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“We’ll get that meal you wanted and then we’ll head for your place.” Hawkeye cupped Liv’s elbow and guided her through the loft apartment’s door.
For once she didn’t argue or pull away.
Hawkeye counted that as progress.
“Damn. The sun’s already setting.” Olivia shaded her eyes and looked toward the west.
“We can skip the tavern and head right for the ranch,” Hawkeye offered.
She shook her head. “You said yourself that your truck is where you left it on a dirt road. By the time we retrieve it and make it back to the ranch, it’ll already be dark. We might as well get something to eat and take it with us. I can guarantee there’s nothing edible that doesn’t have to be cooked at the ranch.” She started down the steps ahead of him.
“I’ll be down in ten minutes to take you out to Hawkeye’s truck.” Garner followed them onto the landing. “You’ll need it with Liv’s farm truck out of commission.”
“The sheriff called a tow truck,” Olivia said. “The way it was smoking, I’m sure my dad’s old truck is a total loss.” Her lips turned downward. “I’ll be in the market for a used, cheap truck or we won’t be able to haul the hay to the barn before winter.”
“You can use mine until then,” Hawkeye offered.
Instead of nodding, she frowned. “I can’t rely on a man who is at best a temporary solution to a much larger problem.”
“That being?” Hawkeye asked.
“I need more than a truck out at the ranch. I need my foreman, or at least someone who can do some of the heavy work. Tossing hay bales isn’t easy.” She chewed on her bottom lip.
The motion made Hawkeye’s groin tighten. He wanted to pull that lip into his mouth and kiss her worries away.
Why?
He didn’t know. He’d just met the woman. That she was willing to risk her life to pull a full-grown man out of a smoking truck said a lot about her character. Not only was she strong, she was tough and cared about the people around her.
“I’ll be at the ranch,” Hawkeye said. “While I’m keeping an eye on things, I can help with hay hauling and doing other chores as needed.”
Olivia snorted. “Thanks, but you won’t be around for long. I’m sure, once Kevin and his team figure out what’s going on, you’ll be back with your unit. I need a permanent solution. It took both my father and our foreman to manage the ranch with seasonal help. Even if Abe wasn’t laid up with a broken leg, I’d have to find more help. The kind that will stick around for the long haul.”
Hawkeye raised his hands palms up and smiled. “In the meantime, you have me. Use me while you’re advertising for additional staff. What can it hurt? You’re getting my services free.”
Olivia’s stiff shoulders relaxed slightly. “You’re right. And thanks.”
“Don’t sound so ungrateful. Wait until you see what I can do. I’m strong, and I’ve hauled my share of hay in my younger days.” He stopped at the bottom of the staircase and pulled Olivia around to face him. “And I have a special skill.” His lips twitched.
Her breath hitched and her gaze dropped to his lips. “Oh yeah?” she said, her voice a whisper.
Hawkeye leaned toward her, as if he might kiss her, his lips passing her mouth and going toward her ear. “I know the difference between a steer and a cow.” He leaned back and smiled. Yes, he was flirting with her, but he could tell she needed a little levity in a bad situation. Having lost her father and now with her foreman off the ranch, she had a lot weighing on her shoulders. Hawkeye winked.
Olivia’s lips pressed into a tight line.
Not exactly the reaction he was aiming for. For a moment, Hawkeye thought he might have gone too far flirting with the pretty rancher, and she might slap his face again. Just in case, he leaned back a little farther.
A moment passed and Olivia’s firm lips loosened and spread into a wry smile. “You don’t know how important a skill that is.” She stuck out her hand. “For however long you’re here, you’re hired.”
With an accord reached, Hawkeye shook her hand, an electric shock running up his arm and shooting low into his groin. The woman had an effect on him he hadn’t counted on. Rather than kissing her, like he wanted to, he turned her toward the tavern entrance and ushered her inside with a hand at the small of her back. With everything going wrong in Grizzly Pass, helping Olivia was the first thing that felt right.
As Hawkeye opened the door, a young man was thrown through. He stumbled, fell and landed on his knees on the sidewalk.
A man with a scruffy beard and unkempt brown hair lurched through the door, his face red and splotchy, his breath reeking of booze. “No damned stepson of mine is going to be a dishwasher in a saloon, carrying out other people’s trash.” He pointed a finger at the boy. “Get home, where you belong. You have your own chores to do.”
