A Rancher's Pride(55)

Beside her, Sam smiled. He held his index and middle fingers in the shape of a V, palm inward, near his eye. “See?”

She gritted her teeth and ground her heels into the dirt beneath the table. Yes, he’d turned into a quick study. And at the moment, a huge annoyance.

It wasn’t the horseshoe game that bothered her. And she didn’t want to turn Judge Baylor against Sam. She just wanted the man here, where he could see her interacting with Becky. Not over at the other end of the yard bonding with her niece’s father.

“Let’s go, young Robertson,” the judge said. “And anyone else fool enough to think they can take me on.”

Sam stayed long enough to turn to Kayla. “Keep an eye on Becky, okay?”

“Nothing to worry about,” she assured him. “She’ll be fine.”

Following in the wake of every adult male in sight, he made a beeline down the length of the yard to the spot he had designated for the horseshoe toss.

“Well.” Frowning, she stared after them. “Not one of them seemed to have a problem figuring out where to go.”

“They know already,” Dori assured her. “Every year, Sam sets the horseshoes there.”

“Yeah,” Ellamae said with a laugh. “As far as they can all get from the kitchen and still seem sociable.”

Kayla frowned again. Good thing she’d applied fresh sunscreen, or by tonight, she’d have red-and-white stripes from sunburn on her forehead. “You mean the women do all the cleaning up? That doesn’t seem fair.”

“Oh, we plan it that way,” Sharleen told her, “else we wouldn’t have a chance.”

“A chance…?”

“At Dori’s desserts,” Ellamae explained. “We get first crack at the next round of ’em.”

“Oh.” Kayla smiled. “Well, that’s not such a bad idea, after all. I wonder how the judge will feel about it?”

“What he doesn’t know can’t hurt him,” Ellamae said with a wink.

“And,” Dori added, “we have the time to share gossip.”

“Even better,” Kayla said, crossing her fingers beneath the table. “Who’s going first?”

But by the time the dishes were out of the way and the second round of desserts begun, she’d learned nothing of interest to her. While the news of who’d been caught substituting commercial jam for homemade at the last county fair had horrified the women of Flagman’s Folly, it didn’t do much for Kayla’s curiosity about Sam.

On the way home from town yesterday and in his workshop last night, he had shared more than she had dared hope about his past. The people of Flagman’s Folly didn’t know the full truth behind the fire. A little glow warmed her at the knowledge he had trusted her with his secret. And she would never break his confidence. Still, she couldn’t deny her need to learn everything about him that she could.

She was ashamed to admit that need had gone beyond wanting to find something to use against him. It had turned into a strong desire simply to know more about him—especially as she now didn’t trust anything Ronnie had told her.

Near the barn, a child laughed. A metallic clang rang out, the sound of a horseshoe hitting its mark.

The women drifted into smaller groups. Kayla found herself alone with Ellamae. Before she could say anything, the older woman turned to her.

The court clerk must have taken lessons from the judge. Her own laserlike gaze went through Kayla, too. “Just what are you up to, missy?”

Kayla blinked. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, that phone call I got at the court the other day. Some city dude from up north, asking questions about Sam.” She leaned forward. “You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

The hair on Kayla’s arms prickled. More than likely, the caller had been Matt or one of his associates. But she couldn’t know for sure. She shook her head.

“Well, Sam’s business is Sam’s business, y’hear?”

“I hear,” she said agreeably, knowing she shouldn’t push the issue right now. Or maybe at all.

Ellamae’s attention wandered to the field north of the house. “Looks like we got us a challenge going,” she said, effectively changing the subject.

Kayla followed her gaze. Most of the kids, from kindergartner age on up, had begun to gather in the field.

From across the yard, Kayla caught Becky waving at her. Her niece knew something was up. She curved all her fingers and tapped the tips together, one hand against the other.