“It would kill me to sell a single thing in this house,” her mother declared. “It all belonged to my mother.”
“If we lose the ranch, we’ll have to start selling things so we can eat.”
“I don’t care what you sell,” Eddie said, “but I got to eat.” He looked at a tray table that was one of her mother’s most prized possessions. It was an heirloom that had come from England. “What good is that old table? All you need is a box to set a lamp on.”
If the discussion hadn’t been so serious, Amanda would have laughed at Eddie’s impatience while her mother detailed the origin and history of the table. And that included the ordeal of transporting it and other valuable possessions from Mississippi to Texas. When she nearly cried over a scratch that had occurred sometime during the journey, Amanda lost patience.
“You have to decide how much you’re willing to do to keep the things that are important to you. I’m willing to spend my day in the saddle and my evening working in the saloon.”
“I’ll be in the saddle, too,” Eddie said.
“That leaves the chickens and the milking to you,” Amanda said to her mother.
“I don’t know how to milk a cow,” her mother stated.
“It’s easy,” Eddie said. “I’ll teach you.”
“You can’t say you don’t know how to feed chickens or pick up eggs,” Amanda said.
“Or slop the pigs,” Eddie added.
With a sigh of surrender, her mother said, “I’m not stupid.”
“We need your help, Mama, if we’re going to pull out of this mess.”
“Are you depending on me, or that man out there?” She gestured in the general direction of the bunkhouse.
“I’ll take any help I can get,” Amanda said. “I don’t expect Broc to stay long, but he knows more about cows than I do. I hope he’ll teach me as much as he can.”
“If he brings up that debt again, I won’t have him in the house,” her mother said. “I will not feed a man who’s trying to steal from me.”
Amanda kept forgetting about the debt. She didn’t know if it was real, but she had to find out. If it was valid, they would have to sell something. “I think he’s washed his hands of the debt.”
“I’d like to wash my hands of him,” her mother said. “I don’t like him, and I don’t trust him.”
“I like him,” Eddie said.
Amanda liked and trusted him, but she thought it would be better not to say that to her mother.
“You sure you want to work here?” Leo asked as he and Broc walked toward the bunkhouse. “Carruthers is gonna set his men on you first chance he gets.”
“I can take care of myself.” Carruthers was arrogant and bullheaded, but he had to know harassment could only go so far before he ran afoul of the law. Broc didn’t have a high opinion of the sheriff, but he didn’t think Mercer would stand for that.
“I’m not sticking my head in a noose just because you got Carruthers mad at you. It’s for dang sure Andy won’t do it.”
It quickly became apparent Andy wasn’t going to do anything to help Broc.
The bunkhouse was no exception. It had been built to house six men, with the bunks evenly spaced around the room and a table and chair provided for each. A trunk at the foot of the bed and shelves above each bunk provided each cowhand with more than enough space for his personal belongings. A stove with a pipe going through the roof stood in the middle of the bunkhouse. A lantern suspended from the ceiling provided the light. When they walked in, Andy was lounging on his bed, flipping through a catalog, smoking a small Mexican cigar. When he saw Broc, he gathered up some pictures lying on the bed and slid them under his pillow.
“What’s he doing here?” he demanded.
“Amanda just hired him to be foreman,” Leo explained.
“I ain’t working for him,” Andy said.
“You’ll be working for the Liscomb family,” Broc said. “They pay your wages.”
“You know what I mean,” Andy barked. “I ain’t taking orders from you.”
Broc decided it would be best to calm Andy down. The boy hadn’t yet decided to quit, and they needed his help. “Amanda will be riding with us. She’ll be giving the orders, not me.”
Andy’s disbelief was obvious. “She’s never ridden with us before.”
“Things have changed now that Gary has moved out.”
“He never did much,” Andy complained. “I don’t imagine she’s gonna be any better.”
“Maybe Eddie will make up the difference.”
Andy sat bolt upright. “I ain’t riding with a kid.”
Broc had never had a high opinion of Andy, and it wasn’t getting any higher. “For a man who’s being paid to do very little, you’ve got a lot of requirements.”
Andy turned sullen. “She makes me get in the saddle every day even though I got a bum shoulder.”
“There’s nothing wrong with your eyes.”
Andy’s feelings weren’t assuaged, but Broc had enough brothers to know Andy was at a difficult age.
“You ain’t getting those cows back,” Andy said. “Carruthers or Sandoval got them. They’re probably halfway to Kansas by now.”
Broc knew no sensible rancher would attempt to trail calves more than a thousand miles. “For the family’s sake, I hope not. Now does anybody care where I drop my stuff?”
“I don’t,” Leo said.
Andy didn’t say anything.
“Good. I’ll take the bunk by the door.”
“You’ll get a draft every time Andy or I open that door.”
“I don’t mind. Maybe it’ll blow away some of Andy’s smoke. If he sets the bunkhouse on fire, I’ll be the first one out.”
Andy snuffed his cigar out. “At least I don’t chew tobacco or use snuff.”
