“Maybe I made it more difficult for her. They’re probably trying to figure out how to fix one of the wagon wheels right now.”
T.D. smiled. “Why don’t you swing down out of that saddle and we can talk about it? I do have a little whiskey.”
“I just thought you might,” Royce said as he dismounted and tied his horse to the closest tree limb.
Resting his rifle against the tree again, T.D. dug in their supplies for another pint of whiskey. “Have a sip and then tell me what’s going on in the other camp.”
Royce took the bottle, unscrewed the lid and gulped.
T.D. snatched it from him. “I said a sip.” He wiped the top off with his hand and took a drink.
“Where are the others?” Royce asked, looking around.
“Doing some surveillance work. How many men does Jinx have?”
The cowboy pulled up a log next to the fire. “Four at the moment, not counting the old cook and the woman she hired on.”
“I thought I saw a cowgirl by the bunkhouse the other night.” He laughed. “She’s that hard up, is she, that she had to hire a woman?”
“The woman’s good. Definitely wouldn’t underestimate her,” Royce said.
“That’s it?”
“Cash Andrews is up there. At least for the moment. She’s only got another day and a half and she’ll have the cattle to the high country. Cash will do what he can to make it harder for her.” Royce smiled. “He was going to let the horses out but that...cowgirl, as you called her, caught him.”
T.D. shook his head. “Sometimes it feels as if women will take over the world unless we do something about it.”
“I’d take another drink. The trail boss didn’t allow liquor.”
He laughed, knowing all about Jinx’s rules. He’d played hell living by them. He handed the whiskey bottle to the man, ready to grab it back.
But this time Royce took a drink and passed it over to him again. “She’s already been having some bad luck,” he said, grinning as if he knew this was music to T.D.’s ears. “A black bear got into the food. Seems someone left the metal box with the meat and eggs in it open. This morning the chuckwagon wheel had been worked over. Thought you might like to hear that.”
“Poor Jinx.” He eyed the cowboy. “If you’re not in a hurry to get back down to the valley, maybe you’d like to hire on with me.”
“You’re offering me a job?”
“I’m going to be running the Flying J Bar MC soon,” T.D. boasted. “But this job is more about getting even. The wages aren’t good, but the satisfaction is guaranteed.”
Chapter Nine
The day passed without any trouble, surprising Angus. When Jinx rode over to him late in the afternoon, he mentioned his surprise to her.
“He’ll wait until tonight,” she said. “He’ll wait until he thinks we are all asleep. It could be a long night since I plan to double the patrol tonight. But tomorrow will be an easy day and then it will be over.”
It just wouldn’t be over for Jinx. Not that Angus thought they would get by that easily. T.D. had ridden a long way. He wasn’t going to let them get away without making trouble for Jinx and the herd.
It was dusk by the time they made camp and Max cooked the grouse Angus and Brick had shot. Cash straggled in, limping.
“Stepped in a hole,” he said as he plopped down on a log by the fire. “It’s killing me.” He turned as Jinx walked up and asked what was going on. “I don’t think I can ride watch tonight. I can barely walk. Hurts like hell even in the saddle.”
Jinx seemed to study him for a moment. Like him, Angus figured she had been expecting something like this. “You quitting, Cash?”
He shook his head without looking at her. “Just not sure I’ll be much help.”
She nodded. “I’ll settle up with you in the morning. Unless you’re thinking of taking off tonight?”
“Mornin’ will do,” he said, still not looking at her.
All day Angus had seen her watching for T.D. while keeping an eye on Cash. The wrangler had seemed restless. When they’d stopped for lunch, Angus had noticed that Cash barely touched his biscuit sandwich of leftover fried fish from that morning. Normally, the man ate as if he feared it would be his last meal.
“I’ll be glad to have Cash gone,” Jinx said later as she and Angus rode out to take first watch. “I’m kicking myself for hiring him and Royce.”
“You did what you had to do,” Angus told her. “Anyway, they haven’t caused that much trouble.”
“There is still tonight,” she said as she looked down the mountainside.
He’d seen the campfire below them. He’d also seen four men standing around it. Royce had joined ranks with T.D. and his friends. No big surprise there, he thought. That just left the question of Cash. He made Angus nervous, like he did Jinx.
To make matters worse, the night was dark, the clouds low. A breeze in the pines made the boughs moan woefully. It was the kind of night that you wouldn’t see someone sneaking up on you until it was too late. Worse, they’d had to leave Cash in camp alone except for Max. Brick and Ella were on patrol on the other side of the herd.
Angus felt anxious and he knew that was what was really bothering Jinx. Knowing T.D. was out there and not alone... “Cash’ll be gone in the morning.”
She nodded, but still looked worried as they rode slowly around the northern perimeter of the herd. “What if Royce hooks up with T.D.?”
He hated to tell her. “He already has, I’m pretty sure.”
She let out a bark of a laugh. “Cash is bound to join them, as well. They’ll outnumber us.”
He couldn’t argue that. “We’ll do what we have to do.” He’d been thinking about what they could do if T.D. attacked them. He thought the cowboy would be more sneaky than that. But
