Texas Tender (11 page)

After what she'd said that afternoon, Will was the last person Idalou had expected to see riding up to their ranch. She'd been sitting on the porch trying to decide if Carl was right in saying she'd misjudged him. Everyone else seemed to think he was wonderful, but everyone else was overwhelmed by his looks. Until Will rode into Dunmore, Van and Webb had been the two best-looking men she'd ever known. Both had grown into selfish young men. How was it possible that Will, who was twice as good-looking as either of them, wouldn't have done the same? She got up as he brought his horse to a stop at the foot of the porch steps.

“I was hoping you'd still be up,” Will said as he dismounted.

“I was enjoying the cool of the evening.” It had
clouded up. She hoped they'd get a little rain. “Did you have a nice supper?”

Will smiled up at her, and she had trouble remembering she was angry with him. It wasn't fair for a man to look that good. He dismounted. His horse blew though his nostrils as Will tied him to the hitching post.

“I ate too much.”

“Mara said her mother was planning to go all out tonight.”

“Getting the women of Dunmore to feed me was one of the conditions I laid out when I took the sheriff job, but I had no idea they'd try to fatten me up like a hog for the slaughter.” He walked up to the steps but didn't mount them.

Idalou laughed, though she didn't feel like it. “Women can't resist feeding a handsome man. The more you eat, the better we think you like us.”

“In that case, there are three nervous husbands in Dunmore. I've eaten enough to make them think I want to run off with their wives.”

Idalou thought there were probably more than three women in Dunmore who would have dreams that would embarrass them come morning. She hoped she wouldn't be one of them. Carl came around the corner of the house from where he'd been talking to their two hands.

“What brings you over this way at night?” he asked Will.

“I had a few minutes alone with Jordan before supper, so I mentioned the cows I saw at your dam this morning. He seemed genuinely surprised. He said he'd given his hands orders to make sure his cows stayed on his land.”

“And you believed him?” Idalou asked.

“Why shouldn't I?” Will asked.

“Because he's a liar who'll do anything he can to drive us off our land.” She'd never forgiven Jordan for trying to have a judge invalidate her father's homestead along the creek.

“Have you talked with him?” Will asked.

“A dozen times. All he ever does is deny that he's done anything wrong.”

“I wasn't talking about accusing him. I meant
talking
to him.” Will turned to Carl, then back to Idalou. “He is your neighbor. You've got to learn to live with him.”

Idalou didn't know whether Will believed what he said or if he was just trying to get her to shut up and go away, but she decided she'd judged him accurately, after all. Too agitated to sit still any longer, she got up and walked to the top of the steps where she could look down at Will.

“I thought a sheriff was supposed to investigate the complaints of every citizen. I don't call having dinner with Jordan, then telling me I ought to
talk
with him so he can spin more lies, much of an investigation. It looks to me like you've sold out, Sheriff.”

“Lou, I don't think—”

“I'm sure you've had a rough time of it,” Will said so calmly it was infuriating. “Jordan and others may have taken advantage of you, but there's nothing I can do about that. I'm only going to be here a few more days.” Will included Carl in his glance. “You're the only ones who can do anything that will make a lasting difference.”

“I've tried, but no one will listen to me,” Idalou said.

“You're older now. So is Carl. It's time to make people start treating you like adults.”

Idalou walked to the end of the porch, looked out over the yard of the ranch that had cast a shadow upon her life. She found little to admire in the buildings,
the small house, even the tall trees along the creek. Carl loved it, but to her it was just an unending burden. “They'll never do that, because they can't stop seeing me as a woman.”

“Take Carl along when you talk with Jordan, Lloyd, or anybody else. I think Jordan knows his cows were on your property when they mated with your bull. I can't tell you what he'll do, but I think he wants to work something out.”

“When does he want to meet with us?” Carl asked.

“Tomorrow. If you'll take my suggestion, you and Carl will talk over what you want to say and what you want Jordan to do. You'll have a better chance of convincing him if you're in agreement. If you're going to argue with each other, you might as well save everybody time and stay home.”

“I appreciate you talking to him for us,” Carl said. “We'll do what you suggest.”

Will turned to his horse. “One other thing. I haven't been here long, but I'm usually a pretty decent judge of people. It might be a good idea if you don't assume Jordan is lying about everything.” He mounted up. “Come by tomorrow, Carl, and let me know how things go.”

“Why didn't he ask
me
to let him know how things went?” Idalou asked after Will rode off.

“Probably because he expects you'll get mad at him again. Just for once, Lou, could you give somebody the benefit of the doubt?”

“How can you do that when he's trying to steal Mara away from you?”

“He's not in love with Mara. Hell, he'd be interested in you if you didn't tear in to him every time you set eyes on him.”

Idalou was so shocked, she hardly knew what to think. She was attractive, but Will could have virtually
any woman he wanted. She hadn't even been nice to him. “He couldn't possibly be interested in me.”

“Why not?” Carl climbed the steps, pulled a chair over, and sat down. “You're a damned fine-looking woman. You just get your back up and don't give a man a chance. Now we've got to decide what we want Jordan to do. I think we ought to consider that he might be telling the truth.”

“But he's not!”

“Nothing we've done so far has worked. I'm willing to give this a try. Will you?”

Idalou was in a quandary. They were on the verge of losing the ranch. Even if she didn't believe Will's plan would work, she was desperate enough to try anything once. But no matter what agreement they reached with Jordan, it had to include getting the bull back. Its sale was the only thing that would save them.

If she did what Carl wanted, it would mean she believed that Will knew more about how to solve her problems than she did. Of course, men always stood together, even when they were strangers, but there was something different about Will. He was the most easygoing man she'd ever met, yet he was capable of handling himself with his fists or with a gun. From all she could gather, he knew his way around a ranch. And through some mysterious method she had yet to begin to understand, he'd inspired a town of strangers with enough confidence to make him their sheriff.

