“Yes. Thank heaven. I just feel sorry for that poor girl. How are things with the ranch?”
“Never better. I told you earlier about the new property on the caprock. The well is working now, and the grass is greening up. We’re trailering cattle up there a few at a time, and the brothers have started on the house. It’s going to take some time, but the place should be ship-shape for you by next summer. It’s almost scary how well things are working out. I keep waiting for something to go wrong.”
His words triggered an unexpected chill. “Don’t say that. It scares me. I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to you, Bull.”
“Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be fine.”
“How’s Rose doing? I liked her.”
He gave her a wry chuckle. “What can I say? She’s restless and contrary, tired of being cooped up on the ranch, threatening to run away and take her chickens.”
“In other words, she’s a teenage girl. She sounds like me at that age. Don’t worry, she’ll outgrow it.”
“I’m not so sure. I don’t have much experience with girls—not even if I count you. I miss you, by the way.”
“I love you,” she said.
“And I love you, more than anything on this earth.”
They ended the call. She drove her Mustang home through the sultry Savannah night, still vaguely troubled. She loved Bull with all the passion of her young heart. But if she expected their lives to be a romantic dream, she was a child, living in a fairy tale. She’d been spoiled and pampered all her life. But living on the Rimrock would be different from anything she had ever experienced. To be a wife and partner to Bull and a good mother to their children, she would need to be smart, tough, and utterly fearless. Right now she was none of those things.
If all went as hoped, she’d return to her love next summer and they would be married. Between now and then, Susan realized, she had a lot of growing up to do.
* * *
“How would you like to have open season on Bull Tyler?”
Ferg had barely been listening to the drone of his father’s voice, but Ham’s question snapped him to full attention. He sat up straight in the porch swing, where he’d been dozing.
“I thought you and Bull had some kind of agreement,” he said.
“Agreement is the polite word for it.” Ham pulled his chair close to where Ferg sat. His voice took on a conspiratorial tone. “Actually it’s more like blackmail. Bull has access to a witness who saw me doing something illegal. He’s been holding it over me ever since.”
“Something illegal? Like what?” Ferg asked.
“Never mind. We’re both better off if you don’t know. But if Bull reported the crime, the testimony of that witness could send me to prison.”
Ferg stared at his father. In the silence, a fly buzzed close and landed on his cheek. Ferg brushed it away. “This is about that girl, isn’t it? The one at the Tyle
r place. Is she the witness?”
“She’s got to be. Why else would Bull keep her around and so close to the ranch? She’s his insurance policy. As long as he’s got her, we can’t touch him. But once she’s out of the way . . .” Ham let the implication hang. Ferg could imagine the rest. He’d be free to punish Bull Tyler any way he wanted to.
“You’re not planning to kill her, are you?” he asked.
“Hell, no. I’ll just be sending her someplace where she can’t hurt us anymore. A friend of mine’s got connections with folks who deal in young girls—boys, too, but that doesn’t concern us. I’ve already contacted him. His people are interested—even with that birthmark you told me about. Hell, we might make some money on her. But I’m going to need your help.”
“Why me?” Ferg asked. “You’ve got your hired goons for that kind of thing.”
Ham shook his head. “I can’t trust those birds with something this big. They could demand a piece of the action, maybe blackmail me down the road, or run afoul of the law and spill everything they know for a plea deal. No, for this I need my own flesh and blood. I need family. That’s you.”
Ferg gazed past the porch and out over the rippling hayfields and the pastures, dotted with prime cattle. His eyes took in the barns and the stable, the paddock where blooded horses grazed. He thought about the money, the power . . .
All this could be his someday. But he sensed that his father was testing him—taking the measure of his strength and family loyalty. Pass the test and he’d be given the respect and responsibility that the heir to the ranch deserved. Fail and he’d continue to be treated like a child. He could even be forced out of his inheritance.
The choice was his. The decision could be the turning point of his whole life.
“Well, what do you say?” Ham made no effort to hide his impatience.