"Hey, us women in this house need to stick together. Our men are very special men, but they can be very trying at times, as well. We just have to remember why they do what they do." She turned to go back to the kitchen, but stopped and looked at Sam one more time. "But they are well worth putting up with. They give you much more happiness than grief." Sam watched her as she went to the kitchen. She picked up another towel to fold, thinking back over their conversation.
The more she thought about Consuela's words the better she felt. She still wasn't so sure he had feelings for her, but she knew she was developing feelings for him. The idea of having him watching out for her had a certain appeal to it. It was a totally new feeling to her, but the more she thought about it the more it appealed to her. She decided for now all she could do is wait and see what happens as far as any relationship between them, but she was willing to give it a try if he really was interested.
She also decided she was really glad Consuela had shared such personal information with her. It helped her a lot, but it couldn't have been easy for Consuela to talk about. Sam vowed to thank her the first chance she got, when they were alone again.
Once the towels were folded, she went back to the office and started in again on getting the accounting up to date. She was concentrating so intently on what she was finding that she didn't even notice Trevor standing at the door, smiling at her. He cleared his throat to get her attention and she nearly jumped out of her chair.
Laughing, he asked, "What in the world are you doing? You were certainly concentrating on it totally, whatever it was."
She tried to brush it off as nothing. "Just bringing the books up to date. What's up? Oh, darn. I forgot to put the curtains in the dryer." She jumped up and tried to run past him, but he caught her arm.
"Hold up there, little one. You can do that after lunch."
"What?" She looked at her watch and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't know it was lunchtime."
He was grinning as he led her into the dining room. "That's okay, Darlin'. I sure won't complain when an employee is concentrating so much on their work they don't realize what time it is." As they went into the room he told the others, "I solved the case of the missing bookkeeper. We can eat now."
Sam told the others, "I'm sorry. I lost track of time." Trevor held her chair for her while she sat down and the four of them had a nice lunch.
Trevor let another hand help Jeb finish the guesthouse in the afternoon, while he went to check out a pasture where they'd lost a few calves lately. He wanted to look for tracks, see if he could tell if it was a mountain lion or a bear, or tire tracks of someone who was stealing them.
Sam and Consuela finished washing things from the guesthouse and got everything back in place. Sam started to climb up onto a chair to put the top curtains back up, but Consuela stopped her. "Miss Sam, you don't want to do that."
"Why not? I know Trevor thinks it's dangerous, but if I have it done before he gets back he'll see that I'm fine and it'll save him having to do it."
Consuela put her hand on Sam's arm. Looking at the two men working in the other room, she whispered, "But Mr. Trevor said no. If you do it anyway he will not be happy. He will spank."
"Even if he sees that I'm fine?"
"That will make no difference, Miss Sam. He will not be happy. Soon neither will you."
Sam's face flushed, knowing exactly what she was saying. She sighed and said, "Okay, maybe you're right. We'll wait for him. But I still don't see what the big problem is."
"Trust me, Miss Sam. The big problem would have been Mr. Trevor." The two ladies chuckled as they got the curtains ready to hang and set them off to the side.
Sure enough, when Trevor came in he thanked her for waiting for him to put the curtains back up. Sam felt a little guilty, knowing that if it weren't for Consuela she would have done it already.
After dinner Trevor asked, "How much stuff do you have at the motel to move out here, Sam?"
"Nothing other than two suitcases."
Trevor looked up at her. "Really? I thought there was a code or something among women that no one could travel light."
"Oh, is there? Sorry, I never got that memo." She saw the puzzled look on his face, but she wasn't ready to say any more yet. "I have a few things in storage back in Texas, but I won't need them."
"If you want them I'll go with you some day. There's no use you paying to keep them in storage."
"Thanks for the offer, Trevor, but I'm not paying anything. My friend put them in a shed at her place. They've got plenty of room they don't use."
"Okay. But if you ever decide you want them let me know. We'll go get them. If you're done eating, let's go get your clothes and get you moved in."
"You don't have to go with me. I can get two suitcases."
"That's okay, I don't mind." He led her outside and said, "We'll take my truck."
"I can just take mine."
"No, that's okay, we'll take mine."
Sam looked at him and said, "You don't want to ride in my truck, do you?"
Now Trevor blushed a little. "Okay, I'll confess. Actually, I'd rather you not drive it until Stan looks at it. He's hoping to get to it tomorrow."
Sam stopped walking and turned to look at Trevor. "What? Who's Stan and what's he looking for?"
"Relax, Darlin'. I saw something dripping from your truck this morning and I asked Stan, who does our mechanic work here, to take a look at it." He saw her getting upset and quickly said, "Now, before you get upset with me, hear me out, please."
She calmed a bit and said, "I'll pay for it."
"You'll pay for what?"
"The repair."
His eyes narrowed. "So you knew about the leak? What's causing it?"
"I know about the leak, but I don't know what the problem is."
