The Rancher's Bride

by Stella Bagwell

  “Sometimes. But it’s not exactly easy for me to drive her into Ruidoso for entertainment.”

  “I understand. We live a long way from town, too, you know.”

  She was hugging the door. Her hands were folded primly on her lap, her eyes fixed straight ahead. Each time Harlan glanced her way she remained as stiff as when they’d first left the house.

  “I don’t think Emily’s problem is all boredom. The way you saw her is pretty much how she’s been for the past year. At first I thought it was her age. But now I’m not so sure.”

  Rose never encouraged conversation with single men. She found it usually led to awkward situations. Especially when the man insisted on getting personal. But she couldn’t remain indifferent to Harlan. With his long, lean body sitting only inches away, his earthy, masculine scent swirling around her, she was more aware of him than she could ever remember being of any man.

  “How long has your daughter been without her mother?”

  A grimace marred his face. “You know she doesn’t have a mother?”

  Rose nodded, then quickly explained, “When I came to your house I asked Emily if I could speak with you or her mother. She told me she didn’t have a mother.”

  “She can be blunt at times.” Harlan downshifted the truck and stopped as the dirt road they’d been traveling intersected with the main highway. Glancing at her, he added, “Karen died when Emily was going on seven years old. She’s thirteen now.”

  Pulling onto the oozy asphalt, Harlan headed west toward the foot of the mountains and the Bar M ranch.

  Three miles passed before Rose could think of a reply. She said, “That’s a long time for a child to be without a mother.”

  Harlan let out a snort. “I damn well didn’t choose it that way.”

  The sharpness of his voice swung Rose’s gaze around to him. His profile was hard and unmoving, making it obvious to her that he was still bitter over losing his wife.

  But that wasn’t her problem, Rose quickly reminded herself. Nor was his sullen daughter. The Bar M was drowning in debt, and if he had a mind to, this man sitting next to her could push her the rest of the way under.

  Dear God, how was she going to tell her sisters, Chloe and Justine, and her Aunt Kitty that Tomas had borrowed several thousand dollars and put the ranch up as collateral? Just thinking about it left her numb with fear.

  “I’m sure you didn’t choose to lose your wife,” Rose said quietly.

  Harlan rubbed a hand over his face. “I thought you meant—” He turned his head and his eyes searched her face. “Some people think I’m being cruel to Emily by not marrying again. I figured you were thinking the same thing. Were you?”

  Rose couldn’t believe they were having this discussion. She didn’t even know this man. She didn’t want to know him. But each passing minute seemed to be showing her another slice of his personality.

  A faint frown drew her dark auburn brows together. “I wouldn’t be so presumptuous as to advise you about your family life, Mr.—Harlan.”

  A quirk of humor moved his lips. “I wasn’t asking for your advice. I was asking what you thought.”

  “Why?”

  “I beg your pardon?” he asked.

  He’d mentioned east Texas and from the sound of his drawl, Rose figured he must have grown up in that part of the country. She couldn’t deny the soft lilt of his voice did pleasant things to her senses.

  “Why do you want to know what I think? You don’t even know me.”

  Shrugging, he fixed his eyes on the darkening highway. “It’s been a long time since I’ve talked to a woman and since Emily is a girl, well, I sometimes wonder if I can see things the way you females do.”

  “Have you met a woman you’d like to marry?”

  He cast her a dry glance, then suddenly burst out with a short laugh. “Rose, there isn’t a woman on earth I’d want to marry.”

  His mocking attitude stiffened her spine to a rigid line of indignation. There wasn’t a man on earth she’d want to marry either, but she didn’t go around telling any of them such a thing. She didn’t like men, but that hardly made her want to insult them.

  “Then I think it best you stay single and—forget about what your friends say.”

  The little grin he gave her said she’d spoken the very words he’d wanted to hear. “You know, Rose, I think you’re gonna be my kind of woman.”

  * * *

  Ten minutes later, Rose was back home on the Bar M unsaddling Pie in the dimly lit stables. As she jerked on the worn latigo, Harlan’s words continued to gnaw at her craw.

