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“Did it ruin anything?” she asked, tension vibrating through her voice.
“We were real lucky, Mom. None of our clothes got it since we had all that wash to do. And I hadn’t unpacked my computer yet.”
“Or much of the truck, by the look of things.” Ty stepped through the doorway of the cabin and inhaled deeply. The pungent aroma had already started to dissipate. Interesting.He’d never known skunk stink to be quite so accommodating. “Guess that only leaves us with one option.”
Cassidy nodded stoically. “Sure does. If you wouldn’t mind driving us to a motel, I’d be grateful.”
“No! We can’t! Imean—” Hutch broke off and shrugged awkwardly. “I was hoping we could move into the bunkhouse instead. I’ve never stayed in one before. It sure would be educational.”
Ty shook his head. “No way. That’s a men-only bunkhouse. And your mom doesn’t come close to qualifying.”
“Oh,” Hutch said with a return of last night’s angelic innocence. “Where could she stay? Hey! Iknow. How about in the main house?”
“I don’t think—” Cassidy began.
“Great idea.” Ty gave Hutch a hearty slap on the back. To his credit, the boy only staggered a little. “Cassidy, you can stay up at the main house, and Hutch can sleep in the bunkhouse with the wranglers. Hope you like getting up early, kid. My men roll out around five-thirty.”
“Five,” Lorenzo corrected with a wicked grin. “And since you’re off for spring break,chico, you can lend us a hand. See what wrangling’s really about. What do you say?”
Ty didn’t wait for the little genius to come up with an excuse. “Glad we have that settled. Lorenzo, get some of the men to move these boxes up to the main house. Hutch, you lend a hand.”
“I’m not sure about this,” Cassidy tried again.
“What could be better?” Ty wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “You’ll have a place to stay while you look for anapartment and a new job. And we can get all those pesky dates out of the way. It’s a win-win situation.”
She nibbled on her lower lip, aplump tasty lip he wouldn’t mind nibbling on, too. “I guess.”
“Would you mind helping Edith direct traffic? She’ll show you the rooms you can use and you can tell the men which boxes go where.”
She brightened right up, just as he’d hoped. Figured. No doubt she found the idea of telling people where to put things too appealing to resist. Oh, yeah. It was going to be a very interesting marriage. He slanted Hutch a quick look. Once he explained who was in charge of this little party. He caught the boy by the scruff of his neck before he could scamper off, ignoring his desperate little wiggles to breakfree.
“While you help Edith, I’ll get Hutch settled,” he informed Cassidy with a winning smile, praying she wouldn’t notice her son squirming beneath his hold. She didn’t, and the minute she’d escaped hearing range, he addressed her son. “Give it up, boy. You might be able to talk rings around half of Texas, but you don’t have a prayer of talking your way from under my hand.”
Hutch scuffed a well-worn sneaker in the dirt, the fight draining clean out of him. “Okay. Iwon’t run.”
“You have something to tell me, boy?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Get to it.”
“It wasn’t a skunk that made that smell. Idid it with some chemicals.”
“You mean you lied. Again.”
Hutch gulped. “Yes, sir.”
“What did I tell you about lying?”
“You don’t abide it.”
“No, Idon’t. You have something more to tell me?”
Hutch attempted a smile, the angelic devil back for an encore. “I don’t understand. What do you mean?”
“Don’t bother shoveling that line of bull with me. Unlike your mother, Iknow a cow patty when I’m about to tromp through it. I’m talking about the apartment and the car.”
Hutch’s face collapsed into lines of defeat. “We were evicted. Honest. That much is true. But...” His chin wobbled briefly before he brought it under rigid control. “But only after I walked Miz Mopsey past Mrs. Walters’s door once or twice. Or maybe a bit more.”
