The Cowboy's Love

{Chapter} 8

{Chapter 8}

Aubrey smiled as Wade stopped in front of the open gate of the MC Ranch. Bold blue outbuildings sat around a bigger house-looking structure with a big white barn out to the West farther away. A big arcing sign hung overhead with the words “McBride-Curtis Ranch” plastered on it. A few horses roamed nearby, and one big brown horse stood in the center of the corral off to the right of the barn where a man was standing in the stirrup, leaning on the saddle as if her were prepared to be there all day. It was peculiar to Aubrey.

“Welcome home” Wade smiled to her and Jay.

“We’re gonna live here?” Jay asked as he looked up at the sign overhead.

“We sure are” Wade said.

Aubrey smiled at him, feeling her eyes shining. She loved the feel of the ranch deep in the heart of Texas.

“Wade Dylan! You lazy polecat! Where’ve you been?” A lady called from the doorway of a bigger outbuilding that had a big, man-size smudge in the paint on the side.

“That’s my boss” Wade shielded his eyes from the sun and looked at the woman, clad in men’s jeans and a faded chambray shirt.

A woman.

“Y-Your boss is a woman?” Aubrey asked.

“Uh… yeah” Wade rubbed the back of his neck. “She can flat lay a man out though if she wants to.”

Aubrey shrugged. It was obvious there was nothing going on between the two of them.
“The man doing strange things to that horse over there is her husband, Erik. Their little girl is around here somewhere” Wade pushed his horse forward and they rode up to his boss.

“What took you so long?” his boss asked.

“You didn’t get my telegram?” Wade asked, dismounting.

“No.”

Wade rolled his eyes. “That Judd. He’ll never get things right.”

The woman looked up at Aubrey. She had a long, black braid that slung over her shoulder and big brown eyes. A spray of freckled ran over the bridge of her tan nose and gave her a girlish quality. She was rustically beautiful in Aubrey’s eyes.

“Who’s this?” the woman asked.

Wade looked up at her and smiled. “This is my wife and that’s Jay.”

The woman looked at him in utter shock.

“Aubrey, Jay, this is Toni McBride” Wade moved to help Jay off the horse and the Aubrey.

He lifted her down as if she weighed no less than a feather.

“W-Wife? Is this your kid, too?” Toni motioned to Jay.

“No, I found him all alone in Desperado” Wade said.

“You’ve got some explainin’ to do, hombre,” Toni said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I will later. Right now I’m taking care of these horses” Wade took the reins of both his horses and nodded for Aubrey and Jay to follow. “Wanna meet the rest of the clan?”

　

Wade walked over to where Erik was applying pressure to the saddle of a fidgeting gelding.

“Nice to know you’re alive,” Erik said, leaning on the saddle and propping himself up by his elbows. The poor man looked bored to death.

“I know it. Erik, I’d like you to meet Aubrey” Wade motioned to his wife with the reins of his horses in his hands.

“Hi” Erik drawled out, nodding.