A Rancher to Trust Read online

“Kin to the Whitlocks here, are you?”

  “Abel’s my brother.”

  “He’s a good man.” There was the faintest emphasis on he. “You’d be the younger of Elton’s boys, I’m reckoning?” When Dan nodded, the man went on. “You buying this stuff for Abel?”

  “No, just helping out a friend while I’m in town.”

  The old man studied the steep figure circled on the adding machine paper. “Out-of-town checks are too chancy for a small operator like me. Cash would do better. You can take your check right over to the bank downtown. They’ll cash it for you.” If it’s any good. The unspoken words hung in the air. The elderly man straightened his thin shoulders resolutely. “I’ll hold this material for you until five o’clock this evening. That’ll give you time to see to getting a check cashed. After that I’ll have to put it back in the stock. That’s the best I can do.”

  “I understand.” Dan chewed on the inside of his cheek, but he kept his voice civil. “I’ll be back.” He picked up his hat from the counter and clapped it on his head.

  “No offense meant, son,” Myron called after Dan as he left the office area. “Just trying to stay out of trouble, that’s all.”

  “So am I,” Dan muttered.

  He fumed the entire brief ride to the bank, but he aimed most of the anger at himself. He should’ve seen this coming a mile off. He’d forgotten where he was—and who he was when he was in Pine Valley. Myron’s refusal to accept his check had nothing to do with it being from out of town...and everything to do with the name on it.

  Whitlock.

  Once he’d been used to the suspicions that clung to that name, but he’d gone away and nearly forgotten. Here in Pine Valley, Whitlock stood for thievery and double dealings. Even Abel’s straight-arrow way of doing business couldn’t entirely erase the stink of generations of cheats, especially not for an old-timer like Myron Banks.

  Especially not when Dan had cheated people more than once himself, back in the day.

  Funny. Back in Wyoming, Dan didn’t even have to go down to the building supply in person. He just called in what he needed, and they had it delivered. Promptly. As the trusted foreman of the sprawling Bar M and a close friend of the well-respected McAllisters, Dan’s name tended to open doors rather than shut them.

  But back here in his hometown, a man was too suspicious of him to take his check.

  That stung, but it fell into the category of things Dan couldn’t change, and he’d learned a long time ago to leave that alone. It was another thing Gordon McAllister had drilled into Dan’s brain. A man couldn’t control what happened to him, but if he could control himself, well, that went a long way.

  Fortunately, it didn’t take the bank long to verify that he had the necessary funds in his account. Within fifteen minutes, he was walking out, his wallet thick with bills. As he stepped off the curb beside his parked truck, his eye caught on fluttering green-and-white-striped awnings down the street.

  Bailey’s store. He paused.

  She’d be working now. But since he was already in town, he could stop in and see her. That’d be a natural enough thing to do, wouldn’t it? He could buy a soda and talk to her for a minute. He could tell her about how that silly Jersey calf of hers had stolen his second-best hammer and run off with it. That’d be sure to make her laugh.

  He loved to hear Bailey laugh.

  He hesitated another long minute, and then shrugged, impatient with himself. What was he acting so squirrelly about? He’d stop in the store for a second then go back to the building supply and pick up the materials.

  This decided, he left the truck and headed down the narrow sidewalk.

  He’d never felt at home in this town, but he had to admit, it was pretty. A lot of these one-horse places were dying out—especially downtown—their old-fashioned town squares abandoned in favor of sprawling shopping centers on the outskirts of town.

  But Pine Valley was holding her own. Every one of the stores facing the rosy brick courthouse was occupied, and most seemed to be doing a brisk trade. The businesses all looked neat and attractive, the sidewalks were swept, and the traffic was orderly.

  All in all, this was a hardworking, honest little town, a fine place to live and raise a family.

  If your last name didn’t happen to be Whitlock.

  “Danny?”

  Emily hurried out of a building with big coffee cups painted on its windows. She was wearing an apron, and she had her hair clubbed up into a sleek bun. To Dan’s astonishment, she skipped to him and gave him a warm hug.

