"That sounds like the kind of promise that changes in the handwriting between the first page and the last," she said.
His expression sharpened. "You've encountered that before?"
"Fabric wholesalers can be creative. So can financiers."
He watched her for a long moment. "You seem to know a great deal more than sewing."
She smiled. "Sewing is what taught me. Cloth costs money. Labor costs money. If I cannot understand a ledger, I cannot protect either."
He nodded with unexpected respect. "I never thought of it that way."
"Most people don't."
He looked toward the window. "Would you ever consider looking over my books?"
She was startled. "As a professional arrangement?"
"Yes. I'd pay you for the time."
She considered. There was work waiting in her own city, but her managers could handle the routine orders for another week. This man had asked her for a service she understood, not for sympathy or a favor. That made the invitation strangely welcome.
"I'll take a preliminary look," she said. "But I warn you, I'm more frightening with arithmetic than I am with a needle."
His deep laugh filled the room. "I'd best bring the good ink, then."
For the next three afternoons, she sat at the ranch table with ledger books, receipts, and enough coffee to keep the kitchen warm after dark. The rancher answered questions without pretending to know what he didn't. Some receipts were missing; others were filed under the wrong year. He had been doing the work of owner, foreman, bookkeeper, and emergency repairman since his brother's death. His accounts were not dishonest, she concluded, but they were exhausted.
The foreman, a weathered man who had worked for the rancher's father, was skeptical of the visitor's presence. He had no objection to a woman balancing figures, he told her, but didn't see how a needlewoman could know what it cost to run cattle. She calmly asked how many tons of hay the ranch used through an ordinary winter. He gave an approximate answer. She asked whether he meant hay delivered to the western barn or hay actually consumed. The difference, it emerged, was a sizable amount being lost to moisture and spoiled storage.