"I thought I'd go out front and see if Vern needed any help," Cory said.

"He's all done," Cook said and handed Garth a dog biscuit from a jar on the counter. "He had a young man out front helping him when I peeked out the window."

"A young man? You mean Jasper?"

"No, I've never seen this one around here before." Cook went back to her pot. "Handsome, though," she added. "They headed for the barn."

"I better go see who it is," Cory said, already striding for the back door.

She called out as soon as she reached the barn, and Vern hollered from his small office at the back. Cory threaded her way through all the equipment in the back half of the barn and stopped dead in the doorway of the shop that doubled as Vern's small office.

Cook's stranger stood up when she appeared in the doorway and literally took Cory's breath away.

Shaggy hair and dark brown curls perfectly teamed with a matching beard was her first thought. Her second thought was broad -- really broad -- shoulders beneath his black flannel shirt, and hips so narrow his black jeans sagged a bit on his frame. His sleeves were rolled up, and those forearms and biceps belonged to a working man.

Good grief! Stop staring Cory!

She jerked her gaze to his face, and blue eyes stared back. Blue eyes that caught her gaze like a predator traps prey. Blue eyes that twinkled with just enough devilment to cause a wicked flutter in her belly. Blue eyes that looked startlingly familiar.

Maybe she just wanted them to look familiar, so she could already know this handsome man.

"Mac here is our new help."

She heard Vern's voice and fought to break free of that predatory stare. No time for one last once-over.

"Wh-what?" She forced her eyes to Vern who grinned at her.

What had she missed?

"I said... Mac here is our new help," Vern repeated slowly enough she felt her cheeks flush at having been caught not paying attention.

"New help?" She blurted.

She couldn't afford the help she had let alone new help.

"I need him," Vern said flatly.

"You need--" She cleared her throat. "Vern can I talk to you in private. Please?"

She backed out of the office and headed for the horse stalls. Not hearing Vern behind her, she turned. He'd stopped just outside the office door and didn't look as though he intended to move any farther, so she stomped back.

"We can't afford him," she hissed.

"He'll work for next to nothing as long as we let him stay," Vern said in a normal and much-too-loud voice.

So much for discussing the stranger privately.

"Why is that? No one works for nothing," she argued.

She still kept her voice down. The stranger may figure out what they were saying, but she didn't have to make it easy for him.

Vern shrugged. "Says he likes it here. Wants to stay a while."

"How long is a while?"

"Don't rightly know. I guess that would depend on the work and how we treat him." He pulled his ball cap off and reseated it. "Me? I don't ask questions. I don't tend to look a gift horse in the mouth when I get one."

Cory frowned at the indirect criticism.

"We don't know anything about him," she huffed.

"We know all we need to know."

"We don't even know his last name. We need to know that for me to pay him."

"Don't need his last name to hand him cash," Vern pointed out. "That's why he come so cheap. He wants to work for straight cash. And don't look at me like that. We've done it before. If Mac wants us to know his last name, he'll volunteer it. So far he hasn't, and I'm good with that."

"Well--"

"You should be good with that, too. We don't often get the blessing of free help around here." He gave her a pointed stare.

"Free?"

"Almost free. Practically free."

"He could be a thief for all we know."

Vern shot her a quelling glance as though she'd insulted him.

"My gut instinct says he's a good man," he said indignantly.

Vern's gut instinct had guided dozens of the resort's business decisions since Hutch had passed away. She winced. Vern's gut had never steered them wrong.

"And we can use the extra help," he added when he saw her resolve weakening.

She was beaten, and she knew it. "Whatever."

Vern grinned.

Two could play his game.

"Betsy Eadle says the toilet in cabin five is backed up. Go tell our new help to unclog it and clean up in there." Betsy Eadle and her sister Leah were the resort's housekeepers and two more of the help Cory could barely afford now. "Then come back and go with me to Clark Lumber Company," she continued. "You promised to help me pick out and load lumber for the dock board replacements."

Vern was already shaking his head. "I'll fix the john in cabin five. That one's always tricky. You can take Mac to the lumberyard. Just let him get a look at the dock first, so he knows what you need."

Vern turned and went back in the office before Cory could argue. Decision made.

"Can't tell who's the boss around here," she muttered and stomped out of the barn.