скачать книгу бесплатно
Vivian wailed out a protest. “Again? You worked half the night last night!”
He grinned at her. “A deputy’s work is never done, sis.”
He left the room with the group calling out their goodbyes amid reminders for him to stay extra safe. A morning ritual that never failed to make him feel loved and wanted.
Inside the kitchen he found Reeva, the family cook, standing at the cabinet, peeling peaches that had come straight from the ranch’s own orchard.
Poking his head over the woman’s shoulder, he asked, “What’s that going to be? Cobbler?”
“No, I’m making preserves.” The bone-thin woman with an iron-gray braid hanging down the center of her back turned and poked a finger in the middle of his hard abs. “You don’t need cobbler. It’ll make you fat.”
Chuckling, he said, “Well, I wouldn’t have gotten to eat it, anyway. Got to work late tonight, so don’t bother saving me any supper, Reeva.”
“But Uncle Joe—you said you’d go riding with me this evening! Have you forgotten?”
Joseph glanced across the room to see Hannah, Vivian’s ten-year-old daughter, sitting at a small round table with a bowl of cold cereal in front of her. At the moment, she looked crestfallen.
“Hey, Freckles, I thought you were still in bed.” He walked over to where she sat and planted a kiss on top of her gold-blond head. “Why are you eating in here? You’re too young to be antisocial.”
She wrinkled her little nose at him. “Sometimes I don’t want to hear all that adult stuff. It’s boring.”
“And Reeva isn’t boring?” He looked over at the cook and winked. “Reeva, I hope I’m as cool as you are when I get to be seventy-one.”
Reeva let out a short laugh. “Cool? You’ll be using a walking stick.”
Grinning, Joseph turned his attention back to Hannah. “Sorry, honey, I have to work this evening. A buddy needed time off. We’ll have to ride another evening. Maybe Friday. How’s that?”
She tilted her little head to one side as she contemplated his offer. “Okay. But if you cancel again, you’re going to be in big trouble,” she warned.
“I’m not going to cancel on my best girl,” he promised.
“Not unless there’s an emergency.” Reeva spoke up.
Joseph walked over to a long span of cabinet counter and picked up a tall thermos. No matter what was going on in the kitchen or with the rest of the family, Reeva always made sure his coffee was ready to go to work with him.
“Let’s not mention the word emergency.” He started toward a door that would take him outside, but before he stepped onto the back porch, Hannah called out.
“’Bye, Uncle Joe. I love you.”
“I love you, too, Freckles.”
“I don’t have freckles!” she wailed at him. “So quit calling me that!”
Laughing, Joseph shut the door behind him, trotted off the wide-planked porch and out the back gate to where his vehicle was parked on the graveled driveway.
The summer sun was just peeping over the rise of rocky hills on the eastern side of the ranch. The pale light filtered through the giant cottonwoods standing guard at both ends of the three-story, wooden house. The spreading limbs created flickering yellow patches on the hard-packed ground, which stretched from the yard fence to the main barn area.
Already, Joseph could hear the ranch hands calling to each other, the broodmares neighing for breakfast, and a pen of weaning calves bawling for their mommas. A hundred feet to the right of the main cattle barn, a big bunkhouse built of chinked logs emanated the scent of frying bacon.
Not one of the ten ranch hands who worked for Three Rivers would sit down to eat until every animal in the ranch yard had been fed and watered. It was a schedule adhered to ever since the original Hollisters had built the ranch back in 1847.
If Joseph took the time to walk out to the holding pens, he’d find Matthew Waggoner, the ranch foreman, making sure the using horses were already fed, watered and saddled for the day’s work.
As for Chandler, the second eldest son of the Hollister bunch, he was rarely seen at the breakfast table or hardly ever attended the evening meal. He started his days long before dawn and ended them well after dark, tending to his patients at Hollister Animal Clinic located on the outskirts of Wickenburg. Joseph admired his brother’s dedication, but in his opinion, Chandler gave far too much of himself to the clinic and the ranch.