Olivia crouched to help the teen to his feet.
Once upright, the young man shrugged off her hands and faced the angry man. “I finished the chores before I came to town.”
“Don’t talk back to me, boy,” the man growled.
Hawkeye recognized the drunk man as one of the men Garner had on his watch list. Ernie Martin. A man who had a gripe with the government over the discontinuance of the subsidies on his livestock.
“Get back to the ranch,” Ernie said.
The teen lifted his chin and set his feet slightly apart as if ready to do battle. “I have a job. I need to be here when I said I would.”
“Did your mother tell you that you should get a job?” Ernie snorted. “Is she too lazy to get out and get one for herself and bring a little income home for once?”
The teen’s fists clenched. “My mother isn’t lazy. She has three small children to raise. She’d never make enough money to pay for child care.”
“And whose fault is that? She shouldn’t have had all those brats.”
The teen’s eyes narrowed. “You should have stayed off of her. They’re your kids, too. And what are you doing to put food on the table? My mother should never have married you.”
“She’s lucky to be off the reservation. And you should be thankful I took you in out of the goodness of my own heart.”
With a snort, the teen brushed the dust off his jeans. “You didn’t do either of us any favors.”
Ernie’s face flushed even redder. “Why, you ungrateful little brat. That’s all the bull crap I’m taking from you.” He launched himself at the teen.
Before he’d gone two steps, Hawkeye grabbed Ernie’s arm and jerked him around. “Leave the kid alone.”
Ernie glared at Hawkeye through glazed eyes, cocked his fist and swung.
Hawkeye caught the fist in his own palm and forced the man’s hand down to his side. “Take another swing and I won’t go as easy on you.” He fished the man’s keys out of his pocket and then shoved the man backward, out of range of landing another punch. “You’ll have to find a ride home.”
Sheriff Scott pulled up in his county sheriff’s SUV, parked and got out. “What’s going on here?”
Ernie stalked up to the sheriff. “This man stole my keys and threatened me with bodily harm.” He pointed at Hawkeye. “Arrest him.” The stern tone was offset when the man belched, sending out a vile fog of booze-heavy breath.
“Now, Ernie, I’m sure there’s another side to this story,” the sheriff said.
“It’s cut-and-dried.” Ernie pointed at the keys in Hawkeye’s hands. “He has my keys.”
Sheriff Scott leaned away from Ernie’s face. “The man’s doing you a favor and keeping you from getting a DUI.” He stared at Ernie. “How much have you had to drink?”
“Just one beer,” Ernie said. “A man’s got a right to drink a beer. Or is our government going to take that right away, too?”
The sheriff crossed his arms over his chest. “Care to take a Breathalyzer test?”
Ernie opened his mouth and had just enough sense left to close it again before his alcohol-soaked brain let his mouth loose.
Hawkeye almost laughed, but knew it would only rile the man more.
“Hop in, Ernie. I’ll give you a ride home.”
The man folded his arms over his chest and dug his heels into the concrete sidewalk. “Ain’t leaving my truck here.”
“I’ll drive it home,” the teen offered.
Ernie shot a narrow-eyed glare at the young man. “You ain’t touching my damned truck.”
The teen raised his hands. “Okay. I won’t drive your truck.”
“Don’t worry about it, CJ,” the sheriff assured him. He turned to Ernie. “I’ll have my deputies bring your truck out to your house in the morning, after you’ve had a chance to sober up. You shouldn’t be driving anymore tonight.” Sheriff Scott hooked Ernie’s elbow and eased him toward the backseat.
Ernie jerked loose of the sheriff’s hold and pointed a finger at the teen. “You’re done with this job. I didn’t approve of it anyway.”
The teen stood with his feet braced apart, his jaw set. “I’m going to work.”
“Not as a dishwasher, you aren’t. I won’t have members of this community pointing at you, feeling sorry for poor Ernie Martin’s stepson who has to work to support his family.”
“I don’t care what you call it—I want my sisters and brother to have something to eat. It’s either here or somewhere else.”
“I provide,” Ernie insisted. “And it ain’t your place to be telling tales about what goes on at home.”
CJ’s fists clenched. “I’m going to have a job.”
“Not here, you’re not,” Ernie said with a finality that made CJ blink.
“How about at my place?” Olivia stepped forward. “Mr. Martin, you might not remember me, but I’m Olivia Dawson, Everett Dawson’s daughter.”
