“Don’t try to sweet-talk me,” Dani warned

“Why not?” Jack demanded, kissing the dimples at the base of her spine.

She jumped as if shot. “Stop that!” She batted him behind her back without turning around.

Smoothing his palms over her hips, he let out a gusty sigh. “This could be habit-forming.”

“Listen!” Leaping up, she kept her back to him while she pulled on her clothes. “What just happened was a huge mistake. The truth is, I have no intention of getting serious about any man until I’m at least thirty.”

“Who said anything about getting serious?” Frowning, he sat up. “That doesn’t mean I intend to stop living, though.” A significant glance at the bed conveyed exactly what he meant by “living.”

“Whatever,” she snapped. “I intend to forget this ever happened. I suggest you do the same.”

“I don’t think I can do that,” he said, tracing the line of her jaw with his finger. And then he added what was obviously intended as a challenge. “I don’t think you’ll forget it so easily, either.”

Dear Reader,

There are lots of ways to start over. My favorite is to tack a sign on your door declaring that you’ve “Gone to Texas,” and then just take off.

Really. During the frontier days, that’s exactly what discouraged Southerners and Yankees alike used to do when they flat gave up. Maybe they were dodging creditors or the law, but often they just wanted a fresh start. Whatever their reasons, they’d hang that sign, often abbreviated to G.T.T. and go.

Which is exactly what the Keene triplets do when they receive an unexpected inheritance: a dude ranch in the Lone Star state. Saying goodbye to Montana, Dani, Toni and Niki pack up and travel south with their beloved grandma. No pioneers ever had higher hopes of building new and better lives.

Only wise old Grandma dreams that new life will include so much love and laughter.

Welcome to Hard Knox, Texas, where the men are handsome, the horses are fast and the women are smart enough to appreciate both—eventually. The Wrangler’s Woman is the story of the “smart” sister, but we’ve still got the “nice” sister and the “pretty” sister to go! Look for Almost a Cowboy in April and The Cowgirl’s Man in May.

So welcome to the Bar-K Dude Ranch, folks. Y’all come back, hear?

Ruth Jean Dale

The Wrangler’s Woman

Ruth Jean Dale

www.millsandboon.co.uk

This book is dedicated to everyone who’s ever wanted to pull up stakes and start over. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Epilogue

Prologue

ALL THE INTERESTING STUFF happened at the Elk Tooth Community Center.

The picturesque log structure at the edge of the little Montana town served as the site for parties and wedding receptions, political meetings and club gatherings, summer youth programs and holiday galas.

Tilly Collins, aka Mrs. Santa Claus each December for as long as anyone could remember, had seen them all during the past fifty years. But she’d never seen anything quite like the outpouring of woe on this particular occasion. And understandably so: a town as small as Elk Tooth could hardly enjoy saying goodbye to three of the most eligible women in the entire state of Montana—not to mention their always-ready-with-a-cookie-and-a-smile grandmother.

“Care for a cup of punch, Tilly?”

Mason Kilgore, the middle-aged photographer who also served as part-time manager of the local chamber of commerce, handed over a small paper cup. Tilly took it with a smile of thanks.

Mason shook his gray head in apparent disbelief. Sitting on the folding chair next to hers, he said mournfully, “I sure do hate to see you and the girls leave. I go out of town for two weeks and look what happens.”

“Surprised us, too,” Tilly admitted with a chuckle. “We had no idea what happened to the triplets’ no-account pa after he deserted them and their mother all those years ago. This inheritance came out of the clear blue sky.”

Mason grimaced. “I can’t hardly blame them for wanting to claim a deluxe-type dude ranch, but in Texas?”

“Even in Texas.” She nodded for emphasis. “It’s the only decent thing Wil Keene ever did for his girls.”

“When are you folks leaving?”

“Tomorrow morning. We’ve sent what we need ahead. Me ’n’ the girls will drive down pulling a horse trailer.” Now it was Tilly’s turn to make a face. “Dani wouldn’t go anywhere without that horse of hers.”

“Don’t blame her. That Appaloosa is worth a lot of money and she’s smart enough to know that.”

Tilly sought out Danielle across the crowded room. Oldest of the twenty-five-year-old Keene triplets, Dani was universally acknowledged to be “the smart one” of the bunch: the sister with the quick wit, the sharp tongue and the overdeveloped work ethic.

Dani stood near the punch bowl, deep in conversation with the middle-aged owner of the ranch where she’d worked for the past several years. Her brown eyes gleamed with intelligence as she nodded in understanding. Cute as a button, she wore the local costume—denim and boots—and she’d let wavy hair the color of chocolate fall free to the middle of her back.

Dani Keene was as pretty as she was smart, and her proud grandmother wasn’t the only one who noticed.

“How’s Toni taking it?” Mason inquired. “I know she’s been going with that Barnes boy, but don’t know if it’s serious.”

“Not on her part, anyway.” Tilly knew, but didn’t say, that Antonia had been looking for a way to let Tim Barnes down easy. She was known around this part of Montana as “the nice one” among the triplets, and this proved the point; she was too nice to hurt Tim’s feelings with the truth. She’d had no romantic interest in him from day one, because he wasn’t a cowboy.

Standing near the door, Toni give Tim Barnes an encouraging pat on the arm, her dark eyes distressed. There was a sweetness about Toni that everyone seemed to see at once, even before they noticed how attractive she was with her curly, light brown hair and pert figure.

Tilly glanced at the glum man beside her. “I guess the one you really hate to see go is Niki,” she announced, not guessing at all.

“We’ll never see her like in this town again,” Mason said sadly. “Our loss is Texas’s gain.”

Tilly understood his cheerless state. Niki had worked for Mason for five years, both in his photography studio and at the chamber of commerce office. Known as “the pretty one,” she’d won the Miss Elk Tooth contest three years running and she’d never even entered; Mason had entered for her. She’d probably still be Miss Elk Tooth today but she’d refused the title the fourth time it was offered.

Spotting Niki was easy, even in this crowd; she was always surrounded by men. Taller than her sisters, she wore her thick hair long and straight, cascading in a heavy fall all the way to her waist—and it was black instead of brown like theirs. She was the only one who’d got Wil Keene’s blue eyes instead of their mother’s brown ones, and where she’d got those cheekbones and long legs was anybody’s guess.

Bottom line: Nicole Keene was the most drop-dead-gorgeous woman anyone in Elk Tooth had ever seen, and probably the most modest to boot.

Mason stood up, his knees creaking. “Guess there’s nothing to be done,” he said. “I better go see if the wife is ready to go home. Good luck in Texas, Tilly.”

“Thanks, and good luck to you, too.” She watched him thread his way through the crowd, thinking that Texas was sure to be a great adventure. She only hoped her granddaughters would find the happiness and security—the love—that had eluded them in Montana.

THE KEENE TRIPLETS and Grandma finished loading up the Jeep Cherokee on a blustery Montana March day. After hooking up the horse trailer and loading Dani’s prized Appaloosa gelding, they stood for a moment looking nostalgically at the little house on the edge of town. They’d called this place home for as long as they could remember—since before their mother’s death in a riding accident when they were only seven. After that, it had been just Grandma and the girls all the way.

