“Who’s Miss Terri?” Tim asked as he went to his room with Ryan on his tail. He went into the closet to grab a pair of Wranglers and a grayBud LiteT-shirt he’d won at a bar in college during a dart tournament. The shirt was a great reminder of a time when things didn’t suck.

He walked out of the closet and tossed his clothes on the bed where Ryan sat, watching him carefully. “Miss Terri works in Daddy’s office at the ranch. She’s only gonna work in the mornings while Beth’s in school, and she told Daddy she’d take me to school with Beth, but I wanna ride the bus,” the boy repeated.

“How many people work at the ranch?” Tim didn’t know anything about Matt’s operation, but he was pretty sure a cattle ranch needed more than one or two people to run the operation successfully.

“Umm… Miss Terri, Papa Marty, Danny, Stevie, and Carl. Stevie and Carl only work in the mornin’ and after school. Danny, Daddy, and Papa Marty do most of the work, andGramma Jeri helps sometimes.” Ryan held up his little fingers as he named people, which was too cute for words.

Tim wasn’t sure who any of those people were except for the grandparents, but it sounded like Matt might have a few high school kids working for him part-time. However, Tim’s biggest concern at that moment was Lanny Whitehead, Matt’s former rodeo partner, so he was in a hurry to get to the ranch to check out the bastard. It was a judgment based on nothing other than his Uncle Josh’s assessment, but Tim felt he needed to witness their interactions for himself to know if there was anything more between them.

“Let’s get you dressed before we go down to the barn and help the boys feed the horses. We can come back for Aunt Katie’s breakfast and after that, we’re going to the ranch to help your dad move cattle,” Tim told him as he finished dressing.

He took Ryan to the spare room and got him dressed for the day before the two of them went downstairs to find Aunt Katie at the counter making a batter. She smiled at Ryan. “Ryan, would you go down to the barn and tell Hank that Josh will be down shortly?”

Ryan grinned before he headed for the door without a word. After he was gone, Katie looked at Tim with a small smile. His head was still pounding, and an ass chewing wasn’t exactly what he wanted that morning. “Aunt Katie—”

She reached into the cabinet and grabbed a glass, filling it with water before she opened a small package and dropped something inside which fizzed immediately. She handed it to Tim and smiled. “Josh is in the shower. I already gave him hell, but not too much. I’m glad you two talked last night. I know sometimes men need a little liquor to grease the wheels, so I’m not gonna say more than this isn’t gonna be a habit with the two of you drinkin’ all night. Drink this and go watch over the barn, please? Josh was standin’ in the shower with his eyes closed.It’s been a while since he’s had a hangover.” The smile on her face told Tim she wasn’t exactly sorry about it as she pushed the fizzing glass closer.

Tim chuckled and nodded before he drank the elixir in one large gulp, heading out the back door after he grabbed his boots from the tray. He went to the barn and helped feed the horses and tack up the ones they were gonna use at the Collins’ place. Ryan was in the hallway picking up twine as the others were breaking up hay flakes to feed the board horses.

Hank stepped out of the stall, so Tim walked over to him. “How many are we bringing with us to the Collins’ place?”

“Uh, three… well, with you, four if you’re gonna ride Chester. Where’s Josh? Is he okay?” Hank asked as his son, Ethan, walked out of a stall.

Ethan was a good-looking kid of about sixteen. Tim remembered Aunt Katie complaining about Uncle Josh wanting to have Ethan ride the jenny to see if she was gentle, and as far as he knew, the Jenny was a sweet burrow with no problems at all. Ethan appeared to enjoy the animal, and Tim was glad. If they kept the jenny, Tim would need to add her to the list of assets at the farm for tax purposes.

Turning to Hank, Tim felt a little squeamish about the answer. “He, uh, he’s a little slow moving this morning. We had a cookout last night, and Uncle Josh and I had a long conversation over a few beers.” Tim figured that was all Hank needed to know.

Hank started laughing and pounded the younger man on the back. “Kiddo, I’m happy to hear it. He and Katie needed ya. Nothin’ like a few beers to loosen the tongue. Everything okay?”

Tim swallowed. “Yeah. Fine. Tell me which horses I should catch, will you?” he asked as he headed to the tack room to start pulling out saddles, blankets, bridles, and lead ropes.

“Let’s see. Um, get Chester, Lady, Pally, and Caesar. Oh, can you bring that Jenny up from the pen out back? Ethan’s gonnawork with her today to see if she’s worth anything since Josh put shoes on her. Heaven help us if we start raisin’ mule stock around here,” Hank mumbled as he shook his head.

Tim laughed and nodded, making a mental note of the list of horses. After he had all the tack lined up the barn hallway and checked to be certain Ryan was okay, he grabbed the leads and walked out to the pasture where Uncle Josh’s horses were lazily grazing. Tim whistled, as he’d seen Uncle Josh do several times, and when they started coming up the hill, he tried to remember which horse was which.

Thankfully, they were easy to catch, and after a few miscues, Tim had the cadre of mounts tied to the hooks in the hallway. Ryan was sitting on a stack of hay bales, looking a little wounded so Tim stopped to ask about him as he tied Chester to the ring next to where Ryan was sitting. “What’s wrong?”

“I was in the way, so Mr. Hank put me here. It’s too tall to jump down to go to the house, and they all left me.” Ryan motioned around the empty barn as his face wrinkled in anger.

It was easy to see the boy was upset, and Tim would make it a point to sic Aunt Katie on Hank for leaving Ryan in the barn alone. “Well, I’m glad you’re still here. I could use someone to help me saddle all these horses. You know how to be careful around horses, right?”

The little cowboy nodded, so Tim helped him down from the hay and led him to the first horse, Lady. She was a four-year-old mare Uncle Josh used as breeding stock. She’d slipped a colt in the spring, so she wouldn’t be bred back until she was completely recovered.

“Currycomb and brush,” Tim ordered. Ryan went to the box on the outside of one of the stalls and grabbed the comb and a brush so they could groom the horses before they were tacked up.

The two worked together, Ryan handing Tim the tools necessary to make the horses comfortable for their day of work, and once they finished the grooming, Tim saddled the horses so they could be loaded onto the trailer when the crew was ready to head out to the ranch.

Just as they finished saddling Chester, Tim’s favorite mount, the intercom squawked. “Timothy, bring Ryan up for breakfast.” It was Aunt Katie’s voice, and she meant business.

“Uh-oh! Ryan, we were too busy and forgot about food,” Tim told the boy as they finished up with the last horse before they tied it to the side of the trailer.

“She won’t be mad, right? Gramma Jeri gets mad if her food gets cold before we sit down at the table, and she swears she won’t cook for us again,” Ryan said as the two walked toward the house.

Tim reached down and swung Ryan up on his shoulders before he ran to the house, the boy squealing the whole way as Tim balanced him on his right shoulder and Ryan held out his hands like an airplane. It was a joyous sound that Tim was thrilled to hear. Ryan was an amazing little boy. He hoped Matt appreciated the kid as much as Tim did.

The large Dodge Ram flatbed pulling an eight-horse, stainless trailer drove up the gravel driveway beyond the white, clapboard farmhouse. Tim followed behind it in a small, rusty-red pickup with Ryan riding shotgun in a booster seat. Unfortunately, no one could miss the cop car parked in front of the house.

Matt was sitting on the front steps in handcuffs, while another man was sitting on the grass ten feet away, also in handcuffs.The short, sandy blond-haired man had a black eye and a busted lip, and to Tim, he looked really pissed off.