“Come in, fool,” Andy shouted when Broc knocked. “You don’t see no lock on the door, do you?”
Broc smiled to himself before he opened the door and went in.
Andy’s expression went from sour annoyance to unhappy surprise when he saw Broc. “What are you doing here?”
“I found the bull loose again. I need you to help me get him back.”
“Gary and Leo are out looking for him now. Where is he?”
“Tied to a tree.”
“My shoulder’s not well yet.”
He sounded like a spoiled child “I’ll put your rope on him and loop it around your saddle horn. All you have to do is keep the rope taut so he can’t attack either of us.”
“Why don’t you wait until Leo and Gary get back? You can tell them where the bull is, and they can get him.”
“I don’t want the family to know I was here. I’m not very popular with them right now.”
“You’re not very popular with me, either. I haven’t forgotten that you knocked me on the head.”
Broc knew there was no point trying to convince Andy he’d done it because it was the fastest and least painful way to set his arm. “Just help me get the bull back here.”
“Amanda told me I wasn’t to do anything until I was better.”
Broc was saved from having to find a way to change Andy’s mind when Leo entered the bunkhouse. His tall, sinewy frame contrasted with Andy’s shorter, broader build.
“What are you doing here?” he asked Broc.
“He says he found the bull,” Andy told him. “He wants you to help him bring it back.”
“Where was that damned critter?” Leo didn’t wait for an answer. “Gary and me have been looking for it for hours.”
“I found it on Carruthers’s land. I thought I’d better get it back onto the Lazy T before it caused some trouble.”
Leo muttered a curse. “I told Gary the critter musta gone that way, but Gary insisted that Sandoval took it.”
“Can you meet me where the lane runs into the road to town?”
“Give me time to saddle a fresh horse.”
Broc followed Leo through the bunkhouse door and nearly bumped into Amanda. For the third time in just a few minutes, he was faced with the same question.
“What are you doing here?”
Chapter Six
Amanda hadn’t expected to see Broc again. Much to her shock and dismay, rather than feeling angry he’d disregarded her wishes, she was relieved. No, she was almost happy, and she couldn’t accept that. He’d caused her family too much distress. She was even more dismayed to discover she had smiled at him.
“I found the bull.”
She could feel a question hovering in the air between them. Did that smile mean she was glad to see him, or was it merely a polite response because Leo was watching? She knew the answer, but she wasn’t going to let Broc know.
“Where? Gary said he and Leo spent hours looking for it.”
“We was looking in the wrong places,” Leo said with disgust. “Gary won’t never listen to anything I say.” He followed that statement with another curse under his breath. “We was lucky we didn’t get shot at.”
“Where is the bull now?” Amanda asked Broc.
“Tied to a tree. I couldn’t get him back here without being gored.”
“I’ll saddle a horse and be back in a minute,” Leo said.
“Saddle one for me,” Amanda said. “I’m going with you.”
“That’s not necessary,” Broc said. “Leo and I can handle him between us.”
“I appreciate your having caught the bull, but this isn’t your responsibility,” Amanda told him.
“Maybe not, but I’m going, too.” His answer was firm. It was clear there’d be no budging him from his decision.
Amanda had a wide experience with men, but she was coming to the conclusion she had no experience with a man like Broc. She could tell from the light in his eyes he was attracted to her, but she suspected his disfigurement made him feel he was unacceptable to any woman. She hoped he hadn’t let it make him think he had nothing to lose if he decided to step outside the law.
“I saw you coming out of the bank yesterday,” he said after they’d stood in silence for a long moment. “I hope it wasn’t bad news.”
She didn’t feel comfortable sharing this kind of information with him, but he already knew more than she wanted. “Papa didn’t trust banks or lawyers, so I didn’t learn anything. The bank president assured me Papa wasn’t a man to refuse to pay his debts. I won’t be sending money to Mrs. Sibley. Does that mean you’ll still go to jail?”
“That’s what the judge said.”
“But you can’t go to jail for not collecting a debt that doesn’t exist.”
“The judge believes the debt is real.”
She didn’t understand how Broc could discuss it so calmly. Going to jail wasn’t something to be taken lightly. A prison sentence would follow him for the rest of his life. “My father said all the Reconstruction judges were crooks, that you couldn’t get a fair verdict unless you paid for it.”
“I got a fair verdict.”
“You call being forced to collect a debt that doesn’t exist a fair verdict?”
“I could have served my time in jail.”
“Why didn’t you?”
He pointed to his face. “This is enough of a handicap. I don’t want to add another.”
“Do you have to go back? Couldn’t you go to your friend in California? The law would never find you out there.”
“The judge trusted me enough to let me go. I can’t betray that trust and still respect myself.”
Now she felt terrible that she’d suggested he do something she wouldn’t have done herself. “Sorry. What you do is your business, but not everyone judges you by your scar. I think you were quite heroic to have endured so much and to have handled it so well.”
His smile was halfhearted. “I didn’t always handle it well.”
“I wouldn’t believe you if you said you had. I’m surprised you don’t hate every Yankee you see.”