Toni sighed and shoved wind-tossed hair away from her cheeks. “Now that it’s time to go—” her voice faltered “—I feel a little funny about leaving this old place. Do you think the new owners will be as happy here as we were?”

“Absolutely.” Niki, managing to look gorgeous as usual without even trying, hugged her sister. “It’s just an old house,” she said encouragingly. “As long as we’re together, it doesn’t matter where we live. Besides, we’ll have a better home in Texas.”

“I suppose.” But tears sparkled on Toni’s lashes.

Dani grinned at her sisters. “I knew you two would get all choked up,” she teased, “so I decided to do something about it. Wait right here!” She disappeared around the corner of the house at a run, heading for the little corral in back.

Her sisters looked at Grandma, who merely shrugged. Tilly had no idea what Dani was up to, but had faith that it would be something to cheer their departure.

Sure enough, Dani reappeared carrying a flat slab of wood. “Take a look at this,” she said proudly, turning it so they could see what she’d written there in big black letters: GTT. Beneath that, in parentheses, she’d translated: Gone to Texas!

Toni frowned. “I don’t get it.”

“Because you slept through history class,” Niki accused. “Early settlers posted signs like these on their doors when they pulled up stakes to head for the promised land. GTT—Gone to Texas!”

Toni giggled. “I never thought of Texas as the promised land,” she protested.

“Well, it is,” Dani declared. “We’ve fallen into the lap of luxury, ladies, and all we have to do is go claim it. One of you grab the hammer out of my coat pocket and the other help me hold this sign in place so we can nail it on the door.”

This they accomplished with much giggling and horseplay. Then, flanking their grandmother, they stood arm in arm for one final look before piling into the Jeep.

“Gone to Texas!” Dani sang out as she turned the car and trailer south. “Hey, it worked for the pioneers and it’ll work for us!”

In the back seat, Tilly sent up a silent prayer.

1

TEXAS BARBECUE WAS the best barbecue in the world, hands down. Jack Burke figured everybody knew that.

Since the Sorry Bastard Saloon in Hard Knox, Texas, served the best barbecue in the state, that’s where local barbecue fans gathered. The saloon was packed with rowdy young cowboys and indulgent townfolk on this Saturday afternoon in March, Jack among them.

Until lately, the Sorry Bastard could also boast of having the best-looking barmaids in Texas, but recent marriages had thinned those ranks. Not that Jack Burke ever came in for the scenery, heck no.

“Hey!” One of the cowboys bellied up to the bar and yelled in Jack’s face. “I said please pass the hot sauce!”

“Oh, sorry.” Jack passed the dangerous red condiment, then carefully picked up the last sloppy bite of his barbecue-beef-brisket sandwich. “I was thinkin’.”

“Yeah,” the cowboy said wisely, “like we all been, I bet, about them Keenes comin’ in to take over the Bar K. It’s a real shame your daddy and grandpa won’t be able to buy that place now. Just when they’s gettin’ close, old Wil Keene up and kicks the bucket.”

This was greeted with somber nods all around. Everybody in the county had known old Wil Keene and none of them had liked him much, especially the Burkes of the XOX Ranch. Wil had been a cranky SOB, but his neighbors had coexisted uneasily with him for the sake of his wife.

Miss Elsie Knox had been revered locally as a kind lady from pioneer stock. Hell, the town of Hard Knox got its name from one of her great-great-something or others. Why an aging maiden lady had waited all those years for her prince to come and then up and married a carpetbagger like Wil Keene five years ago was anybody’s guess. But she had, and out of respect they’d tried hard to get along with the abrasive foreigner plunked down in their midst.

They managed fairly well until Miss Elsie—no one ever called her Mrs. Keene—died. Then they moved in on Wil Keene like a flock of vultures, determined to rid themselves of a constant irritation.

The fastest way was to buy him out. Three ranchers whose land touched on Bar K borders made the widower offers they hoped he couldn’t refuse, Jack’s pa and grandpa among them. But Keene, who was getting up there in years and growing more surly by the minute, just sneered at all comers.

There was nothing for locals to do but stand by shaking their heads in collective disapproval while they watched the little Bar K go to hell in a handbasket.

Now Wil’s three sons were coming in to take over the failing dude ranch, and nobody was very enthusiastic about that, either.

“Those Keene boys are due in any day now,” one of the cowboys at a table near the bar offered. “Them ol’ boys are gonna have a real job of work gettin’ that place fit for dudes.”

Joe Bob Muskowitz, the long drink of water at the end of the bar, nodded. “They’ll play hell gettin’ any help from around here,” he predicted. “Their daddy ticked off just about everybody in this town at one time or another and they’re probably just like him.”

Heads nodded solemnly, all except Jack’s. Disgusted with himself for doing it, he still felt duty bound to speak up. It was hell to be beholden to a man you disliked and then have him die before you could repay your debt of honor.

“Wil Keene wasn’t—” he swallowed hard “—all bad.”

“Wal, where’s that comin’ from?”

Joe Bob gave the speaker an incredulous glance. “Where you been? Remember when Jack’s grandpa rolled his pickup last year? It was Wil who hauled the old man out just before the gas tank exploded—am I right, Jack? Saved Austin’s life, sure as shootin’.”

“That the way it was, Jack?” the other asked.

“Just about.” Jack didn’t like having his business discussed in public, but what could you do in a small town like Hard Knox?

“I still wouldn’t want to be one of them Keene brothers,” Joe Bob said emphatically. “I heard all about ’em—triplets, somebody said. Names are Danny, Nicky and Tony. Ain’t that sweet?”

“It’s not their front names that bother me,” the other cowboy said, “it’s the last one—Keene.”

“You got that right…never trust a Keene, just like their old man.” There were knowing nods all around.

Jack figured he ought to stick up for Wil Keene, but how? If he hadn’t owed Wil, he’d likely be making the same harsh judgments. And the thing was, Grandpa didn’t drive a danged bit better today than he had when he flipped that pickup and put his grandson between this rock and a hard place.

“Now,” he said halfheartedly, “don’t be too hard on ’em before you even lay eyes on ’em. They could be real nice guys.”

“From Montana?” Miguel Reyes, hitherto silent, raised his brows. “It’s too cold up there. Makes people all pinched and pale.” He looked at his own brown hand as if for emphasis.

“Yeah, and they talk funny, too,” another chimed in. “Why, I heard tell—”

The outside door flew open and Dylan Sawyer, a young cowboy from the XOX, stuck his head inside. “Hey, everybody, the Keene kids are in town! I just saw a dusty Jeep with Montana plates pull into the parking lot at the Y’all Come Café! Let’s go check ’em out!”

The bar of the Sorry Bastard emptied in a flash. Jack sat there for a moment longer, practically alone except for the lady bartender, who also happened to be the owner, Rosie Mitchell.

She looked at him, rolled her eyes and said, “Well, hell. There goes my Saturday business. At least you didn’t run off on me.”