Still, none of the Hollister brothers had given as much to Three Rivers as their father, Joel. He’d given his life. In the end, the authorities had ruled his death an accident, but Joseph would never accept the decision. If he had to search for the rest of his life, he would eventually find out who’d killed his father.
* * *
A few miles away, on the Bar X, Tessa sat at the bay window in the kitchen with a cell phone jammed to her ear. Between sips of early morning coffee, she tried to answer Lilly Calhoun’s rapid-fire questions.
“The house? Oh, Lilly, the house is just beautiful and charming! And the views from the front and back are stupendous! There are all kinds of magnificent rock formations and Joshua trees are everywhere. Out on the range, the sage is blooming and the yard around the house is full of roses and irises.”
“Sounds like a paradise,” Lilly replied. “And I’ve never heard you so excited. I’m happy for you, Tessa. Really happy. So what about the rest of the ranch?”
Lifting the mug to her lips, Tessa’s gaze followed the sloping landscape until it reached a big white barn and maze of connecting holding pens. Yesterday evening before dark, she’d explored the big building and discovered a room full of tack and a pair of yellow tabby cats. Both had shied away from her efforts to befriend them.
“From what Deputy Hollister told me, Mr. Maddox’s failing health forced him to sell all the livestock. It’s rather sad seeing the barn area without any horses or cattle around.”
There was a long pause before Lilly asked, “Who is Deputy Hollister? I thought you’d settled all the legal stuff before you left for Arizona.”
A flush heated Tessa’s face. Not for anything would she admit to Lilly that she’d spent half the night thinking of the handsome deputy and wondering if she’d ever see him again.
“The deputy just happens to be a neighbor,” she quickly explained. “He stopped by yesterday, right after I arrived—uh, just to say hello.” She wasn’t about to add that he’d carried in her bags and stuck around to give her a tour of the house.
“That’s good. Orin will be glad to hear you have a trustworthy neighbor. I don’t have to tell you he’s like a father bear. By the way, did you know he’s already started searching for someone to take your job as the Silver Horn housekeeper?”
Tessa had been thirteen when she’d been orphaned and gone to live with the Calhouns. At first, the elaborate, three-story ranch house had been overwhelming to her. Especially when she’d been accustomed to living with her mother in a very modest apartment in Carson City. But in no time at all she’d come to love the isolated country life and the wealthy family who’d taken her in like one of their own. And as soon as she’d grown old enough, she’d gone to work as a housekeeper for the family. Not because they’d expected her to repay them, but because she’d wanted to give back to them as best she could.
“He told me before I left. He believes I won’t be returning to the Silver Horn anytime soon.”
“That’s not his reason. Orin understands that when you come back to Nevada, you’ll be putting your college degree to use and finding a real job. Not working for us.”
Tessa’s gaze swept over the spacious kitchen with its varnished pine cabinets and stainless-steel appliances. To her surprise, she’d already found a huge supply of canned and packaged food in the cupboards and even some fresh things in the refrigerator. She supposed the sheriff’s old ranch hand had laid in the supplies for her arrival. It was all so odd, yet in a way, completely comforting.
“I have so much here to absorb. I can’t think about searching for a job right now, Lilly. Not until I learn about Sheriff Maddox and his connection to me.”
“Perhaps your deputy neighbor can help you with that,” Lilly suggested. “Could be he worked for the man.”
Regarding Ray Maddox, Tessa figured Joseph Hollister could be a wealth of information. But would it be smart of her to approach the man for any reason? He already had her thinking things that brought a fiery blush to her face. She didn’t want to feed this instant infatuation she’d developed for the sexy lawman.
Suddenly the back of Tessa’s eyes were stinging with inexplicable tears. “Lilly, this is still so surreal and hard to explain. Something—some strange connection came over me whenever I walked into the house. It felt like I was supposed to be here. Now I’m so emotional I’m going around dabbing a tissue to my eyes.”
“Well, it’s not every day that a woman becomes an heiress—completely out of the blue. You have every right to be emotional. I’d be a blubbering idiot.”
Trying to swallow the lump in her throat, she slowly stood. “I just need a few days to digest everything, Lilly.”
