Wrangling the Redhead - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,73

me out.”

Grady was right, Wade thought. Why shouldn’t he go back if Lauren wasn’t there? She probably wouldn’t show her face until the next class reunion in another eight or nine years, and by then surely his heart would be completely healed. Working for Grady had been the best setup he’d ever had even before Lauren had set foot on the ranch. Why should he sacrifice that just because the fool woman had broken his heart?

“Will Karen be able to keep her nose out of this? I don’t want her pestering me about Lauren.”

“She won’t say a word,” Grady promised.

“I’ll believe that when I see it.” Wade uttered a little sigh of resignation. “I’ll be there as soon as I can get there.” He paused, suddenly thoughtful. “How did you find me, anyway?”

“Does it matter?” Grady asked, sounding evasive. “All that counts is the fact that you’re coming back where you belong.”

Yeah, maybe. But it remained to be seen if he could bear being there without Lauren.

Wade had been back for two weeks now, and aside from enduring speculative looks from both Grady and Karen, it hadn’t been so bad. Images of Lauren only popped into his head every hour or so.

He’d been stunned to discover that Grady had sold Midnight and their other horses, but he’d explained that the new owner had made him an offer too good to turn down. And without Wade or Lauren there to train the still-fractious stallion, Grady had seen no point in holding out. He’d handed Wade a sizable check for his share and assured him they could start looking for a new stallion and some broodmares whenever Wade was ready.

“It could be a while,” Wade told him. He just didn’t have the heart for it right now. That dream and marrying Lauren had gotten all twisted up together in his head. It was too soon to consider following through with one without having the other.

Grady frowned at the response. “Why wait? At least take a ride over to the Grigsby place this morning,” he suggested over breakfast. “There’s a horse over there I’d like you to take a look at. He sounds too good to pass up.”

“What’s the rush?” Wade asked, regarding him with puzzlement. “You obviously weren’t that anxious to have a horse operation, or you wouldn’t have sold off our stock. You know perfectly well you could have found another wrangler to replace me.”

“Didn’t see much point to keeping it without you around to manage things. I’ve got enough irons in the fire,” Grady insisted. “Now that you’re back, things are different. Besides, from what I hear, they won’t have that horse long. Somebody’s going to come along and snap it up. You’ll be kicking yourself if it’s not you.”

“I don’t see why you’re pushing so hard, but I’ll drive over later and check him out,” Wade promised, then glanced curiously at Karen. It had almost sounded as if she’d uttered a sigh of relief. Or maybe it had just been a plain old sigh. She was pretty far along in the pregnancy now, and all her movements seemed to be a struggle. That must have been it, he concluded, then turned back to Grady.

“I thought that ranch was up for sale back when we bought that stock. Did Otis or that son of his decide against it?”

“No, it sold,” Grady told him. “The new owner’s starting up a horse ranch. There’s some fine stock over there already. Now that you’ve got that check in hand, I thought you ought to go over and take a look, just see what’s available.”

“Okay, okay, I said I would.” Caving in to the pressure, Wade grabbed his hat and headed for the door, then glanced back at Karen, who was watching him intently. “You’re not going to deliver that baby today, are you?”

She looked startled by the question. “No, why?”

“You seem a little jumpy, and I heard that sigh a bit ago. If you were having pains or anything, you’d tell Grady, right?”

“Of course I would,” she insisted.

“She’d better,” Grady said, his expression dire.

“Okay then,” Wade said. “I’ll head on over to the Grigsby place. Do you know the new owner’s name?”

“No,” they chorused so emphatically that it stirred his suspicions at once.

“Haven’t met ’em yet,” Karen said, then patted her swollen belly. “I haven’t been getting out and about the last few weeks. I’ll be anxious to hear all about them and what they’ve done with the place.”

Wade grinned at her. “Then