Chapter Four

"C'mon, Susie, let's head back to the ranch. I'm done for the day," Brody called from the door of the church. He didn't step inside because his sister was very uptight about guns in the church and Brody figured the only time he'd ever be in a church without his guns was once he was dead, cold and in a casket.

Susie didn't much care for guns or violence of any kind. She didn't remember their parents and sisters being killed but the knowledge of what had happened to them was enough to convince her that she wanted nothing to do with that uglier side of life. However, being the loving and amazing young woman that she was, she never tried to tell Brody or Thomas that the way they lived and believed was wrong. In Brody's eyes Susie truly was an angel and Brody saw it as his duty to protect her.

"I'll be out in a just a moment," Susie's voice came back.

Brody sighed and leaned against the wall. He closed his eyes and rubbed his leg, which still hurt him now and then. He heard footsteps approaching him and he didn't have to open his eyes to know who it was. He recognized the timid, stuttering steps.

"Good evening, Mr. Vicks."

"Good evening, Sheriff Atkinson," Justin replied with surprise in that soft, somewhat feminine sounding voice of his, "How did you know it was me? Your eyes are closed."

Brody opened his eyes and looked at the short, weasel. Brody had no real reason not to like him but something about the man didn't seem right and Brody trusted his instincts. At the same time he was pretty sure the man was harmless. He was just a soft, prim little city boy completely out of his element in the rough Texas frontier.

"Lucky guess," Brody mumbled.

Justin pulled at his collar and Brody realized he was nervous. The man always seemed nervous. Brody wasn't sure how to react to the nervousness since that was something he very rarely, if ever, felt.

Justin cleared his throat, "Yes well, I uh... I wanted to ask your permission to come out to the ranch in the morning and call on Susie." Brody's eyes narrowed and for a moment Justin thought about running away. Brody was a foot taller than he was and built for killing... Definitely a scary man to approach and it had taken Justin all day to work up his courage for this moment.

"You wanna call on my sister?" Brody growled and Justin nodded. Brody thought about shooting him but decided that would be a bit drastic. Maybe he should just punch him? Then he remembered what Susie had said this morning about no man being interested in her. His sister was lonely and what kind of brother would he be if he got in the way of a man who was clearly interested in her? Of course that didn't mean he wasn't going to keep a close eye on the man himself.

"You can ride out in the morning," Brody relented and Justin thanked him quickly before scurrying away.

Brody watched the man disappear into the bank just before Susie stepped out of the church. She was dirty and sweaty from her hard day of work and Brody chuckled, "Did ya get a lot done today?"

"Yeah," she beamed at him, "I'm taking the day off tomorrow though. I haven't been doing nearly enough around the ranch since I started working here."

"Probably just as well you'll be home," Brody acknowledged as he led her down toward the livery where her horse and cart were waiting.

"Why is that?" she asked.

"You'll have a visitor."

Susie climbed into her cart and took hold of the reins, "A visitor? Who in the world is coming to visit me?"

Brody slid into the saddle of his own horse and they headed slowly toward the ranch, "Justin," he mumbled, the word sounding more like a curse than it did a name.

"Justin Vicks?"

"You know many other Justin's?" Brody snarled.

Susie couldn't help but smile at his animosity, "You're not happy?"

"I already told ya that there's something about him I don't like."

Susie looked upward and then over at her brother, "Maybe it's just because he isn't like you. He doesn't carry a gun and doesn't curse."

Brody snorted, "I don't carry a gun, I carry three. And hell the man don't even ride a horse! He rides in a cart like a little woman. Real men ride horses."

Susie silently agreed with her brother but she felt an urge to defend Justin since he wasn't here to do it himself, "I'm sure he knows how to ride a horse, Brody, he simply chooses not to. He's a nice man and he really doesn't deserve your harsh, overprotective judgments," she scolded her brother.

Brody grunted but let the subject drop. Susie was too nice for her own good.

***

"What's going on?" Susie inqured as she and Brody rode into the ranch and saw a crowd gathered around the barn door.

