Cord on the defensive, but he’d asked them in a way that had encouraged Cord to give straight answers about his past, as well as his ambitions.
“In other words, we can’t count on you sticking around here as a hand until your dying breath,” Cody summarized after the questions were done and they’d spent some time touring the ranch. “You scrape up enough money, find some land you want and you’ll leave?”
“To be perfectly honest, yes,” Cord admitted. “But until I do, I’ll work longer and harder than any other man you’ve got.”
“Why White Pines?”
“Because everybody says you’re the best.”
“Who is everybody?”
Cord mentioned all the places he’d stopped and asked questions. “The Adams name kept coming up.”
Cody nodded, his expression thoughtful. “I like a man who does his homework. I also like a man who doesn’t make promises he doesn’t intend to keep. Depending on how good you are at tucking away your pay and not squandering it on poker games and such, I suppose I can count on you being with us for a while, long enough for it to be worth my while to break you in.”
Cord thought of another reason for staying right here, not just in the short term, but forever. She had the most incredible blue eyes he’d ever seen. He doubted Cody would want to know about his intentions in that regard just yet. Instead he said only, “Yes, sir, I think you can count on me being here that long.”
“Then the job’s yours. When can you start?”
Cord barely managed to contain a whoop of triumph. “When do you need me?”
“Today would be good. I’ll settle for tomorrow. I’m short one man and I’ve got two more down with the flu. I’m running in circles trying to keep up. My brother-in-law’s been pitching in, but he’s got his own spread to worry about, plus a kid who’s just learning to walk and is running both him and his housekeeper ragged.”
“Just tell me what needs doing and I’ll get started,” Cord told him, pushing aside his regret that there wouldn’t be time to head back into town to see Sharon Lynn and the baby until later that night or early the next week.
Before Cody could reply, the phone in his office rang. He grabbed it up, listened intently, then glanced at Cord with renewed curiosity.
“Sure thing, Daddy. I’ll send him over to the house. Don’t be taking up too much of his time, though. I’ve got chores for him to do.” He grinned. “Yes, I recall that it is still your ranch and you do have some say about what goes on around here. Even if I should forget, you take great pleasure in reminding me every chance you get.”
He hung up and turned back to regard Cord speculatively. “You didn’t mention that you’d met my daughter.”
“Sharon Lynn?” he asked, impressed by the speed of the family grapevine.
Cody nodded. “How’d that come about?”
Cord debated just how much he should say, finally settling on the bare minimum. “I stopped in town last night for a bite to eat. Dolan’s was the only place open.”
“I see. Anything else interesting happen while you were there?”
Cord chuckled at the careful probing. Apparently he was wasting his time being discreet. “Obviously you’ve heard about the baby that was dropped off on the doorstep.”
“Daddy told me just now. He wants to hear the whole story. So do I, but in my case it’ll have to wait for another time. You go on up to the main house and fill him in, then come back here when you’re done.”
Cord stood up and started for the door, but Cody stopped him.
“You know, if you’d mentioned what happened, I’d have given you the job without asking a million and one questions. The fact that you helped out my daughter and that poor little abandoned baby would have been enough.”
Cord nodded. “I suspected as much, sir. I wanted to get the job on my own.”
Cody regarded him with approval. “An admirable decision. I think you’re going to work out just fine. Now get on up to the house before Daddy comes looking for you. Once he’s here, he won’t be able to resist telling me how to do things.”
“I imagine that would be time-consuming, sir.”
Cody grinned. “You have no idea.”
Cord had seen the main house in the distance when he’d driven up to White Pines a few hours earlier. It reminded him of a Southern plantation. Cody had explained that was exactly what it was,