by Angel Wolfe
Kat had known of Rick most of her life, but they had only gotten close a few years ago when his wife had passed away. Being mostly a loner, she had never really had many friends and had always stayed to herself. Other than her sister, not many people knew anything about her that wasn’t made up and spread around in rumors.
Rick on the other hand was well known and well liked throughout the county and his family had been there for generations. His father was the county judge and his mother, a prominent member of society. What Kat didn’t know was that Rick knew a lot more about her then she would have liked.
He remembered back when she was a kid in the schoolroom, she was always quiet and withdrawn but intrigued him even then. He used to follow her and her sister home from time to time just to make sure they were ok and then later to see where she and her sister had moved to. He knew she grew up dirt poor and abused after her step-father and mother had died when she was only thirteen. He just didn’t know her worst deep, dark secret and she wasn’t offering to tell it; at least not yet.
It took over an hour to ride back to the house. Once they got there, he was impressed again as he always was by the fact that she had worked so hard to get the land, build the house, and to build two separate but totally amazing herds; the palominos and the angus. Her pride and joy, Golddust was named after her ranch, or vice versa. He would have to remember to ask her some day when they didn’t have more pressing matters to deal with.
They eased out of their saddles, loosened the cinches, and walked the animals until they had cooled down enough to turn out into separate corrals to drink and rest. The horses got along fine while being ridden due to the good manners Kat instilled in all her animals; but both being stallions, they wouldn’t stand for sharing the same space alone with each other for very long.
As they headed up the packed dirt walkway, Kat stumbled over an unseen rock. Rick quickly grabbed her to save her from the fall. They both felt the spark shoot through them as his hand accidentally brushed her breast. She chose to ignore it for the moment and tucked the memory away to savor later. He on the other hand jerked his hand away as if she had burned him with the slight contact.
As they got to the porch, he opened the door for her, suddenly remembering that he wanted to keep her on her toes enough to think about him even after he left for home later. She gave him an odd look but didn’t say anything as she accepted the gesture and went in first. As he followed her though the door, he was awed by all the intricate work that he saw in the ceiling tiles and on the trim throughout the entry room. Without a word, she grabbed her forgotten hat off the entryway table and slapped it on her head before heading back towards the kitchen and pouring a couple glasses of lemonade. Handing him one, she walked out the back door and onto the porch that wrapped around from the front. Sighing dejectedly, she slid down onto the hand-hewn bench that was built onto the back of the house.
“What’s the depressed sound for?” Rick asked as he dropped his imposing frame onto the edge of the bench next to her.
“Well, how would you feel if after all the blood, sweat, and tears you put into a place; someone, possibly your biological father, decided to come steal what was left of your herd before you could build it back up?” she answered sadly. “I sold you all but thirty head and now twenty of that is gone. The only reason I still have the ten left is that I separated the older heifers out yesterday so I could go see you about borrowing Coal for a few days next month. Those cows and heifers are going to be ready to cover before too long. As it stood, I was already going to have to wait until next year to see if what I got from the breeding would even begin to measure up to what I sold you.”
“You know you can use him anytime you want Kaitlyn. In fact, I seem to remember something crazy like that in the sale papers that some very smart business lady had drawn up.”
That almost caused her to crack a small smile. She remembered how they had gone back and forth on the bill of sale arguing the finer points of what she wanted and the conditions that she had agreed on before letting him take possession of the herd. She hadn’t come out so bad as far retaining breeding rights but she was still miffed that she’d had to sell them at all.
Each animal retained the name it was given at birth and all the breeding records and future plans had gone to Rick along with the animals. He had even gone so far as to agree to let her have some say in future breeding plans.
They lapsed into a companionable silence and sipped their lemonade; each lost in their own thoughts. Kat was thinking about what she was going to do if they didn’t find her cattle and Rick was contemplating how long he should or could wait before attempting to convince her to marry him and start adding to their family.
Seeing dust kicked up on the road, Kat shook the thoughts from her head, rose, and headed for the corral with Rick following closely behind her. Moments later, Angel flew into the yard on Stardust with Wolfe, their Australian Shepherd running right beside her. Her face broke into a smile seeing Rick. Unlike her older sister, Angel had a cute little figure and a personality to match. To top it all off, Angel had never known a stranger. Kat had made sure that her sister led as much of a normal life as she could give her, one that wasn’t even close to the kind she herself had led.
Angel was a more slender, almost ten years younger, version of Kat and while they shared the same mother, they had been raised and treated differently and had different fathers.
“Strange seeing you out here Rick” Angel said, sliding off of Stardust and kneeling down to pat Wolfe as she whispered praise to him and loosened the horses cinch.
“That’s one thing you definitely share with your sister Angel,” Rick said eyeing the dog while ignoring her comment. “Your ability to “talk” to animals still amazes me to this day.
Glancing at Rick, Angel stood up and stepped forward to shake his hand, another of her sister’s teachings. “Good to see ya again although, you never did say why you’re here.”
