Birdie's Nest by Linda LaRoque
Texas Ranger, Birdie Braxton boards the Brazos Belle to
attend a costume party, gets tossed into the Brazos and when she's pulled from
the river she's told the year is 1890. A fact she can’t accept … until she
looks across the river to see Birdie’s Nest, her ancestral home, no longer
exists.
Tad Lockhart is a content man—a prosperous rancher with a
ladylove in Waco. He's not interested in marriage and family, yet … until he
pulls an unconscious woman from the Brazos who insists she's a Texas Ranger
from the year 2012.
As romance blooms between Tad and Birdie, she struggles to
earn enough money to build Birdie’s Nest, and Tad strives to mold Birdie into a
Victorian lady suitable to be his wife. Can Birdie give up dabbling in police
work and other unladylike pursuits yet stay true to herself? When faced with an
indiscretion from Tad's past, is Birdie's love strong enough to support her man
and be the woman he needs?
A Page From...
His mother, Olivia
Lockhart, listened intently as Tad talked. She enjoyed a good story and his
tale of saving Miss Braxton titillated her interest.
“You say she thinks it’s the year 2012?” She fanned her face with
her napkin. His mother wasn’t overly large but her face was often red, and she
complained about the heat. “The poor dear. Do you think she’s crazy, son?”
“No, ma’am. Her blue eyes are clear as a bell and she talks
rationally. If I didn’t know it was impossible, I’d believe her.” He took
another bite of roast beef and swallowed. “She had a gun holster strapped to
her leg and a Texas Ranger’s star pinned to it.”
She paled and the fanning increased in intensity. “You looked under
her skirts?”
“No, Mother. The nurse who undressed her found it and turned it over
to the detective in charge of the case. He showed it to me.”
“Well, thank goodness. All we need is another scandal to tarnish our
good name.” She shot him a heated look. “If you’d just settle down, you’d --”
“Mother, don’t start that again or I’ll take my meals in the bunk
house.”
She sniffed. “Well, I’m just saying, you’re not getting any
younger.”
He laughed. “I’d hardly call thirty-five old.”
Her mouth turned down at the corners and she sputtered. “Well, I’m
not getting any younger, and I’d like to dandle a grandchild or two on my knee
before I die.” She fanned her face again. “At the rate I’m going, it may not be
that far off.”
Tad blew out a breath. “Mother, you are not that old. I’ve seen you
run up and down these stairs like a woman half your age.”
She pursed her lips and glared.
“When I find a woman who can keep my interest for more than a day,
then I’ll marry.”
“What about that woman you’re keeping time with in town. What if she
turns up pregnant and expects you to marry her?”
Thank goodness his sister was visiting with friends tonight. He
didn’t want her impressionable young ears to be privy to his private affairs,
which his mother considered scandalous.
“She’ll be sadly disappointed because I’ll not marry someone I don’t
love. Plus, I’m not sure she’d be faithful.” As far as pregnancy, Doc Floyd
kept him in a supply of condoms. Odd how the Comstock Law allowed a man to have
access to them to prevent disease, but wouldn’t let him use them to prevent his
wife from getting pregnant. Didn’t make a lick of sense to him. If he fathered
a baby out of wedlock, he’d see the child was well taken care of.
“It’s a sinful relationship. God is going to strike you dead one of
these days.”
“Let’s drop the subject, Mother.”
“Mark my words, your clandestine affair will come back to haunt
you.”
He didn’t know how secret the relationship was, but if it bit him on
the butt, so be it. He was ready to call it quits anyway.
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