Judy Christenberry - Randall Honor

Jon got up at six the next morning, having had a good night’s sleep, thanks to the Randall family. He regretted what he’d said to Victoria the previous night, but he had to clear things up before the family did more for him. He wasn’t sure why Victoria was hard to marry off—she was certainly beautiful and hard-working—but Doc and Anna were certainly working hard to get him interested in her.

At least he knew she wasn’t like his mother. But he had no intention of marrying her. In four years, he was going back to Chicago. Back to a normal way of life.

He fixed his own breakfast before he headed to the clinic. He wanted to check his patients first thing this morning.

After doing rounds, he was pleased with the progress his patients had made. The clinic was completely full, with two beds to each room. A couple of the people could have gone home, if they’d lived in Rawhide, but none of them did, so all twelve were tucked away.

He told the nurses he was going back to his apartment and run some errands and would return at ten. He needed to buy a phone and plug it in so he could be reached if needed. And he wanted to talk to Russ Randall about his accounting needs. He hoped there wouldn’t be any problem about him and Victoria, now that he’d explained himself. Otherwise he didn’t know what he’d do.

Doc had explained that the only other bookkeeper in Rawhide wasn’t reliable or trustworthy. So that left his landlord. He liked Russ, but they had to have everything clear.

The accounting office opened at nine o’clock, and he was waiting when Victoria came down the stairs from her apartment. She didn’t even speak to him or acknowledge his presence in any way. He followed her into the office.

“Good morning, Victoria. When does Russ get in?”

“When he wants to.” Her words were cold and she didn’t look at him. Obviously, she was unhappy with him.

“Victoria, I didn’t mean to upset you last night. I just wanted everything clear. Doc and your mom—”

“You achieved your goal. However, marrying you was never my plan. You have no need to worry.”

He was about to question her when the front door opened and Russ entered. “Jon! How’d you manage last night? Everything to your satisfaction?”

“It was wonderful, but I was a little embarrassed about all the help.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. We just wanted to make you welcome. I figured yesterday was a tough one.” He grinned, then asked, “Are you here to see me or Tori?”

“You, please, Russ, if I may, before I go back to the clinic.”

“Sure. Come on in.”

Once he was seated in front of Russ’s desk, Jon got right down to business. “I need to hire you to do my books.”

Russ grinned. “Doc must’ve told you about Abe. He’s a nice old man, but he does love to talk.”

“Yeah. I hope you won’t hold it against me that I wanted to check things out before I made a commitment.” That was a nice way of saying they weren’t his first choice.

“No problem. We’re kept pretty busy by our regular customers.”

“But you’ll take me on?”

“Sure. Tori has a system worked out that—”

Uh-oh. Here we go again. “Russ, I want to be clear about this. I want you to handle everything for me. Not Victoria.”

For the first time he found a less than cordial look on Russ’s face. “Why?”

“I don’t have a lot of faith in women accountants, especially one as pretty as your cousin.”

Russ continued to frown. “No one ever complains about working with Tori. She’s brilliant.”

“Look, I’ll be brutally frank. I think your family has lined me up as your cousin’s future husband, but I have no intention of marrying while I’m here. I’ll be glad to return the gifts I received yesterday, except the cake and the lasagna. I’m sorry, but I’m going to remain a bachelor as long as I’m in Rawhide.”

Russ stared at him. “You think—but we were—have you said that to Tori?”

“I didn’t want any misunderstandings,” Jon said stiffly.

Russ threw back his head and roared with laughter. “Oh, mercy,” he finally said as his chuckles lessened. “Is she mad at you?”

“Oh, yeah. No woman likes to be rejected. But it’s not her…exactly.”

“Glad to hear it.” He leaned forward. “Listen, Jon, what we all contributed to your home yesterday was to welcome you. Nothing else.”

“But Doc and Anna—”

“Ah, well, I can’t help what they said. Doc announced to the entire town he intended to get you married to a local girl so you’d stay instead of leaving. So you’ll probably have a lot of women hitting on you. But I imagine that happens to most single doctors.”

By the end of that speech, Jon was frowning in consternation. “I can’t believe he did that!”

“Then you don’t know Doc. Or this community. Matchmaking is a popular pastime.”

“I guess I’d better have a personal discussion with Doc,” Jon said grimly. “I thought it was just your family that thought—I apologize.”

“If it will make you feel any better, Tori has told everyone she’s not interested in marrying you. I think you’re safe there.”

It surprised Jon that Russ’s words didn’t make him feel better. “Why?”

Russ appeared surprised, too. “Why? She didn’t say. I don’t think she’s ready to marry. She’ll only be twenty-four in September. She’s got plenty of time.”

Jon wasn’t going to ask any more questions. He didn’t want to convince her cousin he was interested in her. “Okay, good. Now, about my bookkeeping.

You’ll do it?”

“No.”

His brief answer startled Jon. “Why not?”

“I do most of the ranching cases. I have some soft ware that Tori’s dad created. Tori does the retail stuff.

And that includes Doc’s business. You’ll have to ask her to take you on.”

“But I can’t—” Jon stared at Russ, not happy with the alert interest in his eyes, the smile on his lips.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“Somewhat. I suspect Tori may enjoy it even more.

Especially if you made her mad.”

“Oh, yeah, I made her mad. What do I do if she turns me down?”

“I don’t know, man. Send her flowers?”

“But that would make people think I want to date her. Then I’m in trouble again.”

“Yeah.” Russ’s grin grew even wider.

Jon huffed and puffed, but Russ didn’t offer any other suggestions. Jon finally stood. “I might as well get it over with.”

TORI WAS WORKING on the feed- and general-store books. The two sisters who owned it had signed on as customers over a year ago. Tori kept their books and issued paychecks for their employees. But she looked up when Russ’s door opened. She hadn’t forgotten who was in there with him.

“Tori,” Russ said, a big grin on his face, “Jon wants to talk to you.”

The look on Jon’s face didn’t say he was happy about that fact. She’d make it easy for him by turning him down at once.

“Sorry, I’m busy right now.”

Dead silence followed her announcement, but no one moved. Finally she looked up.

The doctor didn’t wait for any more encouragement. “I need to ask you to take on my accounting, like you do Doc’s.”

Tori shifted her gaze to Russ. He silently nodded, letting her know he thought it was a good idea. Of course he did! More income and no embarrassment. For him. Did he know what the doctor thought?

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Dr. Wilson. I get the feeling you don’t have much confidence in my abilities.” She’d worked hard to be accepted as an equal to Russ.

“Your cousin and Doc both assure me you’re more than competent. I’d appreciate your help.”