Judy Christenberry - Beauty and The Beastly Rancher

“No, I won’t.”

Kelly sighed. “At least the tornado has passed for a few minutes. He keeps getting more and more energy.”

“Yeah. How’s Alex doing? Prettier than ever?”

“Of course,” Kelly agreed.

“You need kids of your own,” Pete said with a frown.

“Don’t start, Pete. I’m fine. It gives me time to be a good uncle to Drew.”

“I’m not complaining about that, of course, but you’re older than me. Don’t wait much longer.”

Joe shrugged his shoulders and picked up the check and signed lease. “Okay, I’m taking this over to Mrs. Pointer and then driving her into town. I think the payment is due right away.”

“And it’s okay if I start working the land today?”

“Yep.”

“Thanks for lining this up for me, Joe. It will be helpful.”

“For me, too. But Anna—that is, Mrs. Pointer, thinks we’re giving her charity. I had to talk a little while to convince her I wasn’t.”

“Good for you,” Pete said, watching his brother closely.

“Stop looking at me that way,” Joe protested.

“What way?”

“You know what I mean. This is business, that’s all.”

“Right,” Pete said.

“Joe, why don’t you bring her by the store and introduce her to us. Lindsay will want to meet her, too.”

Joe paused. Then he said, “I might do that. I don’t think she has many friends.”

“Good. We’ll look forward to meeting her.”

“Hey, wait a minute. How come you get to meet her and I don’t?” Pete demanded of his wife.

She leaned over and kissed him. “Because you have to work today.”

Joe laughed at the look on his brother’s face. But he wasn’t worried. Kelly spoiled Pete, as he spoiled her. They had a good marriage that made Joe envious if he thought about it too long.

His sister, Lindsay, had a good marriage, too. Her husband, Gil Daniels, trained horses and was making quite a name for himself. At least two out of six wasn’t bad for his parents. Well, he had to make it three out of six because Logan had married his boss, Abby. A beautiful woman, who talked ranching with the best of them. Logan had learned that the hard way. She was a strong woman who resented being pampered as if she were weak.

But Anna…he thought she might need some pampering. Not that he would be the one to take care of her. He was her temporary protector. Maybe he’d look around for a good man for Anna. He could push her in that direction when he found someone good enough for her. That was a good idea. In town on Saturday, he’d make sure she was introduced around and see who he could find.

In the meantime, he’d think about his friends. Surely he had nice friends who would be interested. Well, not really. Most of his friends were married already. He scratched his head again. There was Dr. Patrick Wilson. He was actually a friend of Pete’s. He and Pete had become friends when Kelly took Drew to see him. Joe couldn’t hold back a chuckle. They hadn’t started out friends. Pete had been too jealous. But he’d delivered Alex and had become a trusted friend. Would Anna—Mrs. Pointer be interested in a doctor? Most women were, he thought with a shrug.

How about Bill Quigley? His wife had died last year. He had a couple of kids too. Anna seemed like a good mom. Maybe that would work out for her. There was Larry Baker. He was a widower, too, but he’d heard some not-so-nice gossip about him.

He wanted to be sure he didn’t connect Anna up with someone even worse than Derek. The poor woman had suffered enough. Not that she’d said anything, but her house, while clean, didn’t look good. She didn’t have any of the frilly stuff like his mom did. And her furnishings looked old. Okay, so he’d make a new list and only include men with a good reputation and good money. It occurred to him that that list might be pretty short unless he decided to include himself. But, he wasn’t looking for marriage. Was he?

When he drove into town early that morning to leave the lease with his lawyer, he actually ran into Patrick Wilson, the man who headed his list for Anna.

“Hey, Pat! What are you doing out this early?”

“Heck, Joe. I’m not out early. I’m just getting back. I had a call about two.”

“Everything’s okay, I hope,” Joe said, a polite hint for more news.

Patrick sighed. “Andy Elkins fell and broke his leg and got a concussion. He’ll recover, but it’ll take a while.”

“Andy? What was he doing up at two in the morning? He’s eighty-seven!”

“Making a trip to the bathroom in the dark.”

“That’s too bad. I guess it’s a good thing you don’t have a family with the hours you keep,” Joe said frowning.

Patrick looked surprised. “I guess you’re right. Doctors’ marriages aren’t too stable from what I’ve observed. It would take a strong woman to deal with my life.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Joe said, thinking he needed to mark Patrick off the list.

Patrick jabbed him with his elbow. “Don’t be telling anyone that. You’ll ruin my social life.”

“I won’t,” Joe said. He waved goodbye and continued into his lawyer’s office. But under his breath he muttered, “I guess we’ll see who’s next on the list.” He had to find a better husband than Patrick. This was going to be hard.

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