“Jake!” Randy chided. The three boys inside snickered.
Kraemer smiled. “You’ve got me on that one, Jake. You’re one lucky man.”
“I think so.” Jake lit the cigarette. “You tell the cattlemen thanks for the offer, but I’m not interested.”
Kraemer nodded. “You can go to Greeley and wire a message to my office in Denver if you change your mind.”
“I won’t.”
Kraemer took his hat from his foot and put it back on, then set his empty glass on the table. He rose, nodding to Randy. “Thank you, ma’am, for the refreshment. And I didn’t mean to upset you.” He turned to Lloyd and put out his hand. “Glad you’re going to be okay, Lloyd.”
Lloyd shook his hand, and Kraemer turned to Jake.
“Jake, you’re somebody worth knowing. I expect riding with you in Oklahoma was quite an adventure. I wish we could have gotten to know each other better.”
Jake gave him a firm handshake. “Come and visit any time. If you and your men need a place to hole up once in a while, you’re welcome to use one of the barns. We have a cook who would make sure you got some of the best steaks in Colorado.”
“I don’t doubt that.” Kraemer nodded to Brian and walked down the steps to mount his horse. “Remember the offer, Jake. I’m sure it will still be there next spring if you change your mind.” He tipped his hat once more to Randy, then turned his horse and rode off.
Jake turned to Randy. “You didn’t really think I’d take a job like that, did you?”
“I wasn’t sure.” She breathed a sigh of relief. “I couldn’t stand it, Jake. After Oklahoma—”
“I know. I don’t want to be away from you any more than you want me to go.”
“I’m glad you decided against it, Pa,” Lloyd told him.
“God knows you’d be good at it, but taking that job would have been hard on Evie, too,” Brian told Jake.
Evie came out of the house. “Daddy, it’s time you were always here with us. Four years away in that awful prison, and then always being gone when you were a marshal—it wouldn’t be fair to Mother for you to take that job.”
“I didn’t consider it for one second,” Jake told her, keeping hold of Randy’s hand.
“Hey, look here,” Lloyd told them, scanning the mail. “We got a letter from Peter Brown.” He handed it to Randy.
“It must be a thank-you letter from when he and his wife visited,” Randy commented. “I’m glad they were able to come here. I think they were quite impressed, and that beautiful palomino you gave Peter’s wife—she was so taken by that, Jake.”
“She was taken with Daddy, you mean,” Evie teased.
“Well, if that’s so, then it’s proper revenge on Peter,” Jake answered. “If he can ogle my wife, I can ogle his. She was quite beautiful.”
“In a rich-lady, purebred kind of way,” Lloyd joked. “I thought she’d faint dead away when I talked about castration.” They all laughed. “And I was beginning to wonder if she ever takes those gloves off.”
They laughed more, and Lloyd noticed Katie making her way over to them. “I was going crazy over at the house, wondering what was going on with that marshal,” she said as she approached.
Lloyd hurried down the steps and took her arm.
“Lloyd, I’m just pregnant. I’m not an invalid.”
“I don’t like you walking around in this heat. Get up here on the veranda where it’s cooler. We got a letter from Peter.”
“Might as well take the time to listen to Randy read the letter,” Jake told them. “We’ve already lost half an hour talking to Kraemer.” He glanced at Lloyd, their gazes holding in mutual understanding.
“You made the right choice, Pa,” Lloyd told Jake. “If you’d decided to take that job, I would have had to beat some sense into you.”
“Oh, sit down,” Randy told him as she opened the letter. “Boys, come out here! We’ve heard from Peter Brown.” She sat down in her favorite porch rocker and wiped at more tears as she scanned the letter. Stephen, Ben, and Little Jake came out to stand behind Jake.
Jake smoked quietly as Randy began reading platitudes of how much Peter and his wife enjoyed their visit and how impressed they were with the J&L.
“Although your home wasn’t the fancy hotel Katrina is accustomed to, she thought our room was wonderfully warm and comfortable and inviting. Jake and Randy, your whole family was the same way—warm and inviting. We are both happy you are all together and life is so much better for you now than it was in Oklahoma. Katrina is immensely grateful for the beautiful palomino. The horse more than pays for my services, which I would never have charged you for in the first place.”