“Don’t get your hopes up, Rosie.” Jack slid off his stool, digging in his jeans pocket for bills, which he tossed on the bar. “I may not like the Keenes any more than anybody else around here does, but I always pay my debts.”

And the sooner, the better. All he wanted was to be done with the Keenes, the whole lot of ’em, once and for all.

THE Y’ALL COME CAFÉ WAS only a block and a half away, so Jack hoofed it. As he neared the little restaurant, he saw the last of the cowboy crowd disappear inside. It was almost enough to make him feel sorry for the Keene brothers.

All set to follow, he caught movement from the corner of his eye and turned to see a woman walk around the side of the building from the big back parking lot. She was leading just about the best looking Appaloosa gelding he’d ever laid eyes on.

She saw him, too. Their gazes met and all of a sudden he couldn’t have told you whether that horse was a palomino or a bay. In her fringed leather jacket with a light wind ruffling her hair, she was even better looking than her horse, which was going some. He realized his mouth was hanging open and snapped it shut.

She raised slender brows in silent acknowledgment and turned away, the horse following obediently. Up and down she led the animal, obviously working out travel kinks. She must have just unloaded him from a horse trailer and was looking to his needs before seeing to her own.

Jack liked that. The woman must know horses. When she turned back in his direction the next time, he gave her a tentative smile. “Howdy,” he said. “Just get into town?”

Beautiful chocolate-brown eyes widened incredulously. “Was that a lucky guess?”

“What can I say?” He shrugged modestly, playing her little game. “Are you just passing through?”

“That’s right.”

“Mind me asking where you’re headed?”

“As a matter of fact, I do.” She turned sharply and led the horse away from him again.

When she reached the outer limits of the small graveled area, she had no choice but to turn back again. When she did, he was waiting.

“Didn’t mean to sound nosy.”

“Well, you did.” But she seemed somewhat mollified.

“I’d be happy to help you with your horse if—”

“Touch my horse and die!” Her eyes flashed; she had an extremely expressive face.

“Sorry!” He threw up his hands and backed up the steps to the front door of the café. “Just tryin’ to be neighborly.”

“Yes, well…whatever.” The look she gave him said she wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out he was actually a horse thief or worse, if there was anything worse.

This time when she turned away, he did, too. Nothing to be gained here. He might as well go on inside and gawk at the Keene brothers along with everybody else in town.

DANI WATCHED with skepticism as the tall, good-looking cowboy entered the café. At twenty-five, she’d lived long enough to know that strange men did not attempt to engage her in idle conversation without some ulterior motive. Usually it was to get closer to her sisters, but this guy hadn’t even seen Toni and Niki yet so he must have been interested in Sundance, the Appaloosa she’d raised from a colt and trained herself.

Granny said Dani was too suspicious, but she didn’t see how that was possible. All her life men had tried to use her to get to her gorgeous sisters, and all her life she’d seen right through them and sent them packing with her tart tongue and shoot-from-the-lip attitude.

Sighing, she led Sundance back around the building and loaded him into the trailer. He obeyed her commands with reluctance.

“It’s almost over, old boy.” She patted his speckled rump before banging the door closed. “Next stop, the Bar K!”

A little shiver of anticipation shot through her at the sound of it. All her life she’d wanted a ranch of her own, a place where she and her sisters and their grandmother could settle down and live happily ever after. Of course, Toni and Niki would get married eventually, but that was a long way away.

As for herself, she doubted she’d ever marry. After what their father had done to their mother, she couldn’t imagine why any of the triplets would take a chance on a man. Toni, on the other hand, seemed unscathed by their father’s desertion, to Dani’s total amazement. As for Niki…Niki kept her own counsel in many areas.

All of which meant that Dani must be chary for all their sakes…but that cowboy had been tempting.

More than six feet tall, she judged, with wide shoulders and a lithe way of moving. Strong jawed for sure, but that was about all she could tell about his face, shadowed as it was by a brown Stetson hat. A working cowboy, obviously, in off the range for a little weekend fun and frolic.

She shocked herself by wondering if he needed a job, then gave a contemptuousness snort at the slightest inference that she cared.

Brushing off her hands, she entered the café through the rear door. Emerging into the back of the dining room, she hesitated for a few moments, surveying the situation with her usual caution.

The Y’all Come looked as if it had started life as a Swiss Chalet. The steeply slanted roof was visible through windows framed by lacy wooden trim, and photos of snow scenes papered the walls. It was all so incongruous that Dani had to smile.

Then she stopped looking at the décor and honed in on her family.

Not too surprisingly, Niki and Toni were the object of considerable attention. They sat in a booth with Granny, chatting so animatedly that if you didn’t know them, you wouldn’t think they were even aware of the scrutiny of a whole roomful of mostly men.

Dani, very aware, was not pleased, especially when she spotted the nosy cowboy seated on a stool at the counter. He was watching her with an amused tilt to his lips. Lifting her chin, she stalked between the tables and slid into the only seat left in the family booth.

Everyone smiled, and Toni said, “How’s old Sundance?”

“Old Sundance is fine.” Dani picked up the mug of coffee they’d ordered for her. “Have you called the lawyer?”

Her sisters shifted a bit guiltily and Toni said, “We were just about to get around to that.”

“Okay. Have you got directions to the ranch?”

“Well…” Toni and Niki looked at each other, and Toni said, “Not exactly. The waitress is new around here and doesn’t know, but I’m sure one of these nice cowboys can help us out.”

Which was just what Dani didn’t want to hear. Why did some women check their good sense at the door when men came on the scene?

“I CAN’T BELIEVE IT,” Dylan Sawyer declared. “The Keene brothers turn out to be the Keene sisters! Does that take the cake or what?”

“It damn sure does,” Jack agreed, watching the prickly woman he’d encountered outside march up to the booth in front of the window and sit down. “Dani, Niki and Toni—with an i. Got any idea which one is which?”

“Well…” Dylan licked his chops. “The pretty one—”

“Hell, they’re all pretty.” And they were, Jack realized, although none more so than the woman who’d been walking the horse. There was more to her than good looks, too. Intelligence just glowed from those dark eyes. Grandpa would call her smart as a whip.

“No, I mean the real pretty one, the one with that long black hair. She’s Niki.”

Jack looked at Niki more carefully, and somewhat belatedly realized what a knockout she was. Funny how he hadn’t noticed anything special about her at first glance. “And the others?”

“The one in the red jacket is Toni, so the one who just came in must be Dani—process of elimination,” Dylan concluded with a guffaw. “They called the old lady who looks like Mrs. Santa Claus ‘Grandma.”’

“Did you get identification on the horse?”

Dylan blinked. “What horse?”

“Let it go.” A formal introduction, Jack was thinking. That’s what he needed, seeing as Dani had seemed so leery of him. Hell, he was going to be neighbors with her—with all of them, he hastened to add. Might as well be friendly.

Joe Bob slid onto the stool on the other side of Jack’s. “Man, did you get a load of that?” He jerked his head toward the women.

