One Of A Kind

He read over her résumé while she sat in a leather chair across from his desk and bit her fingernails.

“Two years of college,” he mused. “Impressive.” His dark eyes met hers over the pages. “And you want to work in a bar?”

“Let me level with you,” she said earnestly. “We’re in financial trouble. My father can’t afford to send me back to school, and I won’t stand by and let him sink without trying to help. This job doesn’t pay much, but the tips are great, from what Debbie Connor told me.”

Debbie was her predecessor, and had told her about the job in the first place. Be honest with Jed, she’d advised, and lay it on the line about money. So Janie did.

He nodded slowly, studying her. “The tips are great,” he agreed. “But the customers can get rowdy. Forgive me for being blunt, Miss Brewster, but you’ve had a sheltered upbringing. I have to keep a bouncer here now, ever since Calhoun Ballenger had it out with a customer over his ward—now his wife—and busted up the place. Not that Calhoun wasn’t in the right,” he added quickly. “But it became obvious that hot tempers and liquor don’t mix, and you can’t run a roadhouse on good intentions.”

She swallowed. “I can get used to anything, Mr. Duncan. I would really like this job.”

“Can you cook?”

She grinned. “Two months ago, I couldn’t. But I can now. I can even make biscuits!”

He chuckled. “Okay, then, you should be able to make a pizza. We’ll agree that you can work for two weeks and we’ll see how it goes. You’ll waitress and do some cooking. If you can cope, I’ll let you stay. If not, or if you don’t like the work, we’ll call it quits. That suit you?”

She nodded. “It suits me very well. Thank you!”

“Does your father know about this?” he added.

She flushed. “He will, when he gets home from Denver. I don’t hide things from him.”

“It’s not likely that you’ll be able to hide this job from him,” he mused with a chuckle. “A lot of our patrons do business with him. I wouldn’t like to make more enemies than I already have.”

“He won’t mind,” she assured him with a smile. She crossed her fingers silently.

“Then come along and I’ll acquaint you with the job,” Jed said, moving around the desk. “Welcome aboard, Miss Brewster.”

She smiled. “Thanks!”

Chapter Five

Fred Brewster came home from Denver discouraged. “I couldn’t get anybody interested,” he told Janie as he flopped down in his favorite easy chair in the living room. “Everybody’s got money problems, and the market is down. It’s a bad time to fish for partners.”

Janie sat down on the sofa across from him. “I got a job.”

He just stared at her for a minute, as if he didn’t hear her. “You what?”

“I got a job,” she said, and smiled at him. “I’ll make good money in tips. I start tonight.”

“Where?” he asked.

“A restaurant,” she lied. “You can even come and eat there, and I’ll serve you. You won’t have to tip me, either!”

“Janie,” he groaned. “I wanted you to go back and finish your degree.”

She leaned forward. “Dad, let’s be honest. You can’t afford college right now, and if I went, it would have to be on work-study. Let me do this,” she implored. “I’m young and strong and I don’t mind working. You’ll pull out of this, Dad, I know you will!” she added gently. “Everybody has bad times. This is ours.”

He scowled. “It hurts my pride…”

She knelt at his feet and leaned her arms over his thin, bony knees. “You’re my dad,” she said. “I love you. Your problems are my problems. You’ll come up with an angle that will get us out of this. I don’t have a single doubt.”

Those beautiful eyes that were so like his late wife’s weakened his resolve. He smiled and touched her hair gently. “You’re like your mother.”

“Thanks!”

He chuckled. “Okay. Do your waitress bit for a few weeks and I’ll double my efforts on getting us out of hock. But no late hours,” he emphasized. “I want you home by midnight, period.”

That might be a problem. But why bother him with complications right now?

“We’ll see how it goes,” she said easily, getting to her feet. She planted a kiss on his forehead. “I’d better get you some lunch!”

She dashed into the kitchen before he could ask any more questions about her new employment.

But she wasn’t so lucky with Hettie. “I don’t like the idea of you working in a bar,” she told Janie firmly.

“Shhhh!” Janie cautioned, glancing toward the open kitchen door. “Don’t let Dad hear you!”

Hettie grimaced. “Child, you’ll end up in a brawl, sure as God made little green apples!”

“I will not. I’m going to waitress and make pizzas and sandwiches, not get in fights.”

Hettie wasn’t convinced. “Put men and liquor together, and you get a fight every time.”

