Rancher at Risk (3 page)

Never argue with a pregnant woman, someone had once said. Great advice, especially with this pregnant woman, who never liked to take no for an answer.

Besides, Kayla could sign.

Sure enough, the minute their gazes met, she started in, using both hands and voice.
“You’ve been avoiding one-on-one time with me since you got here. What’s up?”

“Nothing.”

“Come on, big sis. You don’t expect me to believe that, do you?”

“You’re the big one right now.” What a relief to be able to tease Kayla, to say what she wanted without having to speak slowly, without focusing on each word and every syllable. To talk without thinking about her voice at all. So different from this morning and her run-in with that impossible man who accused her of making assumptions about him. He’d done the same with her….

But didn’t
everyone,
if not sooner than later?

She loosened her grip on the T-shirt she had intended to fold. If she didn’t watch out, her own sister would start jumping to conclusions. She forced a smile. “It’s only April. Are you sure that baby’s going to wait another three months?”

Kayla was so lucky to have Sam and Becky and another child on the way. But even the mention of the baby didn’t seem to distract her sister now.

Kayla rested her hand on Lianne’s arm, the way she’d always done to get her full attention.
“The baby will come when he’s ready. What I don’t understand is why you’re so ready to leave.”

“Miss me already? Don’t worry, you’ll have enough company when Sam’s mom gets here.”

“That’s months away!”

“But if Sharleen hears I’m staying, she might start thinking she’s not needed.”

Kayla circled her right forefinger at her temple, making a sign that needed no words. Obviously, she hadn’t fallen for Lianne’s crazy excuses.

“You know I have to go,” she said gently. “I made a commitment.” And unlike some people, she stuck by her promises. “Besides, I’ll only be a few miles down the road, close enough to come running as soon as Sam texts to let me know you’re in labor. And I’ll be by plenty of times before then. As you said, we’ve got months before the baby comes.”

Kayla shook her head.
“What about Becky?”

“She’ll see plenty of me, too.” She took great care in folding another shirt. This visit had been the best break from her troubles she could ever have asked for. The only downside to the past couple of days—other than this morning—had been the many times Kayla had skewered her with a sharp-eyed gaze.

Even now, she wasn’t letting lack of eye contact deter her. She put her hand on Lianne’s arm again and pointed to the bed.

“You don’t give up, do you?” Sighing, she sank to the edge of the mattress.

“Not when there’s something wrong. You know how happy I am to have you here. But I want to know why you left Chicago ahead of schedule. I’m guessing it’s connected to Mark, since you haven’t mentioned him once.”

“Don’t worry about him,” she said lightly.

“I’m not. I’m worried about you. And I’m not taking a brush-off for an answer.”

She shifted on the mattress. Kayla would only be upset to hear she now had no steady relationship, no permanent job and not even a home to call her own. All because of a confrontation she
hadn’t
walked away from the way she had fled from that stranger on Signal Street. “You’ve got enough on your mind. You don’t need to hear my problems.”

“Listen, big sis, haven’t we always confided in each other?”

For most things, yes. Not this. On the other hand, she recognized on her sister’s face the same stubborn look she often saw in her own mirror.

Sighing again, she said, “The long story short is, things with Mark didn’t work out.”

Kayla’s eyes, as blue as her own, shone with tears.
“I’m sorry. I thought everything was going so well. You’ve been with him longer than anyone else I can remember.”

“Two years, three months, eight days. But who’s counting?” The relationship
had
lasted longer than most. So had Mark’s apparent acceptance that she was deaf. “He turned out to be just like some of the other guys I’ve dated—the ones who are so sure I can’t manage without their help.” How many times had she heard that? “He put an extra spin on things, though.” She looked away and then made herself meet Kayla’s eyes again. “He said I’ll never survive without him.”

“That’s ridiculous!”

Lianne had no trouble reading the next word on Kayla’s lips. She shook her head. “Yes, he is that. But watch your mouth, little sis. Your son might be able to hear you.”

They both laughed.

