Magdalena adjusted feed rationing.
Jacinto located a rancher willing to sell hay cheaper than Vale.
Ethan negotiated.
Jacob convinced two former hands to return.
Then Arthur visited.
He saw the water.
His expression betrayed him.
Only for a second.
Magdalena noticed.
Arthur recovered quickly.
“Miracle.”
Ethan leaned against the porch post.
“Old channel.”
“Interesting.”
“You knew about it?”
Arthur smiled.
“Why would I?”
Magdalena stepped onto the porch.
His eyes moved toward her.
“This the famous new cook?”
“Magdalena Reed.”
Arthur looked her over.
Too deliberately.
“Quite an addition.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
Magdalena ignored him.
“Your company manufactured irrigation plates?”
Arthur glanced toward her.
“What?”
“Stamped V.S.”
“Vale Supply.”
“My father manufactured thousands.”
“For Castle Ridge?”
“Probably.”
“Records?”
“Ancient.”
“Still exist?”
Arthur smiled.
“You ask many questions for a cook.”
Magdalena smiled back.
“You answer few for a businessman.”
Ethan coughed to hide something.
Arthur looked toward him.
“Careful.”
“With what?”
“Employees who forget their station.”
The temperature on the porch seemed to drop.
Ethan stepped forward.
Magdalena touched his forearm.
Not because Arthur deserved protection.
Because Ethan’s anger would give him satisfaction.
She answered instead.
“My station is wherever Mr. Casteel pays me to stand.”
Arthur’s smile disappeared.
He left ten minutes later.
That evening Ethan found Magdalena in the smokehouse.
“You shouldn't have had to answer him.”
“I didn't mind.”
“I did.”
She turned.
“Why?”
He looked at her.
Too long.
Magdalena’s pulse accelerated.
Finally:
“Because he looked at you like property.”
She laughed softly.
“Men have done worse.”
“That doesn't make it acceptable.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“Magdalena.”
“Yes?”
“I don't know how to do this.”
“Do what?”
His eyes moved over her face.
Then mouth.
“This.”
She understood.
Her throat tightened.
“Neither do I.”
“I don't want you thinking your job depends on anything outside the job.”
“I don't.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
“If I say something wrong, you tell me.”
“I already do.”
His mouth almost smiled.
“That worries me less than it should.”
She stepped closer.
“Say it.”
“What?”
“Whatever you came here to say.”
Ethan exhaled.
“I think about you.”
Her heart hammered.
“When?”
“Too often.”
“That sounds inconvenient.”
“It is.”
“What exactly do you think?”
His eyes darkened.
“Dangerous question.”
She remembered the butcher table.
Magdalena smiled faintly.
“Coward.”
“Possibly.”
She moved closer.
Ethan did not.