The Rancher's Second Chance (Martin's Crossing Book 3) by Brenda Minton Page B

and Oregon long before he proposed. If their daughter gives you a hard time, you deserve it.”
    “Yeah, I probably do. I didn’t go easy on Duke and Oregon. But this is different. They have a...” He didn’t finish the sentence. “I’m sorry.”
    Her hand rested on his arm. “Not your fault. I teased and I shouldn’t have. I...I’ve missed you.”
    That statement was best left alone. He looked toward the door and found it easy to disengage. “We should see how things are going in there.”
    At that moment the door opened and Lilly bounded in, a twin on each hip. “You’ll hurt your back,” he warned.
    She shifted the girls a little higher. “I’m young, not old and gimpy.”
    He laughed. “You’re cheeky.”
    “That, too.” Off she went toward the kitchen, the twins laughing as she broke into a gallop, whinnying for effect.
    “That kid is great,” Grace observed.
    “Yeah, she really is.”
    Together they headed for the kitchen. Even before they got there he could hear Duke giving Breezy a hard time about something she’d put on the meat. And Oregon was laughing about the new recipe he’d tried for the slaw. Family small talk. He remembered back when they were kids, the laughter, the teasing and family dinners were in short supply. Jake said he stayed far from the kitchen these days because he’d spent too many years trying to feed four kids with ramen noodles and mac and cheese. The kitchen was his least favorite place to be.
    “Your family is great,” Grace said in a soft voice. “Not that mine isn’t. They are. They’re just different.”
    “A little quieter and classier?” Brody mused with a wink.
    Her mouth quirked and one shoulder lifted. “Maybe quieter.”
    A sudden urge to kiss her came over him and he stepped away, fighting temptation. “I should help out. Have a seat and I’ll get you a glass of...milk?”
    “I’m not five. A glass of water, please.”
    “Coming up.”
    His phone rang. He lifted it from his pocket and frowned at the caller ID. Grace arched a brow. He showed her the name and she shuddered.
    But he answered. “Lincoln?”
    “Yeah, it’s me. Listen, I want to know where Grace is. Her family is worried.”
    Brody knew better. She’d already talked to her parents and her grandparents. “If they’re worried, it’s probably because you’re calling them.”
    “I need to see her, Brody. We’re having a baby. That means something to a guy.”
    Brody knew better than that, too. “Yeah, but most men don’t hit the woman that’s having their child. I think it’s better if we end this conversation. I only answered to tell you to leave her alone, Lincoln. She’s talked to a lawyer and we’re going to get a restraining order.”
    A sharp laugh sliced through the phone. “We. Are the two of you a ‘we’ now? I don’t think so, Brody. You were her summer romance before she went back to reality. If she’s there now, she’s just using you all over again.”
    Brody held the phone close to his ear, but Lincoln was yelling, and from the grimace on her face, he saw that Grace had heard.
    “I don’t mind, Lincoln. I’m always willing to help out a friend. And if you ever decide to get help, I’ll be here for you.”
    The phone went dead.
    “Well, that was fun,” Duke said, a firm hand on Brody’s shoulder. “You know how to pick your friends.”
    He shrugged it off because the past was the past. Grace sitting on that bar stool in front of him didn’t mean she was his future. Or that he had to make the same mistakes all over again.
    The definition of a fool was someone who kept doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different outcome. Brody Martin wasn’t anyone’s fool.

Chapter Seven
    T he best thing about Grace’s tiny apartment that Sunday afternoon was her sofa. She could have climbed the narrow stairs to the bedroom, but after Brody dropped her off she couldn’t imagine making it that far for the nap she’d been craving. Her entire body