“They did what they thought was right, just like we did. At least I’m alive. The man who did this isn’t.”
She hoped Leo would hurry up with the horses. This conversation was making her uncomfortable. She preferred to believe people were honest, that good would prevail, and everyone would find someone to love. Seeing Broc’s wound, knowing how people treated him, forced her out of that comfortable state of mind, and she didn’t like it.
“I don’t understand how the bull keeps getting out,” she said, changing the subject. “He doesn’t look like he’s capable of jumping the fence.”
“He didn’t. Someone let him out.”
“How is it possible for someone to sneak onto the ranch at night and let him out without anybody knowing?”
She didn’t understand why Broc was so slow to answer. He’d been quick enough to say the bull wasn’t getting out on his own.
“You don’t have a dog, and I doubt Leo or Andy has been sleeping with one ear to the ground. Gary gets home so late, a stampede wouldn’t wake him.”
What he said was reasonable, but she got the feeling he was thinking something else.
“All anyone has to do is ease the gate open, wait for the bull to leave, then close it. If the person walked in from behind the barn, you’d never see or hear him.”
“Do you think Carruthers has been sending one of his men over so the bull can breed with his cows?”
“Maybe. He could also be hoping the bull would get killed in a fight with one of the range bulls.”
Loss of the bull would nearly guarantee her mother would have to sell the ranch. She would have to talk to Leo and Andy. Gary, too. All of them would have to be more vigilant. Maybe it would be a good idea to set up a watch. With five of them—she didn’t count her mother—it shouldn’t be too hard on anybody.
Leo came up leading two saddled horses. “Ready to go?”
“Yes,” she said, coming out of her abstraction. “I need to get back so I can start supper.”
Burrows dug by small rodents and rocks that could get jammed in a horse’s hoof made it preferable to use the road rather than head directly across the prairie despite the dust stirred up by their mounts’ hooves. For the first few minutes of the ride, Leo complained about not having enough time to do all the work. “Andy’s laid up, and Gary is gone half the time. I don’t see how you expect me to do everything,” he said.
“I don’t,” Amanda said. “I’ve never asked you to.”
“Somebody’s got to do it,” Leo said. “If we lose any more cows, this place ain’t going to make it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Didn’t Gary tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“We’ve been losing cows for at least a month. I don’t know how many are gone. Maybe a hundred.”
Amanda felt faint. “A hundred!”
“Could be less. Could be more,” Leo said. “I haven’t had time to make a count, but it seems we’re missing mostly cows with calves by the bull.”
“I can’t understand why Gary didn’t say something,” Amanda said.
Leo shrugged. “I guess he didn’t want to worry you.”
“He didn’t want to worry me!” Amanda pulled her voice down to a nearly normal level. “How is going broke going to worry me less?”
Leo looked uncomfortable at having divulged information Amanda didn’t know. “I think I’ll ride ahead, put my rope on the bull so we’ll be ready to go when you get there.”
“I tied him to a post oak next to the dry wash,” Broc told Leo.
As Leo loped off, a couple of riders approached, nodded a greeting, and rode past. Amanda didn’t recognize either man. After they’d ridden a few minutes in silence, Broc said, “I heard Gary doesn’t like working on the ranch.”
Amanda looked up, felt her face flush. “What do you mean by that?”
“I don’t know that I mean anything,” Broc said.
“Yes, you do. I’ve thought from the first you knew more than you were saying.”
“I know almost nothing beyond what you’ve told me. Anything else is just conjecture.”
“Tell me what you conjecture. I saw something in your face when Leo first mentioned the missing cows.”
“If the cows really are missing, it’s because someone wants you to have to sell the ranch. I’ve been wondering who that someone could be.”
“It would have to be Carruthers or Sandoval.”
“Are you sure? Your father’s partner wants to marry you, but you won’t agree. Maybe he thinks losing the ranch would change your mind.”
“Corby would never do anything like that. He was here yesterday offering to marry me so he could help us keep the ranch,” she argued. “What else have you been conjecturing?”
“I’m not sure I should tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’ll be even angrier with me than you are now.”
“I’m not angry with you.”
“Do you tell all the men you’re not angry with to leave your ranch and never come back?”
“That’s different. You’d upset my mother.”
“I didn’t upset you?”
“Yes, you did.” It wasn’t a hot afternoon, but she was feeling warm from irritation. Frustration. Attraction.
“I don’t want to upset you again.”
She didn’t want to be upset, either, but he was the only experienced cowhand she could trust to tell her the truth. “I promise not to get upset.”
“You’ll hate what I’m going to say.”
She couldn’t imagine what he could say that would be that terrible. “I’m sure I won’t, but even if I did, I need to know. It might help me figure out what’s going on and who’s behind it.”
He hesitated.
“Come on. Leo already has a rope on the bull. If what you say is going to upset me so much, I’d rather it didn’t happen in front of him.”
“I’m not saying this is what’s happening, but you’ve got to consider all the possibilities.”
“Stop stalling. Spit it out.”