There was clearly more to this man than met the eye. Well, more than met
her
eye. Everybody else seemed to think he'd hung the moon.

Funny, but until this evening she hadn't realized how bone tired she was. She couldn't remember a time over the last five years when she hadn't been struggling against something. The harder she worked, the
worse things got. The more desperate she became, the more impossible the situation. It would be wonderful to share some of the load. If Carl wanted it, he could have it. After all, he was the one who really loved the ranch.

As for Will Haskins, he had gotten Jordan to agree to sit down and talk with them. That was more than she'd ever managed.

“I'll give it a try,” she told her brother. “Will Haskins has more tricks up his sleeve than I suspected.”

Idalou was determined not to lose her temper, but remembering his past duplicity made it hard to endure Jordan McGloughlin's air of self-importance. She couldn't hold him personally responsible for all the circumstances that made selling their bull necessary, but if he'd been a good neighbor, he'd have helped her out when they were having trouble. Completely ignoring her because she was a woman was his worst sin.

“The sheriff told me you found some of my cows on your land yesterday,” Jordan said as soon as Idalou and Carl were seated in his office. Alma Mc-Gloughlin had provided coffee. Idalou had declined, but Jordan and Carl had poured cups for themselves while discussing whether the cooler weather would bring the possibility of rain.

The office had been furnished with deep leather chairs and a desk featuring a dozen pigeonholes stuffed with pieces of paper. The walls were covered with mounted heads of deer and buffalo, a style of decoration Idalou found tasteless and a bit gruesome. The dominating presence of so many shades of brown gave the room a somber, almost depressing feeling. Idalou itched to add a little color to alleviate the heaviness of the room.

“Two cows with their calves,” Carl said. “They're
the first I've seen in a couple of weeks. And I've been

over every inch of our land searching for the bull.”

“You still haven't found him?” Jordan asked.

It was all Idalou could do to keep her lips pressed together and her hands clenched in her lap.
Everybody
knew they couldn't find their bull. How was she supposed to believe in Jordan's goodwill when he said things like that?

“No, but I will.”

Carl seemed to have no trouble acting as though he and Jordan were on good terms. They were sitting back in their chairs acting as if they weren't talking about anything of greater importance than whether to go into town for a beer or stick with coffee. Idalou decided she simply didn't understand men.

“We should be looking for him right now,” she said with as much control as she could muster. “Our loan payment is due soon.” Everybody knew that, too.

“I'd appreciate it if you could ask your men to be on the lookout for him,” Carl said.

“I want you to know I have given my men orders to keep my cows off your land,” Jordan said.

She'd heard this before, yet the cows still came on her land.

“I expect a few will wander off, no matter how carefully you watch them,” Carl said.

Idalou couldn't stand it any longer. “Both of the cows we saw yesterday had calves sired by our bull.”

“I've got my own bulls. I paid good money for them.” Jordan's response to her showed none of the calm that had been in evidence when he addressed Carl. “If it comes to that, some of
your
cows have bred to my bulls.”

“We know that,” Carl said, flashing his sister a look that said
leave this to me.
“It's just that you've got so many more by our bull than we have by yours. I was
hoping that when you came to sell them, you could give us a little something in the way of a stud fee—if they sell real good, that is. It would help us a lot.”

Idalou bit her tongue to keep from speaking. Carl was practically begging for what should have been theirs by right. She knew Jordan would never give them a single dime, so it was useless to ask.

“I'll have to wait until I see what kind of price they bring,” Jordan said after a pause, “but I'll see what I can do. It may not be much,” he hastened to add, “but it ought to be something.”

Idalou was too surprised to speak. Jordan had always denied any responsibility for his cows being on their range or breeding with their bull. What could account for the change in his attitude? Could it have been Will?

“We'd sure appreciate that,” Carl said. “Your cows wandering on our land isn't such a problem as long as we can get a little compensation.”

“I told your father not to spend so much money buying that bull,” Jordan said. “It's too much of a risk with a small operation like yours.”

“Lou felt the same way,” Carl said, “but it was Dad's dream.”

“And now you're left trying to get out of the hole he dug. You shouldn't feel guilty about what's happened. If he'd been alive, he wouldn't have made it, either.”

It made Idalou angry to have Jordan speak that way about her father, but she'd said the same thing herself.

She was glad she hadn't said anything about the stud fee, because now she'd have to take it back. She still didn't know if she could believe him. She just hoped they could hold on long enough to put him to the test.

One thing she did know: None of this change in Jordan would have happened without Will Haskins. She had no idea what Will had said or how he'd said it, but he'd managed to do in one evening what she'd been unable to do in three years—get Jordan to admit he'd taken advantage of them. She didn't entirely trust Will. After her father's bad judgment had gotten them into debt, Jordan's sharp dealing had made it worse. Webb's jilting her had so devastated her self-confidence, she wasn't sure she could trust any man, but she had to thank Will. Now, before she said something to ruin the whole morning, she'd better leave. She stood.

“Thank you for seeing us.” She was unable to make herself thank him for doing what he should have done without Will's prodding. “Carl and I had better be going if we expect to find that bull before the loan payment is due.”

“I really appreciate what you've done,” Carl said, shaking hands with Jordan. “I'd like to talk with you again soon.”

“Anytime.”

The look in Jordan's eyes didn't match his words. Idalou was certain he thought Carl wanted to talk about marrying Mara. He didn't know her brother if he thought Carl would try to marry a woman who professed to love another man. Carl loved Mara, but he had his pride.

Idalou stopped by the kitchen to thank Alma Mc-Gloughlin for the coffee. She was relieved that Mara wasn't around.