Jenny (9 page)

His gaze shifted lower then, and he found himself watching the sway of her hips as she left the office.
When he realized what he was doing and the direction
of his thoughts, he gave a silent curse and tore his
gaze away.

She meant nothing to him!

She was pretty, but so were a lot of other women.

It was only when she'd finally gone from the outer
office that he went to join the other men.

"As executor, Cole, you'll be in charge of what's
going on out at the Lazy S.It's your responsibility
now, and from the looks of things, Jenny's going to
need all the help and guidance you can give her,"
Judge Lawson informed him. Then he asked, daring
to broach the subject that no one had spoken of yet,
"Working with Jenny is not going to prove too awkward for you, is it? If you find you can't deal with
her, there may be some legal way to replace you." He
had sensed an unspoken tension between them and
wanted to make sure that they would be able to get
along.

"No. There won't be a problem. I'm doing this for
Paul. It was what he wanted," Cole assured him.

They shook hands all around, and Cole left.

Jenny had already gone when Cole emerged onto
the street. For some reason, it disappointed him,
though he wasn't sure why. He mounted up and
started home to the Branding Iron. He had ignored
his own duties for too long.

Even as Cole made the ride home, though, his
thoughts lingered on Jenny. In spite of all his irritation over her decision, he reluctantly admitted to himself
that she was an exceptionally brave woman. He didn't
know another female who would be capable of taking
over and running a spread the size of the Lazy S.Of
course, he wasn't sure Jenny could do it, but the ranch
obviously meant a lot to her and she was going to
fight for it. She was proving to be every bit as stubborn as Paul had told him she was.

Cole decided that he would make a weekly visit to
the ranch to check on things. He would also continue
with the plans that he and Paul had made to rebuild
the Lazy S's herd. He wasn't looking forward to the
next few years of being in charge there, but with any
luck at all, the time would pass quickly.

Jenny was deeply troubled as she made the trip back
home. The news from the banker had not been good.
She had to admit that even though she'd put on a
good show for them in the office, she was more than
a bit scared about what the future held for the Lazy
S.There was only one thing she was sure of-no
matter what path she chose to take, the next few years
were not going to be easy.

The main buildings of the Lazy S came into view
in the distance then, and Jenny reined in. She sat there
quietly in the buckboard, surveying the scene below
with new eyes. The day before, she had seen only
what her heart had wanted her to see. She had not
taken the time to look at things critically, but had
pictured the love and warmth she'd known existed
there. Now, though, she was staring at the bunk houses, the stable, corrals, and the main house with a
critical eye, and to her dismay, she found them wanting.

It was all too obvious that her father had not kept
up the property as he should have. Things were starting to look a bit run-down. The revelation was startling to her and reminded her that her father had kept
so much hidden from her about their financial troubles, even while he'd been sending money to her back
East to pay for her expenses. Guilt followed, knowing
the ranch had suffered for her way of life.

"I'm going to pay you back, Papa," she vowed out
loud as she gazed down at the scene before her. "I
promise."

Urging her team on again, Jenny drove the rest of
the way down to the stable. She left the buckboard
with the hands and went up to the house. She greeted
Evelyn and Frances, giving only vague answers to
their questions about what had happened at the meeting in town. She didn't want to worry them yet. Then
she secluded herself in the study, determined to make
a plan for the future.

As the hours passed and Jenny didn't emerge from
the study, Evelyn began to worry. She sensed that
something was terribly wrong, yet she wasn't sure
how to approach Jenny and get her to talk about what
had happened. Using dinner as an excuse to seek her
out and engage her in conversation, Evelyn brought
a tray of food to the study. It took her a few minutes
to encourage her niece to open up and tell her the truth, but when she finally did, Evelyn was glad. The
ranch's financial troubles were real, and Jenny was
going to need all the help and support she could get.

"What are we going to do?" Evelyn's concern was
real.

"You are so sweet," Jenny said with heartfelt emotion.

"I am? Why?" She was surprised by niece's statement. She wondered what her being "sweet" had to
do with saving the Lazy S.

"You just said `we,' "Jenny answered.

"Darling, you should know by now that I couldn't
love you more if you were my own daughter. Anything I can do to help you, I'll do. I have some money
put away in the bank, and you're more than welcome
to use it."

"No. I refuse to take your life savings." Jenny
quickly dismissed that idea. "That money is all
you've got in the world. Getting the Lazy S back in
good financial shape is something I have to accomplish on my own. I can't rely on anyone else."

"But how?"

"I don't know yet. I only know that it's not going
to be easy. I have to figure out the best way to turn
the Lazy S into a money-maker again."

"Did you ask Cole? Did he have any suggestions?"

"I didn't ask, and he didn't offer. I think Judge
Lawson, Mr. Stevens, and Mr. Marsden were all a
little angry with me for refusing to sell the ranch to
Cole."

"That is the logical thing to do, you know," Evelyn
pointed out.

"When it comes to the Lazy S, I'm not logical. I
love this place, Aunt Evelyn. It's like it's a living,
breathing part of me. I don't want to lose it."

"I knew you got homesick occasionally, but I always thought you enjoyed the life we led in Philadelphia."

"I did. I enjoyed my time with you very much. I
just didn't realize how much I missed Colorado until
I came back. Now that I'm here, I don't ever want to
leave again."

"So how did things work out with Cole?"

"I'm sure he would have preferred that I sell him
the ranch so we wouldn't have to spend any time
together," she answered.