“Your brother hates working on the ranch and hopes your mother will sell it. Have you considered that he might be letting the bull out? And who would be in a better position to hide some of your cows until you’re forced to sell?”
Amanda was so appalled by his accusation, she was speechless. She wondered what kind of family he’d grown up in to make him think her brother would even think of doing something so horrible. Gary did hate to work on the ranch, but he was young and easily bored by hard work.
“Gary doesn’t enjoy working on the ranch, but he’d never do anything to hurt his family. How could you even think something like that?”
“I’m an outsider, so I’m not influenced by knowing anything about the people involved. I just look at facts and draw possible conclusions.”
“Well, that conclusion isn’t possible.” She was relieved to have reached the tree where Broc had tied the bull. She didn’t want him to know he’d upset her a lot more than she let on. If she hadn’t overheard what Gary had said to Corby yesterday, she wouldn’t have given Broc’s accusation a minute’s thought. But she had overheard it, and she couldn’t get it out of her mind.
She would have to talk to Gary. She didn’t believe he was responsible for any of their troubles, but he needed to stop broadcasting his dislike for the ranch. He also had to start telling her when something went wrong, especially when a hundred cows were missing.
She had intended to help with the bull, but he followed so docilely between Broc and Leo, she wondered what made the bull leave his pasture so often. She followed, relieved not to have to ride next to either man.
All the way back to the ranch she tried to convince herself neither Corby nor Gary was responsible for any of the trouble. She was satisfied her arguments against Gary’s involvement were solid. She was equally sure of her reasoning against Corby’s involvement. The difficulty came when it occurred to her that they might be working together. Forcing her mother to sell the ranch would accomplish what each of them was after. It upset her that she’d let someone she didn’t know cause her to question the honesty of two people she’d known most of her life. She didn’t know whether it was Broc or the logic of what he said, but she felt alone with only a stranger to depend on.
Her heart sank when, as they were approaching the ranch house, her mother came out on the porch. She took one look at Broc and gripped the porch rail for support. She wouldn’t say anything while Broc was here, but she’d fill Amanda’s ears with complaints as soon as he was gone. They had to ride past the house, the bunkhouse, and the shed to reach the bull’s pasture.
“Has anyone checked the fence?” Broc asked Amanda.
“I’ve been around it twice,” Leo told him. “Ain’t no way he could have gotten out except through the gate. You’d think if someone was trying to make us think the bull was getting out by itself, they’d put a break in the fence, but any fool knows there ain’t no bull can open that gate.”
Amanda thought maybe Leo was wrong. A circle of rope was looped over the end post of the fence and the end of the gate. It was conceivable the bull could have learned to lift it with his nose and push the gate open. Amanda explained her theory to Leo.
“Maybe it happened that way before, but not last night,” Leo said. “I tied a rope farther down between the braces. Show me a bull that can untie a knot, and I’ll show you a bull that ought to be in the circus.”
“Let’s put him in his pasture,” Broc said. “I need to get back to town.”
“Mind if I go with him?” Leo asked Amanda. “I’m tired of doing my work and Andy’s.”
“Go have a good evening,” she said, “but don’t drink too much or stay too late.”
Leo grinned. “Yes, Ma.”
Amanda blushed. “Sorry.”
Now it wa
s Leo’s turn to look uncomfortable. “It’s okay. It’s nice to have somebody to worry about me.”
Before she could respond, Eddie and Gary rode up.
“What’s he doing here?” Gary demanded, pointing at Broc, “and what’s he doing with our bull?”
“The bull got out again,” Leo told him. “He couldn’t untie the knot I made in the rope, so someone had to let him out.”
“That doesn’t tell me what he’s doing here,” he said, indicating Broc.
“He found the bull,” Amanda told her brother. Her mother, seeing that her sons had returned, had left the house and was walking toward them.
“How is it he’s always finding our bull?” Gary demanded.
“Because he’s smart,” Eddie said. “He likes horses.”
“Maybe he’s the one letting the bull out,” Gary said.
“Why would I do that?” Broc asked. “I didn’t even know who owned him when I found him a few days ago.”
“Maybe you did,” Gary accused. “Maybe you knew all along. Maybe you’re trying to make us so afraid something will happen to our bull that we’ll sell him and give you the money you say we owe.”
“He wouldn’t do that,” Eddie said.
Amanda thought the same thing but was relieved Eddie had said it for her. She had no rational explanation for her belief.
“I’m certain Earl Carruthers is responsible for this.” Her mother had arrived in time to hear Gary’s accusation. “He will do anything to force me to sell this ranch to him.”
“Why do you always blame everything on Mr. Carruthers?” Gary demanded, his anger growing.
“Because his men are the ones always causing us trouble,” Leo said.
“And he is the most insistent that I should sell the ranch now that your father has died,” her mother added. “He says it’s impossible for a woman to manage a ranch successfully. He says no cowhand with an ounce of self-respect would work for women.”
“I’m not a woman,” Gary said.
“Neither am I,” Eddie added.
“Mr. Carruthers thinks my being a widow is more important than having two sons,” her mother said.
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