"Some people don't have anyone to play with and have to listen to everyone else getting their d.a.m.n rocks off."

"Uh, sorry." Drew felt her face flame with embarra.s.sment.

"Man, that's uncalled for. Don't embarra.s.s her." Jeb took a step toward Kenny.

Drew stepped between them and put a hand on each man's chest.

"That's enough. I'm fine, Jeb. I just hadn't thought about it, and it's not fair to Kenny. His lover is all the way in town."

"Well, the weather is cooperating right now, so I should be able to go visit him soon." Kenny sighed.

"Do you think we could make it to town tomorrow?" Jeb asked.

Kenny looked over at Drew and shrugged. "I guess you could try."

"If we can, Drew, you and I are going to town. I need to check in with the sheriff, and we need to get those supplies. Then, Kenny, you and Marshall can go the next day."

"Sounds like a plan," Kenny groused.

"What's going on down here?" Marshall asked bounding down the stairs.

"We're planning a trip into town," Drew said.

"Count me in."

"You and Kenny are going the day after we do," Jeb told him.

"That sucks."

"Poor choice of words, Marshall," Kenny complained.

"Oh! Sorry."

"Come on. I'm going outside so I can cool off." Kenny grabbed his coat and shoved his arms into it.

"Kenny, you and Marshall go tomorrow. We can wait." Drew eyed Jeb and dared him to say anything.

Jeb just shrugged and nodded his head.

Kenny smiled and opened the door wide enough to swamp them all in cold air.

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d," Jeb said as he wrapped his arms around Drew.

Chapter Ten.

Marshall and Kenny pulled into town after a slippery slide from the house. They were both glad to have made it without ending up in a ditch. With the weather warming up, the roads were thawing but refreezing again at night. Getting started early meant they drove on a solid sheet of ice for the first few miles.

Kenny ambled off to visit Robert over at the livery where he did a lot of his work. He still made house calls, but many people just brought their horses to him to avoid the extra cost. Marshall watched him go then looked up and down the street until his eyes focused on the sheriff's office attached to the courthouse. He walked down the sidewalk, ignoring the strange and outright hostile looks he got as he went by. He was used to them by now, for the most part.

The sheriff was in and motioned him into his office. He closed the door and pulled out a folder from his desk drawer.

"Where's Jeb?"

"He'll be here tomorrow. We aren't leaving either Kenny or Drew alone at the ranch without one of us there. Someone hit Drew over the head the other day and gave her a h.e.l.l of a knot. If it hadn't been snowing so hard, we'd have brought her to the hospital."

"You should have called me," the sheriff fussed.

"No phone service. Believe me, we needed help. Didn't have a clue who was out there, or if they would strike again." Marshall stretched his legs out in front of him.

"h.e.l.l, I had hoped things would have stopped by now after there hadn't been anything in so long."

"I think Drew just hasn't told you about the petty things. Someone keeps putting weevils in her feed, for one thing."

"How do you plan on keeping her safe and helping her without using guns?" The sheriff stared straight into his eyes.

"We plan on being smarter than them. But I'll be honest with you. I'll go back to jail before I let anything happen to Drew." Marshall stared right back at the other man.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

They shook hands, and Marshall walked outside. He surveyed the town and located the feed store and the grocery store. He would start with the feed. Kenny was supposed to meet him there.

He gave his order to a man at the desk who just stood there and stared at him. When he didn't make any move to start loading the truck, Marshall began to get angry.

"Are you going to fill Drew's order or not?"

"Don't know you from Adam's housecat. I'm not filling anything without proof you work for her." The insolent man just crossed his arms and leaned against the counter.

Marshall pointed at the truck. "I'm in a company truck. What more do you need?"

"You could have stolen that truck for all I know. She's had a lot of trouble out there lately."

"Then call her."

He didn't seem in all that much of a hurry to call when Kenny stepped into the building and stomped off his boots.

"Why isn't the truck being loaded?" he asked.

"Because this a.s.shole doesn't think I work for Drew." Marshall shoved his hands on his hips and glared at the man.

"Ricky, this is Marshall. You fill Drew's order for us, or I'll tell your momma on you for holding us up."

"h.e.l.l, Kenny. How am I supposed to know he really works for her? He's a d.a.m.n convict and could have stolen the truck."

"Everyone in this town knows they work for Drew. Anyone give her any trouble, and I might just talk Robert into moving to another town. I'm getting tired of all this s.h.i.t." Kenny appeared to be in a sour mood.

"What's going on, Kenny?" Marshall asked.

"Later. Are you loading that truck, or do I start dialing your momma's number?"

"f.u.c.k." The man called out to the back, and two teenage boys ran up front. He gave them the list and told them to load the truck out front.

