Six ranches.
Some had already been taken.
Evelyn looked at him.
“Why help me?”
Jonah’s gaze shifted.
That was the first time she saw him hesitate over an answer.
She noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Jonah.”
He looked surprised hearing his name from her.
“Why my ranch?”
He breathed slowly.
“Because Samuel Hart once helped me.”
“When?”
“Long before bank.”
He looked toward the weathered barn.
“I was seventeen.”
“I came through Bitter Creek with forty cents, no family, and a horse I had already sold.”
“Your father found me sleeping behind that barn.”
Evelyn frowned.
“I don’t remember.”
“You were eleven.”
“I stayed only two weeks.”
“What did he do?”
“Fed me.”
“Gave me work.”
“Paid me six dollars.”
“More than work was worth.”
Jonah smiled slightly.
“When I tried refusing, he said a man does not become honest by starving.”
Evelyn could hear Samuel saying it.
The memory struck hard enough to make her look away.
“My father had strange ideas.”
“Some good.”
“Some stubborn.”
“Mostly stubborn.”
Jonah nodded.
“He told me if I ever worked with money, never trust a man who hated being asked where it went.”
Evelyn looked back.
“Then you went to work for Vale.”
“I was young.”
“That excuse again.”
“Yes.”
Something almost like warmth slipped beneath her anger.
Then Evelyn remembered the first words she had spoken when Jonah arrived.
The only position open here is husband.
Humiliation flushed through her.
Jonah appeared to remember at the same time.
Neither spoke.
Finally he said:
“I’m not taking the position.”
Her head snapped up.
“I didn’t ask again.”
“No.”
“I’m saving both of us embarrassment.”
Evelyn crossed her arms.
“You assume I’m embarrassed?”
“Yes.”
“You’re arrogant.”
“Usually.”
“You walked into my yard expecting to save my ranch and now lecture me about marriage.”
“I am not lecturing.”
“You just refused a proposal I have not repeated.”
“That is technically true.”
Evelyn stepped closer.
“I proposed because the bank letter says a married household can qualify for an extension I cannot get alone.”
Jonah’s expression changed.
“Vale told you that?”
“His assistant.”
“He lied.”
Evelyn froze.
“What?”
“There is no such requirement.”
Her cheeks burned.
Jonah’s voice softened.
“They wanted you married.”
“Why?”
“A husband could sign certain property instruments with you.”
“Especially if they found one willing to cooperate.”
Evelyn’s humiliation became fury.
“They knew.”
“Probably.”
“That is why men suddenly started appearing after church.”
Jonah looked grim.
“What men?”
Evelyn laughed bitterly.
“Three widowers in six weeks.”
“One never spoke to me in fifteen years.”
“Suddenly he decided Hart Ranch needed a woman and he happened to need a wife.”
Jonah’s jaw tightened.
“Names?”
“Why?”
“I’m curious.”
“No.”
“Evelyn.”
She stared.
“Do not start behaving like husband after refusing the job.”
His mouth closed.
Good.