Dylan nodded, but then his look of eager anticipation faded. “They’re still Keenes and that means they’re off-limits,” he said in a warning tone. “Damn shame, since they’re so blasted cute.”

“Yeah, a shame,” Joe Bob agreed. “But lookin’ won’t hurt us any.” And he banged Jack on the shoulder with a friendly fist, nearly knocking him off the stool.

A COWBOY WITH HANDS so big they dwarfed the coffeepot offered refills and bashful smiles all around.

Dani cocked her head and watched him slosh coffee over the rim of her chipped mug. “Don’t quit your day job,” she advised.

“Huh?” He seemed to be having trouble pulling his gaze away from Niki.

“Do you work here?”

“Naw.” He chortled at the very thought. “I just wanted to get a closer look at y’all.” Still laughing, he backed away.

“Wait a minute.”

“Ma’am?”

Dani wanted to groan. She knew she must sound like a drill sergeant, but he didn’t have to “ma’am” her. “Do you know where the office of an attorney named John Salazar is?”

“Yes, ma’am, I do.”

“Well, would you mind telling me where it is?” she asked, exasperated.

“Oh. Sure.” He pointed toward the front door. “Out there, turn right one block and left one block. It’s in the Snake-oil Building—sorry, I mean the Snaesull Building, but we all call it the Snake-oil Building.”

“Oh, lord.” She rolled her eyes, then added a belated, “Thank you very much.” To her family she said, “I’m going to walk on over so I can get the keys. Wait here and let the locals look you over. In fact, you probably should go ahead and eat.”

Toni frowned. “Don’t you want one of us to go with you?”

Dani shook her head. “If I need you, I’ll come get you.” She slid out of the booth. “I won’t be long.” She didn’t wait for their response, knowing they’d acquiesce. She was, after all, the oldest of the triplets; she’d been born seven minutes ahead of Toni, who was born thirteen minutes before Niki, the baby of the family. Besides, business was Dani’s forte, as being nice was Toni’s and being beautiful was Niki’s.

Dani just wished she was as good at her thing as they were at theirs.

DANI WALKED OUT the front door and Jack hopped off that stool and was after her like a shot. Wherever she was going, he’d just tag along in case she needed…anything, anything at all.

All in the interest of repaying a debt, of course. Nothing more.

By the time he got out the front door, she was standing at the curb, looking around with great interest. He trotted up to her with a smile.

“Looking for something?” he asked in his most winsome tone.

“Is that just another good guess?”

“Yep. Maybe I can help you.”

“I don’t need any help, thank you.” She made a sharp right turn and walked quickly away from him.

He took that “thank you” as a good sign and followed. In a few long strides, he was beside her. She gave him an annoyed glance.

“Are you following me?” she demanded.

“No, ma’am, I’m being hospitable is all.”

“Ohh!” She clenched slender hands into tight fists. “If one more person calls me ma’am—!”

“It’s not your age,” he explained. “It’s your attitude. You are a tiny bit…intimidating.”

She didn’t miss a step. After about half a block, she said, “You don’t know me well enough to make that judgment. In fact, you don’t even know my—”

“Dani Keene,” he interrupted.

Then she did miss a step. “How did you know that?”

“Everybody does. We’ve been waitin’ for the Keene brothers of Montana to roll into town and here you are. I’m Jack—”

“I don’t care who you are.” She crossed the street and he kept pace. “I don’t take up with strangers on the street. If this is the way Texas men treat women—”

“Now hold it right there! Texas men don’t take a back seat to any men in their treatment of women. I’m tryin’ to be nice and helpful here, is all.”

“What part of ‘leave me alone’ don’t you understand?” She stopped so suddenly that he took a couple of steps past her. She was obviously checking out the two-story buildings in front of them.

“That one.” Jack pointed.

She blinked. “That one, what?”

“You’re lookin’ for the Snake-oil Building—excuse me, the Snaesull Building, right?”

“Yes, but how did you know that?” She faced him with fists on her hips and suspicion in her eye.

“Because John Salazar is your attorney.”

She looked on the verge of an explosion. “How do you know John Salazar is my attorney?”

“Because he was your father’s attorney.”

She almost flinched at the mention of her father, and some of the fight went out of her. “What else do you know about m-my…” she swallowed hard, looking suddenly vulnerable “…my father?”

“Quite a lot, now that you bring it up.” He wondered why she’d had so much trouble with the word father. “I grew up here and I’ve watched the Bar K…go through a lot of changes. If there’s anything I can do to help you while you’re here—”

“You make it sound like I’m on a vacation,” she said. “I’m here to stay.”

He nodded, pleased to hear it. “That’s fine by me, but…things may not be exactly what you expect. All I’m saying is that if I can help, I’ll be glad to do it. Any questions?”

She looked almost panicky for a moment, but a shaky breath seemed to steady her. “This isn’t a good time. Look, Jack, I don’t mean to seem unfriendly but I don’t have the faintest idea who you are and I’m in no mood for company, anyway.”

She remembered his name. That was a good omen. “Jack Burke, of the XOX Ranch, at your service.” He put out his hand, hoping for a shake so he could touch her.

She ignored his outstretched hand. Her blank look said that the next time they met she probably wouldn’t even remember him. “Thanks for your interest, but I have business to attend to. If you’ll excuse me…”

What if he wouldn’t? She didn’t wait to find out, just wheeled and walked into the Snake-oil Building. For a long moment, Jack stood on the sidewalk looking after her, thinking she might be as prickly as her old man.

But a whole helluva lot easier on the eyes.

BACK IN THE CAFÉ AGAIN, Dani sat down hard on the booth seat and looked at her startled siblings and grandmother. “He wasn’t in,” she said.

“The lawyer?”

Dani nodded. “His secretary gave me a set of keys and wished me luck. I got the feeling she thought I’d need it.”

Toni picked up a french fry. “At least you didn’t waste the walk.”

“I needed the fresh air to clear my head.” Not that it had succeeded. “I…” She saw the tall cowboy—Jack something or other, he’d said—at the counter again and she quickly turned her gaze away. The café had only emptied out a little. “I’m getting a funny feeling about this.”

Toni and Niki exchanged glances. “Funny how?” Toni asked.

“Funny…like the ranch isn’t all we’re expecting it to be.”

Granny leaned forward and patted her granddaughter’s hand. “Don’t be negative, dear. I’m sure it’s wonderful.”

“That’s right.” Niki nodded firmly. “We saw the brochures and brochures don’t lie.”

Dani had thought at the time that the brochures looked at least thirty years old, but swept up in the excitement, hadn’t mentioned that little qualm. “I’m sure you’re right.” She sighed. “It’s just that this has been a long hard trip and I’m tired. You all must be, too.”

Toni laughed. “Why should we be tired when you did ninety percent of the driving? Once we get to the ranch, you deserve a nice long rest, Dani.”

“We all do.” Somehow Dani didn’t think any of them would get much rest, but she wouldn’t rain on their parade. “Why don’t I pay the check and we can get out of here? Until we see the place, we won’t know what we’re talking about.”

