Buffalo Gal

by Mary Connealy

  Buffy held her sister’s eyes until Jeanie looked away. Buffy knew Jeanie was no match for her when it came to being strong-willed. But Buffy hated to browbeat her. “And take Sally with you to the store. I can’t watch her today.”

  “I might stop by Wyatt’s house,” Jeanie said. “If I found someone to marry me, I’d be out from under your feet.”

  Buffy suppressed a pang of jealousy. “You’re already married. You can’t start a relationship with a man until you’ve finished things with Michael.”

  Jeanie had twice her skill with men. She’d always been able to pick and choose when they were teenagers, while Buffy had been the studious, buffalo-loving geek who was two years younger than her classmates. And Jeanie liked strong men, which Buffy didn’t. If Jeanie wanted Wyatt, she could probably have him.

  “If you decide you want Wyatt, you’d better be prepared to live out here for the rest of your life. There are no malls, no movies, no dress shops. And he’ll expect you to take care of Sally and both of his boys and have three hot meals a day waiting for him. Plus you’ll have to garden, tend his chickens, and probably ride herd on his cattle. So don’t set your sights on the man unless you want the whole package. That’s not fair to him or you.”

  Jeanie studied her shrewdly. Buffy suspected Jeanie was using what she knew about her little sister to read between the lines.

  “I think I’ll just go ahead and stop by anyway, but thanks for the advice.”

  Buffy slapped the short list on the table. “Suit yourself.” She almost ran out of the house to keep herself from saying, “Leave Wyatt alone. He’s mine,” or “I love him,” or something equally ridiculous. Except as she thought it, she knew it was true. She didn’t know him that well, and what she did know, she mostly didn’t like. But there was no denying the feeling in her heart. And there was no way she could ever act on that love.

  She went hunting for the peace she always felt with her buffalo, even though they were domineering and stubborn and dangerous. As she walked toward the pens, it occurred to her that Wyatt was domineering and stubborn and more than a little bit dangerous. Good grief, she’d fallen in love with a buffalo!

  She would bet anything the man was incapable of feeling any soft emotions at all.

  ❧

  Wyatt sat on the front porch of his house and looked at the ruin of his ranch and wanted to cry.

  The boys came outside and climbed into his lap, strangely subdued even considering the circumstances.

  “Are you sure Gumby’s going to be all right, Dad?” Cody asked, resting his head on Wyatt’s chest.

  Wyatt ran his hand through Cody’s unruly dark curls, so like his own. “Yes, Wolf said he’s okay. He’s got a badly hurt leg, and we won’t be able to ride him for a while, but we’ll baby him, and he’ll heal.”

  Wyatt was getting the biggest machine shed Morton made. A work crew was cleaning up the yard. The local Ford dealer was bringing out a brand-new car for Anna and a new truck for Wyatt. A planeload of veterinarians had come out to check Wyatt’s herd and decide how to handle the threat of disease and pregnancy. An assessor was wandering around the ranch, studying the premises with his sharpened pencil and Mr. Leonard’s checkbook.

  Wyatt wanted to punch the guy in the face and suggest he pass that along to Leonard.

  “It’s going to be okay, Uncle Wyatt.”

  Wyatt glanced sideways at Anna as she emerged from the house. Even with the new car on the way, she still had that same flash of rage in her eyes. He knew he’d been complaining about the buffalo too loud for too long. Now this happened, and maybe Anna really did need money for pain and suffering. Maybe she needed counseling to get past this.

  He reached out an arm to where she stood in the doorway and pulled her close to him and the boys. “I guess I’m in shock or something. I can’t seem to think of anything to do but sit.”

  Some of the anger faded from her eyes. “The cleaning crew is almost done, and the new carpet is in. They said the new window will arrive later today and they’ll have it installed by quitting time.”

  Wyatt thought about the stampede and the danger of having his boys in a room with an outside door, not that the little imps weren’t fully capable of climbing out an upstairs window and escaping if they took the notion. “I’ve decided I’m going to move downstairs and let the boys have my room.”

  “Why, Dad? The front room is bigger. We want the biggest because we’re two and you’re only one.”

