Rancher at Risk. Barbara Daille White

not. I’m worried about you. And I’m not taking a brush-off for an answer.”

      She shifted on the mattress. Kayla would only be upset to hear she now had no steady relationship, no permanent job and not even a home to call her own. All because of a confrontation she hadn’t walked away from the way she had fled from that stranger on Signal Street. “You’ve got enough on your mind. You don’t need to hear my problems.”

      “Listen, big sis, haven’t we always confided in each other?”

      For most things, yes. Not this. On the other hand, she recognized on her sister’s face the same stubborn look she often saw in her own mirror.

      Sighing again, she said, “The long story short is, things with Mark didn’t work out.”

      Kayla’s eyes, as blue as her own, shone with tears. “I’m sorry. I thought everything was going so well. You’ve been with him longer than anyone else I can remember.”

      “Two years, three months, eight days. But who’s counting?” The relationship had lasted longer than most. So had Mark’s apparent acceptance that she was deaf. “He turned out to be just like some of the other guys I’ve dated—the ones who are so sure I can’t manage without their help.” How many times had she heard that? “He put an extra spin on things, though.” She looked away and then made herself meet Kayla’s eyes again. “He said I’ll never survive without him.”

      “That’s ridiculous!”

      Lianne had no trouble reading the next word on Kayla’s lips. She shook her head. “Yes, he is that. But watch your mouth, little sis. Your son might be able to hear you.”

      They both laughed.

      “Anyway, you called it right about Mark. So he’s history.” Kayla’s expression told her she hadn’t done a good job of keeping her feelings from her tone. She shrugged. “It’s okay. I’ll get over it.” And she’d learn from it.

      Someday.

      She dropped the folded shirts into her canvas carryall. “Enough about him. How’s Becky?”

      “She’s fine.” Kayla shook her head. “Sam and I have talked to her over and over about being careful when she’s chasing after Pirate. Five-year-olds forget. We’ll keep talking to her.” She stopped signing briefly to squeeze Lianne’s hand. “I told you, it wasn’t your fault.”

      “She moved so quickly—”

      “She does that to me all the time. It’s scary. Believe me, I know. But you said the driver didn’t come close to her.”

      “He didn’t. That’s what I tried to tell him.”

      She’d been upset over the situation, too. He hadn’t cared about that. Maybe hadn’t even noticed, considering the way he had almost staggered from the truck, his face pale and his eyes wide.

      A twinge of guilt made her wince. He had also tried to apologize. Yet after getting the final words in, she had stalked away.

      Kayla frowned. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

      “No. Becky wasn’t—”

      “I’m talking about you. And that man.”

      “Forget him.” She planned to. One look into his stormy-green eyes and she had instinctively known he would bring her nothing but trouble. She didn’t need any more trouble.

      To her relief, Becky burst into the room and, already chattering away, ran up to Kayla.

      Like any child her age, her niece walked around with a head full of never-ending questions. And like any inquisitive, active child, she forever wanted someone to talk to and play with. Happily, thanks to her mommy, Becky knew plenty of kids who signed.

      A five-year-old without friends who could communicate with her found life lonely and isolating at times.

      Adults didn’t have it any easier.

      Why hadn’t she seen through Mark sooner?

      You’ll never survive without me.

      Ridiculous, as Kayla had said.

      She couldn’t bring herself to tell Kayla the words he had flung as his parting shot.

      With his mouth so contorted in anger, his face so filled with scorn, she’d had trouble reading his lips. Seeing her struggle, he had gone out of his way to speak slowly and deliberately. To make sure she got the message:

      You’ll never make it anywhere, Lianne.

      She understood that, all right. And those words had made her cut her losses and leave him.

      No matter what he thought, she could live in both the hearing and the deaf worlds. And she would fight any man who wouldn’t treat her as his equal in either one of them.

      * * *

      BY LATE THAT AFTERNOON, Ryan and Caleb had inspected a good portion of the eastern boundary of the new ranch. The horses had no trouble getting them back home, which reminded him of the question Caleb had asked that morning. Did he have any trouble finding the ranch? He had given Caleb a firm negative. He’d had no problem at all making his way there.

      If only that had been true about his trip through town. All day, he’d had a hard time keeping the incident out of his mind. But no way would he bring it up with the boss.

      “We’ll take care of some of that fencing during the week ahead,” Caleb said, looking at his watch. “Let’s call it a day.”

      “Sounds good to me.” It had been a long afternoon after a longer trip, and with all he’d had to get done before leaving Montana, he hadn’t closed his eyes for almost two days now. But lost sleep trailed at the end of his long list of troubles.

      Tony, the gray-haired stable hand he’d met earlier, ambled out of the barn, his gait unsteady due to a bum leg and a built-up boot heel.

      As they dismounted, Tony gestured to the horses. “I’ve got these.”

      Ryan held on to the reins, standard procedure on the Montana ranch. Except in an emergency, a rider took care of his own mount. To his surprise, Caleb handed over his reins and then nodded at him. Frowning, Ryan followed the unspoken order.

      After the cowhand had led both horses into the depths of the barn, Caleb said, “Tony’s an old buddy of mine. When I got back home again, I went to Amarillo to look him up. He’d run across a mean bull in rodeo years ago. Not everybody’s as lucky as I was.”

      Lucky, hell. He knew why the boss had just leaned back against the barn door to give his leg muscles a rest. The former bull-riding champ had met a badass of his own and still stiffened up after a while in the saddle.

      “Once Tony heard I was buying the ranch, he said he’d been spending too much time on his butt and wanted something to do.”

      That explained the new procedure with the horses.

      Just like his boss, always willing to help an old friend.

      “As you saw,” Caleb went on, “there’s still plenty of work to do and men and horses and cattle to bring in before this turns into anything like the working ranch in Montana.” He looked at him. “We’ll need to go over some specifics.”

      Ryan nodded. The tour had gone fine. Too fine, maybe. As he’d learned the hard way all through life, good things might come in threes, but so did bad ones. After his run-ins that morning with the unnamed woman and the judge, he wondered what to expect from his talk with the boss.

      Not once since his arrival had Caleb indicated either by word or by action any lack of trust in him. But if he didn’t watch his step, he’d be pulling stable duty with Tony.

      Judge Baylor’s name hadn’t come up, either. Not for the first time, he wondered why the boss had talked to the man about him.

      “I’ll