"You didn't have it checked?" She looked down, avoiding his eyes, which gave him his answer. He sighed and said, "Sam, I'm not going to make a big thing of this. I just want to say that when I saw something leaking from your truck I was concerned. That's part of my protecting you. I don't want you out driving somewhere alone and have the truck quit. Now, I'm not going to dwell on it because I know this is new to you. But let me just say, please, if you know there's something wrong with your vehicle, either get it checked or let me know about it. I'll gladly have Stan look at it. Now, enough said. Let's get you moved onto the ranch."
Two hours later Sam was settled into the guesthouse. Trevor came out with a bottle of wine, suggesting they toast her new home. They sat on the patio out back, overlooking a creek that ran through the property and got to know each other a bit better. Trevor was still hoping Sam would open up about her past, but refused to push her. He wanted her to tell him, but when she was ready and not before. After an hour Trevor told her good night and returned to the main house, leaving Sam alone in her new home.
She went to bed shortly after Trevor left, but spent almost an hour thinking over all Consuela had said, as well as what Trevor had said during the day. She was starting to hope that Consuela was right and that Trevor was 'sweet on her'. She fell asleep smiling.
The next couple weeks Sam and Trevor fell into a comfortable pattern. They spoke several times during the day and often went out riding or shared some wine or just quiet time together in the evenings.
During the day Sam was working furiously to get the bookkeeping caught up. One Wednesday morning it all started fitting together and she was becoming more upset the more she found. She was going to talk to Trevor when he came in for lunch, but after further consideration decided she wanted to make a few phone calls first.
Before he donned his cowboy hat to go back out after lunch Trevor walked Sam back to the office. "Sam, is everything okay?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"You seem preoccupied. Anything you want to talk about?"
She looked at him, amazed. "How could you tell that? I tried not to let it show."
Trevor chuckled and said, "Don't try and hide things like that from m
e, Sam. I pay close enough attention to you to know when something's off. If something's wrong I want to know about it. I can't fix it if I don't know what it is."
"I know," Sam admitted. "And I'll be totally honest with you."
"You better be," he said with a warning in his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, I know." She noticed the frown on his face, but went on to say, "Actually, I would like to talk to you when you come in this afternoon."
"If something's wrong, Darlin', we can talk now."
"No, it can wait. I want to check one or two other things so I have all the information I can gather before I talk to you."
He was obviously baffled by her words, but asked, "You're not in any danger, are you?"
"No, none at all. I promise."
Looking her over carefully, apparently he was satisfied with her answer. "Okay, but as soon as I get back in this evening we'll talk. I'll see if I can make it a bit early so we have time to talk before supper."
"Okay, that's a deal. I'll be ready by then."
"Okay." He started to leave the office, but on a whim he turned back around and kissed her forehead. "Behave yourself." With that, he put his hat back on and left.
Sam stood there watching him. He looked so sexy, especially when he had that cowboy hat on. He was so big and strong, yet could be just as gentle with her as he was strong with the cattle. She'd seen him break horses, where he'd use his brute strength to hang on to a wild horse until he finally won out and the horse was worn out and would follow Trevor's commands. Not two hours later he'd held her gently and used his thumbs to wipe the tears from her cheeks when she got word that her favorite aunt had passed away. Yep, she admitted to herself, she was in love with the big cowboy.
She shook her head to clear her thoughts and concentrate on the present and what she needed to do. She sat down at his big desk, brought her work back up on the computer and picked up the phone. She was busy for the next two hours.
She now knew what she had to tell Trevor, but wasn't sure what would come of it. The more she thought about it the more nervous she got. She got up and went to the kitchen to get some iced tea. Consuela watched her as she got her tea and sat down at the table. She got herself a glass of tea and sat down beside her.
"What's wrong, Miss Sam? You are not feeling good?"
"No, I'm fine."
"Any problem with Mr. Trevor?"
"What? Oh, no, Trevor and I are fine."
"Then what is it? You look pale. Are you sure you feel okay?"
Before she could answer Trevor walked in the back door and took off his hat and hung it on the peg by the door. He turned to address the ladies and was immediately at Sam's side. "What's wrong, Sam? Are you sick?" His hand was on her forehead as he was asking.
"I'm fine, honest. What is it with you two?" she snapped.
Trevor looked confused until Consuela said, "I told Miss Sam she looks pale. I was concerned."
"You do look pale. What's going on, Sam?"
"Trevor, I need to talk to you. Can we go in the office so I can show you something?"
"Yes, of course."
Sam noticed that even though she had assured him she was fine, he took her hand and helped her up, holding onto her arm as they went to his office. She was beginning to really like this protective thing. It made her feel safe.
When they went into the office Sam took control. She went to the couch, where she had a stack of papers printed off, ready to show Trevor. He sat down, looking at all the work she'd obviously been doing, wondering what this was all about.
"Look at these monthly statements. I've got them all up to date now and this is from the current month so far, up through the last three months that your mother was doing the books."
His eyebrows drew together as he asked, "Why so far back?"
"Look at them and see if you see anything. Start with hers and go forward."
He sat down and started looking at them, slowly moving from one to the next. When he got done he looked deflated. "The ranch is making a little less every month." He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "I don't know what I'm doing wrong. As far as I can think, I'm doing everything pretty much the way we always did." Looking up, he asked, "Do these show you anything I'm doing wrong?"
