“It’s not loaded,” Laura said with an icy look. “You didn’t think I’d keep a loaded rifle around, did you? It’s not safe.”

“You could have fooled me,” Sam answered with an anxious glance at the rifle. “Loaded or not, get rid of it, please.”

Laura picked up the gun and stored it in the broom closet. “You act as if you’ve never handled a weapon before.”

Sam reached for his cold cup of coffee, took a deep swallow and grimaced. “Never before, and never again,” he said fervently. He strode to the door leading to the living room to check on Annie. The baby was fast asleep on a nest of blankets on the floor. The dog lay stretched out beside her, his nose between his paws, his unblinking eyes watching Sam.

Sam muttered a prayer of thanks at the way Laura’s pet had bonded with the baby. He turned back to the kitchen and to Laura. “Now please sit down and give me the details while my heart slows down to normal.”

“What details?”

The way Laura asked the question told Sam she thought it was none of his business. Except now that he’d seen the lengths Laura intended to go, he was making it his business. “Magraw said you’re on the verge of losing the ranch. True?”

Normally a private person used to taking care of herself, Laura considered the question. Sam Harrison may be a man she’d only met yesterday, yet there was something about him that made her feel she could trust him.

“Here, let me warm that coffee for you. But first have some of this.” Laura reached into the refrigerator, took out the remains of a chocolate cake and set it on the table. “Hank tells me chocolate cake always gives him a shot in the arm. You look like you need it.”

Sam regarded the three-tiered chocolate cake and enviously thought of the way the old ranch hand must enjoy Laura’s tender loving care. “You bake cakes for the help?”

“Hank’s more than help,” she said simply. “He’s family.”

Sam was ready to believe it. From the way she’d taken to Annie, it was too bad she didn’t have children of her own. He owed her. “Anything I can do around here while I wait for the replacement car?”

“No, thanks.” She poured Sam a fresh cup of black coffee and another for herself. “I’m used to making do on my own.”

Sam glanced at the broom closet. “Without the gun, I hope. So, how about telling me what the problem is. Money?”

Laura shrugged helplessly. “Magraw was right. I don’t have enough funds to increase the herd or to hire men to take care of the small amount of stock I do have. Hank does the best he can, but that’s not the only problem. There’s…” Her voice trailed off as she moved to gaze out the window.

Sam rose and went to stand beside her. The sadness in her voice, the anxious look in her eyes troubled him. As far as he could tell, she was alone in the fight to keep her heritage.

He knew from being alone. It was a cold place no one, especially a caring woman like Laura, should have to experience. She needed a sympathetic ear, and he was ready and willing to listen. It was the least he could do for her in exchange for all she’d done for Annie and for him. “There’s what?”

“Taxes,” she said succinctly. “I’m about to open a camp for young children in order to make enough money to pay the next installment, due next month.”

Sam nodded. “Do you really think boarding six kids for the summer is going to be enough to keep the ranch going?”

“It’s a start. If all goes well, we’ll advertise for more campers.”

“Who’s we?”

“Katy O’Donnell. Katy’s been a friend of mine since we worked at the hospital. She’s planning on coming here to help out.”

Now Sam was really interested. Instead of the camp being a pipe dream, the idea was sounding better by the minute. “Another nurse?” Laura nodded. “Seems to me you’re right. The camp is a good place to start. Are you sure there’s nothing I can do to help?”

Laura shook her head. “No, thanks. You have your own life to take care of. I need to take care of mine. Not that I don’t appreciate your offer,” she hurried to add, “but this is something I have to do myself.”

Sam glanced out the window to where Hank was entering the barn. “How does Hank enter the picture?”

“Like I said, he’s family.”

Lucky Hank. Lucky Annie. Lucky him, Sam mused. Lucky to have found a woman as strong and big-hearted as Laura Evans. After the way he’d trashed her ranch, any other woman would have sent him packing. “Where are you going to find the campers?”

“I advertised in a parents magazine. So far I have five positive replies and one maybe.”

“Are five kids enough to make the difference?”

“Not really,” she replied with a wry smile. “I’m taking one day at a time.”

Sam looked back at the chocolate cake. “If word gets out about what a great cook you are, you’ll probably have more campers than you can handle.”

“I wish.” She laughed. “Are ham and eggs and chocolate cake enough to impress you?”

“You bet. Some people, myself included, can’t boil water.” He went back, sat down at the kitchen table and dug into the cake. “You can cook for me anytime.”

She laughed again and cut him another piece of cake.

Sam liked the sound of Laura’s laugh. He liked a lot more about her, too, and not only her cooking. The way a dimple danced across her cheek when she smiled. The way she smiled at him. Her open heart, her courage when faced with a situation that would have sent most women running.

Laura felt herself blush when she saw admiration shining in Sam’s eyes. It was a good thing he was leaving in a few days, she thought. She couldn’t take being around him without thinking the impossible. Sam and his infant daughter reminded her of her dream of a family of her own. An unlikely dream at best.

She was saved from her thoughts by a knock on the front door.

“Laura? Laura, are you in there?”

Relieved, Laura made for the front door with Sam hard on her heels. “It’s Pete Dolan, the county sheriff,” she said over her shoulder, and opened the door. “Hi, Pete. Come on in. What’s up?”

Pete opened the screen door, came into the living room and eyed Sam. “Heard you had company.”

“News travels fast around here, but not that fast.” Her eyes narrowed. “Who have you been talking to—Magraw?”

“Yep. He stopped in the office and told me your friend here threatened him with a rifle.”

“I was the one who threatened him with the rifle, but it wasn’t loaded,” she answered heatedly. “I don’t even own any ammunition. It was dad’s old hunting rifle, and you know full well it’s not operable.”

Pete raised an eyebrow. “So your friend here had nothing to do with the confrontation?”

“Not really,” she said. “Well, maybe. If Magraw wasn’t such a jerk, he’d have noticed that when Sam took hold of the gun, he had the muzzle pointed at the floor.”

Sam stepped forward and held out his hand. “The name’s Sam Harrison. I’m not exactly a friend of Ms. Evans’s. The truth is, I ran off the road yesterday and banged up my car.”

Pete nodded as he shook Sam’s hand. “Noticed the busted fence and the remains of the water tower as I drove in. You responsible?”

“Sorry to say, I am.” Sam managed a grin, but he wasn’t too happy about the grim look on the sheriff’s face. With the accident and the rifle business, he sensed he already had two strikes against him. It wouldn’t take much to reach three. “Ms. Evans was kind enough to offer me a place to stay until the rental agency in Grand Junction sends down a replacement vehicle. Seems there’s a holiday getting in the way.”

Annie began to cry.

Dolan looked over at the baby and back at Sam. “Yours?”

“Mine.” Sam strode over to pick up the baby, then held her to his shoulder and patted her on her back to comfort her. The mutt took a stand at his feet.

“Is there a Mrs. Harrison around here?”

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».