Read Midnight Ride for Free Online Page A

flecks of gold that Tom had always said first made him take notice of her all those years ago. She’d never believed him that it had been her eyes that attracted him.
    Back then, when she’d been barely twenty and he’d been just over thirty, she’d had a pretty great body, if she did say so herself. Barrel racing and tending to the horses on her granddaddy’s ranch had kept her in good shape. She’d been tan and toned, with sunny golden highlights in her hair and color in her cheeks.
    Tom had taken one look at her at the stock sale she’d been attending in Texas and swore he’d fallen in love that day. It had taken Janie a little bit longer than a day, but a few years later, after she’d graduated from Oklahoma State and was working full-time with her grandfather, Tom had asked her to marry him. She’d said yes. How could she not love a man who’d been willing to sell his own place and move to help her and her aging grandfather on his spread?
    What a difference the years made. No more sun for her. Nowadays she put on sunscreen and wore a hat, and tried not to look too closely at the changes in her figure. And as far as family . . . one by one she’d lost the most important people in her life. Her mother gone. Her father moved away across the country. Her grandfather, gone. Tom, gone. And here Janie still was, holding down the farm, alone.
    She rinsed her mouth and stared some more at her reflection. Widowed or not, she was only thirty-six. So why did she feel more like fifty? Thank God she didn’t look as old as she felt. At least she didn’t think so. Not yet. Hopefully, she’d keep it that way.
    With a sigh, she washed and dried her face and slathered on some moisturizer—the kind with built-in sunscreen. Just because she was a widow, that didn’t mean she didn’t care about getting wrinkles from sun damage.
    Janie considered putting on makeup, but the urge only lasted a few seconds before she rolled her eyes at herself for even having the notion. If Tyler showed up at all, it wouldn’t be for a social call. She wasn’t entertaining company today. She was having a ranch hand over to give her some help. However she looked would just have to be good enough.
    Honestly, how ridiculous could she be? She was heading outside to fix a fence. That she was even worrying about her appearance at all was crazy.
    Flipping off the bathroom light made it impossible for her to criticize her reflection any longer and put an end to her internal debate. She thrust all thoughts of makeup out of her head and turned toward the kitchen, where the coffeepot awaited her arrival. She needed to be quick about it, too. It was later in the morning than she’d planned.
    Facing the counter, she poured whole beans into the grinder and hit the button that started the machine whirring as it pulverized the coffee with a noise loud enough to wake the dead.
    Though if that were true, Tom would be walking through the door about now. He loved his morning coffee more than anything else. Possibly even more than he’d loved her. It was one reason why even though they’d made do with the stove that had been here since her grandfather’s day, they had a top-of-the-line grinder and coffeemaker.
    The day she’d purchased the machine, she’d had to have the instruction booklet out just to figure out how to brew the first pot. The memory made her smile even as she felt the kitchen’s emptiness more keenly than usual.
    The grinding finally complete, she grabbed the carafe and filled it with water from the sink. This morning, just in case Tyler did show up, she didn’t set the machine to brew the minimum number of cups for just herself. She made a full pot. It wouldn’t go to waste since she could always microwave it later and drink it herself if he didn’t show.
    A punch of the BREW button and she was done with her part in the task. Nothing left for her to do but wait and maybe think about food. As unhealthy as all the experts said it was,