Page 48

Micah hesitated, looking at the stables, then at Shane. “But this is the last post, right?”

Shane didn’t smile, though he wanted to. He nodded earnestly.

“Then I should finish, right?” Micah’s eyebrows drew together. “Or should I be on time for my lesson?”

Micah was a different kind of kid than Shane was used to. His younger siblings had been wild, argumentative, and bullheaded. The varying sullenness he remembered from Boone and Lindsay’s childhood days, but there was a need to earn approval and a need to do therightthing in the boy that didn’t remind Shane of any of his siblings.

It reminded him of, well, himself, and it created a new wave of affinity for the boy. Because it was hard to be this age without a dad, and it was hard to want to protect the people you loved and do the right thing and not know how to do either.

“When the boss gives you the go-ahead to leave a project unfinished because you’ve got something else to do, you say thanks and accept it. If you didn’t have anything else to do, you would stay and finish the job. But I’m going to need you to learn how to be a good horseman if you’re going to want to earn yourself a spot on my crew.”

Micah blinked. “Your crew,” he said, almost to himself. “Like a ranch hand?”

“We can hire you officially when you’re fourteen. How old are you now?”

“T-twelve. I’ll be thirteen soon though. November.”

Again Shane fought the impulse to smile indulgently at the kid. Micah didn’t need indulgence. He needed to be treated like a young adult. Someone Shane would trust to earn some adult responsibilities. “So, you focus on getting good with the horses, do your chores well—which will earn you a few bucks under the table—and the more we trust you, the harder you work, the better shot you’ve got at a real job here when it’s legal.”

Micah stared at him, wide-eyed and wondering.

“Well, go on now. Don’t keep Molly waiting. If she’s not in the stables, come on back, and we’ll go find her together.”

“O-okay.” Micah took a few halting steps toward the stables, then looked back at Shane for one long, considering moment. Then he was off, racing across the field between him and the stables.

Shane watched him go, remembering that feeling of freedom and excitement. That all this was his. Oh, he hadn’t felt that kind of exhilaration in about twenty years, but it was still there. Deep under all the responsibility and worry and hard work, that little seed of utter freedom.

This is mine.

But he had to protect what was his. He sighed heavily, glancing over at Ben’s cabin. Ben was assigned to the branding crew this morning, but they should be done with their work by now, which meant Ben was likely there.

Alone, with no possibility of interruption from his mother.

Shane was not a man who shirked a responsibility, so it was weird to find himself dragging his feet, finding excuses, taking too damn long to finish up the fence maintenance. Hard work, protecting his family, these were not things he shied away from.

Being open and honest were. Allowing some of that strength to slip, in order to put plain what it was that worried him. Because he didn’t worry. He fixed.

Which wasn’t working for this particular situation. So, Shane cleaned up his tools and placed them in the back of the work vehicle. He reminded himself this was all a part of protecting his family, and for that, he would do anything.

He drove over to Ben’s cabin and didn’t let himself stop to think or even plan what he was going to say, though that might have been prudent. But he needed to man up and do this.

Shane walked across the yard and rapped on Ben’s door. When Ben opened it, Shane noticed with an odd bolt of concern that the man looked a little haggard. But he scowled at Shane, and it was easy for the concern to melt away.

“What do you want?” Ben grumbled, standing in the opening, clearly blocking it.

“May I come in?”

Ben narrowed his eyes, not bothering to hide how suspicious he was. “Let me guess, you’re going to threaten me.”

“No, Ben.”

“Pay me to disappear?”

Shane blinked. That hadn’t even occurred to him. He noted, with a sinking heart, that the man seemed a little eager.

“Would that work?”

Ben’s expression hardened. “No, it damn well wouldn’t, asshole.”