Return To Marker Ranch. Claire McEwen

nearly as much once they’re apart.”

      “They’ve always gotten over it pretty quick.” He gave her a stubborn glare.

      “Have they?” Lori tamped down her frustration and walked with Jim over to the fence where Dakota was tied. She pulled the strap on the mare’s cinch tight, looping the extra leather into a knot.

      “The calves do a lot of bawling and pacing during weaning,” she reminded Jim gently. She untied Dakota and reached for the reins, slipping her boot into the stirrup. She was heading out to take a look at some of the weeds coming up in one of their eastern pastures. With the drought, more unwelcome plants were taking root.

      Jim nodded slightly. “Well, sure, there was some of that.”

      From up on her mare’s back, Lori tried one more time. “Last year Dad and I went to Reno for that seminar on calm cattle management, remember? This is the kind of stuff we learned. By making a less stressful environment for the cows and calves, we improve their well-being. And lower our workload and raise our profits.”

      A snide voice interrupted their conversation. “Why don’t you just light them some nice candles and give ’em a massage?”

      F off. Lori bit her lip to keep from saying it out loud. Seth Garner was such a jerk. She hadn’t realized he’d been listening in.

      The ranch hand sauntered over from where he’d been loading hay into a truck. He was smiling, but his face didn’t hold the same kindness as Jim’s. She’d never liked him much, but ever since she’d taken over the ranch, Seth had been grumbling about taking orders from a woman. Lori wondered if he lay awake nights, thinking of new ways to undermine her. He certainly was inventive about it.

      He glanced at his watch as if noting the lost time between his quip and her answer. Lori swallowed. Why should she be nervous? This was her ranch. She saw Jim wink at her and remembered his advice from the other day. Dish it right back.

      “Don’t you have work to do?” She drew herself up extra tall in the saddle.

      “I was just doing some work.” Seth leaned against the rail, folding his arms over his chest and crossing his legs casually. “Following my boss lady’s orders and loading that truck over there with hay.”

      Boss lady. The words dripped with sarcasm and puddled like murky water. Lori backed Dakota up a few paces so she could see Seth’s face under his hat. She met the challenge in his eyes, but forced her voice into a tone way sweeter than she felt right now. “Well, thanks for getting that done. Now, I’m pretty sure they could use an extra hand cleaning up the floor over at the white barn. Since you’re taking the hay down there anyway, why don’t you take a shovel with you? You can stay and help them out.”

      Seth’s cheeks paled except for some flecks of red on his cheekbones. “That’s not my job.”

      “It’s fall, Seth. We have a lot to get done this time of year and we’ve all got to do our part. Plus, I am your boss lady. So you’d best get started.”

      Seth’s eyes bugged, and he stared at her, stuck without a snide comeback for once.

      She turned Dakota to go, but Jim’s soft voice had her pausing.

      “Well done, there, Lori.”

      “Thanks,” she murmured.

      Jim picked up the box of calf weaners. “I’ll just get started putting these on,” he told her, his voice louder than usual, so Seth could hear. “Seems like weaning is gonna go a lot easier with you at the helm.” He shot her a wink that Seth couldn’t see.

      Bless Jim. He might grumble and question the decisions she made in private, but he’d support her 100 percent in front of the others.

      “I appreciate that, Jim,” she said. “I’ll be back to help out in a few minutes.” She didn’t have to look at Seth to know he was scowling. And that she’d scored her first real win in her struggle to take the reins of Lone Mountain Ranch.

      She turned to go and spotted Wade leaning on the fence near the white barn, watching her intently. The last time they’d seen each other, she’d been yelling. Now he’d seen her go head-to-head with Seth. Well, at least he wouldn’t have any illusions that she was the sweet young girl he’d left behind. She walked Dakota over to him, bracing herself for whatever their next confrontation would be.

      He was wearing that old straw cowboy hat that made his dark eyes even more impenetrable in the shadows beneath the brim.

      “Looks like you showed him.”

      She glanced at Seth, slouching back to his truck, radiating a bad attitude that she could feel from here. “I hope I didn’t upset him too badly. He’s just been giving me such a hard time. But now he looks angrier than ever.”

      “Hey, it’s your ranch. Run it how you want. If he hates it, he’ll leave and go work somewhere else, and you’ll both be better off.”

      “That would be awesome. He hates having a boss lady, as he calls me.”

      Wade grimaced. “Well, keep an eye on him. If he doesn’t come on board soon, fire him.”

      He seemed to come in peace, at least. So she teased him a little. “Listen to you, all managerial.”

      “I learned a thing or two leading a platoon.” He sobered, took off his hat and looked right into her eyes. “But evidently I don’t know much about being a good neighbor. I’m sorry I couldn’t give you the answer you wanted about the water. I just needed time. And honestly, I was scared.”

      “Scared?” He’d always seemed so tough. It had never occurred to her that he was even familiar with that emotion. “What are you scared of?”

      “Failing. I don’t know what I’m doing with the ranch, and it makes me too careful about certain things and not careful enough about others. So with the water, I just balked. I didn’t want to make a mistake that could cost me the ranch.”

      “Well, I know that feeling. Too well.”

      His mouth softened into a brief smile. “But I’ve realized that you were right. We should share the water.”

      Relief relaxed muscles she hadn’t even realized she was tensing. She wanted to raise a fist and shout hooray, but she kept herself calm. “That’s great news. Thank you.”

      “And I brought you something.” He pulled a carrot out of his back pocket, the greens still on it, and held it up like a bouquet. “I would have brought apology flowers, but I knew you’d be working and there wouldn’t be any place for them. This seemed better.”

      “It’s perfect.” He understood her, and it warmed her a little inside. She turned Dakota sideways and reached for the carrot, shoving it in the back pocket of her jeans. “I’ll share it with Dakota later on, if that’s okay.”

      “That’s the idea.”

      It was her turn to apologize. Her horrible words had been eating at her ever since she’d stormed off his ranch. “I’m sorry I said so many rude things.”

      “I reckon I deserved it.”

      “Maybe a little...” She couldn’t resist.

      He acknowledged the teasing with a brief smile and rushed on. “But I hope you can help me with something.”

      “What do you need?”

      He flushed a little. Swallowed hard. “Look, I’m new at this ranching thing. I mean, growing up, we had animals pass through, but mainly my dad was stealing them from one person and selling them to another, so they never stayed around long. I have no idea what I’m doing. Seeing your ranch running so smoothly... How do you do it?”

      Wade asking her for ranching tips? Not what she’d expected when she’d seen him standing there. “Well, part of it is that I’ve been doing it forever and I studied it in school, and part of it is that I’ve