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

of it.”
    “You’re welcome,” he whispered against her cheek.
    He lowered her back to the ground and she added, as cold and formal as if the kiss hadn’t just happened, “Don’t wait up for me. I may not be home until late.”
    Cord watched her drive away, thinking about how kissing her for real had felt so much better than he’d thought it would. He figured he’d shock her if she knew that when he dreamed of loving, he dreamed of her. He’d even hung the clipping of her riding in a parade on his cell wall once. She’d fascinated him with what his life might have been like if they’d gone on that date ten years ago.
    The clipping had lasted only a few months before his cellmate tore it down and told him to stay in the real world for a change. The picture and the dreams had lasted about as long as this marriage probably would, but while it lasted he could feel like, for once, he didn’t need to dream.
    He walked back to the bunkhouse knowing everyone inside was staring at him.
    When he took the seat at the head of the table, Galem came from the kitchen with a steaming cup of coffee. Cord watched as the cook set the cup down carefully in front of him.
    “Thanks,” Cord said to the cook as the last of the cowhands took their places.
    While Galem served coffee, Cord started, “I’ve studied the books. No one here has had a raise in two years. That ends today. Next, we work with the sun, not on the clock, and every man stops at six unless I’ve asked for overtime. We’ll run a five-man crew on weekends from now on, and any who want to work then will draw time and a half. When it’s cold we’ll start later, and we’ll end earlier when the weather turns bad, but you’ll still draw the same pay. Fair enough?”
    No one said a word. A few looked shocked, but most looked like they were calculating next month’s paycheck. Cord knew that raising wages on a failing ranch was risky, but these men would bring the place back to life.
    “I want to talk to each one of you and see what you like doing best, but understand, until we get this ranch in working order, we all do what needs to be done. If you can’t do a job, let me know when it’s assigned, not when you fail.”
    “I count twenty men. We’ll need forty, so if you know someone who’s honest and wants work, bring him to breakfast tomorrow. If I hire him, he needs to be ready to work. If not, he’ll have had a meal for his trouble.”
    As he talked, Galem put food on the table. By the time they began eating, four men had walked out and the others were asking questions and making suggestions. Most, he figured, were hands who had been around for at least a few years and were happy to have someone finally ask for their opinion on the running of the ranch. By nine, Cord was in the saddle and working. Everything had to be ready to get crops in the ground and cattle in the pastures as fast as possible.
    About two the phone in his pocket sounded. Cord walked away from the corral so he could hear Nevada. It seemed like days since he’d seen her, not hours.
    “How are things going?” she asked. “This is the first break I’ve had.”
    “Fine,” he answered, surprised at how fast the morning had gone. “Four men quit. I fired three others.” The man who’d glared at her had been one Cord let go. “We’re trying to get ready to move what cattle you have left to the north pasture. I’m planning to buy at least a hundred new head tomorrow. The auction is in the morning, and Tannon Parker says he can have any cattle I buy delivered before dark. I’ve got a crew mending fences now.”
    “Not the ranch, Cord, how are you doing?”
    “I’m good.” He thought about saying that he was great. Inside he felt like he was walking in boots that didn’t quite fit, but he was giving being boss his best try. One of the men he’d fired had cussed him out, calling him nothing but a con. Normally he would have gotten mad, but Cord knew it was coming. He’d planned