Calder Born, Calder Bred (Calder Saga 4)

“Nothing that needs to concern you.” He stopped when they reached the open door of the twin-engine aircraft, and kissed her cheek. Straightening, he winked. “I won’t tell you to behave yourself. I’ll merely wish you luck instead. You’ve kept Ty waiting by the car long enough, now scoot.” He slapped her behind with fatherly affection to send her on her way, watched her for a thoughtful second, then climbed aboard the plane. Their separate plans might ultimately dovetail nicely.

Stricklin was already in the plane, buckled in his seat. Dyson nodded to him and took an opposite seat to strap himself in.

“I believe she is going to catch that young man, Stricklin,” he said with a glance out the small window at the couple. “What do you think of the match?”

“It’s ideal,” his partner replied and meant it.

14

The spring roundup ended a week later, and it was arranged for Ty’s duties to keep him around the headquarters instead of working out of one of the far-flung camps of the ranch. With Tara exercising her prerogative as a guest and sleeping late in the mornings, she seldom saw Ty until noon.

Most of the afternoons she was left to her own devices. Maggie Calder had given her a tour of the ranch facilities, taking her to visit the one-room schoolhouse and showing her the commissary with its assortment of grocery items, clothing, and miscellaneous hardware. Tara had found it all very fascinating, but she would have preferred that Ty had shown her these things. She spent irritatingly little time alone with him. Sometimes she wondered if he ever had a day off from ran

ch work.

With slow steps, she descended the stairs, absently trailing her hand along the railing while she wondered how she was going to fill this Saturday afternoon. The front door opened and shut with a bang and Cathleen came sailing in. Tara glanced at the girl with sudden interest. Maybe she could persuade Cathleen to guide her to wherever Ty was working this afternoon.

“Hello, Cat.” She used the family nickname for the girl.

“Tara! I was just looking for you.” She changed direction to come to the stairs, stopping at the base of them, bright-eyed and out of breath, “Ty said for me to tell you to put on some riding clothes. He’ll be by the house in half an hour with the horses.”

Just like that. He snapped his fingers and she was supposed to come running. With an effort, Tara smoothed the ruffled edges of her prickling nerves. “The lord commands and the lady obeys,” she murmured.

“What’s that?” Cathleen tipped her head, frowning in puzzlement.

“Nothing, my kitten.” She shook her head and turned to retrace her steps up the stairs. “Half an hour doesn’t give me much time. I’d better hurry.” Flashing a round-eyed look of mock haste at the girl, Tara went to change.

It was a full forty-five minutes before she emerged from the house. The impatience on Ty’s expression faded to reluctant admiration as she crossed to the horses, assuring her the extra time she’d taken with her appearance had been worth it. From the beaded fringe of her jacket to her designer jeans, from the feather-banded hat to her Italian-made cowboy boots, she was fashionably western dressed with the latest the exclusive Texas stores had to offer.

“I thought we’d go for a long ride this afternoon,” Ty said. “You haven’t really had a good look at the ranch, except flying over it or driving across it.”

“I’d like that. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do with you.”

Ty gave her a leg up onto the back of the flashy blood bay, made sure the stirrups were properly adjusted to her leg length, then mounted his own horse. Together, they rode north and west, their horses setting into a rocking canter that could be kept up for miles.

Buildings were left far behind as they traveled deeper and deeper into the land, rising and falling with the swells of the earth. The sun was a gold disk in the gigantic sky, and the horizon was a smoky blue haze of ridges. There was nothing out here but endlessly stretching miles of more of the same. Its emptiness was almost oppressive, surrounding Tara until she felt like a minuscule object.

Finally Ty reined his horse to a halt near the rim of a flat-topped butte and dismounted to hold the bridle of Tara’s horse as she swung out of the saddle to join him. Leaving their horses ground-tied, they walked to the edge where there was a commanding view of the surrounding expanse of land. As Tara stood beside him, she felt overwhelmed by the silence and the vastness. A great well of loneliness seemed to fill her, and she edged closer to Ty. He glanced down at her briefly; then he took her hand, lacing their fingers together and unknowingly giving her assurance.

When he began pointing out the extent of Calder range, indicating the direction of far-distant boundaries, she listened to the quiet pride in his voice and absorbed it into her own feelings. From this plateau and in all directions as far as the eye could see, the land belonged to his family. And it was going to be her family.

“There’s a certain magnificence about it, isn’t there?” she said when he had finished, but she didn’t mention the quality of melancholy it also evoked in her.

“It has a way of humbling a man and bringing him down to size,” Ty agreed.

She didn’t want to hear such talk. “But you’re a Calder, Ty. You can do and be anything you want. With the Calder power and influence, someday you could be governor of this whole state.”

After struggling so long to have his abilities recognized by his family, her praise and belief in his potential nourished his underfed ego. Yet he smiled, faintly amused by her suggestion.

“Did I say something funny?” Tara was a bit stung by his reaction.

“My granddad had a philosophy about politicians. My father explained it to me once” he said, humor lines wrinkling the corners of his eyes as he looked out at the land. “It went something along the lines of ‘Why be governor when you can buy one?’”

Being the manipulating force behind the scenes was a tantalizing prospect. Her pulse quickened as she studied the intelligence in his features, the relentless determination and will to succeed.

“You’re wasting yourself playing cowboy, Ty,” she said firmly. “With your background and education, you could be so much more. My father has a high regard for you. I simply don’t understand why you’re here, working like a common cowhand, when you could be doing something important and worthwhile.”

“I’m learning the ranch business from the ground up, you might say,” Ty stated.