“Mr. Duncan has a bouncer,” she confided. “I’ll be fine.”

“Mr. Hart won’t like it,” she replied.

“Nothing I do is any of Leo Hart’s business anymore,” Janie said with a glare. “After the things he’s said about me, his opinion wouldn’t get him a cup of coffee around here!”

“What sort of things?” Hettie wanted to know.

She rubbed her hands over the sudden chill of her arms. “That I’m a lying, gossiping, man-chaser who can’t leave him alone,” she said miserably. “He was talking about me to Joe Howland in the hardware store last week. I heard every horrible word.”

Hettie winced. She knew how Janie felt about the last of the unmarried Hart brothers. “Oh, baby. I’m so sorry!”

“Marilee lied,” she added sadly. “My best friend! She was telling me what to do to make Leo notice me, and all the time she was finding ways to cut me out of his life. She was actually at the ball with Leo. He took her…” She swallowed hard and turned to the task at hand. Brooding was not going to help her situation. “Want a sandwich, Hettie?”

“No, darlin’, I’m fine,” the older woman told her. She hugged Janie warmly. “Life’s tangles work themselves out if you just give them enough time,” she said, and went away to let that bit of homespun philosophy sink in.

Janie was unconvinced. Her tangles were bad ones. Maybe her new job would keep Leo out of her thoughts. At least she’d never have to worry about running into him at Shea’s, she told herself. After Saturday night, he was probably off hard liquor for life.

By Saturday night, Janie had four days of work under her belt and she was getting used to the routine. Shea’s opened at lunchtime and closed at eleven. Shea’s served pizza and sandwiches and chips, as well as any sort of liquor a customer could ask for. Janie often had to serve drinks in between cooking chores. She got to recognize some of the customers on sight, but she didn’t make a habit of speaking to them. She didn’t want any trouble.

Her father had, inevitably, found out about her nocturnal activities. Saturday morning, he’d been raging at her for lying to him.

“I do work in a restaurant,” she’d defended herself. “It’s just sort of in a bar.”

“You work in a bar, period!” he returned, furious. “I want you to quit, right now!”

It was now or never, she told herself, as she faced him bravely. “No,” she replied quietly. “I’m not giving notice. Mr. Duncan said I could work two weeks and see if I could handle it, and that’s just what I’m going to do. And don’t you dare talk to him behind my back, Dad,” she told him.

He looked tormented. “Girl, this isn’t necessary!”

“It is, and not only because we need the money,” she’d replied. “I need to feel independent.”

He hadn’t considered that angle. She was determined, and Duncan did have a good bouncer, a huge man called, predictably, Tiny. “We’ll see,” he’d said finally.

Janie had won her first adult argument with her parent. She felt good about it.

Harley showed up two of her five nights on the job, just to check things out. He was back again tonight. She grinned at him as she served him pizza and beer.

“How’s it going?” he asked.

She looked around at the bare wood floors, the no-frills surroundings, the simple wooden tables and chairs and the long counter at which most of the customers—male customers—sat. There were two game machines and a juke-box. There were ceiling fans to circulate the heat, and to cool the place in summer. There was a huge dance floor, where people could dance to live music on Friday and Saturday night. The band was playing now, lazy Western tunes, and a couple was circling the dance floor alone.

“I really like it here,” she told Harley with a smile. “I feel as if I’m standing on my own two feet for the first time in my life.” She leaned closer. “And the tips are really nice!”

He chuckled. “Okay. No more arguments from me.” He glanced toward Tiny, a huge man with tattoos on both arms and a bald head, who’d taken an immediate liking to Janie. He was reassuringly close whenever she spoke to customers or served food and drinks.

“Isn’t he a doll?” Janie asked, smiling toward Tiny, who smiled back a little hesitantly, as if he were afraid his face might crack.

“That’s not a question you should ask a man, Janie,” he teased.

Grinning, she flipped her bar cloth at him, and went back to work.

Leo went looking for Fred Brewster after lunch on Monday. He’d been out of town at a convention, and he’d lost touch with his friend.

Fred was in his study, balancing figures that didn’t want to be balanced. He looked up as Hettie showed Leo in.

“Hello, stranger,” Fred said with a grin. “Sit down. Want some coffee? Hettie, how about…!”

“No need to shout, Mr. Fred, it’s already dripping,” she interrupted him with a chuckle. “I’ll bring it in when it’s done.”

“Cake, too!” he called.

There was a grumble.

