Karen sighed and turned to look out the window. She was huddled by the door, looking more dejected than she had since he’d first seen her at Caleb’s funeral.

Making a sudden decision, Grady turned the truck toward Winding River. Karen barely seemed to notice, which only confirmed his opinion that she needed something drastic to cheer her up. And she needed food. There was one place where she could get both-Stella’s.

Karen seemed oblivious to everything until they approached the outskirts of town. She blinked then, and turned to him.

“What are we doing here?”

“We’re going out to dinner at Stella’s. It’s meat loaf night. Any objections?”

“No,” she said dispiritedly.

As soon as they walked into the restaurant, he caught Cassie’s eye. As Karen headed straight for the booth in the back, he called Cassie aside.

“Can you get Gina, Cole and anybody else you can think of in here for dinner? Karen’s had a rough day. She needs some friendly faces and lively conversation.”

Cassie nodded without the slightest hesitation. Nor did she ask a lot of unnecessary questions. It was apparently enough that her friend needed help.

“Emma’s in town, too. I’ll have them here in fifteen minutes and Stella can take over for me.” She studied Grady intently. “You really care about her, don’t you?”

Grady wasn’t entirely comfortable discussing his feelings, not when he hadn’t fully analyzed them himself yet. But the expression on Cassie’s face showed none of the disapproval or suspicion he might have anticipated.

“Yeah,” he admitted. “I care about her.”

“Good,” Cassie said with an approving nod. “That way the rest of us won’t have to kill you.”

He chuckled. “Well, there’s a relief all the way around.”

She grinned. “Isn’t it, though. Now go on back. Reinforcements will be here soon.”

“You’re a good friend, you know,” he said gratefully.

“Yes,” she agreed. “But so are you. And isn’t it nice that she has so many of us?”

Grady was surprised at just how comforting he found that fact. He’d always been pretty much a loner, and had always been able to convince himself that he didn’t need anyone, except maybe his grandfather.

But as he watched first Gina, then Emma and finally Cole and Cassie slide into chairs around the big table at the back of Stella’s, as he saw the beginnings of a smile tremble on Karen’s lips, then finally heard the sound of her laughter, for the first time ever he regretted not being part of a larger circle of friends himself.

Chapter Twelve

For a day that had begun so traumatically, it was moving toward an amazingly happy conclusion. Karen looked around the table at Stella’s and felt a familiar warmth steal through her. She’d been surprised when first Gina and then Emma had shown up, even more startled when Cole and Cassie had joined them, then she had caught the conspiratorial wink between Cassie and Grady and known that he was responsible for gathering her friends together just when she needed them the most.

She reached for his hand. “Thank you,” she whispered in his ear.

He faced her with an unbelievably innocent look. “For what?”

“For knowing exactly what I needed,” she told him. “And for making it happen.”

“I just spoke to Cassie,” he said, shrugging it off as if it had been no big deal.

“And told her I’d had a lousy day,” Karen added.

He looked embarrassed at being given credit for something so simple. “Something like that. She did the rest.”

“You’re an amazingly thoughtful man, Grady,” she said, even though it was evident the praise was making him uncomfortable. “It couldn’t have been easy. You had to wonder how they’d feel about you being here with me.”

“Because they were all friends of Caleb’s,” he said flatly. “Yeah, well, I figured I could handle whatever cross-examinations they cared to dish out. So far, they’ve been fairly restrained.”

“I imagine Cassie warned them off because she didn’t want me any more upset than I was when I came in here. Now that my mood’s improved, though, watch out.” She glanced across the table, grinned and told him in a conspiratorial tone, “Emma’s getting that gleam in her eyes, the one she gets right before she destroys a witness.”

He followed the direction of her gaze to check out the attorney, who was indeed regarding him with a speculative expression and a worrisome hint of distrust.

“I think I’ll go make a few calls,” he said, clearly anxious to duck out.

“Oh, no, you don’t,” Karen said. “I don’t want her thinking you’re a coward.”

“Not a coward, just cautious. I don’t want to ruin the mood by telling your friend to mind her own business. She might take offense.”

Karen chuckled. “If you think that’s going to faze her, you’re crazy. Emma thinks everything is her business, especially if it affects one of us. Now sit here and face the music. I’ll protect you.”

“So, Grady,” Emma began, leaning toward him, “how did you happen to be at the ranch when Karen got the news about her bull being shot?”

“We had some plans,” Karen said, hoping to waylay that part of the inevitable interrogation.

Of course, that was exactly the wrong thing to say. The glint in Emma’s eyes brightened. “Oh, really? What sort of plans?”

Karen was about to respond, when Grady laid a hand over hers and shook his head.

“I can handle this,” he said, then turned to Emma. “We were going to pay a few calls on Karen’s neighbors.”

That seemed to disconcert Emma completely. “Why?” she asked, her expression baffled.

“Just to chat,” Grady said cheerfully. “Haven’t you ever dropped by to pay a neighborly visit?”

“Well, of course, but the two of you, together…” Her gaze narrowed. “What’s going on? Were you counting on Karen to smoothe the way for you so the neighbors would accept you once you’ve stolen her ranch from her?”

Grady sighed. “I’m not stealing anything. As an attorney, surely you know the inadvisability of making slanderous accusations.”

Emma refused to back down, just as Karen had predicted. She merely leaned forward, her gaze intimidating, and said, “If the shoe fits, Mr. Blackhawk.”

“It doesn’t,” he said mildly. “Which brings us back to being careful about the words you choose to describe a legitimate business offer.”

“Then you still want the ranch,” Emma concluded.

“Of course. That hasn’t changed.”

She glanced at Karen. “And you’re still refusing to sell?”

“So far,” Karen said, determined to match Grady’s light tone.

“Then it seems to me as if your continued presence at the ranch constitutes harassment,” Emma said to Grady.

When a dull flush crept into Grady’s cheeks, Karen concluded enough was enough. “Okay, that’s it,” Karen advised her friend. “Grady is not harassing me. He’s helping me to figure out who’s behind all of the attempts to ruin me.”

Her announcement was greeted by a collective gasp.

“What attempts?” Gina demanded. “And why haven’t you said anything about this to us?”

“I didn’t think they amounted to anything, at least not until today.”

Cole turned to Grady. “But you disagree? These are serious?” he asked.

Grady nodded. “Serious enough. Cut fence lines, an infection deliberately spread to her herd and today somebody shot the bull she was counting on for breeding.”

“Damn,” Cole muttered, then looked at Karen. “No need to worry about that. I’ll speak to my father. He just bought a prize bull for stud. I’m sure he’ll work something out with you.”

“Thank you. Grady’s already volunteered to bring over a couple of bulls from his herd.”

Emma continued to regard Grady with suspicion. “Why would you do that?”

His gaze never wavered from hers. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“I’m sure you’d rather see her go bankrupt,” Emma accused.