  His kind of woman.

  She’d wanted to reach across the seat and slap his face. She, who had trouble bringing her boot down on a scorpion, wanted to commit an act of physical violence against another human being! What had come over her?

  With a tired grunt, she swung the saddle over the top rail of the empty stall, then slapped the bridle across the seat.

  “Rose?”

  At the sound of the female voice, Rose turned to see Chloe standing a few steps behind her. Like her sisters, she was a redhead—although her straight, shoulder length hair was a much deeper auburn than that of her siblings. And unlike Rose and Justine, Chloe was petite. But her temper and strength made up for her small stature. At the moment she was frowning with concern.

  “Is something wrong?”

  Rose forced herself to breathe deeply. The last thing she wanted was for Chloe to think a man had gotten under her sister’s skin.

  “I’m just hot and tired.”

  Chloe moved closer, her eyes wandering keenly over Rose’s flushed face. “You’re hot and tired when you come in every evening, but you don’t always look like you’ve been tangling with a bull.”

  A bull? Well, Harlan certainly had a few similarities to one, she couldn’t help thinking.

  “Are you finished here?” Rose glanced down the long line of compartments to see if all the horses were back in their stalls. “We need to go up to the house and talk.”

  “Talk? What’s happened now?”

  A year ago, Chloe would never have responded with such a negative question. Their father had still been alive then, the ranch, or so it had appeared to her and her sisters, had been thriving and rain had continued to keep the grass growing right up until frost.

  But this summer nothing had seemed to go right and Rose supposed Chloe’s usually bright outlook had finally started crumbling under the problems they’d been forced to face. As for herself, Rose was very nearly too numb to feel anything except a staggering weight on her shoulders.

  “Let’s go find Aunt Kitty,” Rose said while nudging Chloe toward the open doorway of the stable. “I only want to have to tell this story once.”

  Back at the house, the sisters entered an overly warm kitchen to find Kitty, a petite woman in her sixties with short gray hair. She was setting the table and didn’t stop to look at her nieces. “It’s almost ready, girls. Go wash and get the twins from the playpen. Their baby food is heating.”

  Minutes later, gathered around the dining table, Chloe took on the job of feeding Anna, while Rose assumed the task of feeding Adam. The twins were eight months old and starting to cut teeth. For the past week both babies had been fussy with sore gums. But tonight they appeared to be in better humor. Rose was relieved. She adored her little brother and sister and couldn’t bear to see them in any sort of pain.

  “Okay Rose, tell us what happened today,” Chloe said as she offered a spoon of pureed green beans to Anna. “You found another dead cow while you were riding fence?”

  “For heaven’s sake, what now?” Kitty asked wearily.

  Rose decided it would do no good to delay the telling. “The fence between us and the Flying H has been cut and cattle herded onto our land.”

  “What?” Chloe practically yelled the question.

  Totally bewildered, Kitty asked, “Who would have done such a thing?”

  “I rode over to the Flying H and confronte
d Harlan Hamilton about it,” Rose told them. “He admitted that he’d done it.”

  Chloe’s mouth fell open. Kitty simply stared at her niece.

  When neither of them said anything, Rose made an impatient gesture with her hand. “Don’t look at me like that.”

  “Like what?” Kitty asked with a puzzled frown.

  “Like you’re wondering what gave the timid spinster enough courage to go see a man,” she said with disgust.

  “Rose! None of us think of you as a timid spinster,” Chloe countered. “That’s your own way of thinking.”

  Frustrated because she still couldn’t gather her nerves together, Rose closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. “I’m sorry,” she told the two women, “I’m still feeling sorta testy.”

  Kitty and Chloe exchanged worried glances. Rose never felt testy over anything—quietly concerned maybe, but never angry or irritated.

  “Why? What happened between you and our neighbor?” Chloe asked.

