Count This Cowboy In

by Malone, Misty

  "Good thinking, Sam."

  "As it turns out, yes, it was. Our account manager's name is Shirley Henderson."

  Trevor stopped pacing. "Henderson. Henderson." He turned and looked at her. "Like Henderson's Feed Store?"

  "Exactly. I did some checking on the Internet and Shirley Henderson is married to Gary Henderson, who owns and operates Henderson's Feed Store."

  "Wow." Trevor sat down on the couch, looking drained. "So what do we do now?"

  "I say we go to the sheriff. I don't know of anything else I can do. I wonder about the bank records. I have a feeling Shirley's skimming this money off and keeping it somehow and the bank doesn't know anything about it. I went back and checked the bank account number and it changed about three months after your parents died. It's just one number that's different, so I'm sure Carol never noticed."

  Trevor said, "The sheriff's office can go in and check the bank records and see if the bank knew anything about it or if it was all Shirley Henderson."

  "And they can confirm what Henderson's Feed Store has been doing."

  "I think you've pretty much done most of the work for them. Once we give them all these records they can verify them and arrest the Hendersons."

  "Are you ready for that?"

  Trevor shrugged. "Not really, but on the other hand, I'm ready for them to quit taking my money. I don't know if I'll get any of it back or not, but if they just stop taking any more it will help."

  "Definitely." They talked a few more minutes. He thanked her profusely and then called the sheriff. The sheriff and one of his deputies came out soon thereafter and talked to both Trevor and Sam. They took statements and left, along with all the evidence Sam had printed for them.

  After they left, Consuela came into the office and found the two of them sitting on the couch, looking exhausted. "I don't know all the details of what happened, but I heard the gist of it. Mr. Trevor, you and Miss Sam look all done in. Come and eat some supper before you fall asleep."

  Sam said, "I'm not very hungry. I think I'll just go home and go to bed."

  "No, you won't, either, young lady."

  Sam looked at Trevor, confused. "What?"

  He gentled his stern voice a bit and said, "Sam, you've had a long day today and you ate very little at lunch. I want you to come in and eat something before you go to bed."

  "But I'm really not hungry, just tired."

  "Consuela, go on out and get it ready for us, please. We'll be out in a minute or so." Consuela gave Sam a sorrowful look and nodded as she went out, closing the door behind her.

  Chapter 6

  As soon as Consuela left, Sam said, "Trevor, really, I'm not hungry, just tired. And how do you know I didn't eat much for lunch?"

  "Because I was watching you push your food around on your plate. That's why I came in to talk to you before I went back out to work. Now come on, let's go eat."

  "But Trevor, I don't want to eat. I'm really tired."

  "I know, Darlin'. Listen to me just a minute and listen to what I have to say before you argue. Then if you still feel compelled to argue, we will, okay?"

  Once again, Sam was surprised. "Okay, that's fair."

  "You'll find I try to be fair, Sam." He reached over and picked up her hand and held it while he said, "Darlin', I'm worried about you getting sick. I know you've been under a lot of stress while you've been working on this. At lunch today you ate next to nothing. I watched you closely and I'm not even sure you realized you weren't eating anything. You were that worked up. That's the reason I had to talk to you before I left after lunch. If you hadn't told me you wanted to talk this evening I wouldn't have left without talking more. I knew something was wrong and I knew you were under a lot of stress because of it."

  "I guess I was kind of worked up about it. But I didn't know I didn't eat much lunch."

  "Well, you didn't. And anytime you put your body under a lot of stress, you need fuel to keep that body functioning in a healthy way. If you start skipping meals you're just asking to get sick. So I'm asking you to come eat some supper with me. I understand you're upset and tired, so I'm not asking you to eat a full Thanksgiving meal. I just want you to eat a little bit of healthy food to keep your body going without getting sick so we can go out Saturday night for dinner and dancing." He gave her a moment and added, "Please?"

