The Wrangler. Lindsay McKenna

as she approached the counter. Lifting her hand, she thanked Andy and left. As she climbed into the ranch’s red Ford pickup truck, Val felt all the tension flow out of her. She wondered if Gus would want this greenhorn wrangler or not. Val sure didn’t. He was powerfully male and it called to her dormant femininity in a way she’d never experienced. The truth, Val realized, was that she was drawn to McPherson. Woman to man. It was raw. Untamed. And it scared the hell out of her.

      CHAPTER THREE

      “WHAT DID YOU think of the wrangler?” Gus asked her granddaughter as they sat together in the kitchen. “You looked concerned when you came in.”

      Val sipped her coffee as she eyed Gus. “Nothing gets past you, does it?”

      Mouth turning down, Gus said, “I wish that were true. If it were, I’d have seen what Buck was doing to you and my daughter out here.”

      Reaching over, Val touched her grandmother’s wrinkled, brown-spotted hand. “You lived clear across the state and my mother wasn’t telling you what was really going on here at the ranch.”

      “Doesn’t matter. I should have been more nosey.”

      “Well,” Val replied, “that’s over.”

      “It is and it isn’t,” Gus pointed out. She studied Val and pursed her lips. “Beating an animal or human makes them scared.”

      Laughing, Val said, “I’m hardly the scared type, Gus.”

      “We’ll see….”

      Val had no way to understand her grandmother’s enigmatic statement. “Well, Andy said this man, Griff McPherson, was a good wrangler and was looking for steady work.”

      Her thin silver brows rising, Gus said, “McPherson? The Tetons Ranch folks?”

      “Yes, one and the same. From what Andy said, his brother Slade owns and runs the family ranch now.”

      “But, Griff is here in Jackson Hole? And not working for Slade?” Wrinkling her brow, Gus muttered, “That sure don’t make common sense. Families out here stick together like glue through thick and thin. I would expect him to be working with Slade. Not at the Horse Emporium.”

      Shrugging, Val said, “Andy didn’t get into specifics.” She shared with Gus her talk with the wrangler. Val left out the fact he was mouthwateringly handsome. She didn’t want her grandmother to get the wrong idea.

      “Okay, so he’s not a polished-off wrangler.” Gus rubbed her chin. “But it sounds like he wants to work. And that’s the kind of spirit we need around here. He can be taught whatever he’s missing.”

      “Gus, we have ten-percent unemployment in the U.S. There are a lot of people out of work and looking for anything in order to survive. He’s just one of those poor people.”

      Gus considered the information. “Let me guess, you don’t want to hire him because he’s an ex-city slicker.”

      “Well…yes and no. But same as you, I wonder why he’s not working with his brother.”

      “Slade just got married to Dr. Jordana Lawton,” Gus informed her. “I imagine the ranch belongs to both of them now.”

      “You’d think that Slade would hire his brother part-time, though, if he could. Griff said he does odd jobs for other ranchers around the county on weekends.”

      “Maybe there’s bad blood between them we don’t know about. From the sounds of it, I like his work ethic. This guy is busting his hump seven days a week to make ends meet. And you know ranchers won’t put up with a lazy wrangler. They get fired real fast.”

      “All except here at the Bar H.” Val saw Gus quirk her thinned lips and nod her head.

      “No disagreement there. Well, what should we do?”

      “I want to pass on Griff McPherson,” Val said carefully. She wrapped her hands around the mug. “There’s just so much work around here for me to do that I don’t want to take the time out to teach him what he doesn’t know.”

      Gus saw her point. “Before we make any decision, ask him to come out for coffee and cookies. I’ll interview him.”

      Heart sinking, Val nodded. Her grandmother had the money, not the Bar H, which meant she could have the final say if she wanted it. “He’s a city slicker, Gus.”

      “Yes, but his soul was born here.” She jabbed her finger down at the floor. “He’s got Wyoming blood movin’ through his veins. I’d like to scope him out myself if you don’t mind?”

      “Sure,” she agreed, finishing off her coffee. There was a lot of work to get to and Val knew every day counted before the snow started falling in early September.

      “Good,” Gus said. “You call the Horse Emporium. I’d like to see McPherson tomorrow afternoon if Andy will give him a couple hours off.”

      “I’ll call Andy now,” Val promised, moving into the formal dining room to use the the landline phone set on a hundred-year-old walnut sideboard.

      * * *

      GRIFF TRIED NOT TO FEEL anxious, but he did. Getting out of his dented blue Ford pickup, he shut the creaky door and looked up at the main ranch house on the Bar H. The day was sunny and warm, the sky clear. He had been told by Andy yesterday that he was going out for a second job interview with Gus Hunter, one of the three matriarchs in the valley. He knew Iris Mason very well and loved the straight-shooting woman who owned Elk Horn Ranch. He’d never met Gus but had heard plenty about her. She was a pistol-packing granny and had a gruff personality from what Andy had told him.

      Removing his red bandanna, Griff felt his nerves. He’d taken a cleansing shower, put on his best clothes, polished his well-worn boots and made sure his Stetson was free of hay or straw. His boots sounded hollowly as he climbed the reddish-gold cedar steps. Quickly wiping his face, he retied the red bandanna around his neck. The screen door was open. Would Val be present? Griff wasn’t sure. He knew she wasn’t too enthused about him working here. Andy said Gus was the boss of the Bar H and Griff wasn’t sure if that was good or bad news.

      Standing at the screen door, Griff knocked. He could see a long, gleaming hall through the screen. Val appeared from a side room and walked toward him. Instantly, Griff’s heart pounded hard to underscore seeing her once more. Her shoulder-length red hair lay like a shining cloak around her shoulders. Today, she wore a mint-green short-sleeved blouse, Levi’s and cowboy boots. Stuffed in her belt was a ragged pair of leather gloves. Clearly, she had been out working earlier.

      “Hello,” he murmured as she opened the screen door.

      “Come in, Mr. McPherson. Gus is in the kitchen waiting to see you.”

      “Yes, ma’am,” Griff said, nodding deferentially to Val as he removed his hat.

      Val caught the faint scent of lime soap as he passed by her. Today, he looked spruced up and much cleaner. Her heart beat a little more quickly as she closed the screen door and gestured for him to go down the hall.

      “Turn right,” she called out to him.

      Griff turned and found himself in a large kitchen. At the table sat a wiry woman with short silver hair, a cane leaning against the table next to her. He smiled and walked over to the table. “Mrs. Hunter?” he asked, holding out his hand toward her. “I’m Griff McPherson. It’s nice to meet you.”

      “Call me Gus, young man,” she said, and gripped his hand firmly. Feeling the calluses, she said, “My granddaughter, Val, will bring us coffee.” She gestured to a cedar chair opposite her. “Have a seat. We can chat a spell.”

      “Thank you,” Griff said in a respectful tone. Gus Hunter might be small, but she was like packed dynamite ready to go off. She, like Val, wore work clothes. The lavender blouse brought out the glint in Gus’s blue eyes. Her hair was like a curly silver