A Reunion For The Rancher. Brenda Minton

sold off over the past few years and get a job, it would have to do.

      Derek joined her, looking over the barn with the same critical eye she’d used moments earlier. He brushed a hand through his dark chestnut hair. The sun captured just the slightest hint of red. He was tall and thin, too thin. He had her hazel eyes but with darker, thicker lashes. He looked like their dad. And it worried her that sometimes he acted like Earl Donovan. Restless. Their dad had always been restless. He’d been a cowboy, a saddle bronc rider and an alcoholic.

      “How can I help?” Derek asked. This was the new Derek, the kid who wasn’t quite twenty but wanted to change his life. She didn’t credit prison with that change; she credited his newfound faith.

      People might doubt that faith. She didn’t. It was no jailhouse conversion.

      “There isn’t a lot we can do,” she admitted. “I have to get students. So far I have three. That isn’t even going to pay the feed bill. I need ten a week. Even that isn’t a living.”

      “We’ve got a dozen steers we can take to the auction next month. By then they should bring enough to keep us solvent for a little while. And I’m going to get a job at the steakhouse washing dishes.”

      She closed her eyes at the revelation. “Thank you.”

      “It’s my farm and my family, too. Sometimes you forget that, Ruby. It isn’t all on you.”

      She leaned into his shoulder, and he patted her back before moving away. She smiled, because he’d never enjoyed her displays of sisterly affection. “I’m proud of you, Derek.”

      “And I’m not going to let you down. I’m almost twenty. It’s time for me to get my head on straight and figure some things out.”

      “Yes, well, I’m nine years older than you and I can say the same about my life.”

      “You had a career, sis, and you gave it up to come home and help out. You’ll get another job.”

      “You’re right. I will. I really hope I can get on with the state. I’m just not sure I want to continue being a caseworker.”

      He walked with her to the field where a half dozen ponies and small horses grazed on grass that was brown. The animals were all colors, all sizes. But they were gentle and well broke.

      “There was another theft last night,” Derek said as he leaned against the wood fence. “You know they’re going to come here, right?”

      “I know.”

      Four head of cattle from a farm that ran hundreds of head. Why just four? The thieves were being careful? Or maybe unsure of how to dispose of the animals?

      From what she’d heard they were hitting farms that had recently purchased animals, so the cattle weren’t yet branded. That was smart on their part and meant the thieves knew the ranches.

      A truck pulled up to the house. Ruby glanced in that direction and groaned. “Why?”

      “Because the guy still has a thing for you?” Derek said with a grin.

      “I think that’s the furthest thing from the truth.” She watched as Carson Thorn got out of his truck, and then she watched as he stood there waiting for something. Or someone.

      She saw the someone. A little boy with dark hair and the same confident swagger as Carson. The two headed her way, discussing something that appeared to be of major importance if the serious look on their faces meant anything. Carson shook his head. The little boy frowned. Carson looked away but not before she saw his lips turn in amusement.

      “Carson,” she greeted with her best formal tone. All business. That was how she wanted to keep him, in the category of the past, and business.

      “Ruby,” he said, tipping his hat.

      “And this is?” She knelt in front of the child. “That’s a great hat.”

      The miniature Carson pushed his white cowboy hat back and gave her a careful look before nodding in the direction of the horses. “I’m Brandon. Are those your ponies?”

      “Yes, they are.”

      “My mom says I’m about big enough to start riding.” His gaze shifted to Derek. “Wow, that belt buckle is cool.”

      She glanced up and saw the buckle in question. The one their father had won for a national championship. A belt buckle she’d told Derek to get rid of. He could sell it. He could give it away. She didn’t care. But she did care that he held on to the past and to his hero worship of their father.

      Derek shot her a look telling her to mind her own business.

      “Thanks.” Derek glanced toward the ponies. “Want to check them out? Carson can list all the reasons why I’m...”

      Derek stopped himself with a warning look from Ruby. The last thing they needed was for Derek to antagonize Carson Thorn.

      The little boy looked at him, waiting expectantly for him to finish what he planned to say.

      “Carson can tell you why I’m the best person to teach you to rope,” Derek finished with a grin.

      Ruby watched her brother walk away with the child. She looked back at Carson, watched him watching the two—one tall and lanky, the other small and confident. She hated that looking at Carson brought it all back—the hope, the laughter. The dreams.

      The heartache.

      Smoke and mirrors, she realized now. It had all been an illusion. The smoke cleared and she’d seen reality the day Carson’s dad had handed her a check and told her to go to college, be someone, but not to count on being a Thorn.

      “Did you put up the cameras?” Carson asked as he continued to watch Derek with the child. They had retrieved a rope from the barn. Derek was showing the little boy how it worked and then letting him give it a shot. The lasso flew through the air and fell to the ground short of the target—the fence post.

      “No. I have to wait until I can pay an electrician. And why are you really here? The cattle stolen last night?”

      “No.”

      “Something else?”

      “He’s my nephew. Jenna’s son,” Carson said, watching the little boy climb the fence and reach for a buckskin pony the color of wheat.

      That wasn’t really an answer to her question. She considered pushing, but why? His answer would probably just upset her. Not only that, but she’d latched on to another issue that proved she couldn’t be in Little Horn and not get all tangled up in the past.

      “Is Jenna in town?” Silly question. If her son was in town, she was in town.

      “No,” he answered, his firm lips held in a straight and unforgiving line. “She showed up early this morning and dropped him off. I’m not quite sure what to do with him.”

      “How long do you think you’ll have him?”

      He rubbed a hand across his jaw and shook his head. “I don’t have a clue. She said a few days, but I’m a little worried.”

      “About her?” She shouldn’t care. She shouldn’t delve into his life or the uncertainty in his expression.

      “Yes. But I’ll call her later and see what we can figure out.”

      “If she’s leaving him for any length of time, he should probably be in school.”

      His eyes narrowed and he looked down at her. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead. She took me by surprise.”

      “Ambushed.” She grinned as she said it.

      “Something like that.”

      “You’ll have to enroll him if she doesn’t come back.”

      He nodded but his gaze had drifted back to the boy. “Once I can talk to her and get