Can't Stop Believing (HARMONY) by JODI THOMAS Page A

the ranch for twenty-three years.”
    Galem wiped his hand on his apron and offered it to Cord. “Nice to meet you, Mr. McDowell. I heard you were coming. My youngest daughter works at the courthouse and said Nevada married Friday.”
    Galem might be thin and balding, but his smile was warm and a kind of friendly Cord had rarely seen. Open. Trusting. Accepting.
    Cord managed a nod as he sized up all that Galem hadn’t said. He hadn’t mentioned that she’d married for the fourth time, even though he must have known. He also hadn’t told the others, for several in the room coughed. And last, he hadn’t lied about hearing about the wedding.
    “Galem, if you’ll call the others, I’d like to hold a meeting over coffee this morning.” Cord moved into his planned speech. “It will only take a few minutes and then the men can ask any questions while we eat. I’ll be here for breakfast every morning at dawn, and any man who is tired of working for the Boxed B won’t need to join us. Any man coming in after breakfast has missed a day’s work.”
    Galem smiled. He didn’t need to call anyone; the men scattered in every direction. Some ran to get the others; some took their seats at the table. Change was on the wind and they all knew it.
    “You like it black, Mr. McDowell?” Galem guessed.
    “I do, and call me Cord. We’ve got a long day and no time for extra words.”
    Galem nodded once at Cord, but Cord didn’t miss the wink he gave Nevada. To his surprise he felt a bit jealous, especially when she winked back.
    She’d just flirted with the cook more than she’d flirted with him all weekend.
    Putting his arm around his wife, Cord turned her toward the door. “I can handle it from here, Nevada. You probably need to get on to the office.”
    She agreed, and by the speed of her walk, he guessed she wasn’t comfortable among the men filling the room. Not one man said a word to her, and she called none by name.
    As soon as they were out of anyone’s hearing, she whispered, “Galem likes you. Can you believe it? He likes you. I can tell.”
    “Stop winking at the cook,” Cord ordered, but she wasn’t listening.
    “He never liked any of the others. Wouldn’t even speak to my first husband. Spilled boiling coffee on the second, and the third was afraid to go out to the bunkhouse when my brother told him that number two had his privates so scalded he was in constant pain for a week. You’d think Bryce would have known better than to believe my brother; they’d roomed together in college.”
    “You care about what the cook thinks, Nevada?” Cord’s brain was still focusing on the wink.
    “Of course. When I was little and he started working here, he was my guardian angel. More than once he stopped my brothers from picking on me. A few years ago he married Ora Mae, and she took over managing the house. He adopted her three daughters, but you’d never know they weren’t his blood from the way he brags about them. I’ve always thought Galem and Ora Mae made a cute couple. You’d think they were in their twenties and not their forties.”
    Cord relaxed as he opened her car door.
    She stood next to him. “I think we fooled even Galem. He seemed to really believe we were a couple. He won’t inform on any ranch hand, but he won’t lie for them either. If he thinks we’re real, so will the others.”
    “Then this should help seal the deal,” Cord said as he put his hands on Nevada’s waist and pulled her to him.
    Before he could change his mind, he kissed her full on the mouth. She hesitated, trying to pull away for only a few seconds before she seemed to understand. To his surprise, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.
    He lifted her off the ground as he straightened, letting her body mold along his. The taste of her, the feel of her, the hint of apricots from her shampoo almost buckled his knees.
    When she pulled away, she touched his jaw. “That should do it. Thank you for thinking