“She thinks I eat too many sweets,” Fred told Leo. “Maybe I do. How was the convention?”

“It was pretty good,” Leo told him. “There’s a lot of talk about beef exports to Japan and improved labeling of beef to show country of origin. Some discussion of artificial additives,” he confided with a chuckle. “You can guess where that came from.”

“J. D. Langley and the Tremayne brothers.”

“Got it in one guess.” Leo tossed his white Stetson into a nearby chair and sat down in the one beside it. He ran a hand through his thick gold-streaked brown hair and his dark eyes pinned Fred. “But aside from the convention, I’ve heard some rumors that bother me,” he said, feeling his way.

“Oh?” Fred put aside his keyboard mouse and sat back. He’d heard about Janie’s job, he thought, groaning inwardly. He drew in a long breath. “What rumors?” he asked innocently.

Leo leaned forward, his crossed arms on his knees. “That you’re looking for partners here.”

“Oh. That.” Fred cleared his throat and looked past Leo. “Just a few little setbacks…”

“Why didn’t you come to me?” Leo persisted, scowling. “I’d loan you anything you needed on the strength of your signature. You know that.”

Fred swallowed. “I do… know that. But I wouldn’t dare. Under the circumstances.” He avoided Leo’s piercing stare.

“What circumstances?” Leo asked with resignation, when he realized that he was going to have to pry every scrap of information out of his friend.

“Janie.”

Leo’s breath expelled in a rush. He’d wondered if Fred knew about the friction between the two of them. It was apparent that he did. “I see.”

Fred glanced at him and winced. “She won’t hear your name mentioned,” he said apologetically. “I couldn’t go to you behind her back, and she’d find out anyway, sooner or later. Jacobsville is a small town.”

“She wouldn’t be likely to find out when she’s away at college,” Leo assured him. “She has gone back, hasn’t she?”

There was going to be an explosion. Fred knew it without saying a word. “Uh, Leo, she hasn’t gone back, exactly.”

His eyebrows lifted. “She’s not here. I asked Hettie. She flushed and almost dragged me in here without saying anything except Janie wasn’t around. I assumed she’d gone back to school.”

“No. She’s, uh, got a job, Leo. A good job,” he added, trying to reassure himself. “She likes it very much.”

“Doing what, for God’s sake?” Leo demanded. “She has no skills to speak of!”

“She’s cooking. At a restaurant.”

Leo felt his forehead. “No fever,” he murmured to himself. It was a well-known fact that Janie could burn water in a pan. He pinned Fred with his eyes. “Would you like to repeat that?”

“She’s cooking. She can cook,” he added belligerently at Leo’s frank astonishment. “Hettie spent two months with her in the kitchen. She can even make…” he started to say “biscuits” and thought better of it “… pizza.”

Leo whistled softly. “Fred, I didn’t know things were that bad. I’m sorry.”

“The bull dying was nobody’s fault,” Fred said heavily. “But I used money I hoped to recoup to buy him, and there was no insurance. Very few small ranchers could take a loss like that and remain standing. He was a champion’s offspring.”

“I know that. I’d help, if you’d let me,” Leo said earnestly. “I appreciate it. But I can’t.”

There was a long, pregnant pause. “Janie told you about what happened at the ball, I suppose,” Leo added curtly.

“No. She hasn’t said a single word about that,” Fred replied. He frowned. “Why?” He understood, belatedly, Leo’s concerned stare. “She did tell me about what happened in the hardware store,” he added slowly. “There’s more?”

Leo glanced away. “There was some unpleasantness at the ball, as well. We had a major fight.” He studied his big hands. “I’ve made some serious mistakes lately. I believed some gossip about Janie that I should never have credited. I know better now, but it’s too late. She won’t let me close enough to apologize.”

That was news. “When did you see her?” Fred asked, playing for time.

“In town at the bank Friday,” he said. “She snubbed me.” He smiled faintly. It had actually hurt when she’d given him a harsh glare, followed by complete oblivion to his presence. “First time that’s happened to me in my life.”

“Janie isn’t usually rude,” Fred tried to justify her behavior. “Maybe it’s just the new job…”

“It’s what I said to her, Fred,” the younger man replied heavily. “I really hurt her. Looking back, I don’t know why I ever believed what I was told.”

Fred was reading between the lines. “Marilee can be very convincing, Janie said. And she had a case on you.”

