To her credit she had a masterful way of covering them up, but there would come a point when Mandy would wake up to the fact that his brother’s interest lay in another woman and to waste any more time with him was futile.
With the mail collected, he headed for the drive-in. When it came their turn in the line of tourists, he ordered a steak burrito and two fresh limeades with additional cherries. Once they were on the road again he said, “I’m going to drive us back along the fire-break road. It’ll circle around the ranch and take us up on some vista points so you can view the whole layout.”
“Wonderful. How big is it?”
“Seventeen thousand acres. Eight thousand of them are deeded land.”
“While I was riding my bike along here this morning, I yearned to get up on that mountain casting its long shadow over the valley. What’s it called?”
“Inyan Kara. Some historians call it Hollow
Mountain and others Stone-Made Mountain, but Mary said it comes from her language meaning ‘mountain over mountain.’”
“I envy you having learned so much from her.”
“The first Brannigan bought the property in 1872 and built the original part of the ranch house. We’ve survived five generations starting with the Sioux, then the U.S. Cavalry, followed by frontiersmen, pioneers, settlers, cowboys and outlaws.”
She flashed him an infectious smile. “Oh, yes. The Sundance Kid. He and I have something in common, except I understand he was kept eighteen months in the Sundance jail before he was released and left the country. That’s five months longer than yours truly out in Pierre’s all-women prison.”
Colt was glad she could be lighthearted about an experience that would have destroyed most people.
“One of my mother’s ancestors was a pioneer from Scotland, but he didn’t create an empire like your family has done,” she volunteered. “What about your ancestry?”
“We’re mostly English with a little Scotch-Irish thrown in.”
“Our family has English blood too. How did your ranch get its name?”
Naturally the new housekeeper wanted to learn all she could. “General George Armstrong Custer rode through this area in early summer and saw the flowers in the high meadows. He called it Floral Valley and the name stuck.”
“That’s beautiful. In fact the beauty of this whole place takes my breath away.”
She’d just put her finger on what was wrong with Colt. Since this morning when he’d found her at the gas station, he’d been in that condition and hadn’t caught it yet. He drove them higher until they came to the first lookout where she could see the out buildings and the cattle grazing. Colt heard sounds of appreciation coming out of her before she started firing more questions. The woman had an inquisitive mind.
“We have a five-hundred-animal unit operation and bring in cattle on a rental basis over eighteen pastures. Sixteen of them have live water from the creeks and springs. For the other two, we’ve put in four wells and banks, along with earthen reservoirs.”
She shook her head. “This is a huge enterprise.”
“A lot goes on here, but it’s manageable, although I’m a little short-staffed at the moment. Travis has had to stay close to Lindsey lately and Hank’s broken leg has put him out of commission. Mac and the hands have been doing double duty.”
“And you probably triple.” This woman said all the right things. “Tell me what’s beyond this vantage point.”
“We have six hundred acres of wheat, and some other acreage of alfalfa and grass hay mix for use year round. We also have an income source from pasture lease, farmland crop-sharing and hunting fees.”
“What do people hunt here?”
“Elk, deer, antelope and wild turkeys.”
He heard a sigh. “Thank you for taking your time to give me a bird’s-eye view of the ranch. I know there’s a ton to learn and it will take me ages, but at least I can picture all this in my mind now. Otherwise I’d be like the proverbial deer in the headlights. It’s an absolute paradise, Colt.”
Not everyone felt that way if they weren’t raised on a ranch. His ex-wife had come from San Francisco. Their two lifestyles had never mixed. He understood that. In Geena’s case she’d be leaving in the fall, so it didn’t matter if she took to the ranching life or not.
“In a few days when I have to inspect the herd, I’ll take you with me so you can see the flowers Custer described. Now that’s paradise.”
“I’d love it,” she murmured before he realized what had just come out of him. This was how you got in trouble. Geena was the new housekeeper. Her job was temporary. Period! She couldn’t even ride a horse, and here he was planning an outing with her under the guise of work.
Yet hiring her had solved two problems. She needed a job and had provided a stopgap for him while he hunted for the right person to become another fixture on the ranch. Since Mary’s passing a month ago, he hadn’t had enough time to find that special person.
As for Geena, she had other plans. You didn’t expect a woman like her to stay with the housekeeper position a long time, even if there were no contract. With her college degree she could make a whole new career for herself.
There were men out there—single, divorced, widowed—who were dying to link up with such an attractive woman. He’d already seen evidence of that today. She’d put prison behind her, and she expected to move on by the first snowfall. For the time being, the family needed Geena’s services and she needed a few paychecks behind her before she left. But to his chagrin, the thought of her leaving didn’t sit well with him, which was ridiculous.
He started the engine and drove them on a short cut through the pines to reach the house. Alice, one of the house cleaners, had parked her green pickup truck next to Hank’s black one. Now would be as good a time as any for Geena to meet her.