  “Like I said, I went to see him. I didn’t want to, but I made myself.” Rose offered Adam a spoonful of pureed chicken. The baby smacked his lips in appreciation. “And I guess it’s a good thing I did, or we might have—”

  “What?” Kitty prompted when Rose stopped in midsentence.

  “You’re not going to believe what he showed me.”

  “His naked chest?” Chloe asked dryly.

  Rose shot her sister a cool look of disapproval. “The man is running out of water.”

  “So are a lot of other people around here,” Kitty spoke up. “Why, Vida was just telling me yesterday they were having to haul their drinking water from Ruidoso.”

  “So is that why Mr. Hamilton cut our fence and drove his cattle onto our land? To give them a drink?” Chloe asked in disbelief. “I can’t really see what good that was going to do. Cattle have to have water every day. Or—” She looked at her sister with raised eyebrows. “He didn’t leave them on our land, did he?”

  Rose shook her head. “No, he didn’t leave them on our land, but he intends for us to—” She couldn’t go on. Her throat closed around the words, forcing her to swallow several times before she could speak. “He wants us to open up the Bar M to him so that his cattle can reach our part of the river.”

  The two women stared at Rose in stunned silence, then finally Chloe burst out laughing.

  “You know, I always wondered why that man was single,” she said once her laughter had trailed away to a chuckle. “He’s got looks to die for, but apparently he doesn’t have a brain to go with them.”

  “Just hush, Chloe, you haven’t heard it all,” Rose scolded wearily.

  “You mean there’s more?”

  Adam was banging his fist on the high-chair tray. Rose quickly pushed another spoonful of food at the baby.

  “Oh, yes. It seems that several months ago, more than a year to be exact, our father borrowed money from Harlan Hamilton.”

  “No!” Kitty said with a sharp gasp.

  The humor suddenly vanished from Chloe’s face. “How much?”

  Rose repeated the amount and once again the two women stared blankly at her.

  “The worst part is,” Rose continued, “Daddy put the Bar M up as collateral.”

  Chloe rocketed to her feet. “He couldn’t have! He wouldn’t have!”

  Her face stiff, Rose said, “He did. Harlan has it on document. And I’ll assure you it was all very legal.”

  “You mean, if we don’t or can’t repay Mr. Hamilton, the ranch could belong to him?” Kitty asked fearfully.

  Rose nodded. “That’s just about the size of it.”

  “So what are we going to do?” Chloe asked sinkingly. “If we sell our stock there’s no way the ranch can make money!”

  Adam began pushing away the offered spoon, indicating to Rose he was full. She wiped the baby’s face and hands, then began filling her own plate. She wasn’t going to let what her father had done, or what Harlan might do, ruin her supper.

  “We’re going to open up our land to Mr. Hamilton and hope that he’ll be patient about the loan. Right now, he says water is the only thing he wants from us,” Rose told the two women.

  Like a fallen rock Chloe dropped back into her chair. “Oh Rose, you’re so gullible where men are concerned. You haven’t been around them enough to know they’ll tell you anything that suits them—no matter how far from the truth it is.”

  Rose leveled a dark look at her sister. “Oh, I think you know I learned all about men a long time ago, Chloe. That’s exactly why I stay away from them. But as for Harlan— we have no choice but to trust him. He’s holding all the cards.”

  Chloe sagged against the back of her chair.

  Kitty looked at Rose. “What do you think about this Mr. Hamilton, Rose? Do you think he can be trusted?”

  Did she? Since her ordeal with Peter more than eight years ago, Rose had never trusted any man, except her father. And even that had turned out to be a mistake. She’d be a fool to believe Harlan was sincere. Yet for some reason she wanted to think he was different from the rest, that maybe he was one of those few men like her sister’s husband, Roy Pardee. An honest man with morals and a good heart.

  “I don’t know, Aunt Kitty. I found out he’s a widower with a teenage daughter. He appears to be a responsible man and father, but who’s to say? We thought Daddy was a responsible man and father.”

  “Tomas must have been a very troubled man to do what he did. Having an affair with that woman, paying her all that money and now this! I just thank God my sister Lola isn’t alive to know about it.” Kitty shook her head sadly. “So what’s going to happen next?”

