Shifting Calder Wind (Calder Saga 7)

“No doubt it is.” Monte nodded in understanding. “I wouldn’t have suggested it at all except that I have complete trust that you will see that the cattle were properly fed and tended. Which makes it very easy to recommend you over some rancher I don’t know as well.”

“I can see that.”

“As I said, think it over. If you should decide you aren’t interested, I will simply look elsewhere.” He smiled easily and took a small sip of his coffee, then abruptly lowered the cup. “It just occurred to me, though, an arrangement such as this wouldn’t be all that different than when the Triple C leased drilling rights to that pet

roleum company.”

“I had forgotten about that,” Jessy murmured thoughtfully.

It was an argument that prompted her to decide to discuss the proposal with Chase rather than dismiss it out of hand.

The feedlot had been one of Ty’s projects, built to diversify the ranching operation, and it had required considerable capital expenditure at a time when the Triple C had been strapped for cash. The losses caused by the storm, both in damage to the facility and cattle killed, had been crippling. It had been a personal blow to Ty at the time, shaking his confidence. Monte’s proposal offered an opportunity to realize a return on the monies invested in the feedlot all those years ago. Jessy liked the thought of that, certain that Ty would be pleased with the idea.

But first she needed to see what kind of shape it was in. Other than being pressed into service as a holding pen during roundup, the facility hadn’t been used in years.

Chapter Eight

That old devil curiosity had ahold of Culley O’Rourke and wouldn’t let him go. Two days ago he had spent the better part of the afternoon attempting to backtrack Jessy without success.

Pestered by the questions of where she had gone and why, Culley had taken to haunting the area, mostly out of suspicion. He kept remembering Jessy’s conversation with the cowboy at the funeral, her secret meeting with two men at the old cemetery, and the cowboy following her the next day in his truck. When Culley added it all up, it kept saying to him there was something funny going on. And just maybe it was going on here. If it was, Culley was convinced Jessy would show up in the area again. And he would be on hand when and if she did.

Culley was an old hand at waiting and watching. When there was a reason for it, it came as natural to him as all his restless wanderings. On the first day of his vigil, he had found a comfortable spot that offered some afternoon shade, graze for his horse, and a long view of the ranch road where he had seen her last.

Twice in the last couple days, Culley had sworn he heard the sound of a vehicle somewhere in the distance, but none had shown up on the road, which meant it was probably traveling on another one, making it of no interest to Culley.

Hunkered in the small shade of a grassy hill slope, he idly listened to the clink of the bridle chain as the brown horse chomped on some grass. Then he caught the faint hum of an engine and shifted his position to watch the road. The sound grew steadily in volume. Seconds later he spotted the dust cloud and the glint of sunlight on something shiny. Soon there wasn’t any doubt a vehicle was headed in his direction.

Culley rolled to his feet and made his way down the slope to the brown horse. He gathered up the trailing reins and looped them over the horse’s neck, then stepped into the stirrup and swung himself into the saddle. Wasting no time, he kicked the gelding into a lope and set a course to intercept the road well to the north, taking care to keep out of sight.

When Jessy pulled up to the line cabin, she first noticed the new shingles on the section of patched roof, then the general air of tidiness about the site. There were no tools or ladders about. Any weeds or tall grass growing next to the foundation had been cut short, and starched curtains hung at the windows.

As she climbed out of the cab, the screen door swung open, and Laredo’s tall shape filled the frame. “Your ears must be burning. We were just talking about you.”

“Nothing bad, I hope,” she answered lightly.

“That depends. We were wondering what that English guy Markham delivered to you the other day.” Stepping back inside, Laredo kept the screen door pushed open to admit her.

“A pony.” Jessy moved past him into the cabin and paused to run an admiring eye over the many homey touches that had been added to the cabin’s now spotless interior, everything from the seat cushions tied to the wooden chairs to the pair of rockers that flanked the old cast-iron stove. “You have been very busy,” she said to Hattie.

“It’s a beginning,” the woman replied absently and turned from the short stretch of cabinets, a serving dish in each hand. “We were just sitting down to lunch. There is plenty of food if you care to join us.”

“Is it that late?” Jessy said in surprise, then belatedly noticed the place settings at the table where Chase sat. “I think I’ll pass on lunch, but I’ll take a cup of coffee if you have some made.”

“It’s in the pot.” Hattie nodded in the direction of an old percolator-style coffeepot designed for use on a burner.

“Are you sure you don’t want to join us? Hattie makes an excellent goulash.” Laredo pulled out a chair and sat down at the table across from Chase.

“Don’t listen to him,” Hattie warned. “He’s only saying that in hopes of convincing me that I don’t need anything bigger than that Coleman stove to cook on.”

“What’s this about a pony?” Chase wanted to know.

“It wasn’t for me. It was for Trey,” Jessy explained while she filled a mug with coffee. “I happened to mention to Monte that Trey had decided you went to Texas to buy him a horse. Monte remembered that. Only he bought Trey a pony instead. I guess he thought Trey wouldn’t mind the difference, but he did. Fortunately Laura fell in love with the pony. It was such a thoughtful thing for Monte to do that I would have hated it if he had to take the pony back.”

“That would have been a real shame,” Laredo said in dry mockery, “especially when you consider that the quickest way to a woman’s heart is through her children.”

Jessy bristled at his implication that Monte had his sights set on her. Certain he had said it merely to get a rise out of her, she focused her attention on Chase instead.

“Monte did have an interesting business proposition that I wanted to run past you,” she said and proceeded to relate it to him.