The Banker

Table of Contents
 The Banker
 The Banker
 Prologue
 Chapter 1
 Chapter 2
 Chapter 3
 Chapter 4
 Chapter 5
 Chapter 6
 Chapter 7
 Chapter 8
 Chapter 9
 Chapter 10
 Chapter 11
 Chapter 12
 Chapter 13
 Chapter 14
 Chapter 15
 Chapter 16
 Chapter 17
 Chapter 18
 Chapter 19
 Chapter 20
 Chapter 21
 Chapter 22
 Chapter 23
 Chapter 24
 Chapter 25
 Chapter 26
 Chapter 27
 Chapter 28
 Chapter 29
 Chapter 30
 Chapter 31
 Chapter 32
 Chapter 33
 Chapter 34
 Chapter 35
 Postscript
 Further Reading: The Show Goes On
 Also By Lois Breedlove
 About the Author
 The Banker
 By Lois Breedlove
 
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 Published by L.J. Breedlove 
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 License Notes
 This story is for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this story with another person, please send them to my website for their own copy. Thank you for respecting the work of this author.
 Disclaimer
 This is a work of fiction. While place descriptions and news events may coincide with the real world, all characters and the plot are fictional.
 Contact Information
 For more information about this author, please visit http://www.ljbreedlove.com/. Email address is [email protected].
 The Banker
 Second Chance Romances
 This is book 3 in the series, the follow-up book to Rancher Woman in Marilee’s trilogy.
 
 Marilee Dupont is a professor of agriculture and owner of one of the largest family ranches in the region. For a brief time, she thought she’d met a man she could love. But, he wasn’t willing to stay, and she couldn’t leave.And then things got difficult. Prologue
 Mid-August
 Marilee Dupont was coming out of the barn when she saw Bethany Williams’ Subaru come down the drive. She paused in the doorway and took a deep breath. After last night’s dinner where she’d broken off her engagement to her father, Trent Williams? She hadn’t been sure she would ever see either of them again.
 Bethany got out of the Subaru and saw her. She was wearing work clothes — a long-sleeved shirt, blue jeans and boots. At 16, she was 5-foot-9 and had the female version of her father’s face. She would be beautiful when she grew into those features, although she didn’t believe that now.
 Marilee just watched her walk toward her. Bethany was more than employee. For a brief while, Marilee hoped she would be a daughter.
 Well, that plan had flown. “Wasn’t sure you’d be back out,” she said.
 Bethany looked tense. “I want to continue working for you,” she said steadily. “I told Dad that what was between you two wasn’t my business and shouldn’t impact my employment out here. I used the example if I were working in town for a café and the bank had issues with the owner, he wouldn’t expect me to quit.”
 “Well he probably would,” Marilee said with a half-laugh.
 Bethany grinned. “That’s what he said, too,” she admitted.
 “I’d love to have you continue,” Marilee said. “But I don’t want to come between you and your father.”
 “It won’t,” Bethany assured her. “But I would like to renegotiate my schedule. Can I work two days, staying out the night between, then go back to town, then back out for two nights, then being home for the weekend?”
 Marilee tried to visualize that. “I think so. Let’s go look at a calendar,” she said. “Angie’s here, by the way. She’s probably got breakfast ready, if you’re hungry.” She reverted back to scheduling. “So you’d be out here Monday and Thursday nights?”
 Bethany nodded and they started toward the house. “Breakfast would be good,” she admitted. “I was all butterflies about coming out here and couldn’t eat.”
 Marilee stopped at the back door and looked at the teenager. “Bethany, you need to know you will always be welcome here. Always. OK?”
 Bethany nodded. She swallowed hard, and then stuck to the subject of scheduling. “Probably reduces my hours some too,” she said. “Back to an hourly rate instead of a weekly?”
 “We can work that out,” Marilee agreed. She smiled. “Glad you’re coming back.”
 Bethany smiled. “I am, too.”
 Later that afternoon, Marilee and her best friend, Angie Gregory, drove into Moscow to met up with women friends, a group locals referred to as Marilee’s Squad, for happy hour drinks at Pete’s. 
 Well, they were right, she’d always had a group of women friends dating back to the year in high school her volleyball team went to state. The group changed as time went on — that was 17 years ago, half a lifetime — right there were four of them, and they all were professors at the university. She was in agriculture. Gail Tremont in theater, Rebecca Jones in political science, and Angie Gregory in English. And Friday night was girls’ night out. 
 It was almost sacred, even when one of them was in a relationship. Because you needed your girlfriends to survive a relationship. 
 Like she needed them now. They had dropped everything last night to drive to the ranch — an hour each way — simply because she needed them. And they’d held her while she cried. Angie had stayed the night. She was a sturdy anchor for Marilee, and Marilee would always be grateful.
 They staked out a booth in the back of the bar — a honky-tonk dive with pool tables and a small dance floor where local bands played country western music. It was named Pete’s for the original owner, but it was Hank Owens who owned and ran it now. 
 The one concession Hank had made was in the beers he served. There was probably a half-dozen