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“And have somebody kill it, like the lambs? I couldn’t stand that. It would break my heart.”
“For a tough woman, you’re such a tenderhearted thing. Come here.” He caught her close and swept her back to the bed. After unbuttoning her cotton shirt, he buried his face between her breasts—small, perfect breasts, the nipples as dark as raisins. Hearing her say that she loved him had thawed a frozen place in his heart. Until Rose, he’d stopped believing that he was worthy of love, or that he could ever love again. But he’d been wrong. They were two broken people—but somehow the shattered pieces seemed to fit together, making them whole.
He left her before dawn, bending down to kiss her sleeping face. She opened her eyes with a whimper and caught his neck to deepen the kiss. Once his first rotating partner arrived at the new office, he would miss these nights with Rose. But he wouldn’t subject her to the gossip that would arise if he openly spent his nights with her. They could only make the most of the time they had.
After checking the yard for signs of intruders, and finding none, he climbed in his truck and drove away. Right now, the future was too uncertain to make plans. But he could no longer imagine a life without Rose. Somehow, he would find a way to make things work out for them. Meanwhile, he had a job to do.
* * *
Rose woke again at first light. For the space of a few breaths, she lay still, her body warm with the memory of Tanner’s lovemaking. Then the concerns of the day flooded in on her—first and foremost, Raul and Joaquin. Were they all right? Was Bull’s family all right? What if she’d made a terrible mistake, trusting them enough to leave them at the Rimrock?
She flung herself out of bed, pulled on her clothes, splashed her face, and tied back her hair. After feeding the chickens, she grabbed her keys off the hook by the door, locked the trailer, and headed for the Rimrock in her pickup.
In the east, a flaming sunrise greeted the day. The rains had ended, leaving the land summer dry. Soon the Rimrock cattle in the lower pastures would be coming to the water tank to drink, testing the strength of her fence. If she didn’t want her yard trampled, she would have to think about reinforcing the posts and wire.
A plume of dust trailed b
ehind her wheels as she drove into the ranch yard. The place looked surprisingly peaceful, with cows and calves grazing in the paddocks and a couple of ranch hands filling the water troughs.
Bull was sitting on the porch, drinking coffee. He stood as she drove up and parked below the steps. “I’ve been wondering when you’d show up,” he said as she climbed out of the truck. “Come on in and have some breakfast.”
She took the steps two at a time. “Where are Joaquin and Raul?” she demanded. “Is everything all right?”
“Everything’s fine. At least I hope it is. Raul and Joaquin are on their way up to the line shack in the mountain pasture. Jasper and Sam took them in the pickup this morning, with a load of supplies. Our Mexican boys will be up there tending cattle for the summer months. They’ll have horses, but no vehicle. If they stay put, they should be safe enough, and hopefully so should you.”
“What if they don’t stay put?” Rose was still worried.
“Let’s hope we won’t have to answer that question.” The dark look Bull gave her expressed more than words. There was another side to this man, a side she’d only glimpsed at times like this. When it came to protecting his land and his family, there were no limits to what Bull Tyler would do.
Something told her that the decision to send the two men to the line shack had not been made lightly.
“Come on in,” he said with a jovial smile that didn’t fool her. “Bernice is making flapjacks. I’ll have her throw on a couple extra. Will and Beau will be in once they’re ready for school. They’ll be glad to see you.”
“Did you tell them about the lambs?”
“I told them. They cried, but it’s time they learn that life on a ranch isn’t always pretty. Bad things happen.”
The table was set in the dining room. Rose took a seat and helped herself to some coffee. “Tanner found out who killed the lambs. It was somebody working for Ferg.”
“I could’ve told you that.” Bull forked a couple of flapjacks from the platter on the table and dropped them onto Rose’s plate.
“What I can’t understand is why.”
“I could’ve told you that, too. Ferg hates sheep even more than I do. But I’m guessing that what he really wanted was for you to blame me so he could move in and show some sympathy, maybe worm his way into your good graces and eventually get some concessions on the water rights. Think about it. It almost worked.”
“It’s not just that.” Rose poured syrup on her flapjacks. “He’s having me watched. He even admitted to it. He said it was perfectly legal.”
“It sounds like I need to go have a talk with him,” Bull said. “I can set the bastard straight on a few things.”
“No.” Rose put down her fork. “Not you, Bull. It has to be me. Ferg needs to know that I can stand up for myself. I don’t need a man to stand up for me. Not Tanner, and not you.”
They might have fallen to arguing, but just then Will and Beau came into the dining room, scrubbed, combed, and dressed in fresh school clothes. Laying their backpacks on the end of the table, they sat down, speared two flapjacks each, and drowned them in syrup.
“We feel bad about your lambs, Rose,” Will said. “That was a mean thing to do.”
“It was Ferg who had them killed,” Bull said. “Ferg is a mean man. Remember that if you ever have any dealings with that family. Trust a skunk before a rattlesnake . . .”
“And trust a rattlesnake before a Prescott. We know.” Beau’s jaded tone suggested he’d heard it all before. “Can we ride our ponies after school?”
