Deadly Desperados Read Online Free Page B

the overhead fan so it blew directly on Mandy’s placid face. “I’m just messing around with you. I’ll be respectful.”
    “I know you will,” Jake said hurriedly. “It’s just … this is the first time I’ve brought anyone to the farm. I’m kind of nervous myself.”
    “You’re nervous to introduce Ally to them,” James clarified. “Mandy and I are just along for the ride.”
    “Is that true?” Ally asked, her eyes widening. “Are you nervous for them to meet me?”
    “I’m excited for them to meet you,” Jake corrected. “I haven’t seen them in a few years, though. It seems weird to be going out there now. I should’ve stopped by when I got back to the country after my last tour but … I kept putting it off.”
    “I understand that,” James said, his mind briefly traveling back to his own military stint and the initial alienation he felt upon his return. “I’m sure they understand it, too.”
    “You still haven’t told me about your aunt,” Ally pressed. “Is she going to try to dress me up in prairie skirts and make me churn butter?”
    Jake barked out a coarse laugh. “Where did you get that idea?”
    “ Little House on the Prairie ,” Mandy answered, her eyes still shut as she shifted and cuddled closer to James. “We used to watch it when we were kids.”
    “Holy crap! I forgot all about that,” James said, laughing. “They used to braid their hair and everything so they could pretend they were Laura Ingalls.”
    “Didn’t you guys miss the Little House on the Prairie craze?” Jake asked. “That was the seventies and eighties.”
    “They have reruns,” Ally supplied. “We used to love that show. We wanted to live in a little house and beat up Nellie Oleson.”
    “Ah.” Jake fought the mad urge to laugh at Ally’s nostalgia. “Well, Aunt Mary won’t try to dress you up in prairie skirts and I don’t think she’s ever churned butter.”
    “Still, she must do stuff the old-school way,” Ally argued. “Does she sweep wood floors and plant her own potato crop?”
    “I’m hiding the television when we get home,” Jake grumbled. “Aunt Mary grew up in Kansas. She went to school to be a nurse. She met Uncle Ben when he was back on rotation for a few months and they fell in love. Since he had to go back to active duty, she didn’t think she’d ever see him again.
    “The second he was released he showed up at the hospital where she worked begging for a date,” he continued. “They went out four nights in a row. On the fifth night he proposed, and they’ve been happy ever since.”
    “That’s a beautiful story,” Ally said, her brown eyes shining. “That doesn’t answer my question about the potatoes, though.”
    “You definitely watch too much television,” Jake said, tugging on a strand of Ally’s flyaway hair. “She does have a garden, but they don’t need it to live on. She enjoys canning stuff … and she’s the best cook ever.”
    Ally made a face. “After me, right?”
    “Of course,” Jake hedged, causing James to laugh.
    “I think what he’s trying to tactfully tell you is that she’s a better cook than you, Ally,” James interjected.
    “Stop poking your sister,” Mandy murmured, her eyes still shut.
    “I would poke you if you’d wake up,” James countered.
    “Shh.”
    James rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Jake. “Is your aunt still a nurse?”
    “She picks up a shift a week at the local hospital and volunteers with a group of area midwives, but she spends most of her time working on the farm,” Jake explained. “Their big crops are corn and soybeans. They have a small beef market, and they also have horses.”
    “Beef market?” Ally furrowed her brow. “Oh, man, does that mean I’m going to make friends with cows only to have them show up on the dinner table?”
    Jake’s smile was rueful. “You’re probably not going to want to make friends with the cows in case you get attached to them,” he said.