Free The Ranch Hand by Hannah Skye Page B

agree.”
    “I could get used to how you think, cowboy.” A chiming musical tone sounded. She pulled out her cell phone and glanced at the number. “Darn. Have to take this. Give me a minute?”
    He nodded. She answered her cell, but cursed after a moment and said into the phone, “Hold on, Mr. Comstock, the reception’s spotty, let me get clear of these trees.”
    She veered off to a clearing and rode around in a wide circle, trying to get better reception. Harlan watched the cattle, leaning on the saddle horn and frowning when he heard Carol’s voice rise in alarm, then fall with disappointment. He glanced at her, wondering what was wrong. She pressed the cell phone tightly to one ear, her head tilted, and covered her other ear to better hear with the spotty reception. The expression on her face was both angry and dismayed as she stared at the ground and listened to what could only be bad news.
    She finally ended the call with another curse that would’ve done any cattle-driver proud and shoved the cell phone back in her pocket. He waited, not wanting to intrude if she didn’t want to talk about it. He needn’t have worried. She rode straight over to him.
    “That was Mr. Comstock up the road. He was driving past my place and saw the storm caused some damage.” She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “A tree came down on my trailer. He says it looks pretty bad.”
    A part of him—a dark, selfish part that he hated, that revolted him—was happy to hear the news, because it meant she’d be forced to stay here with him. He stomped that ungrateful talk down flat. His pa had raised him to be a better man than that, and damned if he’d delight in her misfortune, even if it meant he could have her longer.
    “We’ll round up the cattle, get ’em home,” he said. “Then we can head on over to your place and see how bad things are.”
    She turned in her saddle to look off toward the land she’d purchased, though there was no way she could see it from here with a ridge slope and tree cover in the way. “No.” She hesitated and glanced at him with worry in her eyes. “Thanks, but I feel as if I should handle this myself.”
    “I’d like to help, if you’re willing.”
    She smiled at him, but the smile was distracted. He could tell she was already thinking of the damage and how far it would set her back. “You have the herd to look after. They’ll be restless if we pen them up this early. I can handle this.”
    Fair enough. He wouldn’t push the issue if she wanted to handle it. All the same though, he wished she’d let him help. She didn’t have to prove anything to him… He paused, considering. Was that was she was trying to do? Show she was independent enough to handle these problems on her own? Maybe she wanted to push back a bit after he’d shown up in his truck, looking to lend her a rescue from the storm. But dammit, he’d been worried, and he cared for her. What kind of man would he be if he didn’t at least offer to lend a hand? And if he truly believed she was in trouble, nothing in hell would stop him from coming to her aid.
    “I better get a move on,” she said. She rode close and kissed him. “Make it up to you later.”
    “I expect you’ll have to.”
    She laughed and rode off, back toward Snowbrook. He watched her until she rode out of sight. It was very quiet with her gone.
     
    * * *
     
     
    Things had been too good to be true.
    She raced the truck up to her place, the tires spitting snow and mud as she turned onto the dirt road to her land. Her land. No matter what kind of damage she was looking at, that simple fact would be enough to pull her through. It had to be.
    Some of her land had been cleared for pasture, but much of it was still lightly forested, the tree line of evergreens running up in a tapering triangle toward the dirt road. Her trailer sat near a backhoe and bobcat and a large mound of snow-covered dirt. Sure enough, a tree had fallen and crushed part of her