Chapter Eight
Astrid stood at thewindow, blowing across the mug of coffee, with the special pumpkin creamer she couldn’t stop herself from making.It tasted so good.Outside the window, across the ranch, it was covered in white.Snow had fallen thick and fast through the night.And it was still snowing.She must have missed the warning, but it was in full play right now.
There was no way any ranchers were making it today.Lord had already said he would be back as soon as possible, and as she sipped her coffee, she watched him return.
This was not good.
It was easier to ignore Lord if they were both doing other things—if he was busy with the ranch and she was working in the kitchen, or cleaning the house.They could avoid each other.This was going to be a lot more difficult.
The last thing she wanted to do was appear petty.She took a sip of her coffee, and she made her way into the kitchen to pour him a large mug and add the pumpkin creamer she had made.It tasted so good, and she knew she should stop making it as fall was over, but she still had a few cans of pumpkin in the pantry.It was a staple in her cooking, especially through the fall.
“Wow,” Lord said, coming into the kitchen, and she handed him a mug.“Thank you.It’s fucking cold out there.”
That surprised her.Lord tended to run a lot hotter than most.She was already feeling the cold herself.She tried to wrap up, and they had turned the heat up in the house.
“Should we be worried?”she asked.
“You went shopping yesterday, right?”
“Yes.”
“We’re all stocked and I know the workers all made it home.”
“You knew this was coming?”Astrid asked.
“Yeah, I warned everyone.”
“When?”she asked.
“That would be at one of the breakfasts you decided you no longer needed to attend,” he said.
She was not going to rise to that bait.They both knew why she hadn’t been attending the breakfasts.It was her plan to try and get over him without everyone seeing it.
She didn’t want the ranch hands to watch her look at him with longing.That was sad.She knew that, and so did they.Astrid was trying to get over him, because she didn’t want to be one of those women that wanted a man who would never want her.
“And you told everyone then?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you leave me a note?”Astrid asked.
