Page 61 of Winning His Wager

She might just seduce Fletcher Truckboy Tyler again tonight. A pinch in her side had her breath catching.

Tomorrow.She wasn’t feeling so great at the moment, actually.

Dylan’s side twinged again. She’d been feeling a little nauseated for a few hours. Probably Dorie’s fault. Her baby sister had caught a virus from that Hauffman boy she’d been seen kissing around town recently. Dorie always had shared her germs with Dylan and the twins so readily. Or Dylan had eaten something that didn’t agree with her.

Dylan was just going to ignore it. She had things to do today.

She was supposed to cover the eight-p.m.-to-one-a.m. shift for Marin later.

After about an hour, just as she had the thick chili cooking, the twinging hadn’t stopped. It had gotten far more intense, actually.

And she didn’t think she was going to be able to go to the inn. She’d call her sisters, someone else would have to cover. Or maybe her dad would get off his poophead butt and cover for her? Wouldn’t that be funny? He could leave her mom at home alone for that long, right? Or maybe one of the sisterkins could sit with her mom.

Anything.

Dylan just felt tired. Nauseated.

She just sat there at the table, her seeds spread in front of her.

Fletcher would be in soon. He and Hot Guy Martin and Seriously Delicious Twins Kaece and Reese Tyler were out back somewhere. They were talking about Martin and Kaece and Reese helping Fletcher build more paddocks for his science experiment moo-moos as soon as the weather permitted.

She’d made plenty of chili—she had seen those Tyler boys eat at the diner before.

The stove was off. There was a log in the woodstove; she was getting good at checking that thing. She moved the chili to the top of the woodstove, where it would stay warm without scorching. Then she sat back down at the table.

She’d stay right where she was, until Fletcher was back. He’d probably call Dusty for her. Dylan didn’t even know if she had the energy for that. Dylan was just going to rest for a little while.

She just slept right where she was, head on her seed packets and the millions of paint samples for the living room she’d been teasing Fletcher with for weeks.

42

They’d made good progress.Fletcher had promised the twins he’d show them the drones he’d use for herd management. They were wanting to tell Michael about them, though Michael wasn’t always enthused about new technologies right away. Michael was a bit old school in that regard.

“Dylan is making chili and bread,” Fletcher told them. “Food first. She has been studying the instructions on how to program the drones too. She’s faster at that kind of stuff than I am. She really understood what Deane was showing us on his place.” He, Travis, some of Deane’s programmers, and even Deane’s goofy beagle, had followed Dylan around while she flew the drone prototype the first time.

He smiled, remembering how excited she’d been.

She’d researched the technology as well. Especially what kind of results the microorganisms would have on the soil and the plants. She had found several things in Deane’s agronomy plant that had fascinated her. She’d even exchanged emails with a woman she’d met there so they could discuss soil results on heirloom seeds, or something. The woman was going to send her some incredibly rare strains to see how they did in Wyoming this spring as well. Dylan was going to monitor them very closely and report back. She was extremely excited about all of it.

Arthur Talley had done her a real disservice forcing her away from her passions. Fletcher would kick his ass for that someday. He was looking forward to it.

“Dylan cooks better than Meyra. Maybe even better than Chandler,” Fletcher told them. “But keep that under your hats. Chandler is bigger than I am.”

By a few inches and fifty pounds or so. Chandler, Monroe, and Mason were the biggest Tylers out there. But the smallest was Phoenix, at around six foot two.

Tylers grew big around there.

“So what’s it like, having a woman living here with you? It was a bit of an adjustment when Jude moved in with us,” Reese said. He still lived at the ranch where he’d grown up. He had a place just over the ridge from there, but it needed repaired. Reese had spent most of his time repairing the horse barn there. Reese had a gift with horses. Everyone knew that. Eventually he would move out, but for now…he helped Michael run his place. Jude had moved in after she’d married Michael.

“Not a problem at all. Except…those damned sisters of hers call her at all hours of the night. She has to go cover the front desk for Marin tonight. She was there at six this morning too. They are always wanting her to do something for them. I’m about ready to clobber them.” And she’d looked tired. Far too tired. When she made it back from the inn tonight, he was tucking her in so she could rest.

There was a light on in the kitchen window. He led his cousins there and stepped in the back door. They wiped their feet as he stepped into the kitchen.

The place was a little cool. Probably needed to throw a log on. She sometimes got distracted and would forget.

He looked for her. “Dylan?”

There she was. At the kitchen table. She really wasn’t moving much, either.