“Anyway, you called it right about Mark. So he’s history.” Kayla’s expression told her she hadn’t done a good job of keeping her feelings from her tone. She shrugged. “It’s okay. I’ll get over it.” And she’d learn from it.

Someday.

She dropped the folded shirts into her canvas carryall. “Enough about him. How’s Becky?”

“She’s fine.”
Kayla shook her head.
“Sam and I have talked to her over and over about being careful when she’s chasing after Pirate. Five-year-olds forget. We’ll keep talking to her.”
She stopped signing briefly to squeeze Lianne’s hand.
“I told you, it wasn’t your fault.”

“She moved so quickly—”

“She does that to me all the time. It’s scary. Believe me, I know. But you said the driver didn’t come close to her.”

“He didn’t. That’s what I tried to tell him.”

She’d been upset over the situation, too. He hadn’t cared about that. Maybe hadn’t even noticed, considering the way he had almost staggered from the truck, his face pale and his eyes wide.

A twinge of guilt made her wince. He had also tried to apologize. Yet after getting the final words in, she had stalked away.

Kayla frowned.
“Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“No. Becky wasn’t—”

“I’m talking about you. And that man.”

“Forget him.” She planned to. One look into his stormy-green eyes and she had instinctively known he would bring her nothing but trouble. She didn’t need any more trouble.

To her relief, Becky burst into the room and, already chattering away, ran up to Kayla.

Like any child her age, her niece walked around with a head full of never-ending questions. And like any inquisitive, active child, she forever wanted someone to talk to and play with. Happily, thanks to her mommy, Becky knew plenty of kids who signed.

A five-year-old without friends who could communicate with her found life lonely and isolating at times.

Adults didn’t have it any easier.

Why hadn’t she seen through Mark sooner?

You’ll never survive without me.

Ridiculous, as Kayla had said.

She couldn’t bring herself to tell Kayla the words he had flung as his parting shot.

With his mouth so contorted in anger, his face so filled with scorn, she’d had trouble reading his lips. Seeing her struggle, he had gone out of his way to speak slowly and deliberately. To make sure she got the message:

You’ll never make it anywhere, Lianne.

She understood that, all right. And those words had made her cut her losses and leave him.

No matter what he thought, she could live in both the hearing
and
the deaf worlds. And she would fight any man who wouldn’t treat her as his equal in either one of them.

* * *

B
Y
LATE
THAT
AFTERNOON
, Ryan and Caleb had inspected a good portion of the eastern boundary of the new ranch. The horses had no trouble getting them back home, which reminded him of the question Caleb had asked that morning. Did he have any trouble finding the ranch? He had given Caleb a firm negative. He’d had no problem at all making his way there.

If only that had been true about his trip through town. All day, he’d had a hard time keeping the incident out of his mind. But no way would he bring it up with the boss.

“We’ll take care of some of that fencing during the week ahead,” Caleb said, looking at his watch. “Let’s call it a day.”

“Sounds good to me.” It had been a long afternoon after a longer trip, and with all he’d had to get done before leaving Montana, he hadn’t closed his eyes for almost two days now. But lost sleep trailed at the end of his long list of troubles.

Tony, the gray-haired stable hand he’d met earlier, ambled out of the barn, his gait unsteady due to a bum leg and a built-up boot heel.

As they dismounted, Tony gestured to the horses. “I’ve got these.”

Ryan held on to the reins, standard procedure on the Montana ranch. Except in an emergency, a rider took care of his own mount. To his surprise, Caleb handed over his reins and then nodded at him. Frowning, Ryan followed the unspoken order.

After the cowhand had led both horses into the depths of the barn, Caleb said, “Tony’s an old buddy of mine. When I got back home again, I went to Amarillo to look him up. He’d run across a mean bull in rodeo years ago. Not everybody’s as lucky as I was.”

Lucky, hell. He knew why the boss had just leaned back against the barn door to give his leg muscles a rest. The former bull-riding champ had met a badass of his own and still stiffened up after a while in the saddle.

“Once Tony heard I was buying the ranch, he said he’d been spending too much time on his butt and wanted something to do.”