Broc would have preferred either to smoking, but he didn’t say so. “Glad to hear it. Now I’m going to bed.”
“I’m not ready to blow out the light,” Andy said.
“I can sleep in broad daylight with people talking, playing cards, even singing. You won’t bother me.”
Broc hadn’t brought the majority of his belongings, because he wasn’t sure Amanda would hire him. Since he didn’t know how long he would be here, it might be better to leave them at the hotel.
“I’m going to check on the bull,” he said.
“Want me to come with you?” Leo asked.
“Only if you want.”
Leo grinned. “I’ll stay. No point in working if I don’t have to.”
That attitude would keep Leo working for someone else for the rest of his life.
The sky was blotted with dark clouds that blocked the moonlight and filled the landscape with dancing shadows and eerily dark corners. It would have been easy to stumble over anything lying in his path.
The horses in the corral were like ink blots against an even darker background. Those with white splashes in their coats looked like puzzles with pieces missing. All stood quietly, their heads hanging down, sleeping standing up. A sorrel looked up when Broc passed, then dropped his head once more.
It took Broc several minutes before he found where the bull had lain down in the shadow of the shed provided to shelter him from the worst weather. The cows, being wild creatures, were as far away from the house as they could get.
Broc stood watching the bull for several minutes. It seemed odd that the future of a family should rest on the genes of an animal that would run away the first chance it got. The bull couldn’t understand that it received food, protection, and an endless procession of wives in exchange. The animal didn’t know it wouldn’t last long in a fight with one of the range bulls. It just responded to its instincts to bolt to freedom when it got the chance.
Ironic that Broc was doing his best to ignore his instincts to stay as far away from Amanda as possible. Losing his temper had twice given him a reason to stay close to her. It would have been impossible to predict the consequences of the first outburst, but he wonde
red if the second loss of temper might have been a subconscious attempt to find a reason to go back to the Lazy T ranch. He didn’t trust himself where Amanda was concerned. He’d lost control of his thoughts. It was going to be difficult to be around her all day and not betray his feelings.
She’d shown no sign that she liked him, but what if she was holding back? What if she was interested in him but didn’t feel she could express such an interest in a man she probably thought was trying to extort money from her?
Even if she didn’t think Broc was a crook, she had to have doubts about his honesty. Her giving him a job as her foreman wouldn’t change that. She had probably decided to work with him because she didn’t feel she could trust him. Her mother didn’t like or trust him, either. Andy had already made his feelings plain. Having Eddie and Leo on his side would only help so much. If he had any sense, he’d leave the Liscombs to solve their problems by themselves and go back to Crystal Springs to get his time in jail behind him.
With a muttered curse, he pushed away from the fence. He might as well accept that he wasn’t going anywhere. He didn’t know what would happen in the next several days, but he had to be a part of it. If Amanda didn’t like him, he would have to live with that, too. It wasn’t the end of the world.
“But it will feel like it,” he said to the bull, which ignored him. “It will feel exactly like that.”
Amanda was relieved when breakfast came to an end. She was anxious to get to work, but she was even more anxious to get out of the house. Her mother had been in a rotten mood all morning, not answering Amanda at least half the times Amanda had spoken to her. Amanda hated that kind of tense atmosphere, but she was determined to stand by her decision.
“That was a fine breakfast,” Broc said to her mother. “I’m already looking forward to supper.”
“It wasn’t anything much,” her mother replied in a voice that didn’t reflect her usual rigid civility. “It’s not hard to cook breakfast.”
To hear the way her mother had talked while she was fixing it, you would have thought it was one of the labors of Hercules, a mythical figure her mother always mentioned when faced with anything she thought was beyond human capabilities. Amanda was glad she wasn’t going to be around when her mother tackled preparations for supper. She felt sorry for poor Eddie. She was tempted to let him ride with them, but she wanted to wait until she learned enough about the work to know if it would be safe. It was clear Eddie wouldn’t be satisfied going with Leo or Andy. Even her. He wanted to be with Broc.
“It may be a simple task for a woman of your talents,” Broc was saying, “but it’s beyond my abilities.”
Amanda sensed her mother was responding to Broc’s compliments. She didn’t smile or relent in her disapproval—she was also angry he’d taken Gary’s place at the table—but she didn’t look quite as moody as before. It would be amazing if he could charm her into a better frame of mind. Only Gary and her father had ever been able to do that.
“I’d like to get started,” Amanda said to the men. “That includes you, Andy.” He was so sullen, she wondered if he might quit even though he was afraid of how Sandoval’s men would treat him. “I want everybody to be ready to ride out in thirty minutes.”
The men didn’t linger. While Amanda made her final preparations, she ran through the things she hoped to accomplish during the day. By the time she slipped out the back door, she had the whole day organized. She would soon know if she was any good at running a ranch, or whether she should try to convince Broc to become her permanent foreman.