“Uh, just in case you’re interested, Rafe fired Thad yesterday. He won’t be back.”
The mere mention of the young man’s name left Tessa cold. Not more than three months ago, Rafe had hired the guy to work on the fence-mending crew. The moment he’d spotted Tessa, he’d come on to her like a house on fire. At first she’d liked his boyish grin and playful teasing. She’d even gone on a few dates with him. But he’d quickly begun to expect more from her than she’d been willing to give. When she’d abruptly ended all connection with him, he’d retaliated by telling the other ranch hands he’d never had any serious intentions toward her. That she was only a cheap housemaid.
“Rafe needn’t have done that for my benefit,” Tessa said flatly. “Thad needed some lessons in being a gentleman, but he could still build fences.”
Lilly snorted. “The only thing Thad wanted to work was his mouth. I say good riddance.”
The ugly incident with Thad had made Tessa wonder how other people viewed her. When she’d told Joseph Hollister she lived at the Silver Horn, she’d not mentioned she’d worked there as a housekeeper. Was the deputy the type of man who’d look down on her for holding a menial job?
Forget it, Tessa. Joseph might be a super-nice guy. But you don’t have any business wasting your thoughts on him. Your home is in Nevada. You’re here to look over this property and make a reasonable decision about what to do with it. Not to strike up a romance with a lawman you met less than twenty-four hours ago.
Tessa’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted with Lilly expressing the need to end the call.
“Sorry, Tessa, I have to hang up. I hear Austin screaming at his sister.”
With their conversation over, Tessa went to the bedroom to change out of her pajamas. As she tossed a pair of jeans onto the bed, she gazed around the beautiful white room. Just being in it made her feel like a princess.
Deputy Hollister had seemed to think the late sheriff had actually prepared this room just for her. Most folks would find that eerie, Tessa thought, but strangely enough, it made her feel wanted. And that was the best gift the late sheriff could’ve given her.
* * *
A few minutes later Tessa was in the barn, trying to lure the cats from their hiding place, when she heard a vehicle drive up somewhere in the ranch yard.
Thinking it might be Deputy Hollister stopping by, she put down the pan of food and hurried out of the big barn. But instead of seeing the Yavapai County lawman’s vehicle, she spotted a red-and-white Ford truck with a crunched passenger door.
Pausing in her tracks, she watched an older man with a crumpled straw hat and a short, grizzled beard climb from the vehicle. His worn jeans were stuffed into a pair of tall, yellow cowboy boots while a faded red shirt with long sleeves was buttoned tightly at his throat.
As he moved toward her, Tessa noticed his gait was a bit uneven. Whether the slight limp was because of his leg or some other problem, she could hardly say. In any case, she decided this had to be Ray’s ranch hand.
She walked across the hard-packed earth to greet him. “Hello. I’m Tessa Parker. Are you Mr. Lemans?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m Samuel Lemans—just Sam to you. I work for Ray.” Grimacing, he shook his head. “Excuse me, ma’am. I said that wrong. I did work for Ray.”
Tessa extended her hand to him and as he gave it a firm shake, she noticed his palm was as tough as rawhide and his face as crinkled as dry leather. From what she could see beneath the brim of the mangled hat, his thick hair was a mix of black and gray and his eyes were the color of a black bean. Yet in spite of his hard-weathered appearance, the gentleness in his gaze put her instantly at ease.
“I met Deputy Hollister yesterday and he mentioned you,” she explained. “I want to thank you, Sam, for keeping everything looking so beautiful.”
“Glad to do it. I’ll keep on taking care of things until you don’t need me anymore. That was Ray’s wishes. And I aim to see them carried out.”
“Well, I’ll see that you get paid,” Tessa assured him. “Mr. Maddox left me a sizable sum.”
He scowled. “I don’t want pay, Ms. Parker. Ray has already taken care of that. You don’t worry about a thing. If you need me, I’ll be here. If you don’t, that’s okay, too.”
Tessa was totally bewildered. This man and his late boss were making things so easy for her to stay here. Had that been another of Ray’s wishes? To make her want a permanent home on the Bar X?
