“I’d be better off marrying a Western woman. One suited for ranch life. Somebody who at least knows which end of a steer is which.”

“Do you have anyone particular in mind?”

When he hesitated, Caitlin said archly, “Of course you don’t. The women here have been chasing you for years, Sloan, and you’ve never shown the least interest in any of them. But you won’t win voters if you keep breaking hearts. And you won’t get any respite until you marry again. There are a dozen matrons who will keep smothering you with motherly concern and driving you to distraction until you do.”

“Matrons like you, Cat?”

Caitlin smiled sweetly in reply, making Sloan understand once again why his brother was so crazy for her.

Sloan couldn’t help but grin back. But then he gave a rebellious shrug. “Maybe I could use a wife, but I can’t afford one who needs to be pampered. Or who’d be afraid to dirty her soft hands.”

“Heather wouldn’t need pampering.”

“You said she came from rich roots.”

“True, but she’d never let on about it. And she’s in dire straits now. Her father left her with a pile of gambling debts to settle. She had to sell his newspaper and her home and move in with my Aunt Winnie. In all likelihood she’ll be forced to shut down her school to meet the mortgage.”

“Well, I can’t afford to bail her out. I’ll be lucky to scrape by this winter with two bits to my name.”

“Jake and I could help if you’d let us.”

Sloan shook his head emphatically. The McCord cattle empire was crumbling; the vast spread he and his father and brother had carved from the shadow of the Rockies was at risk of going under. It had been a hell of a hard winter, with heavy snows and lethal temperatures ravaging herds from Texas to Montana.

His brother hadn’t been hit as hard by the brutal winter. Jake was now a county judge with a steady wage. And Caitlin had her late father’s sheep ranch to tide them over, raising woollies that could survive frigid weather better than beeves.

But Sloan already owed them enough. He still hadn’t fully been able to buy out Jake’s share of the ranch. And he refused to become any more obliged to them than he was.

Caitlin, however, let their longstanding argument pass and concentrated on championing her genteel friend from St. Louis.

“If you wait, Sloan, you could miss your chance altogether. Heather might not be available for long. Not with the railroad baron who’s been after her to marry him.”

“So let her marry him.”

“She doesn’t want to! She doesn’t even like the man, let alone want to become his wife. But she may not have much choice.”