The Borrowed Groom. Judy Christenberry

spent the entire afternoon thinking about Rob Hanson and his daughter.

      If she hadn’t seen the way he’d softened, the way he’d wrapped his arms around Terri when she’d hugged him, Melissa might think the man was an ogre.

      But she’d seen the love in his eyes.

      So, he hadn’t understood her offer. Somehow he suspected her of wanting to take advantage of Terri. Instead she’d had the girl’s best interest at heart.

      Well, she’d benefit from Terri’s working for her, of course. But a twelve-year-old girl, stuck on her own all summer, not knowing anyone, would be bored to tears. And lonesome.

      She wanted to help Terri if she could. But most of all, she wanted to fulfill her dream. When their aunt Beulah had taken her and her two sisters in after they were orphaned as children, she’d saved them from what they considered a fate worse than death.

      Social Services had intended to split the sisters up, placing them in three foster homes. After the tragedy of their parents’ deaths, they hadn’t thought they could bear losing each other, too.

      After sixteen years together on the ranch, where Aunt Beulah had taught them about life, she’d died last summer. And they’d been shocked to discover Aunt Beulah had had a lot of money, invested when the oil boom had struck Oklahoma.

      The three sisters, her, Abby and Beth, the youngest, had decided to keep the ranch, but each sister would be free to follow her dream. Beth had thought she wanted to be a barrel racer, following the rodeo circuit.

      Melissa smiled. That dream had been exchanged for Jed Davis. He’d been Beth’s instructor in barrel racing. Now they were man and wife, living across the road, on Ellen Wisner’s old farm. Ellen had come to work for the Kennedy sisters as housekeeper. After buying it from her, Jed was turning it into a highly respected training center for rodeo horses and riders.

      Abby seemed content running the ranch. She worked hard, riding all day and studying books on ranching into the night. Melissa worried that she might not be happy, but Abby had the right to make her own choices.

      Melissa had always been more interested in home-making than ranching. She loved to cook, to clean, to decorate. She had known immediately what she wanted to do with her share of the inheritance. After finding Ellen to replace her at the homestead, she’d set about building her dream house near Aunt Beulah’s home.

      Then she’d gone to Social Services to apply as a foster parent. She wanted to take in siblings, like her and her sisters, who otherwise might be separated. She wanted to do for other children what Aunt Beulah had done for them.

      Charles Graham, the local head of Social Services, however, didn’t like the idea of a single woman taking in children. Though he couldn’t legally refuse her, she knew she’d have to struggle with his prejudices.

      When Jessica and Mary Ann Whitney had been abandoned, he’d had no option but to give them to Melissa because he had no other openings. So her dream was coming true.

      With Terri’s help, the two little girls would relax, feel more at home. And if she was successful with these two children, maybe Mr. Graham would have more faith in Melissa’s abilities. She was having to play it by ear with the children because they didn’t have any background information. They’d been abandoned by people who were apparently passing through town.

      It hadn’t taken Melissa long to figure out the little girls had been mistreated. Their fear of punishment if they made any noise or caused any trouble made her want to cry.

      Only when Terri had joined them had the two little girls smiled and relaxed a little.

      After dinner, she bathed the little girls, who seemed surprised that they would take another bath so soon after last night’s, and tucked them into bed. After reading them a story, she had them repeat the simple prayer she’d learned as a child. Then she tucked the cover under their chins.

      “Do you remember meeting Ellen today?” she asked, naming the housekeeper at Abby’s house.

      They nodded, their eyes big.

      “She’s going to come stay with you for a few minutes while I go talk to Terri’s daddy, to see if she can come play with us again.”

      The girls’ eyes grew even bigger. Jessica raised up on one elbow and whispered, “He’s big.”

      Melissa blinked. “Well, yes, he is, but—”

      “He might hurt you.”

      She took in a deep breath. “Did your daddy hurt you?”

      Mary Ann scooted closer to her sister. Jessica stared at her. Finally she whispered, “He said we were bad.”

      “Oh, darling,” Melissa whispered, leaning over to hug both girls. “Your daddy was wrong. And Mr. Hanson isn’t going to hurt me. You want Terri to come play, don’t you?”

      Both girls nodded.

      “Then don’t worry about me. Ellen will be here if you need anything, and I’ll come see you when I get back.” She figured they’d be asleep, but she hoped her promise would keep them from worrying.

      She returned to the kitchen to retrieve the plate of cookies she’d offered Rob Hanson earlier. He’d seemed interested, but her question about Terri had put him off.

      “Melissa? May I come in?”

      Melissa hurried to let Ellen in. “Thanks for coming, Ellen. The girls are still a little nervous about being here.”

      “No problem. Are they in bed?”

      “Yes. I promise I won’t be long.”

      Darkness came late to Texas in summer. It was almost nine o’clock and the sun had gone, but a soft evening glow had settled over the land. It was Melissa’s favorite time of the day.

      She rapped softly on the door of the manager’s house. It hadn’t been used in a while, and she wondered how the man and his daughter had settled in. If she hadn’t had the girls arrive, she would’ve offered to help clean it up, but she suspected Ellen had helped out.

      The door swung open and Rob Hanson stared at her.

      “Mr. Hanson, I wondered if I might talk to you.”

      He wanted to send her on her way. She could read that message on his handsome face.

      He said quietly, “Terri’s already asleep.”

      “Good. We could talk out here, on the porch.” She waited patiently for him to respond, but she worried that he might reject her overture.

      With an abrupt nod, he stepped out and closed the door behind him. Using a gentlemanly gesture, he waved toward the steps.

      As she sat down, she held the plate, covered with foil, on her lap. She’d said nothing about her peace offering, but she noted his gaze on it.

      “You didn’t get a chance to have a cookie today. I brought some for you to eat later.”

      He frowned at her. “Lady, I can’t be bought with cookies.”

      She arched one eyebrow. “I never thought you could, Mr. Hanson.” Even frowning, the man was handsome. Did he realize it? She figured he did. Most men knew when they appealed to women.

      “What do you want?” he asked abruptly, shifting away from her on the step.

      “I wanted to explain my job offer to Terri.”

      “We’re not interested.” He stared straight ahead of him, refusing to look at her.

      “I think you didn’t understand my reasons for wanting to hire Terri. She’s—”

      “You don’t want to look after your own kids. That’s why you wanted to hire her, and I don’t approve.”

      Melissa was slow to anger. She’d always been the peacemaker in her family. But this man was beginning