“It wasn’t mutual,” Leo said surprisingly. “I didn’t realize what was going on. Then she told me all these things Janie was telling people…” He stopped and cursed harshly. “I thought I could see through lies. I guess I’m more naive than I thought I was.”

“Any man can be taken in,” Fred reassured him. “It was just bad luck. Janie never said a word about you in public. She’s shy, although you might not realize it. She’d never throw herself at a man. Well, not for real,” he amended with a faint smile. “She did dress up and flirt with you. She told Hettie it was the hardest thing she’d ever done in her life, and she agonized over it for days afterward. Not the mark of a sophisticated woman, is it?”

Leo understood then how far he’d fallen. No wonder she’d been so upset when she overheard him running down her aggressive behavior. “No,” he replied. “I wish I’d seen through it.” He smiled wryly. “I don’t like aggressive, sophisticated women,” he confessed. “Call it a fatal flaw. I liked Janie the way she was.”

“Harmless?” Fred mused.

Leo flushed. “I wouldn’t say that.”

“Wouldn’t you?” Fred leaned back in his chair, smiling at the younger man’s confusion. “I’ve sheltered Janie too much. I wanted her to have a smooth, easy path through life. But I did her no favors. She’s not a dress-up doll, Leo, she’s a woman. She needs to learn independence, self-sufficiency. She has a temper, and she’s learning to use that, too. Last week, she stood up to me for the first time and told me what she was going to do.” He chuckled. “I must confess, it was pretty shocking to realize that my daughter was a woman.”

“She’s going around with Harley,” Leo said curtly.

“Why shouldn’t she? Harley’s a good man—young, but steady and dependable. He, uh, did go up against armed men and held his own, you know.”

Leo did know. It made him furious to know. He didn’t hang out with professional soldiers. He’d been in the service, and briefly in combat, but he’d never fought drug dealers and been written up in newspapers as a local hero.

Fred deduced all that from the look on Leo’s lean face. “It’s not like you think,” he added. “She and Harley are friends. Just friends.”

“Do I care?” came the impassioned reply. He grabbed up his Stetson and got to his feet. He hesitated, turning back to Fred. “I won’t insist, but Janie would never have to know if I took an interest in the ranch,” he added firmly.

Fred was tempted. He sighed and stood up, too. “I’ve worked double shifts for years, trying to keep it solvent. I’ve survived bad markets, drought, unseasonable cold. But this is the worst it’s ever been. I could lose the property so easily.”

“Then don’t take the risk,” Leo insisted. “I can loan you what it takes to get you back in the black. And I promise you, Janie will never know. It will be between the two of us. Don’t lose the ranch out of pride, Fred. It’s been in your family for generations.”

Fred grimaced. “Leo…”

The younger man leaned both hands on the desk and impaled Fred with dark eyes. “Let me help!”

Fred studied the determination, the genuine concern in that piercing stare. “It would have to be a secret,” he said, weakening.

Leo’s eyes softened. “It will be. You have my word. Blake Kemp’s our family attorney. I’ll make an appointment. We can sit down with him and work out the details.”

Fred had to bite down hard on his lower lip to keep the brightness in his eyes in check. “You can’t possibly know how much…” He choked.

Leo held up a hand, embarrassed by his friend’s emotion. “I’m filthy rich,” he said curtly. “What good is money if you can’t use it to help out friends? You’d do the same for me in a heartbeat if our positions were reversed.”

Fred swallowed noticeably. “That goes without saying.” He drew in a shaky breath. “Thanks,” he bit off.

“You’re welcome.” Leo slanted his hat across his eyes. “I’ll phone you. By the way, which restaurant is Janie working at?” he added. “I might stop by for lunch one day.”

“That wouldn’t be a good idea just yet,” Fred said, feeling guilty because Leo still didn’t know what was going on.

Leo considered that. “You could be right,” he had to agree. “I’ll let it ride for a few days, then. Until she cools down a little, at least.” He grinned. “She’s got a hell of a temper, Fred. Who’d have guessed?”

Fred chuckled. “She’s full of surprises lately.”

“That she is. I’ll be in touch.”

Leo was gone and Fred let the emotion out. He hadn’t realized how much his family ranch meant to him until he was faced with the horrible prospect of losing it. Now, it would pass to Janie and her family, her children. God bless Leo Hart for being a friend when he needed one so desperately. He grabbed at a tissue and wiped his eyes. Life was good. Life was very good!

