Rancher to the Rescue and a Cowboy in Shepherd's Crossing by Arlene James

Author:Arlene James
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-05-12T14:03:14+00:00

Chapter Two

Jace parked the baler midafternoon and headed toward the ranch house for lunch. Bob “Cookie” Cook managed the ranch kitchen. He was gone for the day, but he’d texted that he’d left a platter of meat, cheese and sandwich fixings in the kitchen, along with a bowl of potato salad. After five hours of baling the important first cutting of hay, he and the others would get the hay under cover before the predicted overnight rain. Wet hay fostered mold growth, so they’d be running the hay wagons back and forth from the field to the hay barns and lofts until dark...and maybe after. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d hauled hay in the dark.

He climbed the steps and met two of the other hands in the kitchen. Harve Jr. was building a sandwich and Wick was already plowing into a monster-sized plate of potato salad. He saw the women on the front porch, laughing together, but the cool reprieve of the kitchen offered more invitation. He’d taken his first bite when the crunch of tires on gravel drew the men’s attention. From his seat, he spotted Gilda Hardaway, the grumpy eccentric who lived in a sprawling, decaying house on an empty ranch near the Payette National Forest. She approached the porch, looking testier than ever.

But then the front door opened. Lizzie came in. She spotted him and motioned him forward.

Wick and Harve Jr. exchanged grins, glad they weren’t summoned.

He stood, swiped his mouth with a piece of paper towel and walked to the porch. “Ladies.” He tipped his head in their direction. “What can I do for you?”

“Not them. Me, young man.”

He was afraid of that. He faced Gilda. “Well, how can I be of help, Mrs. Hardaway?”

She looked him up and down as if he was a science exhibit. Then she sighed. “Can I come inside or do I have to air dirty laundry out here where any Tom, Dick or Harry might overhear?”

“Of course,” Lizzie answered. She opened the white, wooden screen door and let the old woman precede her. Then she sent Jace a questioning look.

He shrugged, because he didn’t know any more than she did.

“We should sit down,” said the old woman.

Jace didn’t want to sit. He wanted to eat his lunch and get back to work. He was on a tight schedule. One band of sheep was still in the hills, and Heath and two other hands were loading lambs for market on the far side of the mountain. Already he heard noise in the kitchen, meaning the other men had wolfed down their food and were ready to haul. One look at Gilda Hardaway nixed his choices. He sat.

The old woman lifted a magazine from the coffee table. She held it up to Lizzie. “That your sister out there on the porch? This one?” She waggled the magazine.

Lizzie nodded.

“We’ll need her in here.”

Jace watched Lizzie fight whatever she wanted to say, because Lizzie wasn’t the kind of woman anyone bossed around. But she kept her lips pressed tight, then called Melonie and Corrie in.

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