This Calder Sky (Calder Saga 3)

“It isn’t mine, either.” Buck looked at it again. “Maybe it’s off Clay’s saddle.”

“Or it might be off one of the rustler’s saddles,” Webb suggested striding forward. “Let me see it.”

His suggestion prompted both the foreman and Chase to walk over for a closer look. It was a slim lead, but at this point, it could turn out to be the only important clue they had. Nate was the first to hear the canter of a horse on the road and looked up just as the rider came into sight.

“Someone’s coming,” he told the others, and they turned their attention to the rider.

When Chase recognized the slim, supple rider, his tiredness fell away. Maggie had reined in her horse at the sight of all the vehicles and people. Turning at a right angle to them, her horse danced sideways for several steps before she brought it around to approach them at a trot. A single black braid fell across the front of her shoulder. When she stopped her horse near the gate, he could see the faint tension in her features, the subdued flash of defiance in her green eyes. His father had a way of intimidating people; because of her slight inferiority complex, Maggie was obviously affected by it.

“Hello.” It was an all-encompassing greeting, given as she swung out of the saddle in a single fluid motion. “I heard you had some excitement here last night.”

“And where did you hear that?” The sharp demand of his father drew Chase’s glance. The harshness didn’t seem necessary.

But Maggie just smiled, the green flashing a little brighter in her eyes. “Anything that happens to a Calder travels through this area like wildfire. Birdie Johnson called me this morning.” Then her glance lighted on the leather rosette with its twin strips of rawhide. “Hey, that’s mine. Where did you find it?” She took it from his father’s hand before any of them had a chance to react to her startling announcement.

“Buck found it in the grass by the gate,” Webb answered.

“I noticed it was gone the other day, but I didn’t have any idea where I had lost it.” Her mouth had relaxed slightly to smile.

“We thought it might have come off the saddle of one of the rustlers,” Webb said, looking at her carefully.

The laugh she made was slightly forced. “I assure you it is off my saddle, and I was in bed asleep last night by nine-thirty.”

Webb let his gaze wander around the immediate area before returning to her with pinpoint sharpness. “This is quite a ways from your father’s place. What were you doing here when you lost this?”

Chase would have spoken up at that moment, but he held his silence when he saw the bold way she challenged his father. He had been on the receiving end of one of those daring looks before. A mixture of pride and amusement surged through him.

“I had arranged to meet your son,” she retorted in a very clear voice.

Beside him, Buck shifted and cleared his throat. His sparkling blue eyes said he found the situation very entertaining.

“And did you meet him?” his father prompted.

“Yes, she did,” Chase answered for her, coming to her support, but the glance she sent him didn’t thank him for it.

“Yes, I met him,” Maggie confirmed in a spark of temper. “And I don’t like it when people infer I’m lying, Mr. Calder.” The emphasis was arrogantly sarcastic as she pivoted away to mount her horse.

Chase started to push his way forward to stop her from leaving, but his father laid a restraining hand on his arm, not taking his eyes off the girl reining her horse in a circle. When Chase attempted to shrug aside his father’s hand, the grip tightened.

“Let her go, son,” was all he said. “We have work to do.”

The incident gave Webb something to think about. He was willing to concede that the O’Rourke girl hadn’t been one of the rustlers, but it was entirely possible she was covering for one of them. Even if she wasn’t and the saddle tie had come off her saddle when she’d met Chase here, it became highly likely that she knew the cattle were being moved to this pasture, information the rustlers had to obtain somewhere. There were several definite possibilities to keep in mind.

PART III

A sky of challenge,

A sky of right,

This sky that strikes with

A Calder’s might

Chapter XI

Most of the clothes in the little dry-goods store in Blue Moon were work garments, designed for durability rather than fashion. Of the two racks of dresses in the ladies’ section of the store, only half of one rack was reserved for dressier clothes. The rest were all house-dresses. Whenever Maggie had the extra time, she looked through the dresses on the hangers. It was better than a catalog because she could actually touch the clothes and hold them up against her while she looked in the full-length mirror.

This afternoon she had the time to spare because her father and brother were in Jake’s having a beer. She entered the store and made her way slowly toward the ladies’ section. Lew Michels, the proprietor, was measuring a length of chambray for a customer when Maggie passed the yard-goods department. He glanced up and smiled in recognition.