“Yeah. So?” He ignored her outstretched hand. “That doesn’t give you the right to butt into a private conversation.”
Hawkeye had to stop himself from snorting. The way Ernie had been yelling, the entire town of Grizzly Pass had to have heard his “private” conversation.
Olivia continued. “Since my father passed—” she swallowed hard and pressed on “—my foreman has broken his leg. I could use some help. CJ can work for me out at the ranch. He can make some money to tide you over to better times, or at least pay for his own meals.” Olivia caught Ernie’s stare and held it. “What do you say? You and my father were friends at one time. He’d be proud to have your stepson help me out.”
Ernie bristled. “If you need help, why not me?”
Olivia smiled gently.
Hawkeye could feel himself melt. The woman needed to smile more often. She went from pretty to stunning in less than a second.
“I wouldn’t dream of taking you away from your ranch. I know how hard it is to keep things running. Besides, I can’t afford to pay much.”
“I’ll take it,” CJ said. He turned to his stepfather. “I’ll do my chores before I leave the house and when I get back.”
“And how will you get there and back?” Ernie asked, a sneer pulling at one side of his mouth. “You have school starting in a couple weeks.”
“I’ll manage.”
Ernie snorted and turned back to Olivia. “If he steals something, don’t come crying to me. He’s been nothing but a pain in my rear since I brought him to the ranch.”
CJ’s eyes flashed, but he kept his mouth firmly shut. How he put up with Ernie, Hawkeye had no idea. Just standing near the belligerent jerk made Hawkeye itch to shove his fist in the man’s face.
“Fine.” Ernie waved at Olivia and his stepson. The drunk swayed and practically fell into the backseat of the sheriff’s SUV. As he leaned out to close the door, he said, “He’s your problem now.”
“You got a way home, CJ?” Sheriff Scott asked.
The teen nodded. “Yes, sir.” He glanced toward the sheriff’s vehicle as if it was the last place he wanted to be.
The sheriff shook his head and slid behind the wheel. A moment later, all Hawkeye could see of Ernie Martin were the taillights of the sheriff’s SUV disappearing at the end of Main Street.
Olivia clapped her hands together. “Well, that was lovely. I have the help I needed.” She smiled at CJ. “How soon can you start?”
The young man dug his hands into his pockets. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to start in the morning. Right now, I need to get home.” He gazed in the direction his stepfather had gone.
“Do you need a ride?” Hawkeye asked.
CJ shook his head. “No, sir. I’ll just let my boss know I can’t work here anymore. I have a bicycle. I’ll get myself home.”
“That’s got to be about five miles out of town. And it’s getting dark.” Olivia frowned. “Let one of us take you.”
The young man shook his head. “I’ll need my bike to get to work in the morning.”
“I live three miles out of town,” Olivia said. “Between you living on one side of Grizzly Pass and me on the other, that’s over eight miles several times a day. You need some other way to get there and back.”
“I promise.” CJ stepped forward. “I can do it. I’m used to riding long distances. It’s nothing.” He edged toward the tavern. “I really need to get home.”
Olivia still frowned, but she stepped out of the youth’s way. “Tell you what—don’t worry. We’ll figure something out.”
“Thank you, Miss Dawson. I’ll be there in the morning, right after I do my chores.” The teen darted into the tavern, leaving Hawkeye and Liv where they’d been when the ruckus started.
“Are you two ready to go?” a voice said behind Hawkeye. Kevin Garner descended to the bottom step of the staircase leading up to the loft apartment.
“Not quite. We had a little delay.” Olivia started to reach for the door.
Hawkeye beat her to it and opened it wide for her and Garner. As his boss passed, Hawkeye nodded. “I’ll fill you in as we wait for our orders.”
Chapter Four (#u9c0b0983-063a-5623-a95f-e83e9f3f1224)
Liv cradled the food containers on her lap in the backseat of Kevin Garner’s truck.
The Homeland Security agent dropped them off at Hawkeye’s truck where he’d left it parked with the utility trailer. After disconnecting the trailer from his truck, Hawkeye rolled it around to the back of Garner’s and dropped it onto the hitch.
Garner helped Liv into Hawkeye’s truck and then extended a hand. “Be careful and let me know of anything out of the ordinary, even if it seems inconsequential. All the little pieces add up.”
