which stared at the big-horned beasts on either side of them but otherwise paid no attention. The hands said Elijah was so bone-idle he kept the sheep so he wouldn’t have to mow his yard. Indeed, the sheep did keep the grass short clear up to the porch. Michael suspected the old man had been less lazy than a peacekeeping dreamer. Sheep were quiet and gentle, and the Dixon children played with them as if they were dogs. Everybody was happy.
Except his employees right now. They stared at him accusingly.
“Every inch,” he reiterated. “I don’t need any more reasons for you to be running to the Dixon house.”
They were silent.
“Of course, if you like it over there so much, if you’ve become so shiftless that you need a woman constantly fussing over you, I’m sure she’d be more than happy to take you in.” He knew he was being cruel, but the comment about letting Bailey kiss his hurts had stung—worse than Deenie’s waspiness.
“Hardheaded sourpuss like his old man,” one of them whispered.
“No, I’m not.” Michael straightened indignantly.
“You are! And the minute that rhinestone cowgirl gets her hooks in ya, she’s going to put us out!” Fred cried.
“Neither Deenie nor Bailey is going to become part of the Wade household,” Michael stated with a firm edge to his tone. “If that’s what’s got you all riled up, let me be the first to assure you that you are going nowhere, and I am not headed to the altar.”
They frowned but said no more. Michael nodded and moved to get into the truck cab.
“Michael,” Chili called.
He paused. “Yes?”
“Did you know Gunner’s offered Bailey a secretarial position at his place?”
Michael’s mouth instantly dried out. Her short, faded skirt appeared in his mind, and all that smooth skin, which shouldn’t have been exposed to such cold weather.
Gunner’s stately home would be very warm inside.
The cowboys stared at him, their eyes bugging and curious in the darkness as they sat in the truck bed. He forced himself to shrug.
“Everybody’s gotta do what they gotta do,” he said noncomittally.
But his heart was hammering inside him like a town pep rally parade drum. Not a date, then! Gunner was too smart for that—Bailey had rarely dated anyone. Employing Bailey was even more insidious than just asking her out, which she most likely would have refused. She needed money, and Gunner had given her a way to get it without costing her pride.
It was very slick.
If his rival had his eyes on a new acquisition, Michael’s territory would be encroached.
There was no fence he could secure to protect what he considered he should have some kind of claim on.
I am not jealous, he reminded himself. Bailey’s always done what she wanted to do, and nothing’s going to change that now.
He blew out a breath, glared at the cowboys, stiffened his shoulders and got in the truck cab. Gunner King had always been a burr in his sock, only he couldn’t pick him out and throw him away like a burr. Looked like he planned on sticking to Bailey like a burr.
Michael’s blood pressure soared. There was no hope for it. He was going to have to do something.
He had to match his rival for slickness and stickiness.
Maybe the cowboys were right. After all, they were a study in slick and burr sticky! If he needed a crash course in charm to keep Gunner from stealing his woman, then Michael had three good-luck charms riding in his truck bed right now. Maybe all it took was playing on Bailey’s sympathetic, warm nature to lure her to his side.
He opened the small window that separated the cab from the truck bed. “Hey.”
“What?” They craned their necks to see him.
“I don’t think Bailey working in Gunner’s home would be the best thing for her.”
“Eh?” Chili cocked his head.
“I was thinking maybe there was a better way she could spend her time.” He eyed them, taking note of their interest. “After all her family’s done for you, I know you wouldn’t want Bailey’s situation taken advantage of by the Kings or anyone else. Maybe ya’ll could come up with something and sort of suggest it to me.”
The three studies in slick and sticky grinned. “You just let us be your suggestion box, boss,” Chili informed him. “But you gotta promise to go along with our ideas. If you butt heads with us at every turn…well, Gunner’s gonna make his move.”
Michael hesitated, wondering just what he was getting himself into.
“Ya snooze, ya lose, boss,” Fred told him.
“He’s got a point,” Curly chimed in, “you gotta admit you’re kinda short on sensitivity to the garden-variety female.”
“You ain’t had much practice,” Fred said more forthrightly. “You’re kinda like a grumpy ol’ mule. Got the stuff, but ain’t quite sure what to do with it.”
“All right, all right,” Michael interrupted swiftly so he wouldn’t have to hear any more about his failings. There was only so much a man could take before he lost his nerve! Bailey was no garden-variety female—she was a wildflower that would require significant patience and wooing unless he wanted her growing in Gunner’s garden two fences away from him. “No guts, no glory. The suggestion box is open.”
They waited expectantly.
“And not resistant to your ideas,” he said, relenting.
Chili grinned. “You just leave everything to us.”
Michael nodded and closed the window. “I’m just doing her the same favor I’d do for anyone the King machinery was about to flatten,” he muttered as he started the ignition. “Somebody’s got to save that headstrong little woman from herself!”
Chapter Four
“Now, then,” Chili said, giving Michael’s dark suit a final brush across the shoulders, “you just drive over to the Dixon house and surprise that little gal by picking her and her brood up for church.” The fence-sitters had converged on him with Plan A as he was eating breakfast, before he’d even had time to gulp enough coffee to wake up good.
Michael shook his head. “I don’t know that this is such a good idea. Bailey and I have never gone anywhere together, much less church.” Something about these three advising him to go to church with a woman struck his suspicion nerve very hard. He never went to church. Whatever he had to say to the Lord he said on his property amongst the trees and the stillness. Saying it in front of a bunch of people didn’t mean the Lord’s ears were open any further to him.
But the townsfolks’ ears and eyes would be wide open if he appeared with Bailey Dixon. There were two types of couples who paired up for church—good
