Cody laughed and to Sherry’s surprise sat down in the chair across from her, took off his hat and relaxed. As he rested one ankle on the opposite knee and stared at Sherry, the humor drained out of his face.

She wasn’t sure what to do. If she hadn’t felt so intimidated by this dark-haired cowboy, she’d have sent him on his way.

“You married?” he asked suddenly.

Her mouth fell open. When she finally managed to speak, her words stumbled over one another. “No, I’m not, I…that is…” She knew she sounded breathless and inane.

“Don’t look so worried. I’m not expecting you to offer your services as my wife.”

“I realize that,” she said with as much dignity as she could muster. Unfortunately it wasn’t much.

“Then how are you supposed to know about kids?”

“I have two younger brothers and a sister,” she said, wondering why she thought she had to defend herself. She should be sending him on his way. She sighed. The longer this day lasted, the more convinced she was that she’d somehow stepped out of the present. The man sitting across from her might have come from another century.

“So you know about girls?”

“I was one not so long ago myself,” she said wryly. Resigning herself to the situation, she asked, “Why don’t you tell me about Heather and I’ll see if I can help?”

Cody seemed to need time to think over her suggestion. Eventually he began. “Well, first off, Heather’s doing things behind my back.”

“What sort of things?”

“Wearing makeup and the like. The other night I went in to check up on her and I swear she had on so much silver eye shadow her eyelids glowed in the dark.”

Sherry swallowed her impulse to laugh.

“No more’n about six months ago,” he continued, clearly confused by his daughter’s behavior, “Heather was showing signs of being one of the best cowhands I’d ever seen, but now she doesn’t want anything to do with ranching. Besides that, she’s, uh, getting bigger on top.”

“Have you bought her a bra?”

He flushed slightly beneath his tan. “I didn’t have to—she bought her own. Ordered it right off the Internet before I even knew. From what I can see, she didn’t have any idea what she was doing, because the one they sent was at least five sizes too big. Instead of admitting she doesn’t know about such things, she’s wearing it and as best I can tell stuffing it with something. Heaven only knows what.”

“My guess is tissue.” That had worked for Sherry when she was a teenager.

Cody’s dark eyes narrowed in concentration. “Could be. I asked her about it, and she nearly bit my head off.”

Mrs. Colson was right; the poor girl did need a mother.

“Has Heather got a boyfriend?” Maybe Cody was jealous of some boy. It sounded like a good theory anyway.

Cody frowned. “Ever since she’s been wearing this bra, she’s got a whole passel of boys hanging around. The thing is, she doesn’t like all this attention. You have to understand that until recently Heather was a tomboy.”