Free Gunpowder Tea (The Brides Of Last Chance Ranch Series) by Margaret Brownley

the bush.”
    He drew in his breath. “The marshal believes the Phantom is connected in some way to this ranch.”
    Eleanor stared at him. Did he just say what she thought he said? “How do you mean, connected?”
    “Morris thinks the Phantom is using the ranch as a hideout.”
    “Hogwash!”
    He splayed his hands. “I’m just telling you what he thinks.”
    “That’s absurd.” She had little regard for the marshal. He hadn’t even been able to capture the outlaw Cactus Joe. It took a dime novelist from Boston—and a woman at that—to capture the man. “I’d know if my ranch was being used for nefarious purposes.”
    “You employ many ranch hands. Any one of whom could be the Phantom.”
    “I know my men.” True, she suspected that some had checkered pasts, but she demanded hard work and loyalty from them and she got it. Anyone caught loafing or breaking the law was immediately dismissed. “No one working at the ranch has time to play outlaw.”

    He shrugged. “I just want you to be on guard.”
    “I’m always on guard.” One didn’t run a successful ranch without due vigilance.
    “I will feel a whole lot better once the telephone reaches the ranch. Had you allowed it to be installed when I first suggested it the doctor could have reached you much sooner.”
    Eleanor made a face. Robert called the telephone progress; she called it an invasion of privacy.
    “The day will soon come when the whole country will be connected to a single exchange. Just think, Eleanor. You’ll be able to talk to cattle buyers in New York or Chicago as easily as we are talking now.”
    The thought made Eleanor’s head swim. She couldn’t imagine talking business through a wire. “The telephone didn’t do much for your bank,” she pointed out. “You were still robbed.”
    “But only because someone called to inform Morris that a train robbery would occur. While the marshal was at the station arresting the thieves, someone managed to sneak into the bank vault. Perhaps the Phantom himself.”
    “It sounds like the criminal element has found a better use for the telephone than you have.”
    He blew out his breath. “There is one more matter,” he said. His hesitation indicated that he was about to broach a touchy subject and Eleanor’s gaze sharpened.
    “Someone wishes to purchase your property and has made an offer. It’s a modest one but, considering the times, quite adequate.”
    “I’m not selling.”
    “You’re not getting any younger, Eleanor, and this plan of yours to find an heiress is turning out to be a bust, to say the least.”
    This was an old argument and they had hammered it outrelentlessly in the past. There was nothing more to be said, so she was surprised that Robert seemed intent upon revisiting the subject. He glanced at her elevated leg. “It’s time.”
    “Horse feathers!”
    “It’s time.”
    “ I’ll decide when it’s time.” Eleanor studied him and tried not to think of her throbbing leg. “Just out of curiosity, who is this buyer?”
    “I have no idea. The buyer wishes to remain anonymous. It’s all being handled by a lawyer back east.”
    Eleanor frowned. She had no patience for people who hid behind lawyers. “You can tell Mr. Anonymous what he can do with his offer.”
    Robert heaved a sigh. “So you’re still determined to keep the ranch?”
    “Why wouldn’t I be?”
    He studied her with grave concern. “I thought perhaps your fall down the stairs would have knocked some sense into you.”
    “Sorry to disappoint you,” she said.
    He raised a silver eyebrow. “Has it ever occurred to you that the good Lord might be trying to tell you something?”
    “If that’s true, He’ll have to speak louder.”
    Robert’s gaze followed the wooden framework that loomed over her. “I shudder to think what He would have to do to get your attention.”
    She shooed him away with a wave of her hand. “You’ve had your fun for the day. Now go. I have a ranch to run.”
    He