Consuelo smiled. “Jordy has been out a week. You won’t be any competition for him.”
Chapter Three
After Jack turned the visitor who claimed to be his granddaughter over to Consuelo, he returned to the veranda and reclaimed his rocking chair. He reached down and scratched Thor’s floppy ears, and the dog looked up at him with his soulful yellowish eyes. “We’re just three old dogs sitting here,” Jack said.
“Yep,” Rudy said. “Ain’t teaching us no new tricks. But I remember most of the old ones. That’s plenty. You gonna tell me about this granddaughter? You never said nothing about kids. Got to have a kid to have a grandkid the last I knew.”
Jack knew that curiosity was killing the old fart. Old? Rudy was two years younger than himself. He guessed the age business was sometimes a matter of perspective. He rarely thought of himself as being older than Rudy. Jack waited for a spell to answer. Rudy would hear no more than half of what was said anyway, and he would either have to repeat it or Rudy would fill in the blanks to suit himself.
Finally, Jack said, “I don’t know what she’s up to. We’re going to talk after supper.”
“She’s going to tell us at supper?”
Jack did not reply.
The sun was starting to drop behind the hills to the west when Jordy Jackson came up the steps to the house, carrying the saddlebags and bedroll he had taken from the young woman’s strawberry roan mare. The sandy-haired young man was tanned by the spring sun but would be darker before summer was out. Jack worried that Jordy didn’t take more time off. He was too serious, not much for serious drinking and only occasionally chased women.
Jack did not think Jordy had ever visited the girls at Mabel’s Heaven or Tobe’s Tavern in San Angelo, but, of course, a man who looked like Jordy would not be pressed to pay for such commodities. There were a good half dozen local gals trying to capture the North Concho Valley’s most eligible bachelor, and Jordy had likely talked his way into the bloomers of several. Jack wished Jordy would find one to marry before his seed took hold in one that he might not want to spend his life with. He was confident the young man would do the honorable thing if faced with such a situation.
Jordy stepped onto the porch and said, “I assume the young lady is staying the night. Where should I take her stuff?”
“I’d just put it down outside the spare room’s door if it’s closed,” Jack said. “Otherwise, put it just inside the door.”
“That filly is Jack’s granddaughter,” Rudy said.
Thanks, Rudy, Jack thought. Damned old gossip. Has to be first with the news.
Jordy furrowed his brow and looked at Jack. “I thought you didn’t have any kin.”
“That’s what I always figured. Lady claims to be my granddaughter. I can’t imagine how that would be, but I’ll hear what she’s got to say after we eat.”
“Filly’s going to tell her tale at supper,” Rudy chimed in.
Jack turned to his old friend and added some power to his generally soft-spoken words. “She is not going to say a word about being my granddaughter at supper and neither are you. Do you understand? You keep your damned mouth shut about it or you can start taking your supper at the chuck house with the hands. Can you hear me?”
Rudy shrugged, “No reason to get your feathers ruffled, Jack. Ain’t my fault you spat your seed along the trail someplace. So, we’re going to get together and palaver with the young lady later, huh?”
“We are not. I am,” Jack said. “And you are going to be the last to hear the story.”
Rudy rendered a toothless grin and cackled. The old devil knew how to rile him and seemed to take the task of agitating Jack Wills as his main job on the ranch these days. On second thought, it had been that way since they met a year or two prior to the Texas Revolution where they had fought at the Battle of San Jacinto and taken part in the capture of Santa Anna. They had partnered in one way or another ever since.
Jordy broke into the fussing. “She’s sure a pretty thing even after a long ride. I’d like to see her gussied up in female garb. She had been riding that roan a little hard, though.”
“Yeah, I noticed,” Jack said.
Jordy said, “You don’t seem very excited about the visitor.”
“I will just hold off the dancing till I hear what she’s got to say and find out who she really is and what kind of game she’s playing.”
“Well, I’ll run her things up to the room. Maybe I’ll get a chance to talk to her some or get a better look.”
Chapter Four
Jordy slung the saddlebags over his shoulder, picked up the bedroll and went into the house. When he reached the top of the stairs, he noticed that the door to the guest room was ajar. He tapped softly on the door.
“Come in.”
When he entered, he saw that the young woman who claimed to be Jack’s granddaughter was facing the vanity mirror, combing out her long, black hair. She turned to face him as he waited uncertainly in the doorway.
“Oh,” she said, “I thought you were Consuelo.”
He grinned sheepishly. “Nope. Connie’s in the kitchen. I’m Jordy. I took your horse, but I thought you might want your saddlebags and bedroll.”
She looked at him with appraising eyes—Jack’s hazel eyes. “Uh, can I put these someplace?” he asked.
“The bed would be fine. Thank you. I have a change of clothes rolled up in the bedroll. And thanks for looking after Dancer. I rode her too hard today, but I wanted to get here before dark. She’s still just a filly, but I wouldn’t have considered leaving her at my place.”
“She’s fine. I rubbed her down and
