The news about T.D. hadn’t come as a surprise. She’d known he couldn’t leave well enough alone. It gave her whiplash the way one moment he was begging for her to take him back and the next threatening to sue for half the ranch. More and more, she just wanted it over.
“Should have killed T.D. when I had the chance,” Max mumbled under his breath.
“And what would I do without you while you went to prison?” she demanded.
“Starve,” he said flatly.
“Exactly.” She coaxed a smile out of him as he dished up her breakfast and she went to sit near the campfire. Cash got up without a word to go stand in line for his breakfast. She told herself it was just another full day and night. They would reach summer pasture with the herd by noon tomorrow and then head off the mountain.
Not that it would be over for her, but at least she didn’t have to worry about her wranglers and Max up here in the mountains with T.D. and his friends. She felt anxious, though, knowing that he was so nearby. She would double the patrol tonight. Knowing T.D., he just might decide to strike once he was drunk enough.
“YOU’RE AWFULLY QUIET,” Angus said as he sat down next to his cousin after getting his breakfast plate. Everyone else had eaten while Angus and Brick had worked on the wagon wheel. They would be moving out soon.
“It hit me that this is probably the last time that we’ll do this together, the three of us,” Ella said.
“Why would you say that?” he asked, surprised.
She shot him a don’t-con-a-conman look. “Because it’s time. I’ve suspected you’ve known it for a while.” Her gaze left him to find Brick. “I’m worried how your brother is going to take it. But I’m sure he’ll fall in love, get married, have a passel of kids and be just fine.”
Angus shook his head. He couldn’t see it. Brick loved women. Loved the chase. But once he caught one, he was already looking for his next challenge. He studied his cousin for a moment. It would take a very special woman for him to ever settle down.
“What about you?” he asked. Ella looked surprised. “There a cowboy out there for you?”
“A cowboy?” She chuckled. “I’m thinking more like a banker or a stockbroker, someone who wears a three-piece suit to work. What are you smiling about?”
“You. I know you, cuz.”
“Maybe I’m tired of cowboys and want something different.”
“Maybe a man who drives a car that has to be plugged in.”
“Nothing wrong with saving the planet.”
Angus scoffed. “Seriously, what would you do with a man who didn’t know how to drive a stick shift or back up a trailer or ride a horse?”
“Anything I wanted,” she said with a laugh.
He shook his head. “Well, I hope you find him, but it’s not going to be on this mountain.”
“I know.” She met his gaze. “So you’re saying it’s time we grew up and settled down. I guess this is the last time for the three of us to be wrangling together.”
“It makes me sad to think about it,” Angus said and took a bite of his breakfast. He didn’t have much of an appetite after seeing what someone had done to the chuckwagon wheel. Talking about this wasn’t helping. “We’ve had some good times. I wouldn’t take anything for the years we’ve been on the road.”
Ella nodded. “What will you do?”
“Go home. The ranch needs some young blood.” He studied her out of the corner of his eye as he ate. “I know your mother wishes you would stay on the ranch. You know there is a place for you in the business.”
“I know. I don’t know what I’ll do. But I’m not worried. It will come to me.”
He shook his head. “You amaze me. You have so much faith in how things will work out. Don’t you ever worry?”
“Of course I worry. But I do think a lot of it is out of my hands.”
“Stacy will be disappointed if you don’t stay on the ranch.”
Ella smiled. “My mother can handle disappointment. She’s had plenty of it in her life. Anyway, she’s told me repeatedly that she just wants me to be happy.”
He laughed. “My mother told me the same thing.”
“You don’t think she means it?”
“She does. And she doesn’t.” He shook his head. “Dana has her heart set on me coming back to the place. Fortunately, I’m a born rancher. It’s what I want to do, always have.”
“You’re thinking of Brick.”
Angus nodded. “He doesn’t want to ranch. But he doesn’t know what he wants.”
“I predict that one day he’ll meet a woman and everything will be clear to him. But that doesn’t mean it will be easy.”
“You see that in the campfire flames?” he joked.
“Pretty much.” She met his gaze, smiling. “Same thing is going to happen to you. If it hasn’t already.”
Angus finished his breakfast and rose, laughing. “I trust your instincts, cuz, but a woman isn’t always the answer and from what I’ve seen, love is never easy.”
Ella merely nodded. But as he walked away, he heard her say, “We’ll see.”
THROUGH THE MORNING mist hanging in the pines, T.D. saw Royce coming and picked up his rifle where he’d leaned it against a tree. He ratcheted live ammo into the chamber as the man rode toward him. “That’s far enough,” he said, raising the weapon.
“Take it easy,” Royce said and reined in to lift his hands in surrender.
“What do you want?”
“I just got fired by your wife. What do you think I want? A kind word, a soft bed, a decent meal?” he said sarcastically. “I want to get even with her. Then I want the other stuff along with a stiff drink or two. I heard you were offering a...reward of sorts for anyone who...didn’t help your wife.” Royce chuckled. “I’ve done my part.”
“By hiring on to help her get her cattle to