  She looked at him a full minute before it all sank in. When it did she laughed. He looked at her with a nervous look, as she laughed. "I didn't see that coming. I thought you'd threaten me with a sore bottom if I didn't eat, or something along that line. I never saw this coming."

  He grinned as he said, "That was my first thought, but I know you think I'm being too protective, so I thought maybe it would make more sense to you if I told you why I want you to eat something. If that didn't work I probably would have gone to my first thought."

  "Which was what? I pictured in my mind what you'd say and I want to see how close I was."

  He liked the mischief he saw in her eyes, so he put a stern face on and in a very authoritative voice said, "Samantha Louise Simmerly, after what you've just done for me and knowing how tired we both are right now, the last thing I want to do right now is give you a good spanking. But I will if I have to."

  She started laughing again.

  "Now what's so funny?"

  "I'm glad you didn't use that speech first."

  "Why?"

  "I didn't like it."

  He smiled as he said, "Well, if you don't answer me, and real soon, I'm going to give you that whole speech, not just the condensed version of it." His stern voice returned as he asked, "So what's your answer, young lady?"

  With her eyes full of mischief, she said, "Okay, I'll go eat a little bit with you."

  He watched her, waiting for her to continue. Instead, she stood up and started toward the door. "Are you coming?"

  He quickly got up and swatted her bottom once before she got to the door. "Ouch! What was that for?" He couldn't help grinning at her oh, so valiant effort at creating a pout. "That hurt."

  He laughed at her totally unbelievable pout. "No, it didn't," he casually said. "You can't even come up with a decent pout."

  "Really, it was that bad? Let me try again."

  "Sam, if you don't answer my question I swear you'll get the whole speech." When she chuckled but didn't say anything, he started, "Samantha Louise Simmerly, I am very grateful to you for all the work you've done on this mystery for me. It was very impressive and I appreciate it. The last thing I want to do right now is spank you. However ––"

  "I'd love to go dancing with you Saturday night."

  "Good. Thank you. And dinner?"

  "You sure seem to want me to eat a lot."

  He turned her sideways and gave her another quick swat, not too hard. She giggled as she said, "Okay, dinner, too."

  He turned her to face him again and told her, "Thank you, Sam. Now let's go eat some supper, you little minx."

  Consuela smiled as the two came in together, both smiling. Trevor told her, "Thank you for holding our supper for us, Consuela. I appreciate it. And while I'm thinking about it, Sam and I won't be eating supper here Saturday."

  She quietly said, "It's about time."

  Trevor looked at her. "What did you say?"

  "I say you two have fun. Now, supper is ready. Come sit down and eat." Trevor saw the smile she gave Sam and just shook his head. Consuela really liked Sam and that meant something to him.

  Half an hour later Trevor walked Sam to the guesthouse. "Thank you again, Sam, for all the work you did for me. You get some sleep now. Don't worry about setting your alarm. You deserve to sleep in tomorrow. Lock the door after I leave. Good night."

  He kissed her on her forehead and turned to leave, but she stopped him. He turned to look at her and she stretched up on her toes and kissed his cheek. Good night, Trevor."

  He looked at her, but before he could do or say anything, she slipped inside. He heard the lock fasten and smiled as he turned to
go back to the house. She was going to keep him on his toes and he was looking forward to every minute of it.

  Sam went to bed, but spent the next hour thinking about Trevor. She was really looking forward to Saturday. She'd been thinking a lot about the first time they went riding. Not the spanking so much, but she sure did like the cuddling they did afterward. She'd love to do that again. The last few days she'd been thinking she really didn't want another spanking, but if that's what it took to get more of that cuddling, well, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. The spanking wasn't really all that bad, after all, was it? She fell asleep thinking about his arms around her, holding her tight and how good that felt.

  Over the next two days a sheriff's deputy came out twice to get more information and evidence from Sam and on Saturday morning they arrested Gary and Shirley Henderson.

  * * *

  Sam hadn't seen much of the area since she'd started working for Trevor and he promised to show her around a bit, though their small town didn't offer a lot of variety. So Saturday night he took her to the local hangout for dinner and dancing. Several of the other area ranchers and ranch hands were there, as it was the best place to kick back on a Saturday night.

