Almost from the moment the men left, she kept Maddie busy, first helping to feed the stable of horses that the ranch maintained, and then by helping to prepare the midday meal for the horde of ranch hands. Accustomed to cooking for her brother, Maddie had thought nobody could eat more than a teenaged boy. But she hadn’t counted on the hungry men who swarmed Susan’s kitchen just after noon. Together, she and Susan had prepared an enormous batch of spicy rice and beans and cornbread, accompanied by thick slabs of ham. The ranch hands made short work of devouring the food, and then quickly went back to their chores, leaving the women to clean up. Maddie’s gaze continually drifted to the window, searching the dirt drive that wound toward the main road, but there was no sign of Colton. “If he said he’ll be back before dinner, then he will be,” Susan said, accurately reading her thoughts.