"Yes, actually, but it's not really anything you're doing wrong. Look at two things. Again, start with the last three your mom did and look at the amount going out for the feed supply store for the supplements you feed your cattle and horses. Also look at the bank charges."
Again he looked at her quizzically, but picked the papers up again. As he slowly shuffled through them again, Sam could tell he was getting upset. He finished and looked up to her to ask, "What's going on? I don't understand this."
"I didn't, either. It looks like you're spending more and more on supplements, but I checked the other records and you're not increasing the herd other than naturally, through births. You haven't bought any cattle or horses lately."
"No, we're working on our own breeding program."
"And that's a slow but steady growth, not enough to warrant that rise in supplements."
"So what happened; why has it continually gone up? You don't suppose the cost has gone up that much, has it?"
"That's what I wanted to check on this afternoon. I called the feed store and talked to them. I told them I was new to the area and wanted to check on prices. I asked if they fluctuated much and they assured me the prices had not changed more than two percent in the last twelve months. So I went back to the computer and dug deeper. I looked until I found the individual invoices. They were very difficult to find, buried very deep in the records."
"Why?"
"Because your mom and dad had it set up so that the bills from the feed store were sent via fax to the bank, who paid them the same day using funds from a line of credit. In essence, that way the feed store got paid the same day their product was delivered and the bank lent the ranch the money to pay them. They were transferred automatically to the feed store's account. In exchange, the feed store gave the ranch a five percent discount for same day payment. Your mom then paid off the line of credit every month. The bank only charged two and a half percent on that money, only from the day it was transferred to the day your mom paid it off. The bank agreed to do it that cheap in exchange for the ranch's business. All their banking was done with this one bank."
Trevor had been listening carefully. "Some of that I knew, some is news to me. I knew the invoices for the supplements and any feed we buy were paid by the bank through a line of credit, but I didn't know the numbers behind it. So the ranch actually made a small amount of money from that and Mom only had to pay one bill monthly?"
"Right. It was a very good arrangement for the ranch." She paused, but then charged forward. "The problem is that after your mom died, it sure looks to me like the feed store took advantage of the fact that your mom was no longer doing the books."
"How so?"
"They started adding things onto their bills, like a delivery fee, a service fee; things that weren't all that terribly much, but when added to each invoice it started to add up. A $50 delivery fee for fourteen deliveries a month is a quick $700."
"I thought delivery was included in the price."
"It was when your mom was paying the bills."
"And Carol didn't know anything about the workings of the ranch, so she just paid it."
"That's my guess. And you can't blame her. A delivery charge isn't something outlandish on its own. I think they did that to see if anyone was paying attention like your mom did. Once they saw they were getting away with that, the prices started going up, as did the fees."
Trevor was visibly upset. "So that explains why the ranch is making less than it used to."
"Right. The feed store, on the other hand, is probably doing rather well."
"And I guess the bank didn't question it, as long as we kept paying them? They assumed everything was all right?"
"Well, not exactly. That's the o
ther thing. About the same time the invoices from the feed store started increasing, so did the fees the bank was charging. The two and a half percent turned to three percent, then three and a half. If you notice on the last one, it's up to nine percent."
Trevor jumped up and started pacing. Sam got up and rubbed his arm. "Trevor, I'm sorry to have to tell you all this, but I wanted you to know as soon as I was sure of it."
"Don't be sorry, Sam. It's not your fault it happened. I owe a huge debt of gratitude for finding it. At least now we can stop it."
"And the ranch will be showing more of a profit again."
Trevor nodded his head. He grinned as he said, "I should be able to give you a raise then."
She laughed. "I hardly need a raise after working here for three weeks."
"You've earned it, Sam. We have to decide what we're going to do now."
She looked down a moment before saying, "Unfortunately, Trevor, there's one more thing I need to tell you."
With eyes wide, he said, "You're kidding. What else?"
"Well, if you look at the bank statements for the last few months, it sure looks to me like the bank has paid one or two invoices twice."
"How could they do that?"
"They put it under a different date, but paid it again." She handed him more documents and said, "Or that's what it looks like to me. You look. Maybe I missed something."
He sat down and studied the documents himself for about ten minutes, asking a few questions, which Sam answered. When he'd finished he said, "It looks that way to me, too."
"Something about that just didn't sit well with me, so I got to checking."
"It certainly doesn't sit well with me, either. Are the feed store and bank working together?"
"Well, what bothered me is the bank's part. It's a large bank and I can't see them risking so much for maybe a couple thousand dollars a month. So my next phone call was to the bank. They're not showing any of these charges."
"What do you mean?"
"I called and talked to a teller. I asked about a charge to the line of credit. She looked it up and found the amount, but said it was only charged once. I didn't want to let on to anything, so I played dumb and told her I was sorry, I had looked at it wrong. I told her my copy of the statement was smeared and asked if she could give me the account number. One number was different on the account number she gave me. She asked if I wanted to talk to the lady in charge of our account and I quickly told her, no, don't bother her. I said I forgot her name and she gave it to me. I thanked her and said everything was fine now, I'd just read it wrong."
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