  Sam swore every person in there stopped by their table to say hello to Trevor. She was happy to see how many people knew him and all seemed to respect him. She was also impressed that he introduced her to every single person that stopped by to say hello.

  On Trevor's part, he was proud of his little minx. She looked absolutely adorable in a cute little flippy skirt, cowgirl type shirt with pearl snaps that were unsnapped just far enough to be extremely sexy, but not so far as to be slutty, and cowgirl boots. But she was a little social butterfly. She was polite to everyone he introduced her to and friendly, in a very natural way. She made a wonderful first impression on a lot of people that night and Trevor couldn't be prouder to be sitting next to her.

  He occasionally pulled her over a bit closer and dropped a kiss on the top of her head or her forehead for something she'd said or done, although she had no idea what she'd done that had impressed him. But it didn't matter to her. She was having a great time and was proud to be sitting next to this extremely handsome cowboy.

  At one point Joe from The Babbling Brook came up to their table. Trevor stood to shake hands with his friend. The two patted each other on the back, but before Trevor could introduce Joe to Sam, Joe said, "Sam, it's good to see you again. How are you?"

  Trevor's eyes flew upward as he looked at the two of them. "You two know each other?"

  Joe quickly answered, "We don't know each other well, but we've met. Did you hire her as a ranch hand, Trevor?"

  Now Trevor was really shocked. "A ranch hand? No, of course not. What would give you that wild idea?"

  Joe explained, "I heard you hired her, buddy. I was glad to hear you got a job, Sam, and Trevor's a good man. I knew you already had a cook and housekeeper, so I thought maybe you hired her as a hand. She'd make a damn good one."

  Trevor still looked confused as could be. He told Joe, "Why don't you sit down and tell me what you're talking about, and how you two met." Sam noticed that when Joe sat down across the table from them in the booth Trevor put his arm around her waist and pulled her a bit closer to him, in a very protective manner, but also a bit of a possessive manner. She smiled.

  She didn't want any jealousy starting, though, so as soon as Joe sat down she told Trevor, "I met Joe when I went to apply for a job at The Babbling Brook."

  Trevor looked surprised again. "You applied for a job there?"

  Joe laughed now and said, "Well, she kind of applied."

  Trevor looked back and forth between the two as he asked, "Kind of applied? How do you kind of apply for a job?"

  Joe laughed as he recounted, "She went to apply, but you know how Ralph is. She was a couple minutes late getting to the interview, but she had a hell of an excuse. Ralph wasn't interested in hearing her excuse, so after he laid into her for a minute or two about being late and he doesn't want to hear excuses, she laid into him about him and his job not being up to her standards and turned around and left."

  Trevor looked over at the feisty little thing sitting beside him and for some reason, he'd never been more proud of her, though he'd never tell her that. He asked her, "You did that?"

  "Well, sort of, maybe, something like that."

  Trevor smiled at her and turned back to Joe. "You said she had a good excuse for being late?"

  "Yeah, she was ranching."

  When Trevor's eyebrows drew together and he looked down at her, she said, "Some cattle were out and I stopped to help get them back in the pasture."

  Joe's laugh had Trevor looking back at him. "She's such a modest thing," Joe said. "There was a huge wild boar in with the cattle and he had them all riled up. She saw it and stopped and got her gun."

  Trevor's head snapped back to Sam. "You what?"

  Joe answered, "She got her rifle and as some of the cattle broke through the fence, she shot the boar just as he went after one of our calves. She dropped it in one shot, made sure it was dead, then went and rounded up the cattle. I heard the shot and went to check on it. By the time I got there she had the cattle all rounded up and back in the pasture."

  Trevor looked at her, his eyebrows halfway to the ceiling and his mouth open.

  She grinned a bit sheepishly at him. "See? I said I helped round up some cattle."