"Has he ever said anything about what happened
between the two of you?"

"Not a word, and I'm glad. That's all in the past.
It's over. I'm sure he doesn't harbor any fond feelings
for me, and I really can't blame him. The one thing
I'm glad about is that after talking with him and the
judge and lawyer today, I believe Cole and I should
be able to work together to take care of ranch business."

"Good. I'm glad it turned out that way. I know how
worried you were about the possibility of just seeing
Cole again, and then to find out that he was the executor Well, I was very concerned for you."

"Everything will be fine once I think of a way for the Lazy S to make some money. Papa never told me
how bad things really were. I wish he had. I might
have been able to do something to help him sooner."
She quickly explained about how her father had lost
so many head of cattle to the blizzard and rustlers and
how he'd been working to build things back up.

"Are there any other ways to make money on a
ranch besides running cattle?" Evelyn asked.

"That's why I've been sitting here going over the
books. I need to make some money a large amount,
as quickly as possible."

"You could sell some of your cattle," her aunt offered, trying to be helpful.

"Yes, but I don't have enough head to make the
kind of profit I need."

"What else could you do here? Take in boarders
like the Widow Harrison did in Philadelphia?" Evelyn
laughed as she thought of how remote their location
was and how few people would happen to ride by the
ranch and decide to stay.

"Or like Tessa does in Durango." Jenny thought of
the young woman who ran a very successful boardinghouse in town. She frowned thoughtfully at her
aunt's suggestion. "You know, you just may have
something there."

"Have something where?"

"The boarder thing. Did I ever tell you how many
of my friends back at school envied the fact that I
grew up on a `real Western ranch'?"

"They did? I was afraid they were going to make fun of you for having come from Colorado-"

"Not at all. Any number of the girls wanted to
know what it was like to live in the `Wild West.'
They were very excited about it." A slow, enigmatic
smile curved Jenny's lips as an idea took shape in her
mind.

"What are you thinking, Jenny? I know that look
of yours, and it usually means trouble."

"Not this time. I think you're brilliant, Aunt Evelyn!" Jenny jumped up and ran around the desk to
hug her aunt and plant a kiss on her cheek. "Thanks!"

"For what? What did I do?"

"It's not what you did, It's what you said! You
gave me an idea!"

"I did?"

"Yes. About boarders."

"What about boarders?" Evelyn was totally confused.

"That's exactly what I'm going to do. I'm going to
start taking in boarders-or maybe I should call them
`guests.' I'll charge them a considerable sum to stay
here on a `real ranch' and experience what it's like
to live in the honest-to-gosh Wild West!"

Evelyn stared at her niece as if she had lost her
mind. "Who would you take in? Who would want to
come here?"

"Easterners!" Jenny was growing more excited
with each passing minute as she considered the number of people who'd be interested. "It will work out perfectly. Of course, I'll have to come up with a plan
on how to get the word out."

"But where will you put the boarders once they
arrive?" Evelyn was confused. There were only three
bedrooms in the main ranch house, and she and Jenny
were using two of them.

"I can fix up that old bunkhouse that nobody's using right now. I can convert it into a cabin for our
paying guests."

"Even if you did get someone to come, how long
would they want to stay, and what would they do
while they were here?"

"They could stay for as long as they wanted to. If
they have the money, we've got room for them. We
could take them out riding, and they could go on
roundups. There might even be some who'd want to
go hunting or fishing."

"Do you really think anyone would come?" Evelyn
was still doubtful.

"I'm positive. I'm going to write to my friend Rose
right away. I know she would want to come for a
visit, and probably her cousin Melanie, too. Rose always talked about how much she wanted to see the
West. If I could get enough money together, I could
run ads in the newspapers back East. I'm sure that
would get people excited about coming." Jenny's
mind was racing as she considered all the possibilities.

"How long will it take to get things ready?"

"I don't know. I'd better talk to Frances and Louie first and enlist their help. I'll need Frances to take
care of all the extra cooking and cleaning, and Louie
will have to be in charge of arranging the hunting and
fishing trips."

"You know, it just might work."

"I know!" Jenny was truly excited. "First thing tomorrow morning, I'll take a closer look around that
bunkhouse and see how much work needs to be done.
I would think if everything goes all right, I could have
the place ready for paying guests in less than a
month."

"But it's going to take a lot of money to fix everything up the way you want it. Have you got enough
set aside in the bank?"

"Yes, but I don't think the repairs will be that expensive, especially if I do them myself."

"You know how to do that kind of work? Why,
that's manual labor!" Evelyn was amazed.

"Papa insisted I learn everything about running a
ranch, and that included mending fences and fixing
anything that was broken."

"Well, I'm not too old to learn how to use a hammer. I'll help you with whatever you want me to do,"
she volunteered.

"Thanks, Aunt Evelyn." She lifted her gaze to her
aunt's. "I don't know what I would have done without
you."

Evelyn hugged her. "You're a smart young woman,
Jenny. If anybody can make this work, you will.
Should you notify Cole of your plans?"

The thought of having to go to Cole to ask him for
anything irked her, especially after the way they'd
parted earlier that day. She had a feeling that he
would probably try to argue with her and convince
her that the idea wouldn't work. But she was going
to show him. She was going to show all of them.

"Not right away. I'll start repairing the bunkhouse
and try to get that in order before I tell him anything
about it."

"That's going to be a big job. You'll need some
building supplies, won't you?"