“Uhh…”

“Uhh…what?”

Again those surreptitious glances, and Granny said, “It’s a little complicated—the directions, I mean. There are two ways, the long way and the short way. The long way is complicated, but the short way is practically a secret, from what the lady who runs this place told us.”

“Are you saying we need better directions?”

“Or a guide,” Toni said, grinning. “Come on, Dani, cheer up! We’re almost there—Gone To Texas! The promised land. Remember?”

“I remember.” Dani told herself she was being ridiculous, but ever since that brief conversation with the cowboy, she’d had the oddest feeling that something wasn’t quite right at the Bar K. “I’m just being silly,” she added. “Stay here while I pay the bill and get decent directions.”

Rising, she picked up the check and took the few steps to the cash register. She handed it to the pleasant-faced woman behind the counter, along with a twenty dollar bill.

The woman smiled and shook her head. “It’s already taken care of,” she said.

Dani frowned and glanced at the table. All three women shrugged; none of them had paid the check. “I don’t understand,” she said. “None of us—”

“Jack took care of it,” the woman announced. “Y’all come back, hear?”

Jack. The cowboy. This couldn’t go on. Dani marched up to where he sat at the counter, grinning.

She was steaming. “Look,” she said shortly, “I can’t let you do that. Tell me how much our bill was and I’ll…” She fumbled her wallet out of the pocket of her jacket, hoping she’d have the exact change.

He shook his head. “My pleasure,” he said.

“Dammit, Jack, you can’t—”

“It’s done. Short of making a scene, there’s not much you can do about it.” His calm, almost patronizing expression didn’t waver.

Dani gritted her teeth and took a deep breath. He was right, but how dare he put her in this corner? “Okay,” she muttered, “you win this one. Thank you very much, but don’t you ever do this again.”

“No, ma’am, I sure won’t.” Clear hazel eyes crinkled at the corners. “Anything else I can do for you?”

“There certainly—is.”

His grin widened. “Just name it.”

“Can you give me directions to the Bar K? My family seems to think it’s at the end of a labyrinth or something.”

“Umm, not too many labyrinths in Texas that I know of. It is a little tricky to find if you don’t know your way around, though.”

“You can draw me a map.”

“I can do better than that.” He rose from the stool.

“There is nothing better than that,” she flared. “Wait. Grandma always has paper and pencil in her purse.”

“Don’t bother.”

“But—”

“I’ll lead you there.”

“I don’t want you to show me the way,” she objected in alarm. She really hated how he was pushing in, mostly because she found him so damned attractive.

“Yes, you do.”

“Don’t tell me what I want!”

“Dani,” he said in that lazy drawl, “you do, you just don’t know it yet. Trust me on this—when you get your first look at the Bar K, you’ll be damned glad to have me around.”

Dani’s stomach dropped to her knees and she could only stand in dumb alarm while he waltzed around her to introduce himself to her family. That lump of dread had just turned into a boulder.

2

KEEPING JACK’S PICKUP in sight, Dani drove down dirt roads, through miniforests, over hills, until suddenly the Bar K Dude Ranch lay spread out before them.

The ramshackle Bar K. A sudden silence fell, and then from the back seat of the Jeep, Toni uttered a faint, “Oh, dear.”

A tight-lipped Dani braked in a large gravel parking lot in front of the ranch house. To the right lay several outbuildings and a barn; to the left a number of log cabins and a swimming pool, empty and sad in the March sunshine.

The first word that leaped into her head was paint. The Bar K was in dire need of paint, preferably many coats of it. The house itself, although a pleasant sprawl with a wide front porch running the entire length of the building, looked shabby and unloved. The outbuildings were equally neglected and the barn was practically gothic.

Granny cleared her throat. “You girls will be amazed at what a little elbow grease will do for this place,” she announced in a determinedly cheerful tone.

“But the brochure…!” Niki wailed.

Dani opened her car door. “It’ll look like the brochure again,” she said grimly. “I’m afraid it’ll take more than elbow grease, though.”

“Whatever it takes,” Toni said, “we’ll see it gets it. We’re not afraid of a little hard work.”

“Or a lot, for that matter.” Dani climbed out and stretched, trying not to give in to panic when she thought of the state of their bank account.

The road from Elk Tooth, Montana, to Hard Knox, Texas, had been a long one. Without waiting for the rest of them, she hurried around to open the door to the trailer and back Sundance out. By the time that was accomplished, everyone had alighted and Jack had joined them.

His expression, Dani thought, was evasive, to say the least.

“So what do you think?” he inquired, his tone guarded.

“Uhh…” Toni licked her lips. “It’s a little more…run-down than I expected.”

He nodded. “That’s true, but the underlying structure is still strong. After Miss Elsie died, Wil did kind of let things go—” He stopped short. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to sound critical of your father.”

“Feel free,” Dani invited. Tossing the rope lead over the horse’s neck, she grabbed a hunk of mane and swung up. After settling herself firmly on the bare speckled back, she turned the horse and tightened her knees to urge him forward.

They took off toward the trees at a slow lope, Dani reveling in the rippling muscles between her thighs. All that pent-up power raised her spirits considerably.

So did the landscape. All her life she’d heard about the Texas Hill Country, and she wasn’t disappointed. These rolling hills would be beautiful in the full flower of spring. So the buildings were not in the best of shape, the land was wonderful. What had she expected, the moon?

Not exactly expected. More like wanted.

Reining Sundance around, she supposed she’d been naive to believe that brochure. Still, the place was full of potential. It had been successful in the past and could be again. It all depended upon how badly they wanted it.

Dani wanted it more than anything in the world.

With a yell, she let out the tight rein she’d been holding on the Appaloosa’s halter and he shot forward in a dead run. Wind whipped Dani’s hair away from her face and she felt her spirits rise with every pounding hoofbeat.

This would work. She’d make it work. Nothing would stand in her way, not even the dangerously appealing cowboy waiting beside the barn.

DAMN, THE WOMAN COULD ride.

Jack watched the spotted horse sit back on his haunches in a sliding stop. Even bareback and guided only by a halter rope, the animal was under perfect control.

Dani jumped to the ground, her cheeks red and her eyes sparkling. He’d thought she was good-looking before, but he hadn’t seen anything. This was the real Dani Keene, he knew instinctively, not that suspicious woman who’d cut him off back in town.

By the time she reached him, though, the joy had been replaced by caution. “This is beautiful country,” she said, glancing around. “Sure, the ranch itself needs work, but it’ll be worth it.”

“I wondered if you’d see that.” He patted the nose of the curious Appaloosa. “You got a real nice horse here.”

Her smile revealed genuine pleasure. “He sure is. I raised him from a colt and trained him myself. We suit each other just fine.”

“The corral’s empty. You can put him in there.”

She frowned. “Don’t we have any stock at all?”

“Some. Dobe can tell us how much.”

“Dobe?”