After the truck was parked, she got down while he reached for the bags in the back. They entered the house and walked through to Mary’s old room, except that from now on it would be known as Geena’s.
Alice was in the bathroom scouring it, but stopped her work to see who’d entered the bedroom. “Hi, Colt.”
“Hi, Alice. I’d like you to meet Mary’s replacement.” He put the bags down on the rug. “This is Geena
Williams. She’s from Rapid City, South Dakota. Geena? Alice White Eagle is a younger cousin of Mary’s.”
The pretty, fortyish mother of three was five feet one, as Mary had been. Since Colt had known her, she’d kept her thoughts to herself, but clearly she was shocked by Mary’s young replacement. The difference had to be astonishing to say the least. “Hello, Geena.”
His new housekeeper removed her cowboy hat and put it on one of the two leather armchairs. Both women wore a braid. He’d discovered Geena looked sensational no matter how she did her hair.
“Hi, Alice. It’s very nice to meet you.” She shook the woman’s hand. “I’m sorry Colt and I didn’t come in sooner. I scoured that bathroom this morning. Now it has made extra work for you. Have you changed the sheets on the bed already?”
“Not yet.”
“That’s good because I found fresh sheets in the cupboard and changed them earlier.”
“No problem.” Alice’s smile included Colt as she said it.
It might not be a problem for Alice, but Geena had known a different kind of hard work day in and day out for over a year. Colt hadn’t realized she’d done those things to the room before creeping out of the house at dawn. She continued to surprise him in pleasant, elemental ways. It was as if she already knew the password to infiltrate the secret recesses of his psyche.
Geena glanced at the pictures on the dresser. “Those photos of your cousin are lovely, Alice. So is this room. You must miss her very much.”
“Yes.”
Colt’s gaze flicked to Geena. “Alice is o
ne of the three women who keep the ranch house spotless. We couldn’t get along without them. They work a rotation. She comes in every third day. You’ll meet Elaine tomorrow and Trish on Friday. They’re usually here by eight-thirty and work till eleven, though Alice asked to start work later today. It’ll interest you to know
Alice’s husband, Ben White Eagle, is our chief stockman.”
Geena nodded. “I know that has to be hard work, but if you love animals it would be a pleasure.”
Alice stared at her. “He’s a man of the earth, like Colt.”
“Who wouldn’t love it in this beautiful place? Do you have children?”
“Three.”
“What are their ages?”
“Thirteen, eleven and eight.”
“How wonderful. I’d love to meet them. I hope you’ll bring them sometime.”
“Sometime I will. They’re in school.”
“Maybe bring them afterward for cookies and milk? My grandmother always made that for me.”
Alice only smiled, but Colt knew that Geena wanting to include her children was a sure way to win her friendship. Geena had a way.
“Alice’s family lives in one of the cabins further up the hillside, so occasionally you’ll see them playing,” he explained. “The other two women are married and live in Sundance with their families.”
Geena nodded. “Have you worked here long, Alice?”
“Ten years.”
“Then you’re the person to come to if I have a question when Colt isn’t available.”
“Alice knows everything, but I’ll go over the house-cleaning duties with you later,” Colt interjected. “From then on you can meet with them if you have a special request or they need something from you.”
“That sounds good to me. How about you, Alice?”
“It’s good.”
The soft-spoken woman couldn’t help but be positively affected by Geena’s friendliness. Had she always been easy to get along with? Or had she learned to deal with other women in prison and now had it down to an art form? Alice nodded in agreement and left the bedroom with her cleaning supplies.
“I’m sure you want to freshen up, then I’d like to introduce you to my mother. Will ten minutes give you enough time?”
“Plenty.”
“Then I’ll be by for you shortly.”
CHAPTER FOUR
GEENA watched both of them leave the room. It excited her that Alice was also Lakota. Geena had a strong interest in native American history and would enjoy getting to know her better. No doubt it would be difficult for Alice to see someone else taking over the housekeeping duties that had been Mary’s domain for several decades. Geena hoped in time they could become friends, but it wouldn’t happen overnight.
Her mind flicked back to Colt. She went into the bathroom, only needing a minute before she was ready for him. Mrs. Brannigan might not recognize her loved ones any more, but she was Colt’s mother, the one who wouldn’t have approved of a half loaf.
There was a definite streak of cynicism running through her oldest son, though he kept it hidden for the most part. Like Achilles, the most handsome of all the heroes during the Trojan War, Colt appeared to be invulnerable in every part of his magnificent body except his heel. Achilles had died from a small wound received there.
Geena believed it was a woman who’d become Colt’s only weakness. The fact that there was no mention of a woman in his life meant he still fought that weakness with all the breath he possessed. She’d sensed that much out under the ponderosa tree when his demeanor had sent out an aura that said trespass at your own risk.
She’d gotten the point instantly. Not that it was any of her concern. She was here to help keep order in Colt’s house. Right now she wanted to look and be at her best for the woman who’d given birth to him. Anxious because she’d like to live up to all the things he expected of her, she expended some excess energy by going out into the hall while she waited.