  “I figured that was you! Hard to miss that hat around here! Are you headed to Bailey’s?”

  “Yeah, for a minute.” He smiled at her. After his wake-up call down at the building supply, Emily’s kindness was a welcome change.

  “I’m headed there in a few minutes myself.” Emily glanced at her watch. “Sometimes she closes up for a few minutes around this time of day so she can grab some lunch and putter around in the storeroom. If her sign’s up on the door, just slip through the alley and go in the back. That’s what I always do. Listen—I want the two of you to come to dinner Friday night. Nothing fancy—just a beef stew—but we’re anxious to spend as much time with you as we can while you’re in town. Seven o’clock. Tell Bailey I’m not taking no for an answer! Okay?”

  When he nodded, she gave his forearm a quick squeeze. “Wonderful! Now I’d better get back inside. I’ve got a tray of lemon squares almost ready to come out of the oven. Tell Bailey I’ll see her in a bit.”

  With another friendly smile, Emily vanished into the café. Dan stared after her for a second or two before resuming his walk in the direction of Bailey’s store.

  His welcome in this town sure went from one extreme to the other. Abel and Emily seemed overjoyed to see him. Bailey was kind but wary, and people like Myron Banks were downright suspicious.

  It sort of threw a man off his feet.

  He pressed the brass lever on Bailey’s door, but it didn’t budge. Sure enough, when he glanced up, he saw a small square sign posted in the window.

  Temporarily Closed. Will Reopen In... The little adjustable clock was showing a time twenty minutes in the future.

  He couldn’t wait around out here for twenty minutes. He needed to get back out to the building supply and pick up that material. He hesitated, remembering Emily’s breezy instructions.

  He wasn’t sure it was a good idea for him to go around to the back. He was going to be treading on some pretty thin ice with the house repairs. He didn’t need to make matters any worse by bugging Bailey while she was having her lunch.

  It was too bad, though. He’d really liked the idea of dropping in on her. He thought for a minute, then he walked a short way down the sidewalk.

  Just as Emily had said, there was a narrow alleyway leading to the loading area behind the stores. Couldn’t do any harm to walk through and see if maybe Bailey happened to be out back.

  He emerged from the damp, shaded alley into an asphalt parking lot and frowned. A delivery truck emblazoned with a huge orange was butted up to the concrete loading pad at the back of Bailey’s store.

  Had to be that Lyle fellow stopping by on his return run. The back of Dan’s neck crinkled uneasily, and he picked up his pace. Just as he mounted the block steps going up to the deck, he heard Bailey’s voice drifting through the half-opened door.

  “Lyle, I’m not telling you again. The answer is no.”

  “Aw, come on. You don’t really mean that.”

  “Yes, I do.” Bailey spoke firmly, but her voice shook on the last word, just a little.

  Whatever was going on in there had her nervous. Dan’s heart turned hard and cold at the same time, and his hands fisted against his jeans.

  From somewhere inside a man snickered, but there was no smile on Dan’s face as he barreled through the doorway.

  *
* *

  It happened so fast, Bailey’s brain couldn’t catch up. One minute, a smirking Lyle had her cornered against a stack of boxes, pestering her to agree to go out with him. Then in a blink he’d been yanked backward by the collar of his shirt.

  Dan backed Lyle flat against the brick wall, his forearm pressing against Lyle’s neck. Lyle’s eyes were wide, and his mouth flexed open and shut like a landed fish.

  “Dan!” Bailey choked out. “What are you doing?”

  “Teaching this fellow a vocabulary lesson.” Dan spoke quietly, but she could see the taut muscle under the sleeve of his shirt as he kept the other man pinned against the wall. “He seems to have some trouble understanding the word no.”

  “I was just playing around—” Lyle protested, but he choked back into silence as Dan adjusted his hold slightly.

  “It’s not playing unless both people want to play. Maybe you’d better say it out loud so I’m sure you’ve got that, Lyle.”

  “You’re crazy! Look, Tex, this is none of your business—” Dan shifted his position again, and the delivery man’s argument ended in a wheeze.

  “Dan!” Bailey called out worriedly. “Be careful.”