“Dobe Whittaker. He’s kinda the caretaker, you could say. He’s around here some—”

“I’m where I’m s’posed to be.” A man stepped from the deep shadows of the open barn door. Looking as old as the hills, he wore cowboy clothes softened by age. The stamp of the West was in far-seeing blue eyes and a lined, leathery face partially concealed by a snowy beard and trailing mustache.

“Howdy, ma’am.” He doffed his hat. “I’m Dobe Whittaker. At the moment you got a dozen horses and a small herd of longhorns and that’s just about it.”

“Dobe.” She smiled, genuinely pleased to meet him. “I’m Dani Keene. My sisters and grandmother are back at the house.”

“Seen ’em go in.” Without waiting for a response, Dobe wheeled back into the shadows.

Dani looked at Jack, her forehead furrowed. “Not very friendly, is he?”

“Depends on who he’s dealin’ with.”

“He doesn’t know me well enough to dislike me,” she pointed out.

“He knew your dad.”

She walked past him, leading the horse toward the corral. “If he disliked my father so much, why is he looking out for things?”

“Because of loyalty to Miss Elsie.” Jack was still cautious about criticizing Wil Keene.

“I see.” She said it so grimly that Jack thought maybe she did see.

Opening the gate, she slipped off the halter, and Sundance trotted inside. Making straight for a patch of dirt stomped and mashed by a multitude of horses before him, he lowered himself and rolled.

When she looked at the horse, her expression softened. Jack wished it would do the same when she looked at him, but so far that hadn’t happened.

Squaring her shoulders, she faced him. “Will you bring Dobe up to the house to meet the rest of the family?”

“I’ll try.” In actual fact, he wasn’t at all sure Dobe was interested in meeting any more Keenes.

“Thank you.” She turned and walked away, covering the ground between barn and house with long, easy strides.

He watched with admiration. She might be a foreigner, but she was no stranger to ranch life. If it was possible to make a go of this run-down dude ranch, Dani Keene was the woman who could do it. Although Jack’s father and grandfather were still determined to own this place, Jack would help her in every way he could.

Or more accurately, in any way she’d let him.

He turned toward the barn and hollered. “Dobe! Come on out here, you old reprobate.”

Dobe shuffled out immediately, his grin sheepish. “Howdy, Jack. What you up to, comin’ in here with them wimmin?”

“Just bein’ neighborly.” They shook hands and then Jack patted the smaller man on the shoulder. “You might give it a try yourself.”

Dobe snorted. “Not hardly. I done my duty by Miss Elsie because nobody else would. Now I’m pull-in’ up stakes. I don’t want nothin’ to do with no more Keenes, no sir-ee-bob, I don’t.”

“You got ’em all wrong, Dobe.” If he couldn’t talk the old man into staying, Dani’s row was going to be even harder to hoe. Dobe had earned the respect of the cowboy community, and if he refused to hang around, who would? “They’re real nice, those Keene sisters and their grandma. Don’t you think you could cut them a little slack?”

“Nope.” The old cowboy shook his head decisively. “I’m leavin’ pronto, already packed and ever’thin’.”

“And going where?”

Dobe blinked. “I can find a job,” he declared defensively. “Don’t you worry about me none.”

Realizing he’d taken a wrong approach, Jack nodded. “It’s not you I’m worried about, it’s the Keenes. They need you, Dobe, whether they know it or not.”

“Yep, but I don’t need them.”

“Why not? They’ll pay you a fair wage—” Jack assumed they would “—and they’re smart enough to realize you know the lay of the land and they don’t.” He hoped.

“They ain’t got a prayer of gettin’ this place back on its feet,” Dobe scoffed.

“Not without you,” Jack said, buttering up the old codger. “How about giving them a chance?” When that didn’t bring instant acquiescence, he added, “As a personal favor to me.”

Dobe thought that over. Then he let out a disgusted snort. “When you put it that way, I don’t have a whole lotta choice. You always been square with me so… Okay, Jack, I’ll do it as a favor to you. But if they turn out to be anything like their old man, I’m outa here, no ifs, ands or buts.”

“Fair enough.” Jack felt great relief. “How about comin’ up to the house with me so you can meet the rest of them?”

“Okay, but I ain’t gonna like ’em.”

You might, Jack thought. That grandma could be just your type.

“THE HOUSE HAS TONS of possibilities,” Toni announced.

“And some of this furniture is wonderful.” Niki ran a hand over the dusty arm of a leather chair with armrests made of animal horns. “I wonder how old this stuff is.”

Dani, who was much more interested in the outdoors than the indoors, looked up from the old ledgers she’d pulled from a desk drawer. “Could be from the twenties. That’s when dude ranching really took off in a big way, according to the research I’ve done.”

Toni looked around with surprise. “Gosh, I didn’t know you’d done research.”

“It’s an interesting subject.” Dani closed the book and leaned her elbows on it. “For instance, dude ranching got started in the late nineteenth century. A lot of people from back East visited friends in the West, and sometimes they stayed and stayed and stayed. When it got too expensive for the ranchers to support all those frequent guests, some of them started charging and voilà! The dude ranch was born.”

“I don’t know about that.” Toni looked worried. “It doesn’t sound too nice to charge your friends.”

“Oh, dear,” Granny exclaimed. “Don’t let Toni handle the billing or we’ll be broke in a month.”

Everyone laughed. Opening a drawer, Dani pulled out a wad of papers. Old bills, mostly, but when she unfolded a piece of lined notepaper it revealed a scrawled message: “Are you having fun yet? You girls don’t know half as much as you think you do.”

“What in the world?” she wondered aloud. “Granny—?”

The front door opened and Jack walked in, leading the old cowboy she’d met briefly at the barn. Hastily stuffing the piece of paper in her jeans pocket, she stood up to greet them.

While Jack made the introductions, she tried to calm her jangled nerves. Finding the unsigned note had upset her because she was sure her father had written it. Reading it had been like hearing his voice from the grave. While he was alive he’d had no interest whatsoever in his daughters, leaving Elk Tooth before they were born and never so much as contacting them afterward. It had been a shock to learn he’d left them this dude ranch, but she’d supposed he’d had no one else to pass it on to.

Now she wondered if he’d simply lured them here to torment them from the netherworld.

“And you met Dani at the barn.”

She smiled automatically and nodded, pulled back into the here and now. Dobe wasn’t looking at her anyway, but at Granny. And he wasn’t smiling, he was glowering.

So was she, Dani saw with surprise. Grandma, who liked everybody and was liked by all in return, did not look impressed by Dobe Whittaker. It didn’t take much to figure out why, either.

If Grandma looked like Mrs. Santa Claus, Dobe was the spittin’ image of Mr. Santa Claus. Tilly Collins didn’t like that, not one little bit. He was stealing her thunder, and worse, he’d got here first.

Dani intervened quickly. “So when will it be convenient for you to show me around?” she asked the old cowboy.

Dobe slanted a skeptical glance at Jack. “About anytime, I reckon. Maybe you can all come so I’ll only have to do it once. I’ll round up the horses and—”

“Not me,” Niki said quickly.

“Beg pardon?”

“I’m not a horse person.”