That explained the new procedure with the horses.

Just like his boss, always willing to help an old friend.

“As you saw,” Caleb went on, “there’s still plenty of work to do and men and horses and cattle to bring in before this turns into anything like the working ranch in Montana.” He looked at him. “We’ll need to go over some specifics.”

Ryan nodded. The tour had gone fine. Too fine, maybe. As he’d learned the hard way all through life, good things might come in threes, but so did bad ones. After his run-ins that morning with the unnamed woman and the judge, he wondered what to expect from his talk with the boss.

Not once since his arrival had Caleb indicated either by word or by action any lack of trust in him. But if he didn’t watch his step, he’d be pulling stable duty with Tony.

Judge Baylor’s name hadn’t come up, either. Not for the first time, he wondered why the boss had talked to the man about him.

“I’ll have the laptop with me tomorrow,” Caleb continued, “and we can run over the list of wranglers we’ve got on board as of now.”

“Good. Always nice to know something about the men you’re working with.” No reason he shouldn’t get along with those here. He’d always done just fine back home…until lately.

“I mentioned the renovations.” Caleb gestured toward the bunkhouse. “The contractor’s not done yet with the addition. Things will be a mess over there for a while, but since we don’t have a full crew, that shouldn’t be a problem. I want you to bunk down here at the house, anyway.”

Puzzled, Ryan said, “You and the family haven’t moved in yet?”

“No. We’re keeping our rooms at the Whistlestop for now. My mother-in-law has plenty available.” His grimace told Ryan business hadn’t picked up for the family-owned inn. “Anyhow, the bunkhouse is low on the priority list. I’ve had the contractor’s men working on the cabins.”

“Cabins?”

“Yeah. Phase two.” Caleb eyed him for a long moment.

From inside the barn, metal clanged against metal. A horse nickered. Tony’s soothing response reached them as a murmur, reminding him of the woman on Signal Street.

Caleb gave him a wry smile. “We’re not up to speed yet, mostly because it took me a while to decide what I wanted to do with the property. I’ve finally figured it out. We’ll eventually get this place running as a working ranch. But along with that, I’m setting up a school for disadvantaged boys.”

Ryan shoved his hands into his back pockets and forced himself not to break eye contact. Hell, not to break into a sweat. He knew enough about his boss’s history to understand his interest in folks who didn’t have much to call their own. But Caleb knew
his
history, too. “You never mentioned kids.”

“I am now.”

He sucked in a breath. This wasn’t part of their deal.

As if they’d actually agreed on his reassignment.

“We’ve got student applications coming in, and we’re in the process of hiring. Officially, we won’t open till August.”

Four months from now. He would be long gone.

The contractors had left a sawhorse just outside the barn door. He settled on it and crossed his arms over his chest.

“I’ve brought in a project manager to handle the school setup,” Caleb added. “Meanwhile, I’ll be keeping a close eye on things.”

Ryan frowned. Did he plan to keep an eagle eye on
him,
too? Or a squint-eyed gaze like the one the judge had given him earlier? And how many other surprises did the boss plan to throw at him? “I met a friend of yours on my way through town this morning.”

He gave himself a mental kick for blurting the statement.

Before he could get himself in deeper, a vehicle screeched to a halt in the front of the house.

Caleb looked at his watch again and pushed himself upright. “Speaking of friends, here’s another one of mine you’ll get to meet. The new project manager.”

Thankful for the reprieve, he walked across the yard, trying to get a handle on the same issues that had dogged him all year. Frustration over circumstances he had no ability to control. Overwhelming anger at unanswered questions.

He shook his head. In the few hours since he’d set foot in Flagman’s Folly, he hadn’t done much of what he’d come here to prove—that he was back to his calm, rational, clearheaded self. Back to the self he was before the accident. Back to being a man his boss could trust.

He wondered what kind of man Caleb would trust to manage a project as big as building a school. He turned the corner of the house and got his answer. Not a man after all.

The third bad thing of his day had just arrived.