Shifting Calder Wind (Calder Saga 7)

Conscious of the sudden sting of tears in her eyes, Jessy stood up. “I’d better be going,” she mumbled and moved away from the table.

Laredo’s hand gripped her shoulder, stopping her before she reached the door and turning her back to face him. “This is the first time he described what he found to you, isn’t it?” His blue eyes made a close examination of her face.

Jessy nodded and swallowed away the knot in her throat. “After Ty’s horse was found with blood all over the saddle, Chase ordered me back to camp.”

“I wish Chase had remembered something that was less painful to you,” Laredo said, the tightness of regret in his voice. “Some memories shouldn’t be shared. It’s better to remember the way he lived than the way he died.”

Just for an instant the image that Chase had impressed on her mind was replaced by one of Ty hoisting Trey into the air and laughing at his happily gurgling son.

A small smile touched the corners of her wide lips. “I do.” And the shine of love in her eyes had Laredo wishing it was meant for him.

Chapter Nine

Sitting high in the vast sweep of Montana sky, an indifferent sun blazed down on the confused young steers milling together in the feedlot. The idling rumble of the semi’s diesel engine could barely be heard above the bewildered lowing of cattle and the clatter of cloven hooves on the chute’s wooden ramp. Shouts and curses from the cowboys added to the noise as they kept the young stock moving out of the trailer and into the feedlot. Another semi loaded with cattle waited to take the place of the first.

Jessy watched the proceedings from the top rail. Trey straddled the fence next to her, totally absorbed by the action before him. When a big crossbred calf burst out of the chute and plowed into the milling mass, sending them scattering in all directions, Trey gave her a sage look.

“He’s a wild one,” he observed soberly.

“He was probably tired of being cooped up in that trailer.”

“If I had my rope, I’d catch ’im.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that. He isn’t going anywhere.” Her glance strayed to the rider working with quiet calm to drift the newly unloaded stock away from the chute gate.

There was nothing about the way Laredo went about the task with which she could find fault. Jessy smiled to herself, realizing he had been right—he could pass for a feedlot cowboy. Officially this was his third day on the payroll, listed on the books as Samuel Smith. Despite the Social Security card he presented, Jessy still had doubts that it was really his name.

The last animal in the load trotted out of the chute and headed straight for its traveling companions. The semi’s diesel engine growled to life, spurting dark smoke from its exhaust stack. As the semi rumbled away from the chute to make room for the next truck, Laredo swung his horse toward Jessy and walked it to the fence.

“Morning, Trey, Jessy.” He nodded in greeting then let his glance stay on the boy, observing, “I see you left your rope at home.”

“Mom said I should.” The glumness in his expression revealed his disagreement with her decision.

“Your mom was right,” Laredo told him. His glance shifted from them, making a brief and idle sweep of the parked vehicles. “I thought Markham would be here.”

“He’s probably on his way. Somebody from the bank was flying in, and Monte had to pick him up.” Jessy was quick to notice the sudden sharpening of his gaze as he focused on something beyond her. “What is it?” She looked back.

“Isn’t that O’Rourke just beyond that semi?”

“Looks like it,” Jessy confirmed when she spotted the stoop-shouldered rider. Culley had one leg hooked over the saddle horn, a sure indication that he had no intention of leaving any time soon. “Sometimes he watches from a distance and sometimes he takes a closer look.” She was soon distracted by an approaching vehicle that she quickly identified as Monte’s Range Rover. “Here comes Monte now.” She swung off the fence and reached up for Trey. “Come on, let’s go meet Monte and the banker.”

But Trey drew back from her outstretched arms and emphatically shook his head. “’Redo’s gonna give me a ride on his horse.”

“Laredo is working.”

“No, he’s not. He’s just sittin’ there.”

Laredo spoke. “It’ll take the driver a couple minutes to get his rig backed up to the chute. Time enough to take him on a short ride around the lot,” he said as a smile spread across his face. “Besides, any boy who figures out at such an early age that bankers are boring deserves

a ride.”

Amused by his droll observation, Jessy relented. “All right, you can go for a short ride,” she said.

Jessy lingered long enough to see Laredo lift Trey onto the saddle in front of him. To her son’s utter joy, Laredo let him handle the reins. The sudden realization that this was only Trey’s second meeting with Laredo gave Jessy a moment of pause. Although exuberant and outgoing by nature, her young son had always been leery of people he didn’t know. She had never known Trey to actually back away from someone new, but she had always had the impression that he tolerated rather than trusted new aquaintances. That was definitely the attitude Trey took toward Monte. Yet he appeared to be completely comfortable with Laredo. Recalling how much his grandfather trusted Laredo, Jessy couldn’t help wondering if Trey somehow sensed that.

Jessy turned to meet the new arrivals. Despite the black cowboy hat and boots, pearl-snap white shirt and boot-cut pants, Adam Weatherford of Denver looked exactly like what he was—a banker. Jessy wondered if it was the wire-rimmed glasses that gave him away.

“Welcome to the Triple C, Mr. Weatherford.” She shook his hand with a man’s firm grip. This was one part of her new position that she didn’t like, but, then, she had never cared much for social niceties.