“His naked chest?” Chloe asked dryly.
Rose shot her sister a cool look of disapproval. “The man is running out of water.”
“So are a lot of other people around here,” Kitty spoke up. “Why, Vida was just telling me yesterday they were having to haul their drinking water from Ruidoso.”
“So is that why Mr. Hamilton cut our fence and drove his cattle onto our land? To give them a drink?” Chloe asked in disbelief. “I can’t really see what good that was going to do. Cattle have to have water every day. Or—” She looked at her sister with raised eyebrows. “He didn’t leave them on our land, did he?”
Rose shook her head. “No, he didn’t leave them on our land, but he intends for us to—” She couldn’t go on. Her throat closed around the words, forcing her to swallow several times before she could speak. “He wants us to open up the Bar M to him so that his cattle can reach our part of the river.”
The two women stared at Rose in stunned silence, then finally Chloe burst out laughing.
“You know, I always wondered why that man was single,” she said once her laughter had trailed away to a chuckle. “He’s got looks to die for, but apparently he doesn’t have a brain to go with them.”
“Just hush, Chloe, you haven’t heard it all,” Rose scolded wearily.
“You mean there’s more?”
Adam was banging his fist on the high-chair tray. Rose quickly pushed another spoonful of food at the baby.
“Oh, yes. It seems that several months ago, more than a year to be exact, our father borrowed money from Harlan Hamilton.”
“No!” Kitty said with a sharp gasp.
The humor suddenly vanished from Chloe’s face. “How much?”
Rose repeated the amount and once again the two women stared blankly at her.
“The worst part is,” Rose continued, “Daddy put the Bar M up as collateral.”
Chloe rocketed to her feet. “He couldn’t have! He wouldn’t have!”
Her face stiff, Rose said, “He did. Harlan has it on document. And I’ll assure you it was all very legal.”
“You mean, if we don’t or can’t repay Mr. Hamilton, the ranch could belong to him?” Kitty asked fearfully.
Rose nodded. “That’s just about the size of it.”
“So what are we going to do?” Chloe asked sinkingly. “If we sell our stock there’s no way the ranch can make money!”
Adam began pushing away the offered spoon, indicating to Rose he was full. She wiped the baby’s face and hands, then began filling her own plate. She wasn’t going to let what her father had done, or what Harlan might do, ruin her supper.
“We’re going to open up our land to Mr. Hamilton and hope that he’ll be patient about the loan. Right now, he says water is the only thing he wants from us,” Rose told the two women.
Like a fallen rock Chloe dropped back into her chair. “Oh Rose, you’re so gullible where men are concerned. You haven’t been around them enough to know they’ll tell you anything that suits them—no matter how far from the truth it is.”
Rose leveled a dark look at her sister. “Oh, I think you know I learned all about men a long time ago, Chloe. That’s exactly why I stay away from them. But as for Harlan— we have no choice but to trust him. He’s holding all the cards.”
Chloe sagged against the back of her chair.
Kitty looked at Rose. “What do you think about this Mr. Hamilton, Rose? Do you think he can be trusted?”
Did she? Since her ordeal with Peter more than eight years ago, Rose had never trusted any man, except her father. And even that had turned out to be a mistake. She’d be a fool to believe Harlan was sincere. Yet for some reason she wanted to think he was different from the rest, that maybe he was one of those few men like her sister’s husband, Roy Pardee. An honest man with morals and a good heart.
“I don’t know, Aunt Kitty. I found out he’s a widower with a teenage daughter. He appears to be a responsible man and father, but who’s to say? We thought Daddy was a responsible man and father.”
“Tomas must have been a very troubled man to do what he did. Having an affair with that woman, paying her all that money and now this! I just thank God my sister Lola isn’t alive to know about it.” Kitty shook her head sadly. “So what’s going to happen next?”
Rose took a long drink of ice water. She’d never felt so exhausted in her life and to think of getting up and facing Harlan in the morning was nearly more than she could bear.
“First thing tomorrow I’m going to meet Harlan at the cut in the fence and we’re going to decide what to do about the cattle. As for the money, I’m sure you both know we don’t have it and there’s no chance we will have it for a long time to come. He says his use of our water will count for a payment on the loan. I don’t know how much money that means, but I’ll find out.”
The kitchen went quiet, except for the babies, who were squealing and straining to grab the other’s face across their high-chair trays.
Rose finished the food on her plate, then lifted Adam into her arms. The baby nuzzled his head against her neck and she savored his innocent affection. The twins were the only good thing to come out of this mess their father had made. And whether the law ever managed to track down their mother or not, the whole family was determined to keep them and raise them as true Murdocks. “I’m going to give Adam a bath and get ready for bed. Will one of you call Justine and tell her the news?”
Kitty nodded solemnly. “I will. Maybe Roy might have some idea that could help us.”
“Roy’s a good sheriff, but I don’t think he can help us out of this mess,” Rose said, then turned to leave the kitchen.
“Rose,” Chloe called after her.
Rose turned to look at her younger sister. “Would you rather I met Mr. Hamilton in the morning?”
She and Chloe had always been opposites. Chloe was normally bubbly and outspoken and very self-confident, whereas Rose was just quiet, old Rose. Yet there had always been a deep love between them and Rose could feel it now more than ever.
“Thanks for offering, Chloe, but this is—well, it’s something I have to do myself. After Daddy died we agreed that the horses were your responsibility and the cattle mine. I’m not going to run from my job just because I don’t like dealing with a man.”
“We never said we couldn’t help each other out, if the other needed it,” Chloe said gently.
A wan smile touched Rose’s face. “I know. But oddly enough Harlan Hamilton doesn’t scare me. It’s just that— there’s something about the man that bothers me.” Adam tugged on a loose tendril of her hair. Rose absently kissed the baby’s cheek. “But I can put up with him for as long as it takes to get this ranch back to a solid business again. And I’m making a promise right now. Harlan Hamilton is never going to own the Bar M.”
Long before Rose reached the faint bend in the river, Harlan spotted her on the sorrel. From the hill where he sat on his black mare he watched and waited for her to ride closer.
She was dressed as she had been yesterday in a pair of worn jeans, brown boots and a gray felt hat. The only difference was her shirt. This one was deep green and buttoned tightly at the cuffs and throat.
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