The Rancher and His Unexpected Daughter

Mule’s expression turned sly. “Word around town is that you’ve got her working out at White Pines.”

Harlan tilted his chair back on two legs and sipped on the icy mug of beer Rosa had set in front of him the minute he sat down. “Is that what you’re doing with your time these days, sitting around gossiping like an old woman?” he asked Mule.

“It’s about all there is to do since you dropped out of our regular poker game to play nursemaid to that brat.”

Harlan accepted the criticism without comment. Mule grumbled about everything from the weather to politics. His tart remarks about Harlan’s perceived defection were pretty much in character and harmless.

Mule’s watery hazel eyes narrowed. “I don’t hear you arguing none.”

“What would be the point? You think you know everything there is to know about the situation.”

“Meaning, you think I don’t, I suppose. Okay, so fill me in. Why’d you hire her?”

“Because she owes me a lot of money for repairs to my pickup,” he said simply. “You ought to know. I had it towed to your garage.”

“Ain’t had time to take a look at it,” Mule said.

“When are you planning to end this so-called vacation of yours?”

“Who says I am? I’m getting so I enjoy having nothing to do. Maybe I’ll just retire for good.”

Harlan nodded. “You’re old enough, that’s for sure. What are you now, eighty?”

Mule regarded him with obvious indignation. “Sixty-seven, which you know danged well.”

“Of course,” he said. “Must be that boredom ages a person, lets his mind go weak.”

“There ain’t a thing wrong with my mind.”

“Then I’d think you’d be itching to tackle a job like that truck of mine.”

“I’ll get to it one of these days,” Mule said. “When I’m of a mind to.”

“If you don’t plan on going back to work, maybe you ought to sell the garage. The town needs a good mechanic. Cody had to fix Janet Runningbear’s air-conditioning the other night, because you’re on this so-called extended vacation of yours.”

“Bet he ruined it,” Mule commented with derision. “Air-conditioning’s tricky.”

“It’s been working ever since,” Harlan said, deliberately setting out to goad the old coot into going back to the job he’d loved. “You know Cody has a way with mechanical things. He’s probably better than you ever were and he’s not even in the business. Maybe I’ll have my truck towed out to White Pines and have him take a look at it.”

Mule set his beer down with a thump. “I told you I’d get to it.”

“When?”

Mule sighed. “First thing on Monday.”

“Fair enough.”

“Just don’t start bugging me about when it’ll be done. Decent work takes time and concentration.”

Which meant it might take months before he saw that pickup again, Harlan decided. Still, he couldn’t regret his decision to have the truck taken to Mule’s garage, rather than someplace bigger or fancier in another town.

His friend had closed up shop almost three months ago for no reason Harlan had been able to discern. He’d been on this strike of sorts ever since. He wasn’t likely to be happy again until he had his head poked under the hood of a car.

“Don’t look now, but that brat is heading this way,” Mule announced. “With her mama. Whoo-ee, she sure is a looker, isn’t she?”

Harlan tried not to gape as Janet came into Rosa’s wearing a vibrant red sundress that bared tanned shoulders and swung loosely around shapely calves. Her straight, shiny hair hung halfway down her back like a shimmering waterfall of black silk. He stood automatically at the sight of her.

“You again?” Jenny greeted him irritably. “This is my day off. I thought I’d get a break. Shouldn’t you be mucking out stalls or something? I hope you’re not planning to leave `em untouched all weekend and expect me to clean up the mess on Monday.”

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