Give Me Tonight

let her be his partner, his lover and friend. Was it useless to hope that someday she would find someone who would let her be his equal?

'Let's talk about something else,' she said, her forehead creasing, and obligingly Russ started lecturing heron the running of the ranch. The horses' hooves splashed through a shallow stream, then thudded along the edge of an alfalfa field. A line of trees bordered the other side, having been planted there to act as a windbreak. On the other side of the field, the lush green of the land turned to the dry brown-green of true rangeland. Addie noticed that all the trees they passed by had clipped edge on the bottoms, like skirts that had been hemmed too short.

'Why have the lowest leaves of all the trees been clipped like that?'

Russell seemed pleased by her interest. 'That's the browse line, honey. That's about as high as the livestock can reach when they browse over the land and chomp on the trees. When you see that, you know the land is being overgrazed. That's why Ben moved the herd further out to richer land. If he didn't, the grass would be so thin the cows'd have to eat on a dead run to get enough. '

'But how long can you keep moving the herd around before you run out of good land?'

'Run outta land?' Russell laughed uproariously.

'We got half a million acres. We're not gonna run out anytime soon. And if we did, there'll always be more land in Texas.'

'I don't know if Texas is as big as you think. Sooner or later the land-'

'Texas not big? It covers practically the whole country, 'cept for the little bit we let the other states divide amongst themselves. '

They rode over miles of arid rangeland, past herds of longhorns whose heads were dipped low as they grazed lethargically. Russell's face was alight with an emotion beyond pride as he regarded the animals with their swishing tails and lethal horns. 'Beautiful, ain't they?'

'There certainly are a lot of them.'

'Not bad for a man who started out with nothin' but two dollars in cash and an empty belly. Feels good to a man, Adeline, to look over what he owns and know he's built somethin' that'll last forever. To know he'll go on forever. This'll never be anything but Warner land, and I was the one who took it for his own.'

Addie stared at him and felt a rush of pity. But when you were killed it all fell to pieces. There was no one to take over, no one to hold it together. The herds were rustled or sold off, the ranch was ruined. Cade was too young to take over. And I guess Caroline's husband was too weak, not the kind of man that others would follow. It didn't last forever.

'This is all mine,' Russell said, relishing the thought. His voice lowered a few notches. 'And someday it'll be yours.'

'Mine?' she repeated, startled.

'Now, honey, don't tell me you weren't listen in ' when I explained it to you the other day. '

Addie had no idea what he was talking about. Maybe he'd explained something to Adeline Warner. But not to Addie Peck.

'I didn't really understand,' she said carefully. Russell sighed. 'Aw, doesn't really matter. Wills are men's business anyway. You don't have to understand anything, honey. Just-'

'Explain it again,' Addie interrupted gently, watching him like a hawk. 'Please. I'll try very hard this time. What is this about a will?'

Russell seemed to puff up with self-importance.

'No one around here has the kind of fancy will I'm gettin' drawed up. I had to send for a Philadelphia lawyer to come here and do it right. He'll get here in about a month.'

'There aren't lawyers here who could draw up a good will for you?'

'Not like the young hustlers back east. When it comes to the law, they know every trick there is. And I don't want any chance of a mistake bein' made with this will.'

'What's so special about it?'

'Well, I've been thinkin' a lot about what'Il happen when I pass on. I don't aim to for a while, mind you. But I got to thinkin'-who's gonna carry on after me? Who's gonna look after Sunrise? Caro and Pete don't care nothin' about ranching. They're talking about movin' east after the baby's born.'

'To North Carolina?' Addie guessed. It was where her mother, Sarah, had grown up, married, and eventually died.

'That's right. Guess you've heard 'em mention it.'

He snorted. 'East. Pete would feel at home there, sure enough. He's not a cowman. I'd hoped we'd make something of him when he an' Caro came to live at Sunrise. But he couldn't rope a calf if it stood still for him.'

'What about leaving the ranch to Cade?'

'Cade can do whatever he set his mind to, but his heart's not here. He already wants a taste of city life, and when he gets it, he won't want to leave it. Too much like your mama. And May will see to it that her son gets a college education and winds up in a fancy office with glasses settin' on his nose and a pile of books on his desk. I hate to say it, but Texas just ain't in him. So that leaves you. But you can't inherit Sunrise, honey. No matter how smart y'are, you're just a woman.'

'And that's nothing I can change,' she said wryly. 'So I was plannin' to do like everyone else around here, have the ranch sold off when I go, and divide the money between the ones I leave behind. You'd be a rich woman if I did that. You'd have enough money to do whatever you wanted for the rest of your life. I had it all settled in my own mind. But then Ben came along. '

Addie looked at him sharply. 'What does Ben have to do with it?'

Russell smiled. 'He runs the ranch as good as me. No dust settlin' on that one. When he says he'll do something, it gets done, one way or another. I like that. Man you can depend on. So I figured I'd make him trustee. That just means I'll leave Sunrise to you in trust, and he'll manage everything.'

'You can't be serious!' Addie exclaimed, bug-eyed.

She was as outraged as if she were Russell's real daughter. 'You're putting him in charge of your ranch, your money, and your family? He can do whatever he wants with us? Everything we have will be at his disposal? My Lord, he isn't even related to us!'

'I'm puttin' a few clauses in this will,' Russell said, as if that was supposed to soothe her. 'For one thing, Sunrise can't be sold off without the family's approval.'

'What if Ben turns out to be a bad trustee? Can we fire him?'

'No, that's one thing y' can't change. He's trustee till he's dead and buried. But don't fret-he'll be damn good at it. I'll rest easy, knowin' I left things in his hands.

The very same hands that are going to strangle you! Addie's mind raced. Ben had the perfect motive to kill Russell. After the will was signed, he would be in control of the entire ranch and a large fortune, just as soon as Russell Warner was dead.

'Daddy, I know you trust him,' she said, her voice wavering. 'I know you depend on him and care for him. But it would be a mistake to put him in that position after you've gone.'

'Aw, honey,' Russell said soothingly, 'I know you're prob'ly a mite disappointed at gettin' Sunrise in trust instead of all that money. But this is the only way the ranch won't go to pieces. Ben's my only insurance against it. I don't want my ranch to die just 'cause I have to. It's as simple as that.'

'Have you told Ben yet?'

'Not yet. '

'It might be good to wait awhile,' Addie murmured, and as she heard no reply from Russell, she fell silent. She tried to concentrate on the scene around them rather than go into a helpless tirade. That wouldn't do her cause any good. Later, she promised herself. There would be a chance to reason with Russell later, when she could pull some good arguments together.

The land was swarming with men and cattle, and the air was thick with dust and the smell of animals and sweat. Thousands of cattle were being treated for blowflies and screwworms, insects which settled in open wounds and fed on oozing flesh. The suffering longhorns were daubed with a mixture of grease and carbolic