“Good to see you again, Chase.” Parker greeted Chase with a typically hearty handshake. “Judging from this turnout, I won’t be getting a bargain on any of your young bulls this trip.”
“You can’t win every time, Ben,” Chase replied.
“But you can try,” the rancher countered with a grin then gestured to the man at his side. “I thought your auction could use a little international flavor so I brought along a friend of mine. Chase, I’d like you to meet John Montgomery Markham, brother to the Earl of Stanfield in England. This is Chase Calder. I don’t think I would be wrong in calling him one of the last of the cattle barons.”
“I have heard of you by reputation, of course, Mr. Calder.” His handshake was firm. “A pleasure.”
“Welcome to the Triple C, Mr. Markham,” Chase said with a nod.
“My friends call me Monte,” the Englishman replied with an easy smile. “Ben tells me this is exceptional cattle country.”
“Monte’s looking to buy some land. I’ve been trying to talk him into buying that spread I’ve got over in the Wind River range.”
“Going into the cattle business, are you?” Chase surmised.
“Nothing the scale of your operation,” the Englishman replied. “I don’t imagine there are many ranches like it still left these days.”
“I guess not,” Chase replied, although he suspected there were few if any that still encompassed their original boundaries. The Triple C did—thanks to the woman approaching the barn with Buck Haskell at her side. “Enjoy the auc
tion, gentlemen,” he said to the two and turned to await Tara’s arrival.
He touched his hat to her when she paused before him, resplendent in a sparkling Western jacket, embroidered with stone-encrusted yellow roses. A month ago Tara had presented him with a free and clear title to the entire ten thousand acres of Wolf Meadow with the provision that she retained a life estate to the home she had built on it, Dunshill.
“I had to come, Chase,” Tara said. “We worked so hard on this.” She paused, pain flickering in her eyes. “I wish Ty could be here to see what a huge success it is.”
“He knows.”
“Of course,” Tara murmured and glanced around. “Where is Jessy?”
“She’ll be here shortly.”
“I guess I’ll see her later.” She turned to Buck. “We had better go inside and find ourselves a seat.”
With a lift of his hand, Buck gestured for Tara to precede him, then nodded to Chase. They exchanged no more than a glance, but there was no longer any animosity or distrust in it.
After the fire Chase had offered Buck a job, but Buck had refused, saying, “I think that would be pushin’ it for both of us. Let’s just take what we got for now.”
The relief that Chase felt at his answer only confirmed the wisdom of Buck’s decision. Maybe they would never be as close as they once were, but at least they were no longer enemies.
Moments later Chase saw Jessy coming across the yard, tall and strong and straight. His head lifted, a faintly stunned look to his expression at the sight of his daughter-in-law. There was nothing eye-catching about the suede shirt and pants she wore, both the same tawny gold as her hair, with matching boots and hat. But Jessy was eye-catching in her outfit, a slender column of gold, tall and lithe, moving with that long, free-swinging stride that was so natural to her. She emanated strength and steadiness and something else he hadn’t noticed before, a trace of authority.
Chase smiled. When the day came for him to hand over the reins, they would be in good hands. And he strongly suspected that when they walked in that barn together, everyone else would see it, too.
Please turn the page for a preview of
SHIFTING CALDER WIND
by Janet Dailey.
A July 2003 hardcover release
from Kensington Publishing.
Ablackness roared around him. He struggled to surface from it, somehow knowing that if he didn’t, he would die. Sounds reached him as if coming from a great distance—a shout, the scrape of shoes on pavement, the metallic slam of a car door and the sharp clap of a gunshot.
Someone was trying to kill him.
He had to get out of there. The instant he tried to move the blackness swept over him with dizzying force. He heard the revving rumble of a car engine starting up. Unable to rise, he rolled away from the sound as spinning tires burned rubber and another shot rang out.