“The only position open here is husband.”
For several seconds, Jonah Reed said nothing.
The wind moved through the cottonwoods beyond the Hart Ranch porch, carrying the smell of thawing earth and distant snow down from the Montana mountains. A loose board in the corral fence knocked softly against its post. Somewhere behind the barn, one of Evelyn Hart’s two remaining horses stamped impatiently.
None of it seemed as loud as her own breathing.
Evelyn still had one fist twisted into the front of the stranger’s dusty brown coat.
Her bandaged palm hurt where the morning’s wire cut had reopened beneath the cloth. She could feel warmth spreading through the wrap, but she refused to look down.
She had already looked weak enough today.
Thirty-one years old.
Nearly three hundred pounds.
One ranch.
Nine cattle worth selling.
Two decent horses.
A barn roof that needed repair.
Thirty days before foreclosure.
And exactly eleven dollars and forty-three cents in the small tin box beneath her flour bin.
That was what remained of Samuel Hart’s lifetime.
So when a stranger arrived at her gate asking if she still needed a hired hand, Evelyn had laughed once, grabbed him by the coat, and told him the truth.
She could not afford a hired man.
What she needed was someone the bank could not dismiss as temporary labor.
Someone legally tied to the property.
Someone who could sign notes, stand beside her at the cattle auction, repair fence while she negotiated feed, and perhaps convince the men in Bitter Creek that Hart Ranch had not become easy prey simply because Samuel Hart had died leaving behind one unmarried daughter.
A husband.
The thought was absurd.
Humiliating.
Desperate.
Which was why she had said it before she could lose the nerve.
Jonah looked down at her hand gripping his coat.
His right arm hung in a dirty cloth sling across his chest. His face was burned brown by wind and road dust, and dark stubble covered a jaw that had probably not seen a razor in a week.
He looked exhausted.
Not frightened.
That irritated her.
“Well?”
Evelyn demanded.
Jonah lifted his gray-brown eyes to hers.
“You’re proposing marriage to a man whose name you learned thirty seconds ago.”
“I asked if you wanted the position.”
“That sounds different when you say position.”
“That is because I mean position.”
His mouth moved.
Not quite a smile.
Evelyn tightened her fingers.
“Do not laugh at me.”
“I’m not.”
“You were about to.”
“I was considering it.”
“Consider faster.”
Jonah studied her face.
The amusement disappeared.
Only then did Evelyn realize how close they were.
His coat smelled of horse, cold air, sweat, and pine smoke.
Her own face was probably red from anger and embarrassment.
She released him abruptly.
Jonah’s good hand lifted toward his coat.
Evelyn stiffened.
He moved slowly enough that she could see he was not reaching for a weapon.
Instead, he pushed two fingers inside an inner pocket and withdrew a folded sheet of yellowed paper.
He looked at it.
Then at her.
“You shouldn’t marry anybody for this ranch.”
Evelyn’s jaw hardened.
“You arrived five minutes ago. I don’t require your opinion.”
“You might require this.”
He extended the paper.
She did not take it.
“What is it?”
“The reason I came.”
“I thought you came for work.”
“No.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“You lied.”
“I asked if you still needed a hand.”
“You said a man in Bitter Creek told you.”
“A man did.”
“Who?”
“Silas Crowell.”
Evelyn went completely still.
Silas Crowell was the manager of Bitter Creek Territorial Bank.
The man whose signature sat at the bottom of the foreclosure letter folded inside her apron.
Jonah watched recognition cross her face.
“You know him.”
“I owe him.”
“No.”
She frowned.
Jonah held the paper out farther.
“That’s the trouble, Miss Hart.”
“You don’t.”
Evelyn finally took it.
The page had been folded enough times that the creases were turning white.
At the top was the bank’s old emblem.
Below it:
RECEIPT OF FINAL MORTGAGE PAYMENT
Evelyn stopped breathing.
Her father’s name appeared beneath.
Samuel Hart.
Then the property description.
Two hundred acres.
Bitter Creek district.
Final balance received.
Principal.
Interest.