Kolby felt his face warm with chagrin. He shook his head. They might not be members of a wolf pack, but the cougars were like one big family in Yuma Town and in the surrounding area. It didn’t take long for the word to get out that there were a couple of new cats in town. Or that one of them happened to be a snow leopard.

  “Yeah. We can sure help with that. I’ll send Kolby over there to handle it.” Ted smiled at him.

  Kolby frowned. Now what?

  “All right. Talk to you later, Hal.” Ted ended the call and slapped Kolby on the back. “You’re in charge of helping Miss Rosalie and her brother set up the Halloween party at their estate. You’ll coordinate everything with everyone to make this happen.”

  “Why me?” That was one tall order for anyone to take on and Kolby really didn’t know if he could handle all of it.

  “You keep asking for more responsibility.”

  “Yeah, here, at the horse ranch.”

  “Well, this is mighty important.”

  Kolby sighed.

  “While you’re at it, let Rosalie and Eric know you’re willing to mentor Eric.”

  “Oh, I’m sure that will go over well with the boy. Not.”

  “You know everyone, so coordinating with folks concerning the party won’t be a problem at all. You work well with everyone, and you’ll do a great job. Not only that, but you already oversee all the new ranch hands, and they really look up to you. It’ll be the same with Eric. Just you see. See if Rosalie needs any help on the place. Make a list so we can take care of it.”

  “What about my work here?”

  “When you don’t have work to do at her place, getting things ready for the Halloween party, you can see what needs to be done here. But the party takes priority.”

  Kolby couldn’t believe it. Since he’d begun working here and had a real purpose in life, just like his brother had when he worked here until Ricky became a deputy sheriff, he’d been happy. But being the event coordinator for a Halloween party and working with a she-cat he didn’t truly know? He suspected he’d have trouble with her brother. Mentoring him? Being a big brother to him? He speculated that wasn’t happening.

  Sure, he’d helped set up the Halloween party for when it had been held at the ranch, but that meant decorating it. He hadn’t been in charge of food or coordinating decorations or the games either. Except for horsey rides for little ones.

  He figured he better call Rosalie and see if she was home. He could drop by and check out the place to see where they could set things up. Then he’d have a better idea what they’d need for the party too.

  He pulled out her business card and called her. “Hey, it’s me, Kolby Jones. My boss, Hal Haverton, just gave me the job of coordinating the Halloween party at your place. Would it be too inconvenient if I dropped by and looked it over to see what needs to be done?”

  “Uh, yeah, sure. I have to warn you it’s pretty dusty and cobwebby here, and we have tons of boxes everywhere that we haven’t started unpacking.”

  “We have two months to whip it into shape and everyone will offer to help. I’m on my way over now.”

  “Okay, we’ll see you soon.”

  Rosalie had bought a boy and girl scarecrow and mini quilt from Mrs. Fitz’s shop and set them on a window seat in the breakfast nook. Eric just shook his head as they unpacked their dishes and other kitchen items. They were trying to get the kitchen set up the way they liked it. Rosalie had taught him how to do laundry, cook, clean, and help do yardwork once their parents had died. He didn’t care for cooking all that much since he’d become a teen, but she’d told him that women really liked a guy who could cook. He wasn’t totally convinced.

  “Don’t tell me. That was Kolby, right?” Eric asked, drying the dishes she was washing.

  “Yes. He’s been put in charge of coordinating the Halloween event here. He’s dropping by to see what needs to be done before the event.”

  “He can wash dishes.”

  “He’s not coming here to do all our chores.”

  “If he really wants to be your boyfriend, he needs to do whatever he can to please you,” Eric said, matter-of-factly, as if he had a wealth of experience in the dating field.

  “Okay, look, if you met a girl and she came over to see you, would you expect her to wash dishes with you?” Rosalie asked, attempting to teach him a lesson of sorts. Though after she said it, she realized she shouldn’t have because it sounded like she saw Kolby as her boyfriend. Which she didn’t!