Brody shrugged and jumped off his horse. He helped Susie down from the cart and then the two of them made their way to find the source of the commotion, "What the hell's going on?" Brody asked Cookie, who was, of course, sitting in his usual chair with a hound at his feet.

The old man smiled and pointed into the barn, "Your wife and the other hands are talking to some man."

Brody pushed through the hands gathered at the barn door and Susie followed along behind him. Her eyes widened when she recognized who everyone was talking to. Ryder was standing on top of one of the stall doors. He was balancing himself with his arms stretched out as he entertained the hands with a story.

Elizabeth was watching him with an amused smile on her face, "And what did you do to get the man gunning for you?" she asked him.

Susie frowned. Apparently she and Brody had missed a pretty big part of the story. Ryder's golden brown eyes fell on Susie and he lost his balance and nearly fell off the stall door, managing to grab the post and balance himself at the last moment. He swung around the post and jumped down, landing on his feet about a foot from her.

"I uh.. I kissed a girl," he muttered distractedly in answer to Elizabeth's question, "Hi there, Susie."

"Ryder," Susie nodded in greeting. She couldn't get over how handsome he was up close like this. The angles and lines of his face were sharp and strong, but those dimples softened him. His lips were full and set in an almost permanent smile.

That charming smile was enough to cause her to forget his earlier actions momentarily until he said, "About earlier...."

Susie shook her head, "I don't really want to talk about earlier."

"What happened earlier?" Brody chimed in from behind her.

Susie glanced around and realized that the barn had cleared out. The hands had obviously realized that Ryder had lost any interest in finishing his story now that Susie was there and so they had gone back to work.

"I think Susie got the wrong impression of me is all," Ryder replied as he ran one hand through his hair and rubbed the other on his denim covered thigh.

"I think I got the perfect impression," Susie countered curtly, "I have work to do." Without another word she turned and dashed from the barn.

Ryder tried to follow her but Brody grabbed his arm and stopped him in his track, "Didn't I tell you to get the hell out of my town?" he demanded. Ryder gave him a smile that Elizabeth was sure would have charmed the devil himself but simply made Brody scowl, "I feel like your town would benefit more if I stayed around," Ryder explained.

"I hired him," Elizabeth added quickly, enjoying her husbands obvious irritation. She had always loved to see a fired up Brody.

Brody's eyes narrowed as he turned them on her, "I'll bet he didn't tell you that he spent last night in jail."

Elizabeth nodded, "Yes, he did. I think this job will be good for him and he has plenty of energy to be a big help around here."

As Elizabeth spoke Ryder jumped up on the stall door and walked back and forth across the top as if it were a balance beam.

"He's strange," Brody whispered to his wife, "And he's a troublemaker. I want him gone."

"Brody, I don't normally go against you..." Elizabeth started and Brody raised his brow. She made a face at him and continued. "Okay, I do, but I really want to give him a chance. I like him. He's funny, entertaining and besides, it's not like you didn't raise your fair share of hell before you settled down with me and the kids," she reminded him.

"He's interested in Susie," Brody informed her, his voice full of protective anger as he watched the man who had stopped pacing back and forth and was now sitting on top of the door, swinging his legs and watching them with amusement on his face.

Elizabeth turned Brody around and he brought his head down low so they could whisper without being overheard, "I noticed. Why is that a problem?"

Brody frowned and Elizabeth recognized that stubborn set of his jaw, "Because he's not good enough for Susie."

"Yeah and you weren't good enough for me and Jacob wasn't good enough for Ellie and Thomas wasn't good enough for Sally," Elizabeth flashed him a wry grin, "It seems that us women are always settling for men that aren't good enough for us."

"This is different," Brody insisted.

Elizabeth shook her head, "No it's not. Besides, just because he likes Susie doesn't mean that she likes him,"

"Can I interrupt?" Ryder asked as his head was suddenly added to their huddle.

Brody glared over at him. He was bothered by the man's interruption but more bothered by the fact that he was able to move and get so close without Brody hearing him coming. There weren't very men in the world that could sneak up to Brody Atkinson.

"What?" Brody snapped, rising to his full height only to realize that when Ryder copied him, they stood eye to eye.