  “It’s all right, Bailey. Almost done here. Go ahead, Lyle. Say it.”

  “It’s not playing unless both people want to play,” Lyle mumbled grudgingly.

  Instantly Dan released him. Lyle sagged down, massaging his throat, his eyes filled with outrage.

  “I could have you arrested for that!”

  “Go for it,” Dan answered evenly. “Now get, before I think up a few more lessons you need to learn.”

  Alarm kindled in Lyle’s eyes, and he edged farther away. Once he was safely out of Dan’s reach, he began to bluster. “Don’t worry, I’m going. And I won’t be back, either. Just you wait until Pops hears about this, Bailey! You won’t be getting any more special treatment, that’s for sure!”

  “If this is your idea of special treatment, I’m not interested,” Bailey retorted. “And trust me, I’ll be having a word with your grandfather myself.”

  Lyle’s face darkened. He started to speak, but he darted another look at Dan and headed out the door at a trot. A second later, she heard the truck’s engine roar to life.

  The knot in her stomach loosened at the sound, and her knees began to shake. She reached out and grabbed a metal shelf to support herself.

  “Bailey? Are you okay?”

  She swallowed hard. “I’m all right. I don’t know why I’m shaking. It wasn’t... Lyle was just being obnoxious. He called me back here, and then he kept badgering me about going out with him.” She flushed. It sounded silly when you said it out loud, but it hadn’t felt silly. When he’d cornered her in the storeroom, there had been something in his eyes... She’d gotten truly spooked there for a minute. She forced herself to take a deep breath. “I’m fine.”

  “You don’t look fine.” Dan crossed the room in one stride. Maybe it was because all her nerves were already on high alert, but as he neared, her whole body went into a convulsive shiver. “You need to sit.” He dragged a wooden stool over. Taking both her upper arms gently in his hands, he lowered her onto the seat. “Try taking a few deep breaths. It’s just adrenaline. You’ll settle down in a minute.”

  “What’s going on, Bailey?” Emily stood framed in the large open loading door. Her friend hurried over and draped a protective arm over Bailey’s shoulders. “Danny, what happened? Is she hurt?”

  “She’s had a scare,” Dan said quietly.

  “What kind of scare?” Emily frowned and glanced over her shoulder. “Does this have anything to do with that truck that just squealed out of here? The driver jumped the curb and almost ran over Trisha Saunders’s new Pekingese.”

  “The fruit delivery guy needed a little lesson in manners, that’s all,” Dan said. “I don’t think he’s going to be a problem anymore.”

  Emily looked from Dan to Bailey. “He scared you?”

  “I’m not scared. I’m fine,” Bailey stood, frustrated to find that her knees still wobbled under her. She couldn’t believe she was acting like such a fragile flower...over Lyle. “Thanks, Dan. I appreciate you stepping in, but I’m really okay. Now, did you need something from the store, Emily? You must have, or you wouldn’t be here.”

  “Walnuts,” Emily admitted after a second. “I need some walnuts.”

  “Okay.” Bailey’s voice was already almost back to normal. Good. “No problem. Come out front with me then, and I’ll get you fixed up. I need to grab some water anyway. Dan, you wait here, okay? I imagine you had a reason to stop by, too. I mean, apart from setting Lyle straight. Let me take care of Emily. Then I’ll be right back, and we’ll talk.”

  Dan nodded. “Take your time. I’m in no particular hurry.”

  When she and Emily were in the front area of the store, Emily planted herself in front of Bailey.

  “Okay, we’re alone. Now, Bailey Quinn, you tell me what happened back there! And don’t say nothing, because you’re as white as a sheet. Honey, did that delivery guy put his hands on you?”

  “No. Lyle was being...” Bailey struggled to find the right word. “Inappropriate,” she finished finally. In spite of herself, she laughed. “Wow. I sound like somebody’s old maid aunt, don’t I?”

  “Tell me exactly what happened,” Emily insisted. As they picked out the nuts Emily needed, Bailey described the incident in the storeroom.