  Rose took a long drink of ice water. She’d never felt so exhausted in her life and to think of getting up and facing Harlan in the morning was nearly more than she could bear.

  “First thing tomorrow I’m going to meet Harlan at the cut in the fence and we’re going to decide what to do about the cattle. As for the money, I’m sure you both know we don’t have it and there’s no chance we will have it for a long time to come. He says his use of our water will count for a payment on the loan. I don’t know how much money that means, but I’ll find out.”

  The kitchen went quiet, except for the babies, who were squealing and straining to grab the other’s face across their high-chair trays.

  Rose finished the food on her plate, then lifted Adam into her arms. The baby nuzzled his head against her neck and she savored his innocent affection. The twins were the only good thing to come out of this mess their father had made. And whether the law ever managed to track down their mother or not, the whole family was determined to keep them and raise them as true Murdocks. “I’m going to give Adam a bath and get ready for bed. Will one of you call Justine and tell her the news?”

  Kitty nodded solemnly. “I will. Maybe Roy might have some idea that could help us.”

  “Roy’s a good sheriff, but I don’t think he can help us out of this mess,” Rose said, then turned to leave the kitchen.

  “Rose,” Chloe called after her.

  Rose turned to look at her younger sister. “Would you rather I met Mr. Hamilton in the morning?”

  She and Chloe had always been opposites. Chloe was normally bubbly and outspoken and very self-confident, whereas Rose was just quiet, old Rose. Yet there had always been a deep love between them and Rose could feel it now more than ever.

  “Thanks for offering, Chloe, but this is—well, it’s something I have to do myself. After Daddy died we agreed that the horses were your responsibility and the cattle mine. I’m not going to run from my job just because I don’t like dealing with a man.”

  “We never said we couldn’t help each other out, if the other needed it,” Chloe said gently.

  A wan smile touched Rose’s face. “I know. But oddly enough Harlan Hamilton doesn’t scare me. It’s just that— there’s something about the man that bothers me.” Adam tugged on a loose tendril of her hair. Rose absently kissed the baby’s cheek. “But
I can put up with him for as long as it takes to get this ranch back to a solid business again. And I’m making a promise right now. Harlan Hamilton is never going to own the Bar M.”

  Chapter Three

  Long before Rose reached the faint bend in the river, Harlan spotted her on the sorrel. From the hill where he sat on his black mare he watched and waited for her to ride closer.

  She was dressed as she had been yesterday in a pair of worn jeans, brown boots and a gray felt hat. The only difference was her shirt. This one was deep green and buttoned tightly at the cuffs and throat.

  Last night after he’d taken the woman home, he’d found it nearly impossible to stop thinking about her and he couldn’t figure why. True, she had a quiet, natural beauty. But he’d seen plenty of good-looking women since Karen had died and none of them had stirred him in any way. Yet there was something about Rose Murdock that made him itch in all the wrong places.

  Nudging the mare’s sides, he decided to ride down the slope to meet her and the spotted blue dog trotting at her heels.

  “Good morning,” she said as he stopped abreast of her.

  “Good morning,” he drawled.

  She shifted in the saddle as his dark brown eyes scanned her face. She didn’t know why the man had to look at her like he enjoyed it. She was too thin to have much of a figure and her features were sharp and angular. The only nice things about her were full lips and gray luminous eyes. But in Rose’s opinion nothing about her warranted a second glance.

  “I’ve talked with my family about letting you use some of the ranch,” she said to him.

  “And?”

  And? Did he honestly think they were in a position to refuse him? Rose wondered. She said, “Of course they’re in agreement. They’re leaving it up to me and you to decide which parts of the land would work best for all of us.”

  “I’m glad they understand my problem.”

  Rose came close to groaning out loud. His problem? All he needed was a little water. She and her sisters needed a miracle.

  “My sisters and I would like to know how much money you’re willing to allow us for our water,” she told him.