“Sammy says he just wants to have a bigger ranch than Mr. Sandoval,” Eddie said.
“What would you or Sammy Loftus know about something like that?” Gary demanded.
“Sammy is a lying coyote, and I hate him,” Eddie declared, “but he said his friend Pete overheard Mr. Carruthers telling his pa he wasn’t doing any of those things we said he was doing. He said he was just waiting for us to sell so he could buy our ranch and be bigger than Sandoval.”
Amanda had reported the harassment to the sheriff, but she wasn’t surprised Carruthers had been able to convince Tom Mercer he was innocent. Mercer had the makings of a good sheriff, but Carruthers was rich and powerful, and they couldn’t prove anything beyond ordinary rivalry between cowhands.
“It doesn’t matter what Mr. Carruthers’s motives are,” her mother said. “They don’t change the fact that he’ll do anything to drive us away.”
“It’s unfair to keep saying that when you can’t prove it,” Gary protested.
“You’re only objecting because you like Priscilla and she doesn’t like you.” Eddie had a way of reducing things to their essentials.
“She does like me,” Gary said, “but she’d like me more if my whole family wasn’t ready to point a finger at her father every time a cow got a pimple.”
“What about the bull getting out all the time?” Amanda asked. “And what about the hundred cows and calves Leo tells me are missing?”
“A hundred cows!” her mother gasped. “That man will ruin us.”
Gary threw Leo an angry glance. “We don’t know how many are missing.”
“Only because we haven’t counted,” Leo said.
“Why haven’t you counted?” her mother asked.
“Cows wander all over looking for water and better grass when they’re not fenced,” Broc explained. “They scatter worse during storms, especially if there’s lightning. They also tend to stay away from people.”
“Why aren’t our cows in pens?” Mrs. Liscomb asked. “That’s what my father did.”
It wasn’t the first time Amanda wondered why her mother had insisted that her husband buy a ranch when she knew nothing about ranching and couldn’t seem to remember anything she’d been told.
“Nobody in Texas fences their cows,” Gary said, exasperated.
“Wood or timber fences are too expensive and take too much time to build and maintain,” Broc explained. “A Frenchman has been experimenting with twisting sharp points around wire, but so far I haven’t heard of anything like that for sale.”
“I never heard of such a thing.” It was obvious Gary thought Broc was lying.
“You will if he succeeds in producing a commercial product. It will end the open range. Ranchers will have to own the land they graze, not merely control it.”
“Is this true?” Leo asked.
“Of course not,” Gary said. “Nothing like that will ever happen.”
Both Amanda and her mother turned to Broc.
“The cattle industry in Texas is exploding. A cow that used to sell for three dollars in Texas can bring twenty dollars in Abilene. One that carries more meat can bring thirty or even forty dollars. Every rancher will soon be trying to do what you’re trying to do with this bull. It will be a lot easier and faster with fences.”
If Amanda had had any doubt that Broc was an experienced cowhand, she didn’t doubt now.
Her mother looked slightly dazed by Broc’s knowledge, but she recovered quickly. “That’s all the more reason for Carruthers to want us to fail,” she said.
“If Carruthers wants you to fail, it’s because you keep accusing him of everything that goes wrong here.” Gary turned to his sister. “Priscilla wouldn’t even talk to me after you went to the sheriff.”
“You should have been the one to do that,” Amanda told her brother.
“What we should do is sell this ranch and this damned bull and go back into partnership with Corby or start our own saloon.” Gary glowed with the enthusiasm of a zealot. “I know all we need to know. With Amanda singing and waiting tables, we’d soon have all the business we could handle.”
“I’m not very good with figures,” her mother said, “but if this man—” she pointed to Broc rather than using his name—“is correct in asserting that we can get as much as forty dollars for one cow, we’ll make more money with the ranch.”
“It depends on how many cows you have and whether you can get them to Abilene carrying a lot of weight, but a hundred cows at forty dollars each is four thousand dollars.”
Now Amanda understood more clearly why the only cows missing were those with calves by the bull.
“You’ve got to stop working in the saloon until we find the cows,” her mother said to Gary.
“We won’t have money to pay Leo and Andy.”
“Can we sell some of our yearlings?” She turned to Broc. “Is there a market for yearlings?”
“Not as much as for a mature steer.”
“I’ll stop working here before I stop working in the saloon,” Gary said. “I hate this ranch. I hate cows. I argued with Pa the whole time he was considering buying the ranch and the bull.”
“It’s not respectable to own a saloon,” their mother said.
“It is more respectable to starve?”
“There’s no question of starving,” Amanda said, trying to calm her brother’s burgeoning anger.
“I don’t mind working without wages for a time,” Leo volunteered. “Since Andy has a bum shoulder, you don’t have to pay him, either.”
“I couldn’t let you work without pay.” Their mother turned to Gary. “Amanda can keep working in the evenings. You have to stop.”
“No.”
Their mother looked stunned by Gary’s flat refusal, but Amanda wasn’t surprised. Her mother drew herself up in what Amanda privately referred to as her imperial mode.
“We need you here,” their mother said. “Amanda will tell Corby you’ve quit when she goes in this evening.”
