Lawless

“You can’t stay awake twenty-four hours a day,” she pointed out.

“They might come back and try again.”

She couldn’t be sure of that. “You just keep your eyes open and watch your back,” she told him.

“Somebody mad at you, is that it?” he wanted to know.

“Something like that. Thanks, Hob. You take care of yourself, and lock your doors at night.”

“You, too, Miss Crissy. Sure you won’t sit a spell?”

She smiled. “I’ll come back when I can. But I’m up to my ears in movie people right now. I have to get back home.”

“We heard they was going to make a movie at your ranch. You going to be in it?”

She laughed. “Not me! See you, Hob.”

“See you.”

She got back on Tobe and turned him toward the dirt road that led back to the ranch. It was disconcerting to think that Jack Clark and his brother John might have been responsible for two attempts on their livestock. They might try again, and they couldn’t afford many losses right now, not even with the added revenue the movie shoot would bring in. They needed a new direction or they were going to go under.

Specialization, she thought, was the only answer to their problem. They could do what Cy Parks did and raise purebred livestock—but that required a hefty bankroll up front that they didn’t have. They could do what a few other producers had done and try marketing their own brand of organic beef. But that would entail upgrading their production methods and finding a buyer who wanted quality organic beef...maybe an overseas buyer, because those profits were really high, according to Leo Hart, who sold organic beef to Japan.

If only horses could fly, she thought, and laughed at her own whimsy. Judd had tried that angle already, and failed. They were told that their cattle weren’t lean enough for the high priced markets, that they were fed too much corn and too little grass. That was why Christabel had been nudging their cattle into pastures to fatten them on grass—and had lost their prize Salers bull in the process.

But it wasn’t the grass—rather, the clover—that had killed that bull. And that cut fence was no accident, either. It was the Clark brothers. She knew it, even if Judd wouldn’t listen. Cash would. And somehow, she was going to prove it!

* * *

She walked Tobe down to the barn, noting that the big SUV was gone, and so was Judd’s truck. What a relief. At least she didn’t have to worry with company today.

But the relief was short-lived. After she’d unsaddled and brushed Tobe, and taken the rifle back to Nick, there was unwelcome news.

“Duke Wright doesn’t own a black pickup with a red stripe,” Nick told her with a sigh, pushing back the hat from his sweaty blond hair. “And he doesn’t have any cowboys who do.”

She grimaced. “I was so sure...!”

“Maybe he borrowed it,” he said.

Her eyebrows lifted. “You think?”

“Anything’s possible.” He gave her a long look. “Judd wanted to know where you were. I told him you rode over to check on the cows that got out of the pasture.” He held up a hand. “I didn’t tell him the fence was cut. I figured you’d tell him when you wanted to.”

She smiled. “Thanks, Nick. I owe you one.”

He shrugged. “No problem. I’ve already told the boys to keep their eyes open for any suspicious vehicles around here.”

“Good idea. And keep that pasture where you moved the cattle under twenty-four hour guard, even if you have to pay somebody overtime,” she added firmly, inwardly grimacing at another expense they could ill afford. “Make sure he’s carrying a rifle, too.”

He nodded gravely. “I’ll do that.”

She hesitated. “And take pictures of the way the fence is right now, and save that wire where the cuts are,” she added as an afterthought. “If anything ever comes of this, we’ll need evidence.”

“You bet! I’ll put it in the equipment shed.”

“Thanks, Nick.” She wandered back up to the house. Maude was wrapping untouched slices of cake and grumbling.

“‘Can’t eat cake,’ she said. It’s got calories.” She glared at Crissy, who was smothering a grin. “And doesn’t drink coffee, because caffeine’s bad for you. They didn’t have time for it, anyway, and she gave our house a look that I’d have liked to push her off the steps for!”

“They won’t be here long,” she said comfortingly.

“That’s what you think! I heard that director tell Judd that it would take a couple of months for them to shoot the movie, and even then, that they’d probably have to come back to reshoot some scenes after they finished.”

That meant they’d be here until Christmas. She thought about Judd being around that model all the time, and her heart sank. It was worse than she’d ever dreamed it might be.

“That model was really playing up to him,” Maude was muttering. “Hung on him like a chain the whole time, smiling up at him, laughing with him. She’s stuck on him already.”