now she’s getting too big for him to take her everywhere he goes.”
“And you think if I offered to baby-sit Beth he’d help me?” Suzanne asked skeptically.
“It would be better if you married him,” Mabel said clearly.
Suzanne stared at her as if she were crazy.
Katie hurriedly said, “Mabel is teasing you. But you should talk to Ryan. You also have a good water supply on your place. Ryan might make a deal for some split water rights.”
Suzanne nodded and dropped the subject, urging the children to eat their rolls so they could visit the farm agent. When she left the shop, she saw the two older women hurrying off in another direction.
The farm agent was no help at all, except to suggest she talk to Ryan Walker. She thanked him and took the kids home.
The rest of the day, she thought about the suggestions she’d received in town. She drafted Al to baby-sit when the sun went down. He told her Ryan wouldn’t come home until then. It occurred to her that the man who’d almost knocked her down might be Ryan Walker. If he was, he was a very intimidating man.
As the sun set, she checked her appearance in the mirror. She’d put on one of her business suits, hoping to impress him with her professionalism. She’d pulled her long red-brown hair back to a knot on her neck. She wanted to look cool and calm. Okay, she was ready to face the best rancher in the county.
With a deep breath, she made sure Al was happy with the kids. She’d made popcorn and poured some soda for them. She thought things went better when they had something to eat. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” she said, faking cheeriness.
“Are you sure?” Josh asked, frowning.
“I’m just going to our neighbor’s house, Josh. I won’t stay long.” Their parents had just gone out for a little while and they’d never come back. Josh didn’t trust her promise.
He nodded and looked the other way. Suzanne thought she saw tears in his eyes, but Al waved her off and asked Josh to change the channel on the television. Having something to do helped Josh. Amazing that Al understood that.
She carefully drove in the direction Al had shown her. He said it was the next ranch, just a little ways down the road. She kept looking for a house, or at least a driveway. After twenty minutes, she wondered if she’d gone in the wrong direction. Then she saw a house. The mailbox on the side of the road said Walker, so she guessed she’d finally found the infamous Ryan Walker. She pulled up to the porch and got out of her car.
She dusted off her black suit and climbed the steps to the porch. She couldn’t see any lights on in the house, but maybe the kitchen and den were in the back of the house and couldn’t be seen from the road. She knocked, but there was no response. She knocked again, louder this time. The third time she pounded.
She wasn’t going away without talking to the man. She climbed down the steps and walked around to the back of the house. There were no lights visible back there either. She returned to the front porch and sat down on the top step, wondering what she should do.
Then she saw lights coming down the road. Maybe he’d run into town for a few minutes and was now returning. She hoped so.
She stood, tucking a strand of hair into place as a black truck pulled in, passing her car and continuing on past the house. She walked to the side of the house to see if it stopped in the back. When it did, she drew a deep sigh of relief.
RYAN WALKER was tired. He’d spent a long day in the saddle. Then he’d gone into town to pick up Beth, his three-year-old daughter from his cousin Millie. He didn’t want company, especially company dressed like a city woman. In fact, when he’d first seen the woman on his porch, he’d been afraid it was Tiffany, his ex-wife. He sure didn’t want to see her ever again.
He had things to do that night. Especially after what Millie had told him. The first thing he needed to do was to talk to Mabel and Florence and make it clear he wasn’t interested in getting married. Millie told him they had visited her, telling her she’d be doing him a favor if she stopped taking care of Beth. Then he’d marry the new lady in town. Fool women!
“Daddy? What’s the matter?” Beth asked, staring at him.
“I’m too tired for company, sugar. There’s a lady at our front door.”
“Why?”
He thought of several answers, but Beth was only three. He didn’t want to upset his beloved daughter.
“I don’t know. I’ll find out while you wash your hands for dinner.”
“Are we going to eat those hamburgers?”
“We sure are.” He’d driven through a fast-food place after he’d picked up Beth. He was too tired to cook tonight.
He parked the truck and took his daughter into the house. “Go wash up. I’ll be right back.”
Then he walked through the house to the front door, seldom opened because his friends always came to the back door. He clicked on the porch light as he spoke. “Hello.”
“Oh! Mr. Walker. You are Mr. Walker, aren’t you?”
Damn it! The woman was the one he’d almost run down this morning. Her vibrant red hair was all tied up tonight, but he’d noticed it this morning. She was dressed in city clothes.
“Yeah. What do you want?” He knew his voice was gruff, not inviting, but he didn’t believe in spending much time around beautiful city women. They didn’t fit into his world.
“I understand you’re the authority on ranching in the county.” Her voice was cool, skepticism in it, which he resented.
“Yeah, probably.”
“I’m your neighbor to the east. My name is Suzanne McCoy. I’m guardian to Mary Lee and Rodger Howe’s children.” She waited, as if she expected him to say something, but he only nodded. “I have a problem.”
“What?”
“I don’t have any employees except for old Al.”
“What happened to them?”
“I fired them because they were stealing from the children.” She held her chin up as if she expected him to tell her she’d made a mistake.
“Good. I wasn’t sure you knew.”
She looked down. “I didn’t until last night when I heard them bragging. And I fired them before I called the sheriff. They quickly left the ranch, and now no one knows where they are.”
“And?”
“I need some cowboys, Mr. Walker. And I know nothing about what they do or how I can tell if they’re good, honest men. Everyone I talked to in town told me to speak to you. Please, will you help me?”
“Did you talk to Florence and Mabel?”
“Well, yes, I did.”
“Well, Miss McCoy, I’ll loan