“He came with me to look at the fence where someone cut it. We decided to come get you and then head to Rick’s place to meet up with Matt and make some plans on how we should go about chasing down our missing cattle.” Kat sighed. “Plus, I’m hoping that Wolfe may be able to pick up the scent and help us find them if we lose sight of the tracks.”
“How hot is that mare Angel?” Rick asked stepping easily into the big brother role. “Is she still fresh enough to chase cattle or do we need to saddle you up another mount?”
“She’s run a bit Rick but she’s not winded if that’s what you’re talking about” Angel replied. “Sis breeds some strong stock. Plus look, Wolfe isn’t even panting hard.”
“Alright guys, let’s go get Matt so we can find the cattle and get them home.” Kat broke in, uncomfortable with the praise. “We don’t have time right now to debate treatment of stock or what I do or don’t do.”
She strode towards the corral leaving Angel and Rick to look questioningly at each other before hurrying to follow her. Angel grabbed Star’s reins and marched elbow to elbow with Rick before nudging him in the ribs teasing like a younger sibling would. Eyeing the dog again, Rick knew better then to retaliate. Kat had trained it well and it never left Angel’s side. He decided he’d let it go for now but would eventually get even before the day was over. He did grab the horses’ reins away from Angel though and told her to go help her sister while he watered the horse for her.
She giggled and told him “I think you’re going to be good for Kat. You’ll keep her on her toes and no one else has ever done that before.” With that, she ran ahead ponytail swaying as she ran. If he was a lot younger, she might be someone he would go for but Kaitlyn was much more to his taste and would be a much better mother to his two girls, although...Yeah, that might just work. His younger brother definitely needed someone to keep him on his toes as Angel put it. Well, that was something to think about later, after the cattle were found and brought back where they belonged.
After saddling the other two horse
s again, they all mounted up and quickly rode out towards Rick’s place with Wolfe keeping pace with Angel’s horse. Rick rode up next to Kat but kept the silence, temporarily just riding with her. Under other circumstances, he could really enjoy himself in her company but right now, the situation was too serious. Kat kicked her horse to join up with Angel who was riding up ahead and Rick contented himself with eating the dust of the two women as he contemplated the tracks that included the horse with the starred shoe.
Knowing that there would be no answers until the cattle were found, he changed his line of thought to how he could make Kaitlyn comfortable enough around him that he could start including his girls in his plans to make her their mother.
***
Matt, a younger version of Rick but with piercing ice blue eyes, looked up as the three horses and riders came trotting into the yard followed closely by the ever-present dog. His eyes went straight to Angel admiring the way she sat her horse and loving the way the sun seemed to reflect off her gold-blond hair. He set down the pair of reins that he’d been mending and strode over to the trio wanting to see what had happened to cause his brother to actually be spending time with Kat Carson.
“What’s going on that has you all looking so stressed?” Matt asked as he approached. Rick swung down and led his horse over to tie it to the fence. “Kaitlyn’s got a huge problem. She’s had someone cut her fence and ride off with about twenty head of her cattle. If you would, go get Warlock and Lucifer and let’s get them saddled.” He added as he loosened the cinch strap and pulled the saddle and blanket off Magyc. He then unclipped the reins and laid them across the saddle as he grabbed a lead rope and hooked it to the young stallions halter. He quickly led the palomino inside the barn and rubbed him down before turning him into his stall that opened into an outside paddock. He then measured out some oats, forked out a bit of hay and latched the stall door meeting Matt with the other two horses.
While Kaitlyn had her palominos, Rick’s forte was his paints. Matt shrugged his shoulders as if to ask him which mount he wanted. Lucifer was younger and a horse to be proud of, but Rick left him to Matt instead taking Warlock. The two of them had a long history and there wasn’t currently a horse he’d rather have under him other than possibly Kaitlyn’s Golddust.
After leading the horse out of the barn and tying him to the post, Rick left Matt to saddle him as he turned and headed towards the house. Stopping to turn back again momentarily, he issued instructions. “You gals may as well get down for a second and come on in. I need to make sure the housekeeper knows we are leaving and see if she can keep an eye on the girls while we’re gone. We don’t need Morgan sneaking out and trying to catch up with us.”
Kat slid off her horse but as usual, Matt was right there to assist Angel down. Kat noticed that his hands lingered on her sister’s waist longingly so turned and started towards the house to give them a couple minutes of privacy. She knew the two had a prior history that her sister didn’t really want her to know about yet.
Walking quietly into the house, Kat was hit the minute her boots cleared the entryway. Caught by surprise, she tripped over Rick’s little six year old, blonde haired bundle of energy that had launched into her and they both ended up sprawled out on the floor. Kat and Ali sat up totally astounded, looking comically at each other they broke into laughter. That was how Rick found the two of them as he came back into the living room with his arm around the older fifteen-year-old Morgan. Glancing up and catching sight of them, Kat attempted to get back to her feet but the giggling Ali made it a little difficult as she kept wrapping her arms around them.
Seeing her dilemma, Rick stepped forward, scooped his daughter up in one arm, and attempted to give Kat a hand up at the same time. Morgan stayed where she was with her arms crossed, a hostile look on her face. Sighing, Kat thanked Rick as she ruffled the hair on the top of Ali’s head making her laugh all over again.