  Ignoring her, Eric asked, “Did you ask him if there are any kids my age here?” He sounded hopeful and she realized he really did want to make some friends.

  She sure hoped he could. “No. But you can ask him yourself and you can ask him about taking riding lessons too.” Eric didn’t say anything, and she figured he wanted her to query Kolby about everything. And she would. Eric could be shy around people he didn’t know. Snarky, but shy.

  As soon as they heard a Jeep pull up out in front of the mansion, Rosalie went outside to greet Kolby. At least that’s who she figured had parked out front.

  It was Kolby. He was all smiles and she felt really good about all this. She was getting so used to her brother’s scowls that it was nice to see someone who was cheerful.

  “This place is amazing. It has such possibilities,” Kolby said, looking over the outside.

  “That’s what I thought. I know you have some places where people can stay the night in Yuma Town, but if I could ever get the mansion refurbished, we could offer some rooms too.”

  “Absolutely. We’ve had overflow spill into people’s homes even. So that would be great.”

  She led Kolby inside the mansion, already feeling really good about his being here. The way he’d looked at the place made it seem like there was real hope for it too. Because Eric was so down about the mansion, she had begun to feel she was the only one who thought it had possibility.

  “It looks big on the outside, but inside it’s huge,” Kolby said.

  The marble tile floor of the foyer, the big windows on either side of the big door, the chandelier up above, were just stunning.

  Rosalie agreed. “Yeah, it’s really beautiful, well, once it’s cleaned up a bit. It needs some updating.”

  “Chase Buchanan does amazing woodwork, refinishing, and the like. He and his mate, Shannon, own the Pinyon Pine Resort cabins at Lake Buchanan. He’s also a deputy sheriff, so woodworking is really a hobby of his.”

  “For free?” Eric asked, coming out of the kitchen, carrying the damp dish towel.

  “Of course not,” Rosalie said, casting her brother an annoyed look to mind his manners.

  “I’m sure you want to talk in private. I need to set up my bed for the night.” Eric handed the dish towel to Kolby and ran up the stairs.

  “Eric!” Rosalie scolded, so exasperated with her brother. If he kept acting like this, he’d never make any friends.

  Eric ignored her as he pounded up the stairs.

  She reached out to take the dish towel from Kolby, but he shook his head. “I can help while we talk and then we can look at where we can hold the event.”

  “All right. Well, here’s the kitchen,” she said, leading him into the huge kitchen. It was meant to feed a lot of people. “It needs an overhaul. We were just washing the dishes we unpacked so we could set up the kitchen a bit for meals. We bought groceries in Yuma Town and have stored them, but we really need to update all the appliances, install a dishwasher, etcetera. Then this would be great for having parties.”

  “Oh, yeah, this could end up being the party place.”

  Rosalie laughed. “Here I thought we were moving into the mansion to get away from people.”

  “Hopefully, you’ll enjoy living and playing among the cougars here.” Kolby set the dish towel on the countertop and brought out his phone and started making notes.

  She began washing dishes again.

  “Can I help you with this?” he asked.

  “With cleaning the dishes?” She was surprised he’d offer.

  “Sure, but with ordering the appliances? When Tracey mated Hal Haverton, she had the bunkhouse completely renovated. Ted Weekum, the foreman, my brother, Ricky, and I helped pick out what we needed in the kitchen to make it work great for a bunch of ranch hands.”

  Well, that was embarrassing that she assumed Kolby was offering to help with the dishes. But assistance with updating the kitchen appliances? That was much appreciated. “Yeah, sure.”

  He brought out a small tape measure and began taking measurements of all the appliances, the counterspace, and the sink location. She realized he was drawing a diagram of everything on his phone. She was impressed as she continued to wash utensils and dry them. Here she’d thought he was just a ranch hand, tending to horses and the like.

  “Okay, you could use a double oven. I see you have a countertop microwave oven, but we could have one built in to keep your counters free of clutter.”

  “That sounds good.”

  Eric slipped into the kitchen to grab a soda from the fridge. “He’s not washing the dishes?”

