Her Lone Cowboy

THE SOUND OF gravel popping beneath tires had Laney looking out the front window. She watched as her older brother, Ethan, stopped his truck and gave a wave when he saw her.

The truck doors sprang open and his twin sons, Shane and Logan, jumped out. The twins were happy, outgoing boys with dark hair that sprung out in wild curls unless it was kept cut very short, as it was now. Having recently begun to lose their baby teeth, they each greeted their aunt with gap-toothed grins. They were two years older than Sam, but the three of them got along well.

She called to Sam that his cousins were there and went outside to say hello. So much for making Sam stay in his room until dinnertime, she thought. But some fun, positive interaction with his uncle and his cousins might take his mind off Caleb and Bertie—at least for a while.

Ethan reached into the back of his truck and removed a small bicycle, which he set on the ground. He rolled it forward and propped it against a porch post so that it was the first thing Sam saw when he came barreling through the front door.

Ethan then went back to the truck and removed two more, slightly larger, bicycles.

Sam’s eyes widened as he looked at the bicycles and then at his two grinning cousins.

“Sam,” Ethan said, “it’s time for you to learn how to ride a bike. We thought you might like this one the boys have outgrown.”

“Yeah!” Sam shrieked. “Thanks, Uncle Ethan!” He raced down the steps as Laney gave her brother a worried look.

“Don’t you think he’s too young, Ethan?”

“No, I don’t. He’s got the coordination already. It’ll take a little practice. I’ll bet he figures it out in no time.”

“Oh, great,” she muttered as Logan and Shane showed Sam how to get on his new bike. “Now he’ll be able to move even faster.”

Ethan barely seemed to hear her as he joined the three boys. Giving Sam a few basic instructions, he then held the back of the bicycle while Sam took his first wobbly turn around the yard. Laney watched from the porch steps.

To Laney’s amazement and, admittedly, pride, Sam caught on quickly, just as Ethan had predicted. Within half an hour he could go a short distance by himself before the bike began to wobble and he had to stop and regroup. Shane and Logan rode their bikes around in circles, demonstrating their skill to their younger cousin. Sam watched them for a few moments, stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth and tried harder.

When he felt that Sam was well on his way, Ethan joined Laney on the porch.

“Told ya,” he said smugly.

Laney punched him on the arm. “I hate to admit you’re right.”

Ethan grinned. “He’s always had good balance. That’s why he walked so early. He’s an active kid. He needs something to keep him busy.”

Chin lifted and lips pinched together, Laney said, “I keep him busy.”

Ethan bumped her with his shoulder. “Oh, don’t get defensive. I’m not criticizing your parenting, but in town, he had other kids to play with. Jenny and the boys and I were only three blocks from your apartment. Our kids played together every day. It’s different out here.” He glanced at her. “But moving here was the right thing for you to do.”

“Still, you’ve got a point. He needs something to do besides make a nuisance of himself with the neighbor.”

“Who, Caleb Ransom?”

With a nod she told him about the encounters they’d had with their reclusive neighbor.

“I’m trying to keep Sam away from his place, but my son is enthralled with the animals, especially the dog, so it’s not easy.” Her shoulders slumped. “And I don’t think Ransom likes people very much.”

“Have you considered getting Sam his own dog?”

“Ethan, he’s four. He’s too young to be responsible for an animal. He can’t even tie his own shoes yet.”

“It would be a companion for him.”

“So the two of them can run off together? So Sam can take his new dog over to make friends with Ransom’s dog, Bertie? That’s all I need.” She gave him a helpless look. “Ransom...Ransom doesn’t like people very much, so I can’t imagine he’d want my son popping in to visit with his new puppy.”

Ethan frowned. “There’s probably more to it than him disliking people, although I understand he pretty much keeps to himself.”

She turned to look at her brother fully. “Do you know him?”

“Not really. When he first came here, he was in the office to pay the property taxes and find out the exact location of the property lines on his place. I got the impression he wanted to know what his boundaries are to keep people out—although he didn’t actually say that.”

“What did he say?”

“Not a lot, as I recall,” Ethan admitted. “Haven’t seen much of him since.” Ethan worked in the county assessor’s office, but was really a jack-of-all-trades for the county, handling many tasks. “The only person who knows him is Don Parkey, the vet. He takes care of Ransom’s animals and hauls those broken-down drug horses out there.”

Laney stared at him. “Drug horses?”

“People find them all the time out in the desert, used, abused and abandoned by drug smugglers. They take them to Don, who patches them up the best he can and then takes them to Ransom’s place to recover. The county pays him a small fee to take them in and try to get them rehabilitated.”

Laney frowned. “I noticed there were some sad-looking horses in his pasture. One of them has a brand-new filly.” She was pleased that she’d remembered the correct gender.

“Maybe he likes people okay, but he likes animals better. He seems like the kind of guy who takes care of things, tries to fix them. I guess once the horses are rehabilitated, they’ll be sold to people who want riding horses. I doubt they’d be any good as cutting horses.”

Maybe what Ethan said about her neighbor being a fixer-upper was true, Laney thought. After all, the old Camacho place, which everyone called the CR Ranch, had been pretty run-down when he’d bought it and she could see evidence of the repairs he’d made. Now she was learning that he was taking in stray, abused horses. Given the state of his old truck, she was certain he wasn’t receiving much compensation from the county for their care. That kind of thing simply wasn’t in the budget.

What puzzled her was that, in her mind, none of this squared with his wish to be left alone.

“He was a soldier, you know,” Ethan continued. “Injured in Afghanistan. Don told me that’s why he limps like he does. I guess it was pretty bad.” He gave her the big-brother look. “Maybe you could be a little more understanding.”

“I’ve done my part,” she insisted, then told Ethan about their first meeting and their second.

“Hmm, that should soften him up. Nobody makes a chocolate cake as good as you do.”

She smirked at him. “Thank you. And before you ask, there’s none left. I gave Ransom the whole cake.”

“Aaagh!” Ethan reached back and pretended to be pulling a knife from his back. She giggled.

Ethan stopped his silly pantomiming and gave her a close look, his dark eyes examining her.

“What?” she asked.

“Sam’s four years old.”

“I know how old my son is.”

“So when do you think you’ll start dating again?”

Her mouth dropped open. “Where did that question come from? We were talking about Ransom and... You’re not thinking I’d be interested in Caleb Ransom, are you?”

“Stranger things have happened.”