  Somehow talking about it helped. By the time she’d finished, her breathing had slowed back down to its usual pace, and her knees had stopped jiggling like jelly.

  Unfortunately, the story seemed to have the opposite effect on Emily. Her friend’s cheeks were a hot pink, and she was shaking her head.

  “That’s just awful! When I think what could have happened... What a blessing Danny stopped by when he did!”

  Bailey threw a quick look back toward the doorway leading to the storeroom and lowered her voice. “He had Lyle up against the wall before I knew what was happening.”

  “Good. Abel would have done the same thing,” Emily said. “He and Danny must be more alike than I thought.”

  “Alike?” Nerves made Bailey’s laugh a little shaky. “Dan and Abel? Hardly. You wouldn’t say that if you’d seen him in that storeroom, Emily. For a second there, I was afraid he was going to hurt more than Lyle’s pride.”

  “But he didn’t, did he?” Emily shuddered. “When I was a waitress in Atlanta, I had some run-ins with men like that. I’m glad Danny set that guy straight. And I sure hope it’ll change the way people around here see Danny. You wouldn’t believe some of the mean-spirited comments folks have made since they’ve heard he’s back in town!”

  “Oh, I’d believe. Trust me.”

  “That’s right.” Emily looked at her and lifted her brows. “Abel told me you guys dated for a while back in high school. In fact—” she paused for a second “—he wonders if maybe you’re why Danny finally came back to town.”

  “Oh?” Bailey felt a fresh wave of nervousness. “Why would he think that?” She busied herself weighing out the nuts.

  “Just an idea he got from a conversation they had. He hopes there’s some truth to it. He’d love for Danny to stick around, and Abel already thinks of you as a sister. If you and Danny got back together—”

  Bailey interrupted her. “That’s not going to happen, Emily. Will a pound of nuts do you?”

  “Better make it two. I’m baking apple-walnut muffins. So you really don’t care for Danny anymore? That’s a shame. Abel’s convinced that Danny still has some pretty strong feelings for you.”

  Bailey bit her lip as she tipped more shelled walnuts onto her vintage scale. Then she glanced up and met her friend’s worried eyes. “I’ll always care about Dan, Emily. But it won’t go any farther than that. I won’t let it.”

  “But, honey, wh
y not?” Emily’s eyes narrowed as she scanned Bailey’s face. “Danny’s my brother-in-law, Bailey, but you’re my best friend. If there’s something I need to know about him—”

  “There isn’t. At least, not now, as near as I can tell.” Bailey twisted the top of the full cellophane bag and fastened it with a tie. “But I learned my lesson a long time ago where Dan was concerned.”

  Emily frowned. “You’re the last person I’d expect to hold a person’s past against them. Dan’s really changed, Bailey. Abel’s sure of it.”

  “I hope so. I really do. But I’m still keeping my distance. You know all that gossip you’re hearing? I used to be just as outraged about how people talked about Dan as you are now. But here’s what I learned—where there’s that much smoke, there’s usually fire. I ignored everybody’s warnings, and I got burned. Badly. If Dan’s turned his life around, I’m truly glad, and I wish him every happiness. But for me, that’s as far as it goes. I’m not letting him get close enough to hurt me that much again.”

  A soft cough from the back of the store made both women stiffen. Bailey turned to see Dan standing in the doorway. One look at his face told her that he’d overheard what she’d said.

  Bailey’s face flushed. She hadn’t meant to hurt his feelings. She was just trying to be as honest with Emily as she could be. But after what had happened in the back room, how Dan had come to her rescue, it must seem pretty ungrateful of her to be talking this way to his sister-in-law.

  “I’d best be getting on back, Bailey,” he said quietly. “I’ve got work to do. I’ll see you this evening, most likely.”

  “And I’ll see both of you at supper on Friday,” Emily inserted quickly. Then she turned to Bailey with a pleading expression. “Abel’s just so happy Danny’s home, and we’re celebrating. We really want you to be there, Bailey. Please. For Abel.”

  Bailey’s heart fell, but she recognized the look on Emily’s face. Her friend wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

  “All right. I guess I’ll see you then.”

  Chapter Six