Miranda And The Ranch Hand (Domestic Discipline Romance) by Coleen Singer

hoist the sign up with some rope. Heck, she could pound in a couple of nails—she didn’t need a ranch hand to do that.
    Miranda looped her lasso rope through the iron rings attached to the sign to hang it, and tossed the rope up onto the lower roof. Then she went inside the clinic, climbed up to what used to be the old hayloft and crawled out through the loft door onto the lower roof. It was a little more difficult to walk on the slanted roof than she remembered from her childhood when she would follow David out here. But she managed to get to the edge and grab the rope. She started hoisting the sign up and quickly realized it was a lot heavier than it seemed when she dragged it outside. But slowly she pulled it up. What she didn’t realize was as she pulled the rope, it was fraying from rubbing against the edge of the roof. Just as she was about to grab the rings, the rope snapped. Miranda reached for the rings and managed to catch one before the sign would crash to the ground—but now she was sprawled out on the roof, hanging over the edge holding the heavy sign with no leverage to pull herself or the sign up.
    “Miranda Rollins, what in the devil are you doing, girl!”
    Miranda had never been so happy to see Howie. “Howie, thank the heavens! Please come help me—my rope broke and if I let go, this sign will hit the ground and split like tinder wood.”
    “Don’t move, Miss Mandy—I mean not a muscle! I’ll be right up.” Howie ran into the clinic and climbed out on the roof as fast as he could—it wasn’t the sign he was worried about, it was Miranda’s head he pictured hitting the ground and splitting open.
    When he got out onto the roof, Howie grabbed Miranda’s legs and pulled her back from the edge while she stubbornly held on to her sign. They were both breathing heavily.
    “Little girl, I ought to tan your hide. What were you thinking coming out onto this roof, and then trying to hang that sign by yourself! You’re plum out of your mind!” Howie scolded.
    Miranda blushed at her own foolishness, but that was nothing compared to the bright spots on her cheeks when she heard an angry voice from the ground. “I think, Howie, I can take care of the tanning her hide part!”
    “Mandy, look out! You’re too close to the….” Dylan never got the rest of his warning out. Miranda had turned to see who was yelling at her from the ground, and was too close to the edge. She lost her footing and came tumbling down. Fortunately Dylan had already dismounted and moved like lightning to catch her.
    “Whew! That was close!” Miranda tried to lighten the mood with a big smile up at Dylan.
    “Too damn close,” Dylan snapped.
    Seeing that Dylan could find no humor in her current predicament, Miranda started struggling in his arms—trying to get down. Dylan only tightened his hold on her and growled into her ear, “Are you daft, going up there by yourself?”
    “You know, Mandy, if you were getting cold feet about the wedding, there’s easier ways to postpone than jumping off a roof and breaking an arm or leg!” David joked. Dylan shot him a fierce glare. “Uhhh, bad timing... Hold on Howie, I’m coming up to help,” David said and quickly headed into the clinic.
    Miranda’s temper kicked in, which always led her to say things she shouldn’t. “I wouldn’t have fallen, if you hadn’t startled me with your bellowing. Howie and I were doing just fine until you guy showed up! Now put me down!” she demanded. Howie raised one eyebrow and was about to deny her ‘doing fine’ statement when Marcus cut in, his anger laced with sarcasm.
    “Oh you looked like you were doing fine—dangling from the edge of the roof, barely hanging on to that sign which appeared as determined to pull you over the edge as you were to get it up on the roof! I seem to recall telling you I’d have a couple of the hands hang it for you.”
    “All right, maybe it was too big a job for one person…”
    “Maybe?” Dylan