"Now was that so hard?" Marshall asked, his voice dripping in sarcasm.

It took fifteen minutes to get the truck loaded. They made their next stop at the grocery store to load up on dry goods. Drew and Jeb were going to get meat and perishables tomorrow. Marshall sure hoped the roads would be in better shape by the next day.

"That's all the groceries. You ready to head back?" Marshall asked.

"Let's stop by the livery. I want you to meet Robert. He'll be in and out at the ranch, so I want to be sure you know him." Kenny swung up in the cab of the truck and started it.

They stopped outside of what looked very much like a barn. As soon as he stepped out of the truck, he smelt the acrid fumes of a fire and hot metal. Underneath that was the unmistakable smell of horses.

Kenny jumped out of the truck and headed inside, calling out Robert's name. A tall, muscular man of about six feet, six inches walked out of the back, sweaty but smiling.

Kenny gestured toward Marshall. "This is one of the new hands I told you about. Marshall, this is Kenny."

Marshall held out his hand, and the other man grabbed it but didn't try to test his strength.

"Any friend of Kenny is a friend of mine. How do you like it out at the ranch?" Robert asked.

"Like it just fine. Great food and a good place to work." Marshall wasn't sure how much Robert knew about what was going on.

"You got time for a break?" Kenny asked his lover.

"Sure. Let's get a cup of coffee in back." Robert led the way to a room in the back of the barn that was obviously used for an office.

Marshall watched as he set about making coffee, chatting easily with Kenny about a mutual acquaintance and his unruly mare. As soon as it was ready, they sat down to drink it. Kenny brought up the problems out at the ranch.

"Drew is pretty much over the knot on her head, but she should have taken it easy for a few more days."

"You know as well as I do that she isn't going to do that. That ranch is in her blood."

"Supposed to be another storm brewing up in Canada. Should hit early next week. Think you could come out to the ranch before it does? You can't do anything while it's snowed up anyway." Kenny looked up at Robert with something close to need in his eyes.

Marshall looked away to give them a private moment. He didn't have any problems with the two of them, but it made him uncomfortable to be there when they obviously needed some alone time.

"I'll see, Kenny. Depends on if I have horses here or not. Supposed to pick them up on Sat.u.r.day, but you can never tell about the owners."

"Well, if you can, Drew could use your expertise in the kitchen to give her a break," Kenny teased him.

"Right. You're just hinting you want lasagna." Robert punched him in the arm.

"Guess we better get going. Long drive back, and the roads are icy. Drew and Jeb will be out tomorrow to load up on perishables. I'll tell them to stop by so you can meet Jeb," Kenny said.

"Better get on the road, Kenny," Robert warned. "Good to meet you, Marshall. I'm sure I'll be seeing more of you."

They all shook hands, and Kenny and Marshall climbed back into the truck. They turned around to drive back to the ranch.

"How long has it been since you and Robert have had any alone time, before today?" Marshall broached the subject, unsure how Kenny would take it.

The other man was silent for a while. "About a month."

"That's got to be h.e.l.l."

"It's not fun, that's for d.a.m.n sure."

They remained quiet the rest of the way back, each deep in their own thoughts as Kenny maneuvered the icy roads. Marshall figured Robert was the cautious one of the two. He seemed to be more worried about the way people around him thought. Kenny didn't seem to give a d.a.m.n. It sounded like it was a bone of contention between them. h.e.l.l of a way to live.

Once they returned to the ranch, Jeb joined them to unload the feed and groceries. Drew put them away as they left them in the kitchen.

"Any trouble?" she asked.

"Just had to get tough about loading our feed. Ricky wanted to be stubborn about it, but I straightened him out."

"Threatened to call his mom, did you?" She laughed.

"Hey, whatever works," Kenny said with a smirk on his face.

Marshall enjoyed the easy banter between them and hoped one day they would be a part of that. Right now, he didn't feel comfortable enough to join in.

Kenny told her about introducing Marshall to Robert. "Be sure to stop by and introduce Jeb to him tomorrow."

"I will."

"Looks like we have everything we need for another round of snow."

"I think I'm going to get more feed when we go tomorrow, Jeb. I feel like this next snow might be a tough one."

Jeb looked over at Marshall. "How are the roads?"

"Rough. You're going to have to be really careful. Kenny didn't have much trouble, but there are some tricky spots."

"Drew, hope you don't mind, but I invited Robert out here for the next snow if he can get away."

"You know he's always welcome here, Kenny." Drew looked at him with an odd look on her face.

"Well, that means he has to share a room with me," Kenny said and looked toward the kitchen window.

"Why is that a problem?" she asked.

"Just wasn't sure how you felt about it," Kenny said.