Free Worth the Trouble by Becky McGraw

have any money either to help her.
    "Yes, it's around back.  I just came here to see Annie and hang out until my interview."
    Ethan lifted a brow, "Annie?"  Maybe she wasn't kin to Roxanne after all.  As far as he knew, there wasn't anyone named Annie out here at the ranch.
    "My sister, Roxanne," she clarified then unbuttoned and unzipped her skirt.  When it dropped to the porch, she was standing there in a thin white silk shell and her pink thong underwear.  Ethan swallowed a couple of times and for some reason compared her shorter legs to those of her long-legged sister.  There was no comparison, Rocky had better legs. 
    Where Rocky was lean and athletic, her sister was round and soft.  Her breasts looked cosmetically enhanced too from the cleavage all but spilling out of the V in the silk tank top.  Either that or her wonder bra was performing miracles.
    "There's a shower in the bunkhouse, and I think there are a couple of cans of juice up at the house.  I'll go get them and be back in a few minutes."
    "I'll go get my suitcase," she told him then walked down the steps.  Her bare feet touched the dirt, and she stopped then cringed.  "What if there are other... things ...out there?" she said with fear and disgust in her voice.  Her perfectly arched brows drew together over her pert nose and she scrunched up her mouth into a pout.
    Ethan huffed out a breath then told her, "Stay on the porch, I'll take the cart around back and get it.  Where are your keys?"
    "It's not locked," she told him then quickly moved back up onto the porch.  "Thank you, um..."
    "Ethan," he told her placing the walker beside the cart before swinging himself back into the cart.  He jerked the walker up and wrangled it into the passenger seat.  
    This was going to be an ordeal, Ethan knew it.  A man who couldn't walk was going to have to get her suitcase out of the car, it would probably weight fifty pounds or more, then he was going to gather two cans of tomato juice from the house, then make it back here to help her de-skunk herself.  Not too much to ask, right?
    It was pathetic, but he was actually excited about doing it.  This was the most excitement he'd had in months, and at least he felt useful. 
    At least someone needed him again.
    "What's your name?" he asked before he shifted the cart into reverse.
    "Leigh Ann Baker," she replied then tilted her chin and added with an exaggerated drawl, "former Miss Texas, USA."
    The statement seemed a bit ridiculous considering she was standing on the porch in her drawers, smelling like she'd been fermenting for a few weeks.  
    A beauty queen, it figured. 
    That explained the makeup that looked like she'd put on with a putty knife.  It also explained the prissiness she had about her.  The woman certainly had the looks for it, but most people wouldn't announce that title when they introduced themselves.  If that was the best thing she could say about herself, this woman had led a very small life. 
    Thank goodness Roxanne wasn't anything like her sister.
    "I'll be back in a few minutes, Leigh Ann...why don't you go get in the shower for round one of the fumigation process."
    It took him about forty-five minutes to perform all the tasks that would have taken him fifteen three months ago.  The suitcases, plural as it turned out, were the biggest challenge.  Not only did she have one massive case, she had two others.  One he thought might contain makeup from the way it smelled, and the other shoes from the way it rattled when he hefted them into the cart.
    Trying to wr estle all of that luggage into the back of the golf cart and balance himself at the same time had not been easy.  To make it easier on himself, instead of delivering the cases right away, he left the luggage in the back of the cart when he went to the big house for the juice. 
    By the time he got to the house, he had almost been too worn out to transition himself from the cart into the wheelchair, but he managed.  Penny