  “I’ve just decided is all. You’ll be closer to the bathroom up there. My room’s not the biggest room, but it’s big enough. It’ll work okay.”

  The boys, who argued about everything, accepted his decision. Colt finally stood up and said, “Let’s go do it. I don’t want to look anymore.”

  Wyatt said, “Sounds good to me. I’ll bet if I ask that cleaning crew to help, they’ll jump right to it. All these people seem real worried about me being upset. We can get that room moved in a few minutes.”

  They had the whole thing done in half an hour, and Wyatt got in the swing of being a human being again. Then Buffy’s truck pulled into his driveway. He saw it from his upstairs window, where his room was now filled with toy guns and Matchbox cars. All his lethargy evaporated, and he thought of a dozen things he could go argue about. He jogged down the stairs and stormed out on the porch, eager for another round.

  Then he saw Jeanie’s blond hair, and his spirits sank even further into his boots, where they’d been all day. Ever since he’d quit arguing with Buffy this morning.

  Great. Just what he needed. Perky.

  He went to the door and yelled up the stairs, “Anna, boys! Get out here!”

  He hadn’t thought of needing a buffer zone until he’d recognized the leech.

  Eleven

  A week later, Wyatt stared at the huge steel machine shed going up on top of the memory of his grandpa’s barn. It was a beautiful building. It was going to be of far more use to him than his old red barn.

  Then he looked down at the check in his hand. A quarter of a million dollars. He wanted to crush it. Rip it to pieces. Burn it. Tell Leonard what he could do with his hush money. Instead, with bitter self-derision, he climbed into the new Ford 350 monster pickup truck Leonard had delivered from a dealer in Hot Springs and drove to Cold Creek to put the check in the bank. Then he came home in his one-ton black monster truck, with a four-door crew cab—every toy a man ever dreamed of.

  Leonard had even paid for five years’ worth of insurance on the overpriced beast. It was easily the most expensive rig in the county, and Wyatt felt like a fool driving it.

  There was a brand-new Mustang in the yard at home for Anna. Leonard had offered a Porsche, but Anna’s parents had refused to let their daughter drive such a powerful car. They’d agreed to let her accept the Mustang with a state-of-the-art CD player and in the color of her choice—red. Then Leonard’s assessor offered the rest of the value of a Porsche in cash. Anna had started yelling and crying, so the guy promised her a hefty check for her pain and suffering and said he was sending it to her parents with or without her approval.

  Wyatt didn’t know what would be the point in refusing the money. Still, he was a sellout, and all the horsepower in the world under his mammoth Ford hood wouldn’t change that.

  Then, in the midst of his self-contempt, a wild hair had him turning toward the Buffalo Commons. He hadn’t seen Buffy in a week, and that gave him a strange itch he didn’t understand. He only knew seeing Buffy would scratch it.

  ❧

  He pulled into the Commons, and the first thing he saw was Buffy perched precariously on top of the corral timbers.

  The buffalo were being let out of the sturdy pens for the first time since the stampede. They were wandering in their lazy way out into the pasture. Wyatt’s gut twisted as he thought of all those big animals loose again.

  Buffy swung around as he neared her. She looked straight at him with those warm brown eyes, in a way that made Wyatt wonder if she di
dn’t have some special radar where he was concerned. Or maybe he just clomped when he walked.

  She looked past him to his truck and arched her eyebrows. “Those’re some mean wheels, Wyatt. Compliments of Mr. Leonard?”

  “He didn’t even ask me what kind. He just had the biggest one on the planet driven out to my place with the license and registration already in my name. I’m embarrassed to be seen driving it.”

  Buffy laughed. It was a deep, throaty laugh, and it was the first time he’d heard it, although she’d laughed more mildly at the boys’ antics that first day. He knew if he started yelling, she’d certainly quit laughing.

  Still, a man had to say what was on his mind. “Would you mind coming down off that fence?”

  “I think I’ll stay here. If I get down there, you’ll tower over me, and I don’t like that.”

  “Buffy,” Wyatt barked, “get down now!”