“Hello Morgan, how is school going?” Kat asked, cautiously. “Hopefully all your studies are going well.”
“It’s not like you care! You’re just after my father and his money like all the other hussies in this county. You don’t care about me or my sister so you can stop your act right now.” Morgan shouted as she stomped from the room.
“Wow, that went well” Kat said dejectedly. “Guess she’s still afraid that someone is going to try to take her mother’s place here.”
“You could be our mommy Kat.” Ali bounced excitedly in Rick’s arms. “Morgan would be ok if you came and stayed here forever, honest she would. She’s just sad because Daddy’s been too busy to notice that she’s got a boyfriend.”
“Let’s let Kat think about one thing at a time ok Ali-bug?” Rick answered for her before turning a shocked look at Ali. “What did you say? Morgan’s got a boyfriend? When did this happen?”
“I don’t know Daddy. A bunch of days ago I guess.” Ali answered him solemnly before asking, “Are you going to help Kat find her cows?” Then turning to Kat, she added, “Are you sad that your cows ran away?”
Kneeling down to talk to Ali on her level Kat answered, “Yes Ali, I am very sad about my cattle. The problem is they didn’t just run away; somebody stole them and now we have to go look for them and bring them home.”
“And that’s why we have to get going Ali” Rick said picking his young daughter back up and taking her into the kitchen. He kissed her quickly as he handed her to his housekeeper and nanny. “We have to get going Consuela and I’m not real sure when I’ll be back home. Please try to keep Morgan out of trouble and away from this boyfriend of hers until I can talk to her. And Ali, you make sure you’re really good; help Consuela any way you can and keep an eye on Morgan ok?”
“I’ll be good daddy but you have to hurry home and bring Kat so you can eat some cookies that we are going to make,” she said seriously. “Otherwise we’ll eat them all and we’ll have to make more.”
Rick grabbed a bag Consuela handed him that was full of provisions just in case they had to spend the night on the trail. “God speed Senor Jamison and do not worry so about your niñas si? They will be just fine.”
Kat quietly went out the door leaving Rick some privacy to say good-bye to his girls. She walked over to Dusty talking softly to him as she checked his feet again wanting to make sure there were no stones stuck in his shoes that could make him come up lame on their journey. After checking his feet, she ran her hands under the edges of the saddle checking one more time to make sure there were no lumps in the blanket that could cause chafing or saddle sores. Content that all was well for her favorite stud, she tightened the cinch back up and was just about to mount up when Angel and Matt came out of the barn. Kat decided that for now, she wouldn’t mention the straw that was stuck in her sister’s hair.
Matt and Angel were mounted and talking to Kat by the time Rick jogged out of the house frowning. He untied the reins from the fence and swung up onto Warlock stopping to check the stirrup length before setting his boots and clicking to the horse. “Let’s get going if we want to catch up with those Angus.” He said taking the lead and ignoring the question he saw in everyone’s eyes.
~III~
The dust hung thick in the still air and twenty head of high quality Black Angus cattle that they had been instructed to drive into the holding canyon were milling restlessly as George, Frank, James, and Robert made temporary camp. The canyon was a genius idea of the Boss but Frank wasn’t so sure about stealing cattle from a woman. Every time over the years that Frank had seen Miss Kat in town she had always been really nice to him and never looked at him like he was trash; not like the “Boss” did.
“Whatcha think George?” James asked uneasily. “Do we wait here like the “Boss” said or should we leave the cattle and head back to town?”
“We do just like the “Boss” told us and we may make a little money in the process.” George answered from his spot by the fire. “We wait a full day, make sure the cattle have plenty of graze and water and then head back
into town one at a time from separate directions.”
“I don’t get it,” Robert said testily. The “Boss” rode out with us and cut the fence wire himself. He waited until we drove the cattle though and he counted every one without saying a word, then he headed off in the opposite direction towards town. What’s the point in doing all that and then just leaving? I just don’t get it.”
“You ain’t p..p..posed to get it Bert” Frank answered. “It’s why h..h..he’s the “Boss” and w..w..w..we aint.”
“I think that’s one of the smartest things I’ve ever heard ya say Frank” George said nastily. “It’s a wonder we let you ride with us to begin with.”
“Y..Y..You knows I get to..to go cuz I’m the o..o..only one that can talk na..na..nice to the ca..ca..cattle and bed them down.” He answered. “And momma said you had to k..k..keep track of me after sh..sh..she died.”
George sighed and ignored the last part of what Frank had to say. As a kid, Frank had worshiped the ground he had walked on. The last few years however, he seemed to have wizened up and almost acted as if he knew what George was up to. Frank was extremely simple and while he had a way with animals, that’s all George could trust him with. He would forget to eat if George didn’t shove a plate under his nose every now and then. The only reason George did keep him around was that he made a decent go-fer and he had after all promised his mother on her deathbed that he’d watch after Frank. He just didn’t promise HOW he’d do that.