“Missy, this is a dude ranch. Horses are a real big part of it.”

Niki’s expression grew uncharacteristically stubborn. “There are a whole lot of things in this world that I can do happily, but messing with horses isn’t among them. Count me out, please.”

Dobe rolled his eyes expressively, but all he said was, “It’s up to you, missy. Tell you what, I’ll be ready first thing tomorrow morning and anyone who wants to come along is welcome.”

“Thank you,” Dani said. “And thank you for taking care of things after…after our father died. We do appreciate it.”

“Yeah, well…”

“You’ll be staying on with us, won’t you?”

Silence greeted her question, and Dani found herself holding her breath. They were starting so deep in a hole that without the continuity Dobe could provide, she couldn’t imagine what they’d do.

He let out his breath on a gusty note. “I’ll stay for a while anyway, till we see how it goes. In the meantime, I got chores.”

Turning, Dobe stomped out of the house. After a moment’s silence, Dani laughed a bit shakily. “Another crisis averted.”

Jack stirred. “Naw, no problem, he’s always like that. Just treat him fair and he’ll work his heart out for you. He goes back a real long way with this place so I think he can tell you a lot of things you need to know.”

“I’m sure you’re right.”

For another long moment, she met his gaze directly, until a slight feeling of unease skittered up her spine. Looking down abruptly at the messy desktop, she said faintly, “Well, if you have to leave now… I mean, you’ve been very helpful, but I’m sure we’ve already intruded on your time quite enough.”

Jack said, “I can take a hint.” Turning toward the door, he put his hat back on his head. “If there’s anything else I can do for you—”

“You’ve done quite enough already.” The words sounded considerably more impatient than she’d intended.

“See you around, then. Ladies…” His nod included them all and then he was gone.

Everyone looked at Dani with various degrees of puzzlement. Then Toni said, “Gosh, he’s cute,” which pretty much broke the tension.

THE WOMEN HELD a war council that night over a supper of canned soup and crackers. They were all in complete agreement: their futures depended upon making the Bar K pay, so they’d knuckle down and work their fingers to the bone if need be.

Dani, proud of the lot of them, nodded approval. “It will be tougher because money is so short,” she said, “but when wasn’t it?”

“Money can’t buy happiness, anyway,” Toni said blithely.

“That’s only your opinion,” Dani snapped back. Softening her tone, she added, “It is a little strange that no money came with this place. With what we cleared for the house in Montana, though, we should be able to make it, God willing and the creeks don’t rise.”

“I can get a job,” Niki said suddenly.

Dani frowned. “Are you sure you want to do that? I mean, with all that has to be done here, you’d be working night and day.”

“It won’t be that bad. Besides, we need the cash.”

“I’ll bet they’d hire you at the chamber of commerce,” Toni predicted. “Remember what Mason said? You’re the best advertisement a town can have and you even have experience.”

Niki made a wry face. “I don’t want to do that again. I just want a job where I can maybe make a little money. Unfortunately, I’m not loaded with qualifications.”

“Tips,” Toni declared. “You need a job where you can get tips. All those cowboys at that café were just falling all over you. Maybe you could be a waitress?”

Niki perked up. “Or a barmaid.” She glanced at Dani. “Maybe we can ask Jack for—”

“Leave Jack out of it, why don’t you.” It sounded terribly ungracious, but that was how Dani felt. “I’m sure you can get any job you want without his help or anybody else’s. But a barmaid… I don’t know. I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.”

Her two sisters exchanged puzzled glances, but let it pass.

“While we’re splitting up jobs,” Tilly said, “I’ll handle the cooking and the kitchen, of course.”

“I’ll be Grandma’s assistant,” Toni said eagerly. “I can manage the housework, so once we get this place in shape, I’ll be the maid.” She grinned broadly. “And Dani will handle the business end of things, of course, and take care of all the outdoors stuff.”

“And,” Niki interjected, “when I’m home I’ll do whatever’s needed as long as it has nothing to do with horses.”

Nods of understanding greeted this pronouncement. Niki’s fear of horses was well known in the family; they understood its roots and accepted it with regret.

“All right,” Dani said decisively. “Tomorrow’s Sunday, so Niki and I won’t be able to get anything done in town until the next day. Then, while she fills out job applications, I’ll put an ad in the newspaper. We need wranglers and we need them bad if we hope to be ready for the first guests.”

Granny blinked. “What first guests?”

“These!” Dani held aloft a handful of reservation forms. “I found these in the desk in the big room in front—the great room, I guess you’d call it. Apparently there are quite a lot of people who come here every summer and have for years. If we can just pull everything together in time… But it’ll take help, so it’s important that we get the ad into the newspaper right away.”

“Hey,” Toni said with a smile, “things are looking up!”

“Don’t count your chickens,” Dani warned. “We can’t let down our guard for a minute. Don’t forget, this is Texas. It’s a man’s world down here. You saw how those guys swarmed around you today? Well, don’t let ’em fool you. If you give any of them an inch, he’s sure to take a mile.”

“Really?” A very faint smile curved Niki’s lips. “Are you thinking of anyone in particular, maybe someone like that good-lookin’, slow talkin’ Jack Burke?”

Dani felt hot color rush into her cheeks. She lifted her chin with hauteur. “I’m speaking of men in general. Which reminds me…” She dug around in the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a scrap of paper, which she offered to Granny. “Do you think Wil Keene wrote that?”

Granny’s eyes widened and she smoothed out the wrinkles, then read aloud, “Are you having fun yet? You girls don’t know half as much as you think you do.”

Niki and Toni gasped in unison. “Where did you get that?” Niki demanded.

“Found it in the desk. Granny, do you think that’s his handwriting?”

“Mercy, your guess is as good as mine. He wasn’t big on writing letters, you know.”

They did indeed.

“But…” Granny pursed her lips. “If you ask me, it sounds just like him—are you having fun yet! It’s like…like some kind of clue to something. What in the world has that man done now?” She shook her head with obvious disgust.

And who could blame her? It was her daughter, twenty-five years younger than Wil Keene, who’d fallen for the fast-talking con man, been seduced and abandoned in short order. Granny had said over and over through the years that she would be eternally grateful her granddaughters had better sense.

“We won’t worry about it,” Dani decided for all of them. “We have too many important things to do to waste any thought or effort on a note that might not have been written by him at all. So who wants to do the grand tour with Dobe and me tomorrow morning?”

The answer was exactly nobody.

SUNDAY BREAKFAST at the huge XOX Ranch was a four-generation affair: Austin the grandfather, Travis the father, Jack the son, and Petey the orphaned, four-year-old grandson, whose parents had died tragically when he was still an infant. Gathered around the big wooden table in the dining room, they ate and argued and generally gave all-male households a bad name.

The Sunday menu never varied: chicken fried steak with home-fried potatoes, two or three fried eggs on each plate, with cream gravy over the whole thing. Jack figured if it didn’t clog your arteries and kill you, you were just lucky.

Petey dropped his spoon on the floor and looked expectantly at his uncle, a stubborn brown cowlick hanging across his big hazel eyes.

