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wagon bench, kneeling to watch behind them. Audrey looked back toward the house. All the children had come outside, standing stoically, watching the wagon roll away. None of them waved. Audrey felt as if an invisible hand reached into her chest and squeezed her lungs like the folds of an accordion. She couldn’t breathe. This was wrong. She couldn’t leave the children. She looked at the hard profile of the man driving them away, farther every second from the seven little souls standing in her yard, desperately in need of her.
    “McCaid.” His name came out as a whisper. He didn’t hear her. She couldn’t speak with the vise clamping her chest. She reached over and gripped his sleeve. “Stop. Please,” she managed to rasp.
    “Whoaaa—” he called to the team of horses, pulling them to a stop as they rounded the bend in the road. Ahead of them was the open prairie, miles and miles of empty rangeland.
    “What is it?” he asked, his brow knitted with concern.
    “I can’t do this. I can’t leave.”
    “Why?”
    “I just can’t, that’s all. I can’t do this.”
    “I see. Then how are you going to repay the debt you owe me?”
    Audrey studied his face. His lips were thinned, his dark eyes unreadable. “I—I take in laundry. I could do your laundry.”
    “Hell’s Gulch is a helluva long way from town, so that’s not exactly a convenient option. Besides, the sum you took would cover my laundry for a year,” he scoffed. “I’ll only be here the summer.”
    Audrey looked behind the wagon. She was grateful her house was out of sight—she didn’t want to run the risk that McCaid would see the children. “I share a vegetable garden with a friend. I could give you my portion of its harvest.”
    McCaid shook his head. “Your little garden looked scarce big enough to support you and Amy Lynn. How would you make it provide for a camp full of hungry men?”
    Tears stung Audrey’s eyes, but she refused to shed them. If she could get him to change his mind about taking her out to his ranch, surely the sheriff would relent? Her gaze lifted to his face. “You could forgive the debt.”
    He studied her a long moment. “I could, but then how would you learn there are repercussions for your actions?”
    Audrey met his gaze unflinchingly. He wasn’t going to give an inch. She watched as his gaze lowered to her lips, pausing there before slowly meeting her eyes again. She was no fool. She knew what men wanted from women, what he wanted from her. Perhaps it would make what she had to do easier.
    “What else have you to bargain with?” he asked.
    Her eyes traveled across the hard planes of his face, seeing his high cheekbones, his square jaw, the faint cleft in his chin. His mouth was wide, his lips molded by strong curves. A heat crept up her neck and into her face.
    She couldn’t do this. Not yet. Not like this. “I have nothing.” Her voice was a whisper.
    “So then, camp cook or town jail? Which is it, Miss Sheridan?”
    Audrey shut her eyes. God help her. “Camp cook.”
    McCaid lifted the reins and called to the horses. Amy Lynn climbed onto Audrey’s lap as the wagon lurched forward. Audrey hugged her foster daughter tightly.
    The children would be okay, she told herself. Malcolm would be there. And Leah and Wolf. And Jim and Sally and Maddie would help out too. It was only a month. Only four weeks. Then she would be back to care for them.
    And what then? an inner voice asked. How could she provide for her children any better than she had when she landed them all in this spot? She had no answer to that. Trying to calm her panic, she shut her eyes and focused on the cool morning air washing over her as the wagon rolled out of town.
     
    “She ain’t comin’ back,” Kurt whispered as he watched Mr. McCaid’s wagon round the corner.
    “Shut up, Kurt. She’ll be back,” Luc answered, shoving him off the last step.
    “Oh yeah? Did your mom come back?” Kurt retorted, turning on Luc.
    “My ma’s