  Joe laughed out loud. He could easily see how shocked Trevor was. "So, buddy, now you see why I said she'd make a damn good ranch hand."

  Trevor recovered finally and pulled her a bit closer to him still. Giving her a squeeze, he told Joe, "I bet she would. But let me tell you, she makes a damn good bookkeeper, too."

  Sam beamed up at Trevor, as he looked down at her with pride in his eyes. It was easy for Joe to see there was more between them than just working together. As much as he had been hoping he could get to know Sam better himself, he was happy for his friend. Trevor had been so busy with the ranch, being thrown into it suddenly when his parents died, that he hadn't gotten out much at all. It was good to see him out and especially with a woman that he obviously had feelings for. He found himself hoping things worked out for them.

  The three of them visited a bit more and when Joe was getting ready to leave he told the young couple, "Well, Sam, I'm glad Ralph was his normal Ralph when you went to apply for a job with him. I think you two would have been butting heads all the time."

  Trevor said, "Yeah, I'm glad, too. I'd hate to think of you over there cooking for him instead of keeping my books."

  Sam said, "Yeah, I think I'm much happier here than I would have been there."

  After Joe left Trevor got up, pulling Sam up with him. "We've been sitting here long enough. I say it's time to dance." Sam was surprised at how well Trevor danced. For a big man he was a wonderful dancer. She wasn't what she would consider a good dancer, but she could hold her own.

  She realized while they were dancing that it didn't matter how good she was, though, because Trevor led her on the dance floor just like he led her everywhere they went with anything they did. He was in charge and she simply followed. She never thought about it before, but she liked that feeling. Life was easier that way and it made her feel safe. He never led her astray, but always looked out for her, which was why she felt safe with him. He was protecting her, just like he always said he would. The thought occurred to her, maybe she should stop fighting that and sit back and enjoy it.

  On that thought, she relaxed into his chest and let him lead. As if he felt the change in her, he tightened his hold around her waist and leaned down to drop a kiss on her head. They danced through three songs before he led them back to their table. "You're a good dancer, Sam," he complimented.

  Without thinking, she said, "Or maybe I'm finally learning to follow a little."

  He cocked his head as he looked at her and asked, "What?"

  She smiled at him and said, "You're the better leader.
I mean, dancer."

  He gave her a warm smile and a wink and was just ready to respond when they heard someone say, "Trevor Nottingham, is that you?"

  They both turned to see who it was and Trevor immediately got to his feet. The two men, both big men, did what Sam called a manly embrace. She smiled, thinking she could almost see the testosterone oozing from the two men. It looked to her as though they were obviously friends that hadn't seen each other for a while. As if Trevor read her thoughts, he made the introduction.

  "Sam, this is Clay Amstutz, my best friend all through school. Clay, this is Sam Simmerly."

  "Nice to meet you, Sam."

  "And you, Clay. Why don't you sit down and join us? It looks like you two have some catching up to do and maybe I'll get you to tell me some good stories about Trevor."

  "I don't know that we need any of those," Trevor said, looking at Sam with a fake stern face, "but we do have some catching up to do."

  As Clay sat down, Trevor called the waitress over to order a beer for his old friend. "The last I heard, you were in Austin working as a detective for the police department."

  "Yeah, I was, but now I have my own detective agency."

  "Good for you," Trevor enthused. "Where is it; in Texas, or are you back here?"

  "Well, a little of both. The firm's in Amarillo, but I'm actually here on a case. I stopped in here hoping to run into at least one person I knew, but this is better than I'd hoped for. I was going to stop out at your ranch tomorrow to see you. How have you been? I was sorry to hear about your parents. Are you and the ranch doing okay?"

  "I'm not going to lie, it's been tough. I kind of got thrown into running the ranch before I was ready, and I've been struggling through it. Why don't you stop by tomorrow and we'll get caught up? I'll fill you in and you can tell me about this business of yours. Better yet, where are you staying and how long are you going to be here? I've got four extra bedrooms at the ranch. Why don't you stay there?"