She didn’t know whether it was that thought or the sight of him waiting with the horse he’d saddled for her that was responsible for the surge of warmth coursing through her body, but she hoped it wasn’t as obvious to an observer as it was to her. She’d given up telling herself she shouldn’t have such a strong physical response to him. Instead, she had to concentrate on keeping the few facts she knew about him from getting buried under the weight of the attraction. He was a stranger about whom she knew virtually nothing. He’d arrived with a claim against her family that everyone believed to be a crude attempt to rob them. He had been a very handsome man before he was wounded so severely.
It was the areas of supposition, of conjecture, that had the potential to lead her into great trouble.
Despite what appeared to be evidence to the contrary, she believed he was a man of principle. Though she knew he found her attractive, he had never made her feel that her appearance was all he noticed about her. If he really was a cowhand, he knew more about running a ranch than she did. But maybe the most compelling reason for her interest in him was the feeling that he was a leader who had the ability to command the loyalty and confidence of others. She was certain he wouldn’t back down from a challenge. She didn’t have proof any of this, but she hoped to be in a better position to judge by the end of the day.
“What are your first orders?” Leo asked. He seemed to be as amused at the prospect of taking orders from a woman as Andy was irritated by it.
“I feel uncomfortable directing you. I know less about this job than any of you do.”
“You’re the owner,” Broc said. “That gives you the right to give any orders you like.”
“Well, the first thing I want to do is to become familiar with every part of our range. Since you know even less than I do, I’m depending on Leo and Andy to tell us everything we need to know.”
“All in one day?” Andy gave the impression that it would take weeks to learn what he knew.
“I learn quickly,” Broc said. “I’m sure Miss Liscomb does, too.”
“Call me Amanda. Hearing myself called Miss Liscomb makes me feel like I ought to be back at the house doing needlepoint.”
Andy muttered something under his breath. From the look on Broc’s face, Amanda decided against asking him to repeat it.
“My first concern is finding the missing cows and calves,” she said. “The future of the ranch, and the future of your jobs, depends on it.”
“Then let’s get to work,” Leo said. “I need some new boots.”
“Since Leo is the one who knows the ranch best, he’ll ride with me,” Amanda said. “Andy, you can answer any questions Broc has.”
“I know as much as Leo,” Andy protested.
“Then you can ride with me in the afternoon.”
Broc didn’t know how much of Andy’s rotten attitude came from having a bum shoulder and how much came from a poorly developed personality, but he wasn’t a man Broc would have hired to work on any ranch he owned. They were supposed to tally the number of cows, calves, bulls, and steers. They also were supposed to keep a record of how many calves were sired by range bulls and how many by the home bull. Broc had volunteered to keep the written count because of Andy’s shoulder. He’d ended up doing the physical count as well, because Andy couldn’t remember which cows he’d counted and which ones he hadn’t.
“How many calves do we have by range bulls?” Amanda asked.
“One hundred eighty-two so far,” Broc responded.
“How many by the home bull?”
“Forty-seven.”
“It ought to be close to half the total number of calves.”
“We know we’ve got at least a hundred missing,” Leo said.
In less than two hours, Broc knew Gary Liscomb had been useless as a ranch foreman. Rustlers could have robbed the ranch blind and he probably wouldn’t have noticed.
“There’s no point in arguing about that,” Amanda said. “What we need to do is find out what happened to them.”
“They probably wandered off,” Andy said.
In open range ranching, cows were free to wander anywhere they wanted. The only way to know what you had was to round them up and count them. You had to depend on other ranchers to tell you how many of your cows were on their range. Laws passed by the Reconstruction government had made it so easy to cheat that Cade had insisted all the ranchers in his area do the roundup together. Broc was goin
g to recommend the same thing to Amanda.
“Is there any way to know where they went?” Amanda asked.
“It’s impossible to follow cows,” Andy said.
“Not always,” Broc intervened. “If you watch them every day, you’ll soon learn their pattern. Cows are like all herd animals. They tend to stay in their own territory.”
“Do you think the missing cows will come back to the ranch?” Amanda asked.
“It’s hard to say. They may have found better pasture, been incorporated into another herd, or been prevented from staying on their familiar range.”
“How do we start looking for them?”
“I’d begin by going over to see Carruthers and Sandoval. Tell them that a large number of your cows are missing and ask them to have their cowhands look out for them and let you know what they find.”
“Neither one of them will do that,” Leo said.
“Maybe not, but we won’t know until we ask them.”
“We’re not far from Carruthers’s ranch now,” Amanda said. “We can ask him first.”
“You’ll ask him without me,” Andy said. “I’m not giving any of those bastards a chance to break my other shoulder.”
Broc had a low opinion of Andy’s courage and common sense, but he decided the boy was probably right this time. If nothing else, the men would probably enjoy jeering at him.
“You and Leo continue counting the cows,” Amanda said. “Broc and I will go see Carruthers.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Leo asked.
Broc wondered why Leo would ask such a question, but he could tell the boy had done so reluctantly.
“Why not?” Amanda asked.
Leo studied the pommel of his saddle. “It’s not a good idea to go off alone with a man you don’t know much about.”
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