Read Lydia's Twin Temptation for Free Online

slipped through the cracks. They felt bad when I contacted them, but there was nothing they could do. I was living on a shoestring in Austin and I didn’t have much money when I’d started on the trip. I had just enough to get a motel room and I found a job at the café. Until I could get groceries, Mr. Cortez bartered my meals for part of my pay, at full price , even though I cooked them myself.”
    Chance looked at her with admiration. Somehow she’d taken on a very disheartening situation and managed to survive. It made him want her even more. She was like a wildflower, blooming out there despite adversity.
    “You put up with an awful lot from that boss of yours.”
    “I did. I honestly did look everywhere in town. No one is hiring right now. Mr. Cortez was an asshole but basically harmless, or so I thought until today. He yelled a lot and he didn’t manage the café very well. He was a little ‘handsy,’ too, but I dealt with that straightforwardly and he stopped it, until today.” She put her hands to her temples and shook her head. “I can’t believe he robbed my motel room and slashed my tires. He knew I would have no choice but to call him.”
    Chance wanted to go find the bastard and pound him into the ground. The man had systematically backed Lydia further and further into a corner trying to make her dependent on him.
    “I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if he was behind my car problems all along.” She looked up at him with bright eyes, looking like she felt a little better. “Anyway, that’s why I’m here, for now.”
    Curiously, Chance asked, “Where will you go? Do you have interviews lined up?”
    Lydia shrugged and shook her head. “Once I have the money saved up for a deposit, rent, and living expenses for a month or two then I’ll start putting out feelers. Unfortunately, if I move it will have to be back to a larger city where the prospects are better.” She looked disappointed at that notion, and Chance smiled inwardly. He thought he had the perfect solution for her. “So tell me about the ranch, Chance. Every time I meant to ask you more about it we’d get busy so I don’t know much. Do you and your brother run it together? I don’t even know where it is.”
    “The Rockin’ C is a big cattle ranch. Ten thousand acres. We have a cow-calf operation and we provide stock to other ranchers. There are about one thousand head of cattle on it right now, but the number fluctuates seasonally. In recent years we’ve sunk several oil wells on the back side of the property that have done well. The ranch is located in Divine, about two hundred and fifty miles from here.”
    He got curious when her mouth popped open and her eyes got big . “Divine, Texas?”
    Chance chuckled and said, “That’s the one. Have you heard of it?”
    Lydia groaned and nodded her head. “Yup. I have two very overprotective brothers who live there.”
    “What are their names? I probably know them.”
    She paused before responding and said, “You probably do know them. Two of the nicest guys you’d ever want to meet but ‘big brother buttinskis ’ of the first order. Ace Webster and Kemp Whittier.”
    Chance snorted as he drew on his straw and barely swallowed his strawberry shake before he choked. She patted his back and said, “Oh hell, you do know them, don’t you? Actually, Ace is my brother by blood and Kemp is my brother by adoption.”
    Chance chuckled and nodded, “Yes. I do. How long has it been since you’ve talked to them?”
    Lydia thought about it and replied, “It’s probably been a few weeks. Maybe a month. Last time we talked was really brief because they were working. Why?”
    If it had been that long then she knew nothing about Ace and Kemp’s recent proposal to Summer Heston, Discretion’s co-owner. “It might be time to check in, baby.”
    “Are you going to tell them about…everything?”
    Chance frowned. “Why? Don’t they know? Oh! I see. They’ve nominated themselves as your