Fred was still up when Janie got home from work. She was tired. It had been a long night. She stopped in the kitchen to say good-night to Hettie before she joined her father in his study.

“Hettie said Leo came by,” she said without her usual greeting. She looked worried. “Why?”

“He wanted to check on his bull,” he lied without meeting her eyes.

She hesitated. “Did he… ask about me?”

“Yes,” he said. “I told him you had a job working in a restaurant.”

She stared at her feet. “Did you tell him which one?”

He looked anxious. “No.”

She met his eyes. “You don’t have to worry, Dad. It’s none of Leo Hart’s business where I work, or whatever else I do.”

“You’re still angry,” he noted. “I understand. But he wants to make peace.”

She swallowed, hearing all over again his voice taunting her, baiting her. She clenched both hands at her sides. “He wants to bury the hatchet? Good. I know exactly where to bury it.”

“Now, daughter, he’s not a bad man.”

“Of course he’s not. He just doesn’t like me,” she bit off. “You can’t blame him, not when he’s got Marilee.”

He winced. “I didn’t think. You lost your only friend.”

“Some friend,” she scoffed. “She’s gone to spend the holidays in Colorado,” she added smugly. “A rushed trip, I heard.”

“I imagine she’s too ashamed to walk down the main street right now,” her father replied. “People have been talking about her, and that’s no lie. But she’s not really a bad woman, Janie. She just made a mistake. People do.”

“You don’t,” she said unexpectedly, and smiled at him. “You’re the only person in the world who wouldn’t stab me in the back.”

He flushed. Guilt overwhelmed him. What would she say when she knew that he was going to let Leo Hart buy into the ranch, and behind her back? It was for a good cause, so that she could eventually inherit her birthright, but he felt suddenly like a traitor. He could only imagine how she’d look at him if she ever found out….

“Why are you brooding?” she teased. “You need to put away those books and go to bed.”

He stared at the columns that wouldn’t balance and thought about having enough money to fix fences, repair the barn, buy extra feed for the winter, buy replacement heifers, afford medicine for his sick cattle and veterinarian’s fees. The temptation was just too much for him. He couldn’t let the ranch go to strangers.

“Do you ever think about down the road,” Fred murmured, “when your children grow up and take over the ranch?”

She blinked. “Well, yes, sometimes,” she confessed. “It’s a wonderful legacy,” she added with a soft smile. “We go back such a long way in Jacobsville. It was one of your great-uncles who was the first foreman of the Jacobs ranch properties when the founder of our town came here and bought cattle, after the Civil War. This ranch was really an offshoot of that one,” she added. “There’s so much history here!”

Fred swallowed. “Too much to let the ranch go down the tube, or end up in the hands of strangers, like the Jacobs place did.” He shook his head. “That was sad, to see Shelby and Ty thrown off their own property. That ranch had been in their family over a hundred years.”

“It wasn’t much of a ranch anymore,” she reminded him. “More of a horse farm. But I understand what you mean. I’m glad we’ll have the ranch to hand down to our descendants.” She gave him a long look. “You aren’t thinking of giving it up without a fight?”

“Heavens, no!”

She relaxed. “Sorry. But the way you were talking…”

“I’d do almost anything to keep it in the family,” Fred assured her. “You, uh, wouldn’t have a problem with me taking on a partner or an investor?”

“Of course not,” she assured him. “So you found someone in Colorado after all?” she added excitedly. “Somebody who’s willing to back us?”

“Yes,” he lied, “but I didn’t hear until today.”

“That’s just great!” she exclaimed.

He gave her a narrow look. “I’m glad you think so. Then you can give up that job and go back to college…”

“No.”

His eyebrows went up. “But, Janie…”

“Dad, even with an investor, we still have the day-to-day operation of the ranch to maintain,” she reminded him gently. “How about groceries? Utilities? How about cattle feed and horse feed and salt blocks and fencing?”

He sighed. “You’re right, of course. I’ll need the investment for the big things.”

“I like my job,” she added. “I really do.”

“It’s a bad place on the weekends,” he worried.

“Tiny likes me,” she assured him. “And Harley comes in at least two or three times a week, mostly on Fridays and Saturdays, to make sure I’m doing all right. I feel as safe at Shea’s as I do right here with you.”

“It’s not that I mind you working,” he said, trying to explain.

“I know that. You’re just worried that I might get in over my head. Tiny doesn’t let anybody have too much to drink before he makes them leave. Mr. Duncan is emphatic about not having drunks on the place.”