stubbornness setting in right in front of his eyes.
    “I’ve never seen him smile before today,” Royce said. “I was starting to wonder if he knew how.”
    She shrugged a shoulder, a smug quirk to her lips. “What can I say? People love me.”
    Royce took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair before replacing it and pulling the brim low. People loved her. Angry cats loved her.
    “Sadie!” Mom’s voice was about a hundred octaves higher than usual. She ran over and threw her arms around Sadie.
    Moms loved her.
    They spoke quickly, right over the top of each other. His mom was fawning over Sadie, telling her how happy she was to see her. It was borderline annoying, actually, but it—along with what had just happened with Eli—was giving him a horrible, awful idea.
    “…wanted me to bring back your quilting stands, and she made a pie, too.” Sadie glanced at him and swiped her hair behind her ear. “And I have a check for you from my grandpa.”
    “Well, let’s go get the stands.” Royce called for the kids to help, and they all walked toward the truck. It didn’t take them long to load them into his mom’s place, and big surprise, the rest of the teens took a shine to Sadie, too. For the most part, the kids sent here were just a bit misguided and used to people treating them like troublemakers. Pretty soon, they started shutting out all adults and living up to the name. One of the hardest things about finding someone to work with them was getting the right mix of tough love and respect.
    Right now I’d settle for respect and the ability to get through to them, though…
    He told the kids they could have some free time, Mom disappeared along with them, and then it was just him and Sadie, her at the bottom of the porch stairs and him at the top.
    She kicked at the ground with her fancy boots. “So, um, I noticed you’ve got wifi now,” she said, gesturing to the sign in the window of the cabins that reminded the kids they could have internet time on the community computer if they completed their chores. “Fancy.”
    “Yeah, and we stopped churning butter just last month. Super excited about it.”
    She shot him a scowl, and man, she was cute when she was mad, something he really wished he didn’t notice. They say it takes about a month to break a habit, but even after all these years, he had to fight the urge to pull her into his arms and find a way to wipe the frown from her face.
    He gripped the porch railing over his head to make sure he didn’t accidentally try it. Then he stared at her for a beat, telling himself not to say anything besides good-bye. All those thoughts about her people skills were just that, and they