The walls were lined with generations of family pictures. You name it and it was all there. She feasted her eyes on them. They dated from more than a hundred years ago to the present. Babies, little boys and girls, teenagers and adults. Parents, grandparents, great-grandparents. Some on horseback, rodeo shots, groups hiking, skiing, fishing.
The pictures of a younger, painfully handsome Colt winning prizes for steer-wrestling captured her attention. A young handsome Achilles all right. She found herself looking for every picture of him she could find from infancy to the age he was now. While she feasted her eyes on him with his family or alone, she heard footsteps in the hall and turned in that direction. It was his brother Hank.
“Well, hello again,” he spoke first.
“Hi, Hank.”
He moved toward her on his walking cast. His hair, a little overly long, had more brown in it than Colt’s. Wearing jeans and a Western shirt, he was another good-looking Brannigan. She’d thought so last night. He had softer edges than Colt and was probably an inch shorter than his brother, who had to be six foot three.
“I didn’t know you were still here.” In his voice were all the questions she’d seen in his eyes last night, yet hadn’t uttered. As his gaze swept over her, his pure green irises lit up in male appreciation. “It’s the best news I’ve heard since the doc told me my leg was only broken in one place.”
“Considering I can see you in the grouping of bull riders in these pictures, I suppose that was good news.”
He let go with a hearty laugh. “Don’t tell me you’re a helper from the nursing service. I never saw one who looked like she was queen of the Sundance rodeo before.”
That’s what she looked like to him? How funny. Last night she’d resembled a bag lady. Geena didn’t know what Colt would want her to say, but since he hadn’t arrived yet, all she could do was be honest. “I came here to apply for the housekeeping position.”
The charming flirt looked blown away. “You’ve got to be kidding! Who let you in the house?”
“Your brother.”
His brows lifted. “How come you’re still here?”
With that one question, Hank had just told her a mouthful about the hard inner facing of his older brother, who would never have hired her under normal circumstances. But there’d been nothing normal about her meeting with Colt. What Hank didn’t realize was that his brother was suffering from a surfeit of guilt about her. In order to assuage it, he’d hired her for a temporary period.
No one knew that better than she did. It was just as well, because she was on a mission to find Todd’s girlfriend, wherever it took her. “He decided to try me out on a probationary basis.”
Looking stunned, Hank muttered something unintelligible under his breath.
“I’m very happy about it and hope your family will be too.” She was more thankful than ever for the new clothes she was wearing as well as the other things she’d bought. Besides lingerie she now had jeans, tops, a few skirts and blouses, some sandals and a new purse and wallet. All things she’d once taken for granted, but prison had changed her perspective and priorities.
“Where are you from?”
“Rapid City.”
After a long pause he said, “Since you’re new to Wyoming, keep Saturday night open and I’ll show you around Sundance. We’ll do some line-dancing. How does that sound?”
“It sounds fun and I’m flattered,” she said without having to think about it. “But whenever I’m employed, I have rules. No socializing within the company. In the case of the Brannigans, no fraternizing with the family or those employed on the Floral Valley Ranch. Besides, you can’t dance until that cast comes off.”
The playfulness left his eyes. “Did Colt tell you to say that?”
“I’ve been a working girl for a long time, Hank. I set my own rules.” She’d learned how to pr
otect herself in prison in order to survive.
He studied her for a minute, clearly stymied. “What are you doing out here in the hall alone?”
“Your brother should be along any second. He’s taking me to meet your mother.”
“He might be a while. When I passed him, he was on the phone with Sheila making his plans for the weekend. Come with me. Ina’s probably taken Mom outside.”
Had she been completely wrong about Colt? Silly how her heart pounded harder because she thought this Sheila could be someone important to him. It’s none of your business, Geena. It couldn’t be!
She followed Hank to the master bedroom. In truth it was an apartment with a fireplace and a den. She loved the vaulted ceiling and Western motif. The double doors were open onto a covered veranda.
Geena picked out their slim mother immediately. She was dressed in jeans and a blouse and was probably five feet four. Instead of boots, she wore sneakers and sat on a covered swing with her hands on her knees, as if she was getting ready to stand up and go. She resembled Hank in coloring, but there were sprinklings of silver in her short brown hair and some of the facial features were reminiscent of Colt’s.
“Hi, Mom.” Hank bent down to kiss her cheek. “Someone’s come to see you. Laura Brannigan, meet Geena Williams, our new housekeeper.” Eyes more brown than hazel stared at Geena without animation. There was no recognition before Hank finished the introductions. “Geena, meet her caregiver Ina Maynes.”
“How do you do?” They shook hands. Ina was a bigger woman with blond hair, probably in her early fifties. She sat on a chair next to the swing. On the coffee table were a lot of books and magazines.
“How’s she been doing since lunch?” he asked Ina.
“The same. Restless. She roamed the house this afternoon.”
“That medicine the doctor prescribed should start to work by morning.”
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