Sarsaparilla Showdown (River's End Ranch Book 14) Read online

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  SNEAK PEEK

  Mischievous Maid

  River’s End Ranch, Book Fifteen

  By Cindy Caldwell

  The gravel beneath Mira’s feet crunched in time to her hurried footsteps, her hands wrapped around a cup of Sadie’s coffee. Her frosty breath clouded around her as she rushed from the Old West town over to the housekeeping office and she took a quick glance at her watch. Just ten minutes to spare.

  She stopped in her spot—just beyond the main house at River’s End Ranch and between some of the bungalows—as she had every morning since she’d arrived at this serene, heavenly ranch. It was her ritual, taking in the silence, the quiet, the calm as she looked out over the lake and the towering mountains beyond. It had taken everything she had to change her life, and every day she said a prayer of gratitude that when she’d gotten in her car and headed north, she’d landed here.

  Her hands clutched the paper cup in her hands—she’d never lived anywhere but southern California before and as Thanksgiving approached and the weather changed, she still forgot to grab her gloves and the snow flurries always surprised her. Maybe if she kept them in her coat pocket she might not be caught off guard.

  Her coffee had been too hot to even sip yet and Sadie’s special blends were always worth the wait, but she was cutting it a little close this morning and lifted the cup to her lips.

  “You all right, ma’am?” a voice said from behind her as the liquid burned her tongue and she hopped from one foot to the other, fighting back the urge to spit it out in the dirt to the side of the field.

  She swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand and looked through tears of pain as she turned around. “Yes,” she sputtered, and she looked up into the deepest, darkest brown eyes she’d ever seen. She’d seen this man around and his security guard uniform kind of gave away what his job was. She’d only been on the ranch for a few weeks, and she’d tried to keep her head down, stay to herself, so she hadn’t met many people.

  “Hard to resist, isn’t it?” He held out a bottle of water toward her and she gratefully accepted, the coolness in her palm promising relief for her tongue.

  He held her cup of coffee for her as she drank deeply, the pain subsiding. As she took a final gulp, she glanced quickly up at him. His eyes danced and it seemed he was holding back a full-fledged laugh. His dark brown hair peeked out from under his cowboy hat—she’d never seen a security guard in LA with a hat like that, but there were lots of things in Idaho she’d never seen before—and she smiled up at him, grateful for the save.

  “Gets me almost every time,” she said as he handed her the cup of coffee. She eyed it suspiciously before she took it, vowing to wait longer next time—a vow she broke almost every day.

  “Tony,” he said. He hadn’t pulled back his hand after she’d taken her coffee and she looked at it and back up into his eyes while her brain spun. Security guard, in uniform, had a gun, likely hired by Wade. Her brain landed on “should be safe enough,” and she brushed her palm on her jeans before she reached out and shook his hand. “Mira,” she said as she looked down at the gravel beneath her feet.

  “Nice to meet you, Mira.” He tipped his cowboy hat in her direction and looked back toward the Old West town.

  She took a quick glance at her watch and glanced toward the housekeeping office. “Same here. I don’t want to be late for work. Thanks for the rescue,” she said as she shoved her free hand in her pocket, wishing once more she’d brought gloves.

  “Have a great day,” he said. Before she could get as far away from this man as fast as she possibly could, he tipped his hat one more time and smiled, big and wide and there was no way in the world she could have not noticed his twinkling eyes and dimples. Dimples.

  Oh, goodness, not dimples.

  “Thanks,” she said and spun on her heel, crossing the ground to her safe and solitary job as quickly as she could.

  Find out what happens the next time Mira runs into Tony in

  Cindy Caldwell's Mischievous Maid (River’s End Ranch, Book Fifteen).

  ACKNLOWEDGEMENTS

  Back in May of 2016 I had the utter pleasure of meeting Kirsten Osbourne, Pamela Kelley, and Cindy Caldwell in Chicago during a conference. Soon after, they invited me to be part of this delightful world they were creating, and introduced me to the wonderful Amelia Adams. I was thrilled to join their team, and have had hours and hours of fun, playing via our imaginations at River’s End Ranch.

  Thank you, ladies, for letting me be a part of the magic.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Caroline Lee has been reading romance for so long that her fourth-grade teacher used to make her cover her books with paper jackets, but it wasn't until she (mostly) grew up that she realized she could write it too. So she did.

  Caroline is living her own little Happily Ever After in NC with her husband, sons, and brand-new daughter, Princess Wiggles. And while she doesn't so much "suffer" from Pittakionophobia as think that all you people who enjoy touching Band-Aids and stickers are the real weirdos, she does adore rodents, and never met a wine she didn't like. Caroline was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year in 2006 and is really quite funny in person. Promise.

  You can find her at www.CarolineLeeRomance.com.