“The hell with that!” Gary shouted. “Amanda will have nothing to tell Corby because I’m leaving.”
Chapter Seven
Broc watched Gary storm off toward the house.
“I’ll have everything out of the house before supper,” he shouted over his shoulder before turning and pointing to Broc. “You can let him have my place at the table.”
“Come back. Don’t walk away from me.”
Broc wanted to tell Mrs. Liscomb her attempts to establish control over her son were futile, but he’d already caused enough trouble in this family. All he wanted was to find a way to disappear quietly.
“Let him go,” Eddie told his mother. “Broc can work for us.”
Mrs. Liscomb looked as though she’d been slapped. “I’m sure Mr. Kincaid is quite capable, but Gary is your brother.”
“I bet Broc is better than Gary,” Eddie said. “He likes horses.”
“This has nothing to do with horses,” his mother snapped. “I’ll talk to Gary. He’ll change his mind.”
“I hope he doesn’t,” Eddie said after his mother left for the house.
“Edward Liscomb!” Amanda said, scandalized. “How can you say a thing like that?”
“Because Gary’s mean.” The boy looked defensive, but he wasn’t backing down.
Broc had several younger brothers. He knew how they felt about being bossed around by an older brother. Gary struck him as an unhappy young man who was just looking for an excuse to rebel. Hating the ranch and believing it stood in the way of his infatuation with Priscilla Carruthers was more than enough reason.
“I hope you don’t expect me to do his work as well as Andy’s,” Leo said to Amanda.
“Of course not,” Amanda said. “Eddie and I will help as much as we can.”
Leo looked at the bull, which had wandered off to a more inviting patch of grass. “I’m certainly not sitting up all night to see how he’s getting out.”
Amanda looked so tired, so defeated, Bro
c wanted to offer to do Gary’s work for her, but he could help her best by leaving. Maybe he could talk to her brother later that evening in the saloon. He didn’t think the boy was a bad kid; Gary was just trying to establish his independence from his mother and survive his first serious romance at the same time.
“How long before supper?” Leo asked. “I got a couple of things I need to do.”
“Will an hour give you enough time?” Amanda asked.
“I guess.” Leo disappeared into the lengthening shadows on the east side of the bunkhouse.
“I’ll be going,” Broc said.
“I would like to talk to you if you have time,” Amanda said.
“I don’t know anything more about the debt.”
“It’s not about that. I wanted to ask some questions about ranching.”
“If you really want to know what’s going on, let me put you in touch with the friend I work for. He’s dealt with cows all his life.”
“I’d rather talk to you.”
Broc didn’t like the way her words made him feel. He could deal with being attracted to Amanda as long as there was no possibility she might return his interest. Even the possibility that she might like him would raise hopes that would be painful to extinguish. He had thought he was beyond such struggles. It was a bitter surprise to learn he was probably no more immune than Gary.
Deciding it would be better to do anything rather than continue to stare at Amanda, Broc led the horses to the shed to be unsaddled. “You ought to hire an experienced cowman. He could teach you what you need to know.”
“I’ve tried, but we don’t have enough money to compete with Carruthers or Sandoval. Every time I’ve found someone, they hire him or drive him off.”
He had never met either man, but he’d learned a little of their reputations in town. They were accounted to be hard but fair competitors. “How do they do that?”
“Mostly they either offer more money or make it clear it would be easier to look for a job elsewhere. I only got Leo and Andy to work for us because they were too young and inexperienced for Carruthers to bother.”
“Have you talked to the sheriff?”
“He said he couldn’t go up against two such powerful men without solid proof.”
Broc would have expected him to do just that. During the war, the Night Riders had attacked trains, supply wagons, munitions dumps, anything that stood in the way of victory. They never asked whether the opponent was too big or too powerful because the opponent was always too numerous and too powerful. Yet they’d never suffered defeat or significant casualties until one of their own had betrayed them.
“Have you talked to the two men?” Broc asked.
“Yes, but they denied doing anything.”
“I’d begin by putting a padlocked chain on the gate to the bull’s pasture. If someone is letting him out, they’ll have to take down some fence. Then you’ll have something to show the sheriff.”
“What about the missing cows?”
“As long as you only have one man working for you, I don’t see how you can do much more than try to keep them away from Carruthers’s range.”
He would have done more. He’d have searched the surrounding land, even if he’d had to do it at night. He’d have put a halt to the harassment by the cowhands. He’d have had the sheriff out there looking into things if he’d had to drag him by his shirt collar.
“Andy will be back in the saddle soon.”
He didn’t think Andy would contribute much, but he had eyes and could look for the cows. Rustling was a serious offense that was always sure to unite cattlemen regardless of what they thought of each other individually.
But why was he worrying about Amanda’s problems? She wanted nothing to do with him. No woman who wasn’t desperate would. She was only talking to him because she didn’t have anyone else. He really needed to get back to town. Staring at her, thinking of how nice it would be if she would smile at him again, if he could just touch her hand, brush her cheek, kiss—
He snapped that thought like a thread. It was mental and physical torture. If he didn’t concentrate on something else, his body was going to make it obvious what he was thinking. After that, she wouldn’t even speak to him. That would probably be the easiest way to get over his infatuation, but he didn’t want it to happen. It was pathetic to admit, but even a tiny bit of attention was better than none.