  “He’s helping us with plans to update the kitchen, which is much more important. Besides, it’s your job to assist me with the dishes.”

  “Make sure the updated kitchen has a dishwasher,” Eric said, and left again.

  Kolby smiled.

  Rosalie sighed. “I’ve been raising my stepbrother on my own since he was ten and I was twenty. He’s been great until he turned thirteen. Then the teen attitude kicked in.”

  “He needs a mentor. A big brother.”

  She turned to face Kolby. “Can you teach him horseback riding?”

  “Yeah, I sure can. I teach all ages from little tykes to grown adults, from those with no experience to lots of it.”

  “My brother loves horses, but he’s never ridden one.”

  “We’ll have to rectify that.” Kolby started drying the utensils she was washing.

  “Another thing, are there any teens in the area about his age? He’s fifteen but turning sixteen in a week.”

  “Hell, yeah. Bobby Mayflower is thirteen, a little younger, but he’s used to doing things with the older kids. He just had a birthday a week ago. His dad is a news reporter, and his mom is a dispatcher for the sheriff’s office. April Hightower is the clinic receptionist, and she has a daughter, Cathy, and a son, Sonny, who are fifteen and a half. Nurse Elsie Miller has a daughter, Sissy, who is fifteen. Becky, who is the emergency operator at the clinic, and her husband, Steele Sorenson have a son and daughter, Andy and Avery who are sixteen and a half.”

  “Oh, wonderful. He’s got to meet them.”

  “Are you homeschooling Eric?” Kolby asked.

  “Yeah. He couldn’t sit still in school. He’d get too antsy and wanted to run as a cat. If someone angered him, he’d want to show his claws…and his teeth. So his mom was homeschooling him until she died and then I took over.”

  “The group of teens meet with different community members to learn skills as part of their homeschool curriculum. He would be welcome to join them.”

  “Oh, wonderful.” She hoped she could convince Eric to join them. “If anyone wants me to teach creative writing, I can do that.”

  “I’m sure everyone would love that.”

  If Eric would go to the various activities, he could meet some of the kids, but she was afraid he’d decline. “He loves homeschooling online.”

  “That’s fine. But he could supplement his schooling with the activities the other kids do. Like for instance, horseback riding lessons, horse care, ranching. But also, so many cougars have interesting occupations, and they teach the kids about them. Like banking, culinary crafts, swimming, woodworking, just some new skills all the kids enjoy.” Kolby started working on washing the pots and pans.

  She smiled at him. Was he for real? Or did he just add the horseback riding to the curriculum to try and win her brother over? Once Kolby helped her finish with the kitchen wares and putting away the rest of the grocery items that hadn’t needed refrigeration, she led him into one of the huge dining rooms that had several tables and chairs for seating for nearly two-hundred people.

  “This is the Rose Room.”

  “Wow, this will be great,” Kolby said.

  “Yeah, the tables and chairs are beautiful. Dusty, but everything is.” She took him into the smaller dining room. “The Orchid Room seats nearly a hundred people.”

  Smiling, he just shook his head. “This is incredible.”

  “We also have six meeting rooms, but we’re using one for an art studio and one for my office space to write my books. We also have twelve guest rooms. Well, two of them serve as our bedrooms.”

  The ballroom was next. “It’s 2200 square feet and can hold up to 240 people,” she said.

  His mouth gaped. “This is fantastic. It’s perfect for the dance floor. We can set up a live band right over there, grazing tables to snack on foods, or people can go to the dining room of your choosing and can sit down with their food and eat.”

  “That sounds good.” She was thinking that the party could really be fun and bring some life into the place. “There are three bathrooms on the first floor and bathrooms in each of the bedrooms on the second floor, so we’re set there.”

  “Okay, good.” He looked around at the cobwebs hanging from the crystal chandelier.

  “It’s halfway decorated for Halloween,” she said, facetiously.

  Kolby smiled. “We can leave them up, if you want, but after the party? We’ll remove them for you.”

  “Oh, wonderful.” She wasn’t sure she wanted them up for that long though.

