Her Texas Ranger

Seth was trying to decide how to respond to that when Matthew was distracted by a nudge from Blackjack’s nose.

The boy affectionately scratched the horse between the ears, then stroked the blaze down his face.

“Have you had Blackjack long?” Seth asked.

“Pa gave him to me last year for my tenth birthday. But I’m eleven now,” he tacked on with importance. “We used to have another horse, too. A gray mare. But Pa sold her. Said she was more trouble than she was worth.”

So Rube had bought the black gelding for his grandson, Seth mused. A generous gift from a man who apparently lived on little more than a social security check. But then Rube had sold off all his cattle, he quickly reminded himself. Perhaps he’d put a bundle in the bank and was now drawing a respectable amount of interest. However, if that was the case, he certainly wasn’t using any of the money around the homestead.

“That’s quite a gift,” Seth commented. “Do you ever have friends over to ride with you?”

Matthew’s head swung back and forth. “I can’t have friends over. Mom says it would get on Pa’s nerves.”

A nice way of saying the boy couldn’t have friends over who would see his alcoholic grandfather. What in the world was Corrina thinking? Why was she living here, subjecting her son to this type of environment?

“Well, how would you like to come over to the T Bar K and ride with me sometime soon?”

Matthew’s blue eyes suddenly grew wide with wonder. “You mean it?”

Seth didn’t know a whole lot about children, except that he loved them and tried to help with as many children’s programs as his busy schedule would allow. It made him feel good to think he’d lifted this boy’s spirits.

“Sure, I mean it. I’ll call your mother in a day or two and talk to her about it. Is that okay with you?”

“Okay!”

From her window in the kitchen, Corrina watched the interplay between Seth and her son.

Matthew must have intercepted Seth before he reached his truck and talked him into going down to the barn to see Blackjack. The idea surprised her. Matt normally didn’t take to strangers. Especially adults. But he’d seemed duly impressed with the fact that Seth was a Texas Ranger.

She sighed as a bittersweet feeling wound its way around her heart. When Matthew had been born, she’d wanted so much for him. Mainly two loving parents, a nice home and financial security. Yet try as she might, none of those things had come to pass.

Her son was hungry for companionship. Not just from her, but male companionship. The sort he should have been getting from his father. But Dale had walked out of their lives when Matthew had been only two years old. Her son didn’t remember his father. Nor did he understand why his father hadn’t wanted to be a family with them then or now.

Corrina had given up trying to understand years ago. Dale had been a dreamer and he hadn’t wanted any responsibilities holding him down for any reason. He’d moved on to another life and never bothered to contact the family he’d left behind. In a way, Corrina was glad she never had to see him or deal with him over parental rights to Matthew. Yet she wasn’t blind. She knew how much Matthew ached for a father and that filled her with a guilt she dealt with every day. And her father wasn’t the best role model.

“Corrina, are you in there, honey?”

The sound of her father’s loud call pulled her wistful gaze away from the window.

“Yes, Dad. I’m here.”

“Would you bring me another pack of cigarettes? My old bones just don’t want to move today.”

Since Corrina’s suggestions fell on deaf ears, she’d long ago stopped encouraging her father to change his habits to better his health. Yet it hurt her to see the things he was doing to himself. When Corrina had been in elementary school, her mother, June, had died suddenly and unexpectedly from a hidden heart problem. The tragedy had narrowed her already small family down to just her and Rube.

When she’d married Dale, she’d done so with the hope that his family would become hers, too. But his parents had been cold, distant people who preferred to keep to themselves. Which was just as well, she supposed. They’d never cared for her and Matthew any more than their son had.

The lack of family was the main reason Corrina had decided to come back to San Juan County and live with her father. She realized people thought she was crazy for putting up with a cantankerous old man. But he was her father. And he loved and needed her. That was more than she could say about some people’s family relationships.

She opened a cabinet and pulled down a pack of her father’s cigarettes. “I’ll be right there, Dad.”

Later that evening, as Seth and Ross walked from the cattle barn to the house, Seth used the time to toss a few questions at his younger brother. “Ross, why in hell didn’t you tell me that Rube Dawson had turned into a drunkard?”

“Didn’t know he had. The few times I’ve run into him in town, he seemed perfectly sober.”

Seth snorted. “All I can say is you must not have been looking at the man.”

“Well, I didn’t give him a Breathalyzer test or make him walk a straight line, if that’s what you mean.”

Ignoring his brother’s sarcasm, Seth said, “And you could have warned me that Corrina was living out there now.”

Ross stopped in his tracks to stare at Seth. “Didn’t know that either. But why does that matter—” He broke off, his eyebrows arched with wry speculation. “Well, well, this is something new. My brother, the Ranger, actually noticing a woman.”

Seth shot him a withering look. “How could I not notice with her living there?”

Ross could see from the tight set of Seth’s jaw that his brother wasn’t in any mood for joking, so he quickly sobered his own amused expression. “I honestly didn’t know Corrina lived there,” he said, then added with a thoughtful frown, “If I remember right, she was around my age, wasn’t she?”

Seth nodded. “I was a senior when you two were freshmen.”

“I always got the impression that she had a chip on her shoulder,” Ross commented.

“She had reason,” Seth countered gruffly. “The Dawsons were always one of the poorest families around here. I’m sure it was a struggle for her to hold her head up with pride.”

“I wonder what she’s doing there now. With Rube, I mean. Isn’t she married?” Ross asked.

Seth turned and continued walking in the direction of the house. Ross automatically moved into step beside him.

“Divorced. She has an eleven-year-old son, Matthew.”

Ross took his time digesting this news before he asked, “Well, did Rube give you any helpful information about Noah?”

“Unfortunately no. Said he hadn’t seen the man in several years.”

“Do you believe him?”

Seth sighed. “I have no reason not to believe him. Yet.” He looked at his brother. “He seems to think your stallion is dead.”

Ross snorted. “Hell, that old codger doesn’t know anything about Snip! Dad always said Rube knew a whole lot of nothing about a whole lot of subjects. You wasted your time going over there, brother.”

Where the murder case was concerned, he probably had wasted time, Seth thought. But he’d seen Corrina again. A young woman he’d never quite been able to forget. He couldn’t count that as wasted time.

The next morning, Jess called bright and early to warn Seth to get a horse saddled. The undersheriff was coming out to the ranch so that the two men could ride to the scene where the T Bar K hands had originally discovered Noah Rider’s remains.

Since Jess was on duty and would be coming to the ranch in the capacity of undersheriff rather than as his brother-in-law, Seth couldn’t help but be a little concerned about throwing their investigative efforts together. He didn’t want Sheriff Perez to think he was trying to horn in on his business. And when Jess pulled up thirty minutes later to unload his own personal mount from a two-horse trailer, Seth was quick to convey his worries.

“Jess, I told Victoria last night that I didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes. Does Sheriff Perez know you’re out here?”

Jess led his big gray gelding to a nearby hitching post and loosely tied the reins. While he tossed the left stirrup upon the seat of the saddle and tightened the girth, he answered Seth’s question, “Of course. I told him.”