  She smiled at him then shrugged her shoulders. “Why not.”

  She swung her legs to Wyatt’s side of the fence and jumped to the ground, landing with the grace of an Olympic gymnast. She dusted the seat of her pants and yelled over her shoulder, “I’ll take the first watch, Wolf. We need men on that fence all night. Break it down to four two-hour shifts.”

  “Already done. You want to take the truck or a horse?”

  “I’ll drive my truck.” Buffy turned back to Wyatt. “Let’s go have a look at that hot rod you’re driving.” She began walking toward the truck, and Wyatt followed along reluctantly.

  “Okay, we’re out of earshot; what did you want to yell at me about?” Buffy asked.

  “I didn’t come over here to yell at you.”

  “Oh sure you did. I’ve missed it anyway. I’d have probably come over there and insulted your political party or gun owners or something precious to you for sure, just to get a fix.”

  “I did not come over here to yell. I just wanted to know what’s being done about the lunatics who cut your fence.”

  Buffy shoved her hands into the back pockets of her blue jeans. “It’s out of my hands. Mr. Leonard’s people are looking into it.”

  “Have you called the police?”

  Buffy shook her head. “Not since that first night. I left that to Mr. Leonard’s people at his specific instructions.”

  “So the county sheriff hasn’t even been out?” Wyatt got to the truck and opened the driver’s side door for Buffy to look in.

  Buffy stared at the rig. “Good grief, the seat is as high as my nose.”

  “Has he been out?” Wyatt demanded.

  Buffy turned from the truck to face Wyatt. “He called one day. I referred him to the phone number Mr. Leonard gave me. I’ve never heard back.”

  He reluctantly admired her guts as she stonewalled him about something that was life and death. “So nothing is being done,” Wyatt said flatly.

  “I can’t answer that. I don’t know what’s being done.”

  Wyatt leaned close to her. She was filthy dirty again and dripping with sweat. He rested his hands on her waist and hoisted her onto his seat.

  She squeaked with surprise and steadied herself by grabbing his forearms.

  He jerked his head. “Scoot over. I’ll take you for a ride.”

  “I don’t have time to go for a ride. You heard me tell Wolf I’d take the first watch.”

  He shoved her across the seat. “This won’t take long, but I’d like some privacy.”

  “What for?” Buffy slid, and Wyatt scaled the truck.

  “Because you’re right after all.” Wyatt twisted the key, and the rig roared instantly to life.

  “About what?” Buffy clung to her door which left about an acre of space between them.

  “I do want to yell at you.” Wyatt jammed the truck into gear and laid a path of dust a half mile long as he tore out of the driveway.

  Buffy had her fingers clasped on the door handle as Wyatt did his best to give her whiplash. He wondered if he might have scared her, but a glance at her expression told him she was impatient and annoyed but a long way from scared. Drat it.

  “As long as we’re not headed anywhere specific, let’s drive out to the spot where the fence was cut. I want another look.”

  “Have you investigated at all? The police could be tracking down that Subaru. How many can there be in that shade of green?”

  “The truth is, Wyatt, I think Mr. Leonard is trying to make this whole thing go away. I have gotten a few calls from the press. A couple of radio stations in Rapid City called and one in Pierre. They said they’d gotten a tip. I said,” Buffy’s voice went all Southern-belle fake, and she fluttered her eyelashes, “ ‘Why, whatever do you mean? We don’t have any buffalo out.’ ”

  Wyatt smiled at the phoniness.

  “It was the truth, since we had them all back in when the calls came. They accepted my answer like it was what they expected to hear. Even though everyone around here knows about it, there wasn’t a word about it in the local paper. Even if someone does go to the press about it now, there’s not much to tell. It’s all cleaned up.”

  “Leonard is good.” Wyatt quit driving like a maniac and steered along the fence line, passing the stretched-out line of ambling buffalo. “He never told me the money was on the condition I not talk. He knew I’d refuse. But he also made the settlement so generous that it’s embarrassing. I mean, here I am, driving this dumb truck. How much is anyone going to listen if I claim I’ve been hurt?”

  “Is the new machine shed going up?” Buffy relaxed her death grip on the door handle and turned to him.

