Lone Star Rancher by Laurie Paige Page A

wasn’t like the sister he knew. “I thought medicine was your life.”
    â€œIt is. It was. People die. That makes it hard.”
    â€œYou can’t blame yourself. You do the best you can. That’s all anyone can do.”
    â€œI know.” Her sigh was despondent. “This call is costing a fortune, so I’ll hang up. Take care of Jessica. And yourself.”
    After he replaced the phone, he paused and checked his house guest over visually. There was a light tan on her face and arms from the hours she’d spent outside. She’d helped at the egg barn for three or four hours each afternoon of the past week, until the Perez kids got home from school.
    Miles had also reported that each morning she’d devoted herself to refinishing the furniture and the pieces were now in place in the house. There were flowers in a vase on the windowsill over the sink, too.
    The ranch house was becoming very homey. He scoffed silently. As if it made any difference to him. She’d be gone soon and his life would get back to normal.
    â€œMiles has gone into San Antonio,” he now said to their guest. “He’ll probably spend the night.”
    She nodded as if she knew this.
    â€œI have some work to do on the tractor. I’ll be out at the hay barn for a couple of hours.” He hesitated. “Will you be okay here alone?”
    â€œOf course.” She gave him one of her charming smiles.
    His heart lurched around like a dizzy boxer who’d taken one punch too many. He nodded grimly and headed outside.
    Jessica put her bowl and fork in the dishwasher, then leaned against the sink. Outside, Clyde called to someone. When the Perez boy came forward, the two males went to the barn where Clyde used a compressor to blow up a flat basketball.
    The teenager bounced the ball a couple of times, smiled and headed for his place with a wave. Clyde bent over the big tractor that served many purposes on the ranch.
    She watched him work on it for a long time, wishing she felt poised enough to go talk to him while he did. With Miles, she wouldn’t have hesitated. They shared an easy relationship that had enlivened the evenings while they played cards and joked with each other.
    Unfortunately there was no spark, only a pleasing friendship that worked for both of them. After thinking about this, she gave up trying to figure out why one person appealed to another, and went upstairs.
    She’d showered earlier, after working in the egg barn all afternoon. She and Cimma Perez, who was on her feet again, had formed a good team at cleaning and checking the eggs while Clinton kept them in fresh supply.
    After changing into a nightgown, she climbed into bed, opened the book she’d borrowed and read of the “true life” adventures of a cowboy who’d lived at the turn of the twentieth century.
    At ten, she closed the book and turned out the light, fairly certain the adventures had been true only in the mind of the man who’d claimed to live them. Ah, well, everyone had dreams.
    Clyde, she noted, hadn’t come in the house yet. Before he’d changed places with Miles, he’d been up in the mornings before she rose and hadn’t come in until she was in bed.
    He probably made sure her light was out before he dared creep inside and up the stairs. Did he think she was waiting to pounce on him or lure him to her room with her deadly charms?
    Ha! He could think again!
    She closed her eyes and determinedly counted sheep until she heard his quiet steps on the stairs. Then she fell into a restful sleep.
    Â 
    Jessica was startled upon seeing Clyde still in the kitchen when she went down Monday morning. “Hello,” she said, tingly and uneasy at his presence.
    â€œGood morning,” he said and resumed reading the paper.
    She ate her usual sparse meal, then settled at the counter with a fresh cup of coffee and selected a section of the paper to read. Thirty minutes passed in