“Get it yourself,” Jack said. “I’m tryin’ to teach you to be independent, kid.”

“Ha!” Grandpa Austin snagged another huge slab of fried meat off the platter. “You help that boy, Jack.”

Travis poured coffee into his cup and his father’s. “You’re spoilin’ the boy, Pa. Jack’s right.”

Petey just sat there grinning from one to the other; he always enjoyed stirring up the pot. When his glance snagged on his uncle Jack’s, the grin slipped. He hopped off his chair to pick up the spoon, which he put back on his plate without even wiping it off.

Jack figured the boy had already met and conquered every germ on the XOX, so he let it pass.

Austin fixed Jack with a gimlet eye. “I hear them Keenes are in town,” he said.

“That’s right.” Jack hacked at his fried eggs with the edge of his fork. “Got in yesterday. Turns out they’re daughters, not sons.”

“Heard that.” Travis speared a chunk of steak. “That’ll make it easier to do what we’re afixin’ to do.”

Alarm flared in Jack. “And what might that be?”

“Buy the place, same as always.”

“Oh, that.”

“We’ll be doin’ them a favor.” Austin piped up. “It’d be hard enough for three able-bodied men with deep pockets to save that place. For three women it’ll be dang nigh impossible.”

Travis nodded. “I heard on the grapevine that no money come with the place so they gotta be strapped for cash. Seems kinda strange to me, though, all things considered.”

“Well…” Jack’s appetite was fading. “They—”

A crash shocked all thought out of him and he swung around to find Petey grinning while milk from his smashed glass traveled quickly across the hardwood floor.

“Doggone it, Petey!”

Muriel appeared, mop in hand. “I’ll handle this,” she announced, fixing the little culprit with a condemning eye. “Did you do that on purpose, Peter Burke?”

Petey caught his lower lip between baby teeth and shook his head solemnly. “No, ma’am,” he said. “I just goofed.”

Muriel’s scowl transformed into an unwilling grin. “I swear, you take after the rest of the men in your family,” she declared, flopping mop strings around in the white mess. “Just get by on charm, which is what all you Burkes do.”

Grandpa winked at son and grandson. “Charm only gets us so far, right, fellas?”

Travis shrugged and Jack groaned. His grandfather had been married and divorced three times, and his father twice. One of the main reasons Jack had never taken the marital plunge was because of the rotten family track record where women were concerned.

When Muriel had withdrawn, Travis returned to the subject at hand without missing a beat. “The thing I don’t get is, what happened to all Miss Elsie’s money and family jewels? Even a fast worker like Wil Keene would have had trouble blowing it all in less than two years. If he was spending big money, it sure wasn’t on anything a man could see, especially not that ranch.”

“He coulda been a closet gambler,” Austin speculated. “Or maybe he invested in a lot of bad stocks. I seem to recall a certain someone who tried to invest in the awl bidness a buncha years back and got took to the cleaners.”

Travis lowered his brows in warning; his losses had been so large that the entire family was in an uproar about it for months. Jack had been a kid at the time, but he remembered it well.

“Whatever,” Travis said. “Keene was stupid not to sell that ranch when he had the chance. It sure woulda spared them women a whole lot of grief.”

“I don’t know,” Jack said mildly. “They seem awful determined to make a go of it, and I, for one, wish them well.” He was thinking of Dani and the intensity of her determination to make the Bar K a success. Surely anyone who cared that much could make almost anything work. “It may take a miracle but… I think the Keene sisters might be able to make something out of the Bar K again.”

Austin obviously did not see it that way. “You’re pulling my laig.” He scowled at his grandson. “They couldn’t make a go of it even if they had plenty of money behind them, which they ain’t. Besides which, nobody’s gonna work for them, just for starters. And where, I ask you, are they gonna find dudes? Us, on the other hand…” He puffed out his chest. “We’re turnin’ reservations away.”

“Maybe we should turn a few of them toward the Bar K.”

“Not only no, but hell no. Look, you just tend to your own knittin’ and stay away from them girls. Women are nothing but trouble, as ever’ last one of us knows to our sorrow. And them Keene women are bound to be twice as bad.”

“I don’t happen to agree.”

Splat! A big glob of gravy struck the rim of Jack’s plate and splattered across the shiny wood beyond the plastic place mat. He looked up sharply to find Petey holding a spoon catapult fashion in his chubby, childish hands.

His smile was beatific and he said but a single word: “Oops!”

3

“BAR K DUDE RANCH, Toni Keene speaking.”

“Hi, Toni. It’s me, Jack. Is Dani around?” He’d expected her to answer and hoped his disappointment wasn’t obvious.

“Uh-uh, and neither is Niki. They’ve gone to town.”

“What for?”

She laughed; Lord, she really was nice. “Niki’s looking for a job and Dani’s going to put an ad in the newspaper.”

“What kind of ad?”

“A wrangler wanted ad. Heaven knows we need help around here, and when the guests start arriving…”

He practically heard her shrug. “It’s kinda late in the season to be hiring men,” he said. “That may be a problem.”

“I sure hope not.” But her worry came through loud and clear. “We’ve got so many other problems that we don’t need another one.” She sighed. “Whatever—Dani will think of something. She always does.”

Jack thought maybe he could “guide” Dani in the right direction, but what he said was, “What kind of job is Niki looking for?”

“Whatever she can find. Maybe waitressing? She’s very conscientious and could probably make good tips.”

She could probably make good tips if she just stood in the middle of a room and smiled, he thought. “I don’t doubt it for a minute,” he said.

“That’s why nobody’s here but me and Grandma. Is there anything I can do for you, Jack?”

“Not really. I just wanted to…know if I could give Dani a hand with…anything.”

“That’s real nice of you,” Toni said. “Guess you’ll have to ask her. All I can tell you is that we’re loving this place more every minute we’re here. Sure, we have a lot of work ahead of us, but we’re doing just fine.”

“Glad to hear it. Nice talkin’ to you, Toni.”

Jack hung up and stood there for a few minutes, considering. He had a lot of work to do today, including the movement of several longhorns into the holding pen for shipment to Colorado day after tomorrow. Work on the XOX was never done. Besides the ranching operation, they bred a number of exotic species for sale to other ranchers, to zoos and farms. Herding dudes was the least of their endeavors. He’d often thought they should just give it up entirely, but the facilities were there, the cabins and recreation room and the swimming pool—

The telephone rang and Jack picked up automatically.

“This is Dr. Coleman. I’d like to reserve a week in June for myself and my wife at your guest ranch again this year.”

“Howdy, Doc. This is Jack.”

“Jack! Good to speak to you.”

“Maybe not.” Grandpa will kill me for this, Jack thought. “I’m afraid we’re full up in June.”

“Damn! I told my wife to call sooner, but she—”

“Yeah, well, I might be able to help you out, anyway.” Jack switched the phone to the other ear and glanced around to make sure no one was listening. “There’s another dude ranch just a few miles away that might have room for you. It’s the Bar K, and I’m pretty sure you and the missus would really enjoy it….”

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.