  “Can I talk to Eric about the horseback riding class we give?” Kolby asked.

  “Yeah, sure. He’s up in the tower room on the fourth floor. He’s been a loner of a necessity, so it might take some work to bring him out of his shell.”

  “I totally understand that.” Kolby headed up the creaking stairs to the tower room and Rosalie watched him for a moment, praying that Eric would give this opportunity to meet the others a chance.

  4

  Kolby sure hoped talking to Eric would work. He and his brother had lost their own parents when they were younger and he had helped to raise his younger brother, Ricky. So he knew something of what both Eric and Rosalie were going through. Though he and his brother had been human, not shifters at the time.

  He knocked on the door frame to Eric’s room where Eric was lying on his bed, wearing headphones, listening to music. Eric pulled off his headphones and looked over at Kolby.

  “Hey, sorry to interrupt, but Rosalie said you would like to take horseback riding lessons and meet the other teens who are your age. It’s part of a homeschooling program. We have a lot of different activities for kids of all ages.”

  Eric sat up in bed, looking warily interested.

  “You can join us at ten tomorrow morning, if you’d like to participate. No cost. We have a wealthy benefactor who promotes learning among our kids.”

  “Cougars.”

  Kolby sighed. “Yeah, but they’re shifters like you and that makes them more like you than humans are. Not only that, but we’ve had caracal shifters in the area before. So, though you’re new to us, we’ve had other kinds of unusual shifters. Bears even. Ted’s mate is a rare white cougar. A wolf came through here also. So we’re all unusual in our own way.”

  “Oh, wow, I didn’t know about the other shifters. Wait. A bear, uhm, was sniffing at my clothes and I thought it was all bear. I need to get my clothes that are a couple of acres away from the mansion. We were going to wait until the coast was clear.”

  “It can be one of the shifters we’ve met. They’re good guys. Do you want me to go with you to help you get your clothes?”

  “Hell, yeah.” Eric hurried off the bed, looking relieved. “They’re my favorite jeans and hiking boots. Oh, and yeah, going to the horseback riding lessons sounds great.”

  Kolby thought he was getting through to the teen a little bit. The problem was that Kolby would have to set this whole horseback riding class up in a hurry. He knew Ted and Hal would have a good laugh over it.

  “If Rosalie can drive me there for it, I’ll come.”

  “I can drive you there!” Rosalie called from the bottom of the stairs.

  Kolby smiled. Cat hearing. “If you ever need a ride to any of the activities, just let me know and we’ll take care of it.”

  “Uh, yeah, sure, thanks.”

  So it appeared that Eric was interested in something. He told him about all the teens that lived in the area and Eric smiled.

  “They’re great kids. They’ll be excited to meet you. But I’ll apologize first in the event they want to see you in your snow leopard coat. None of us have seen a snow leopard shifter before,” Kolby said.

  Eric smiled and Kolby thought he might be feeling better about the notion that he was going to be someone special among the cougar teens.

  “Okay, well, I’ve got to get out of here and begin work on helping you all with the updates on the estate and start coordinating with others to set up the party. So let’s get your clothes, all right?” Kolby asked.

  “Let me know what I can do to help.” Eric headed downstairs with him.

  Kolby was surprised to hear the young man offer.

  “You can do some artwork,” Rosalie said from the bottom of the stairs.

  “I’ll make ghosts out of sheets. But, yeah, I paint fantasy art,” Eric said to Kolby. “Do you want to see some of my paintings?”

  “Yeah, sure.” Kolby hoped he still had time to rearrange everyone’s schedules for the impromptu, horseback riding training tomorrow, but he knew how important this was to Eric for him to see his accomplishments. Kolby hadn’t expected much of anything but some juvenile artwork when he walked into Eric’s art studio, but man, the kid had talent. “These are beautiful. Can we commission you for one of your horse paintings?” Eric painted the most beautiful horse scenes, fantasy, sure, extraordinarily, fantastical art.

  Eric’s whole expression brightened. “Oh, yeah, sure. Just tell me what colors you want and the kind of scene, and I can do it.”