Читать книгу Rancher at Risk - Barbara Daille White - Страница 13

Chapter Five

Their second helpings of pie finished, Ryan and Caleb had moved to a couple of lawn chairs. The one Ryan had taken provided him with a clear view of the far side of the yard, where Lianne sat at a table near a row of pine trees laced with tiny white lights. After dessert Nate had ferried Lianne over there for a sign language lesson.

Caleb’s mother-in-law hefted the coffeepot. “I’ll be right out with a refill.”

Caleb and Tess made vague comments about continuing his “training” and followed her.

“What did you think of the dessert?” asked the older woman seated near him.

Grateful for the distraction, he turned to Tess’s aunt. With her grizzled gray hair and tanned skin, Ellamae could have passed for Tony’s female twin.

All during the meal, she and Roselynn had sent platters and plates and bowls of food in his direction, urging him to take extra. Three rounds later he’d finally quit saying yes. He recalled Caleb’s warning that she liked to “spice things up.” But after kindness like that, he was willing to give the woman the benefit of the doubt.

“Dessert was great,” he said truthfully. “One of the best pecan pies I’ve ever tasted.”

He took a long, bracing swallow of coffee. One advantage to not sleeping—no worries about too much caffeine.

Ellamae did the same, eyeing him over the rim of her mug. “You’re a long way from Montana. It’s your first visit to New Mexico, isn’t it? And of course, your first time here in town.”

“Yes, ma’am, it is.” And probably the last. As things stood now, he knew once he’d gotten free of his obligations here, he’d never want to see the place again. Whether he went back home or not... He’d have to see how things stood then.

“You’ll have to make sure and look me up next time you’re in town,” she said. “I’ll show you around, introduce you to a few folks. And there’s always something going on at the community center.”

That was the last thing he needed. “Thanks. I imagine I’ll be sticking close to the ranch for a while. It’s a busy time over there.”

Across the yard, Nate gave a loud frustrated groan.

Lianne laughed and brushed her blond hair back over one shoulder. Caleb had lit the hurricane lamps on the picnic tables, and in their glow her hair rippled like a river catching the first rays of the sun.

Fine poetic thoughts from a man whose literary heights ran to Louis L’Amour novels. And not thoughts he wanted to have at all.

“Good to know you’re enjoying your new surroundings.”

He’d forgotten about the woman sitting right next to him, who had trained her sharp-eyed gaze on him again. “Flagman’s Folly does seem like a nice place,” he said, choosing to misunderstand her. “At least, from what I’ve seen so far.”

“Uh-huh.” The ghost of a grin on her wrinkled face told him she hadn’t fallen for his redirection. But she rolled with it anyway. “From what I heard around the office the other day, you got a fairly good glimpse of Signal Street.”

Frowning, he looked over to Lianne and back again.

“Nope,” the older woman said.

“Caleb?” Even as she shook her head, he strung her words together and made the connection. “You work at Town Hall.”

She nodded. “As town clerk for more than forty years now. That’s a lot of water under the bridge.”

And a long history of loyalty to Judge Baylor, he’d bet.

Should have heeded Caleb’s warning after all.

After tonight he’d make sure to keep away from her.

“The judge has almost as much experience reading folks as I have,” she said, “though he’s not quite as generous in giving them the benefit of the doubt. Early on, anyway. He’s seen too many situations where folks have let circumstances steer them in the wrong direction.” She couldn’t have made it any more clear that she knew all about his situation. And she didn’t bother to hide the gleam in her eyes.

Damn him—though he wanted not to care, his desire to learn more equaled hers. “Does everybody in Flagman’s Folly know what’s brought me here?”

Again she shook her head. “Most folks know Caleb brought you here, and that’s the extent of it. But he and the judge get along.”