Chapter Five #2
A silence followed, and for a moment Jordan thought Connery was going to push, but instead he said, “I can fit you in tomorrow. Noon. That work?”
“It does. See you then.”
*
“Only six more.” Dakota Walker, Lil and Meg’s part-time ranch hand, dropped into the alleyway from the top, landing behind the startled calf, which he then pushed into the squeeze chute.
Meg dropped the rear gate as Dakota gave a final shove, trapping the animal.
In his late teens, Dakota was still gangly but strong enough to successfully hold his own against livestock of all sizes.
He’d worked for the sisters piecemeal throughout his freshman year at Montana State.
Now that summer had come, he could give them three or four days a week, meshing the work with his schedule on his own family ranch.
He needed the extra money, and Meg and Lil needed the help, especially now that Meg was working for the school district.
“Tag?” Lil called as Meg gave the calf a shot in the neck.
“B18.”
Lil wrote the heifer’s weight on the clipboard. “Got it.”
She opened the headgate, and the calf bounded out. A moment later, after the rear gate opened, Dakota pushed in another.
The beauty of only having eighty calves, as opposed to the several hundred they had on the family ranch during its heyday when their mother was alive, was that the three of them could vaccinate and weigh in a matter of hours instead needing a full crew and most of a day.
Their operation wasn’t a huge money maker, but they’d made a profit last year. Now that Meg had a job teaching and Lil was taking on more horses, they would do even better as long as cattle prices didn’t bottom out.
If they could stay put, that was. Lil had spent the previous evening researching the lease market.
She had no intention of moving, but if they had to …
well, they would not be making a profit, at least not in the beginning.
Moving was expensive, setting up a ranch took time, if they could find a suitable place to lease at a reasonable cost. She was sorry that Jordan found himself in a situation, but she would only move as a last resort.
Maya agreed and then mentioned that they would be able to talk more in a couple of weeks because she had a conference in Seattle.
“I’ll make a stopover on the way. Just make sure I don’t have to get my hands dirty.”
It was a running joke in the family because Maya was not the typical eldest ranch daughter.
She was very much like Aubrey in her feelings about cattle, preferring to handle the house chores and focus on academics while Meg and Lil had followed their father around the property, pitching in wherever needed.
Dakota climbed out of the alleyway as Meg and Lil processed the last calf. “I’ll move the wheel lines and then I need to get back to town.”
“Hot date?” Meg cracked.
“Hot dinner. Grandma’s coming. I’ll be back on Monday if that’s all right.”
“That’s fine,” Lil said. “Meg loves to move wheel line.”
“Oh, yeah. Love.” She waved a hand at Dakota. “Get out of here.”
After Dakota had driven away in his father’s truck, Lil leaned on the fence and watched the reunited cows and calves scatter in the grassy field.
She didn’t have to leave this place, go through the hell of moving equipment and livestock and losing money in the process.
She just wished she didn’t feel twitchy about it.
Speaking of twitchy, she had yet to work Dudley. He’d been improving, finally accepting the fact that Lil wasn’t going to be pushed around. Today, they’d have a long pasture ride while she checked the fence.
They set out to the far end of the fields at a brisk trot and Dudley seemed to appreciate the opportunity to burn energy. He slowed to a walk when they reached the perimeter fence and actually stepped out instead of jigging.
By the time they reached the stretch of fence Lil had fixed the previous day, Dudley had relaxed to the point that she was riding him on a loose rein.
It was only as they approached the area where the wires had been cut that Lil began to tense up and, because of that, Dudley did the same.
At least he was attuned to her, which was a good step forward.
The wires were tight, the sun was shining, no reason to be tense. Lil forced herself to relax, only to be caught off guard when Dudley’s weight dropped from beneath her, then he launched himself sideways.
She fought to regain her balance, but it was useless because Dudley, either out of fear or a sense of advantage, began some serious bucking while she was off balance.
Lil hit the ground still holding the reins that were then yanked out of her hand, burning her palm.
Dudley took off across the pasture toward safety, leaving Lil sitting in damp grass.
She started to get up, then stopped as a cracking sound from the other side of the fence made her heart jump. Her gaze jerked around in time to see something largish moving through the thick brush before disappearing into the gulley where the creek ran.
A bear?
Head pounding, she got to her feet and walked backward for several yards before turning and heading for the small hill Dudley had disappeared over.
A few steps later she stopped. Turned. There was no further movement in the brush.
No sound that her straining ears could pick up. A bear would be long gone by now.
Screwing up her courage, she reversed course and approached the fence. Nothing seemed different from the day before, but as she traced a visual line from the area of the repair to the brush where the dark form had disappeared, she made out fresh boot prints in the soft soil.
Not a bear.
She put a hand on her chest to keep her heart from beating its way out.
The conservancy land was not wilderness. It could be accessed by the owner or people to whom they gave permission. Conservancy simply restricted use and allowed wildlife a refuge. Hiking was allowed.
Fine. It could be a hiker. But why would boot prints lead to the exact spot where she’d repaired the fence? And why had Jordan asked about other things happening on the ranch the day before? Did he know something she didn’t?
She needed to get out of there as badly as she needed answers.
Feeling like eyes were boring into her, Lil hurried to the top of the small hill, allowing herself the occasional glance over her shoulder to assure herself that she was indeed alone. When she crested the hill, she stopped, stunned by the sight of a bay gelding calmly eating grass in the swale.
Bless you, Dudley … if she could catch him.
Dudley sidestepped as she approached but held ground as she took hold of the loose reins, which were surprisingly still intact.
Lil checked the horse for injuries, then remounted.
Dudley had thoughts about the process, but after pulling his nose to his shoulder so that he could only move in a circle, he decided that, yes, she could come aboard and maybe he’d take her to the ranch.
“Dudley, I think I love you,” she muttered as the ranch came into view and she spotted Jordan’s truck parked next to the barn.
She hadn’t expected him until the following day, so she truly appreciated not arriving ten minutes after her horse and dealing with the questions that would follow.
She also appreciated knowing that Jordan wasn’t the guy on Weston land.
She didn’t know that she could trust him, but he wasn’t snipping fences.
Unless he’d hired that job out.
Shit.
“Let’s go see what the landlord is up to.”
Jordan was most of the way down the ladder by the time she rode through the pasture gate.
“I didn’t expect you until tomorrow,” she said as his boots hit the ground.
“I had a change of schedule. I have a meeting tomorrow, so I thought I’d put a couple of hours this afternoon.
It won’t take much longer. I just need to nail the shingles into place.
” He frowned as his gaze traveled over her and Lil looked down to find that she had small dry weeds sticking to the side of her shirt and a grass stain down the side of her jeans from where she’d hit the ground.
“Good ride?” he asked mildly.
“I’ve had better.” She coiled Dudley’s reins. “I guess I’ll leave you to it.”