"I don't just like your sister. I love her."

Brody's green eyes flashed and Elizabeth knew he was about to punch the slightly dim witted new ranch hand. She stepped between the two men, "You hardly know Susie, Ryder," she reminded him.

He shrugged and smiled wistfully, "She's beautiful, sweet, funny, hardworking, innocent...."

"Innocent and gonna stay that way," Brody snapped.

Elizabeth shot him a warning look and then she looked back at Ryder. The man sounded sincere and he certainly seemed to have a pretty good understanding on what Susie was like because everything he had said was accurate.

"She'll always be innocent," Ryder agreed as he began picking at a knot on the wooden wall. "She's got that way about her."

"Ryder, you're not helping," Elizabeth scolded as Brody's knuckles popped, "Why don't you go to the bunkhouse and pick out a bed. Cookie will have supper ready soon."

"But I wanted to talk to Susie," Ryder pouted.

Elizabeth laid a hand on his arm and tilted her head toward Brody, "I think you should wait before you talk to her...."

Ryder glanced at Brody and for the first time realized just how angry the man seemed to be. The scar on his cheek was twitching as his jaw tensed and he had one hand resting on his gun as if wondering whether or not to shoot him.

Ryder realized that Elizabeth was trying to protect him from the man and he gave her a grateful grin, "Alrighty then... I'll go pick a bed and get me some grub. I'll see you both in the morning. You have a great ranch here." He walked out of the barn and toward the bunkhouse and Brody watched his movements like a hawk.

"You're worse than Jacob!" Elizabeth scolded her husband, "You'd think you would have learned by his mistakes."

"Where are the kids?" Brody grumbled, not wanting to be told off just now.

"At home," Elizabeth replied, "The twins wanted Nathan to teach them how to play poker. Nathan wasn't very sure how you play but Max seems to be a professional so they are all there."

Brody nodded. With normal kids he'd be concerned about them being home alone with no adults but Nathan and Max were both like mature adults, only shorter. They could take care of the twins, "I wish you hadn't hired him without talking to me first."

"I don't have to have your permission to do things, Brody." Elizabeth snapped and he couldn't help but grin with amusement at the sight of that ice queen, ranch boss he had married.

"I know that, boss. It's just that he might be trouble."

"And if he is, I'll handle it," Elizabeth assured him and then she leaned into him and kissed his cheek, "And if I can't handle the problem then I have a big strong husband to do that for me."

"Maybe I'll have to shoot him." Brody said hopefully.

Elizabeth laughed and slapped his arm, "Maybe he and Susie would be good with each other. Maybe she could tame him down and he could loosen her up," Elizabeth offered as Brody went about saddling her horse so they could go home.

He scowled over the back of the appaloosa mare and shook his head, "And maybe hell will freeze over and the pigs will start flying."

"It could be worse," Elizabeth offered.

Brody frowned skeptically, "How's that?"

"She could fall in love with that Justin character."

Brody cinched the saddle tight and pulled off his hat so he could run his hand through his long messy hair, "She needs a man that can look out for her and protect her. Life is hard out here sometimes and neither of the men sniffing around her skirts can offer her either of those things. Why Justin would probably run and scream like a little girl and Ryder would be too busy fidgeting around to even realize there was a problem."

"Well one thing is for sure--" Elizabeth said as she mounted her horse, "--I don't like Justin."

Brody nodded in agreement, "Me either. There's just something about him that's off..."

"He reminds me of Grant," Elizabeth admitted, "Kinda like a slightly less polished Grant, but still a snake in the grass."

"He's coming tomorrow to call on Susie," Brody informed her as they started toward home.

"What?" Elizabeth demanded.

"He asked if he could and I couldn't very well say no and stand in the way. I'm hoping Susie's got enough sense to let him know real quick she ain't interested."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Elizabeth warned, "Susie's got plenty of sense but she's so kindhearted she'd tell him she's having a great time with him even if she was miserable."

Brody was silent for a moment as he rolled a cigarette and then struck the match across his cheek to light it. He flashed Elizabeth one of his rare smiles and winked, "Maybe I'll get to shoot two people."