Free Rancher at Risk by Barbara White Daille

way?” He settled against the railing on the opposite side of the steps and crossed his arms. “From what you’ve said, the kids will come here from all over the country. Won’t it be tough for them to leave their homes and everyone they know?”
    “That’s just it. Most of them will be leaving situations they need to get away from. Neglect. Abandonment. Abuse.”
    “What about other issues? Won’t you have to deal with things like drug and alcohol problems and criminal behavior?”
    “Yes, and we’re prepared to handle it. That’s what we’re here for—to give them what they don’t have. A safe home. Support. Adults they can trust and friends they can relate to.”
    He frowned. “Why do I get the feeling this is a personal issue for you?”
    She hesitated and then shrugged. “It is personal in a way.” She gestured at the row of buildings. “I know what it’s like to live in an environment like this. I grew up in a residential school.”
    If the statement surprised him, she couldn’t read it. He’d hidden his reaction as well as she’d hoped she had masked her surprise at his first question.
    “Everything you plan to give the boys—is that what you needed from your school?”
    She tightened her hold on the railing. Somehow he had zeroed in on one of the topics she least liked to discuss. “Yes,” she said slowly, “my school provided all those things. In the beginning.”
    That was all she would tell him. She couldn’t let him get that close.
    Wishing she had kept her mouth shut and her guard up, she pushed herself off the railing before the next questions could come. As they always did. Questions she didn’t want to answer for this man.
    Not if he would respond the way so many others did, making it clear he saw her as different and strange. As less than whole.
    * * *
    D AMN GOOD SAVE , M OLLOY .
    He’d been so wrapped up in looking at Lianne’s long blond hair fluttering as she walked that he’d gotten too close. When she abruptly stopped and turned back to him, he’d nearly run her down. Off-balance in more ways than one, when she’d asked what he had said to her, he blurted out what he’d really wanted to know. He had managed to tone his question down for her.
    Why the hell did she keep fighting him?
    That wouldn’t get her anywhere. He was her boss now, and instead of challenging him at every turn, she ought to consider proving herself to him…just the way he was having to do—all over again—with Caleb.
    As they walked toward the final structure, two-storied and larger than all the rest, she seemed determined to keep her focus on their tour. “This is the main building. The first floor is the combination mess hall and recreation center. Upstairs are the classrooms, office space and a nurse’s station.”
    A few woodworker’s tools littered either side of the school building’s porch, and a sawhorse partially blocked the entrance.
    She reached for it, but he stepped forward, lifted it out of the way and set it aside.
    She frowned.
    “I can manage something as simple as that, Ryan.”
    There she went again, both fists down in front of her, the way she’d done on Signal Street that first morning. “I never said you couldn’t.”
    “Sometimes actions speak louder than words.”
    “Not in this case.”
    She eyed him for a long moment before stepping through the unfinished doorway.
    He followed her into a room large enough to hold a barn dance. In one corner an open stairwell rose to the second level.
    As they started toward the back of the room, a boy in his late teens appeared at the top of the stairs. He wore work boots, denim cutoffs and a carpenter’s belt. “Hey, Lianne,” he called. “We’re up here.”
    Ryan tapped her shoulder. When she turned to look back at him, he pointed toward the stairs.
    Changing direction, she smiled up at the kid. “Hi, Joe.”
    He waved at her and said, “Hey, man, if you are who I think you are, we heard about you. From Tony.”
    Damn.