  “Yes, and it’s beautiful. It’s even going to have a heated office.”

  They drove in silence that was broken by the deep-throated roar of Wyatt’s high-powered truck engine. Wyatt finally reached the far end of the pasture and slowed as he drove along the reinforced fence.

  “Stop here!” Buffy said suddenly. “I can still see the tracks. I want to have a closer look.”

  Wyatt pulled his truck to a stop and climbed out.

  Buffy had to get out of her seat like she was riding a slippery slide. Even with the running board, it was a long way down.

  Buffy started toward the tracks, and Wyatt fell in beside her. She went down on one knee beside a particularly deep rut. “I don’t know anything about tire marks, but these are clear enough. Someone should take a picture of it or a molding. It could be used to double-check that this is the same car that lost the side mirror. We don’t know how many people were in on this.”

  Wyatt looked up from the tire marks and studied the landscape around them. He pointed toward a rise. “If anyone was scouting your property, they’d watch from up there. And there’s an underground spring that makes that whole hillside soft. There might be more tracks.”

  Buffy rose. “Surely some of Leonard’s people have looked into it.”

  “It doesn’t matter if they have or not.” Wyatt went back to his truck. “That hill doesn’t belong to Mr. Leonard. It’s on Shaw land. And if they’re trespassing on my land to scout an attack on the Buffalo Commons, then they don’t just have a problem with Leonard. They’ve got a problem with me.”

  Buffy looked away from the hill as she walked beside him to the truck. “And having a problem with a rancher is worse than having a problem with a multibillionaire?”

  Wyatt narrowed his eyes as he looked at her. “What do you think?”

  “I think I’m more interested in getting to the bottom of this than Leonard is. I think I’d like to see what’s on top of that hill.”

  Wyatt jerked his head in a nod of approval. He swung up to the seat as she got in her side. He slammed the door. “The minute this is over, I’m trading this stupid thing in for two reasonable trucks.”

  “Sounds good.”

  Wyatt grinned. He’d been right to come and see Buffy. He hadn’t felt this good in. . .six and a half days. He headed up the gentle slope of the highest hill around.

  ❧

  Buffy said, “Will you look at that?�
��

  Wyatt stopped his truck.

  Buffy jerked open her door and rushed over to the obvious campsite. It wasn’t just a couple of tire tracks. The ground was torn up until there was hardly any grass. Buffy felt her temper explode. “Leonard’s men didn’t even look around! No one could miss this!”

  Buffy crouched by the fire and reached for a scrap of paper that was burned around the edges. She pulled her hand back. “Wyatt!”

  He was beside her instantly. “What?”

  “These ashes are still hot!”

  Wyatt crouched beside her and held his hand close to the campfire. “They didn’t leave after the stampede. They’re still around.”

  Buffy grabbed his arm. “They’re not done. They’re planning another attack!”

  Wyatt studied the horizon in all directions.

  “So where do you hide in these hills?” Buffy pulled the scrap of paper out of the fire. She stared at it, and her gut twisted. “My name?”

  Wyatt took the paper. “It doesn’t mean anything. They probably just know you run the place.”

  Buffy leaned closer and tried to figure out why her name had given her such a jolt. Then she got it. “My name. . .in Jeanie’s handwriting.”

  Wyatt looked at Buffy, and she saw the compassion in his eyes. “She might not know what they’re really up to. Maybe she just talked to someone, gave them information without realizing what they’d use it for.”

  But Buffy had seen Jeanie’s anger. “I haven’t told you all that’s gone on at the Commons this week.”

  “Like what?” Wyatt asked, watching her closely.

  Buffy ran one hand through her hair. “Jeanie’s been going to town a lot. Leaving Sally with me and spending late afternoons and evenings in Cold Creek. Only I checked my truck, and she’s piling up too many miles. I’d decided she had a boyfriend somewhere, but. . .”

  Wyatt crumpled the scrap of paper in his fist. “She couldn’t be involved. Not after she came to my place. She saw the burned-out shells of my truck and Anna’s car. She saw the rubble where my barn used to be.”