“Look, bring the cows with calves by the bull closest in. When you breed a cow with the bull, mark it so you’ll be able to track it until it calves. If you’ve got anyplace that offers natural barriers, like a canyon, even a wide streambed, keep as many of your cows there as you can. Keep them away from points of contact with Carruthers and Sandoval’s range.”
“That sounds like a lot of supervision.”
She looked so overwhelmed, he wanted to take her in his arms and assure her that everything would work out. More than that, he wanted to pound some sense into Gary’s head. The young man should be helping his sister, not causing more trouble. He also longed to have a few words with Mrs. Liscomb. She was using her position as their mother to keep her children dependent on her, making them feel guilty if they didn’t respond to her every need. Broc didn’t care where she was born, who her parents had been, or if she’d lived in a mansion. She was in Texas now. Women with more exalted backgrounds and greater privilege had plucked up their courage and decided honest work wasn’t beneath their dignity. It was time Mrs. Liscomb learned the same lesson.
But he wasn’t the one to teach it to her. She thought he was a hideously disfigured crook who was trying to steal money from the family.
“Amanda, come talk to your brother.”
Broc turned to see Mrs. Liscomb standing on the porch, wringing her hands. He wanted to tell her to gather up Gary’s stuff and throw it after him. The sooner her son realized running away was stupid, the sooner he would be back.
“I have to go,” Amanda said. “Thank you for finding the bull.”
“I wish she’d let Gary leave,” Eddie said.
Broc had forgotten the boy was still there. “He’ll come to his senses soon.”
“No, he won’t,” Eddie said. “He hates the ranch. He told me he hopes the bull runs away and never comes back. He told me he hopes all the cows get stolen and Mama has to sell the ranch. He said then she’d move back to town and he could work in the saloon all the time and marry Priscilla.”
“It’s hard to be in love with someone who doesn’t love you in return.”
“I don’t want any girl loving me,” Eddie declared.
Broc hid his smile. “You won’t always feel that way. Now I’d better go, and you need to help your sister.”
Eddie squared his shoulders. “If I was bigger, I’d punch Gary in the nose.”
Broc did smile then. He remembered one of his younger brothers saying the same thing. “I don’t think that would make things any better.”
“I’d feel better,” Eddie declared. “A lot better.”
Broc chuckled as he watched Eddie head toward the house with a walk that was more of a swagger. It was a shame he wasn’t the older brother instead of Gary.
But as Broc rode back to town, he found himself thinking about Amanda, the swell of her breasts, the softness of her lips, the way her hips moved under her dress. He could empathize with every man who watched her each night, knowing he would never get any closer. The Open Door might be the only decent saloon within twenty miles, but he would have been better off drinking his beer down by the creek with only stray dogs for company. Or in the livery stable with nothing but drowsing horses to witness his misery.
Thinking about Amanda’s body got his blood so warm, he became uncomfortable in the saddle. If he wasn’t able to get his thoughts under control, it would be better for him to go back to Crystal Springs and let the judge put him in jail. At least that way he wouldn’t be able to wander the countryside hoping the bull would escape again so he would have an excuse to see Amanda once mor
e.
But he wasn’t going back to Crystal Springs yet. If he had to go to jail, there was no sense rushing. He would hang around, keeping his eyes and ears open. Something was wrong on the Lazy T, and he intended to find out what it was.
“There’s no use asking me to follow him,” Amanda said to her mother after Gary had slammed through the front door. “He’s not going to listen to me if he won’t listen to you.”
“But he can’t leave. What am I going to do without him?”
Amanda wanted to tell her mother they had already been doing without Gary, but she swallowed the words. “Let him find out what it’s like to live without someone to cook his meals, clean his room, and wash his clothes.”
“What will we do without the money he earns?” her mother asked.
Amanda didn’t have an answer for that. “I don’t think he’ll stay away long, but I’ll speak to him about the money.”
“If he won’t give us any money, you’ll have to work more.” Her mother looked chagrined. “I don’t know how I can stand the humiliation.”
“I don’t see why not. It isn’t you the men will be gaping at.”
Her mother stiffened; her eyes flashed. “How can you speak to me like that after the way Gary behaved?”
Normally Amanda would have backed down, but her blood was up. “How can you believe my working in the saloon embarrasses you and not me?”
“I never wanted you to work in that place,” her mother said. “That’s why I begged your father to buy this ranch.”
“Didn’t you stop to think that once you had this ranch, you would have to work to make it successful?”
Her mother looked at her in surprise. “Your father never wanted me to work.”
“Why is it beneath you but fine for me?”
Amanda felt as horrified as her mother looked. She’d never spoken to her like that. She’d never even argued with her. She didn’t know what had gotten into her, but once the words started, she couldn’t stop them. And she wasn’t ashamed. She was angry, so angry she was trembling. Far too angry to apologize. She couldn’t stay in the house. The way she was feeling right now, she had no idea what she might say.
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