“I don’t know what to say, Sam. This is hard for me to understand.” She passed a hand over her damp brow then made a sweeping gesture with her arm. “I don’t suppose you can tell me why Ray—uh, Mr. Maddox—left me this ranch?”
He lifted the crumpled straw hat and scratched the top of his head. “I expected you to ask me and I wish I could give you an answer. Ray never talked to me about such things. The only thing he told me was that, after he died, a young lady would be getting this property and his money. I gave him my promise to keep on working around the place—that’s how Sheriff Ray wanted it.”
Disappointment stung Tessa. Evidently this man and Ray Maddox had been more than boss/employee. If Ray hadn’t given Sam any sort of explanation about her and the will, it was doubtful he’d discussed the matter with anyone else.
“He didn’t say anything about me?” She persisted.
“Ray didn’t talk about his private life. And I didn’t pry. If he’d wanted me to know more, he would’ve told me. Anyway, Sheriff Ray always did the right thing. I expect he had good reason to do this for you.”
Sam’s lack of information hadn’t helped to explain anything. But she wasn’t going to let it discourage her. Somewhere, someone had answers and she fully intended to find them.
Hiding her disappointment behind a warm smile, she said, “Someday I’ll find his reason. For now I’m going to enjoy being here.”
With a wistful look in his eyes, he glanced over her shoulder to the empty holding pens. No doubt there had been a time when the dusty corrals would’ve been filled with weanling calves or cows to be tagged and doctored. Now the ghostly silence of the working area was a sad reminder of happier days.
“You going to hang around until the place sells?” he asked.
Though his question was quite reasonable, the weight of it staggered her. Already the idea of letting this place go was very unsettling. On the other hand, she had to make smart choices for her future. And her life was back in Nevada. Strange, how she had to keep reminding herself of that fact.
“I—I haven’t made any definite decisions yet, Sam. Except that I’m not going to be in any hurry about making plans. So I would be grateful to you if you’d come by and help me see after things.”
“Sure thing. I’ll be around first thing every morning.”
For the next half hour Sam helped her make friends with the cats and gave her a detailed tour of the barn and ranch yard. Afterward, she invited him to a cup of coffee on the backyard patio.
Although he wasn’t exactly a big talker, she was enjoying his company. And listening to him reminisce about Ray and the Bar X might possibly help her unravel the secrecy surrounding the will.
“When the ranch was going full swing, were you the only hand working for him?” she asked.
Reaching for his mug, Sam shook his head. “During the slow seasons I handled everything by myself. When calving season or roundups were going on, two other guys came in to help. See, the Bar X is small compared to some of the neighboring ranches. But acre for acre, it’s a damned good one. All it needs to get going again is a herd of mama cows and a few horses.”
Tessa was about to ask if he’d like to see the ranch back in production, but a woman’s voice suddenly called out in the vicinity of the front yard.
The unexpected interruption quickly pushed Tessa to her feet. “Excuse me, Sam. I’ll go see who that might be.”
Just as Tessa started off the patio, a tall, dark-haired woman somewhere in her early sixties appeared around the corner of the house.
“Hello, there,” she said cheerily. “Sorry about all the hollering. I knocked on the door but didn’t get an answer. I—” Suddenly spotting Sam, she paused and then called to him. “Sam, you rusty old codger! Where have you been hiding yourself?”
Sam scraped back his chair and came to stand next to Tessa.
“Good to see you, Maureen.” He greeted her with a tip of his hat.
He glanced at Tessa before gesturing to their unexpected visitor, who was dressed in a gray, double-breasted dress with a rust-red silk scarf knotted at her neck and matching red high heels on her feet.
“Tessa, this is Maureen Hollister.” He introduced the two women. “She’s your neighbor and owner of the Three Rivers Ranch.”
Still smiling, the woman extended her hand to Tessa. “Nice to meet you, Tessa,” she said while pumping her hand in a hearty shake. “And don’t worry, I can only stay for a minute. I’m on my way to Prescott. My son, Joe, told me you’d arrived, so I just wanted to stop by and welcome you to the area.”
“Joe? You mean Deputy Hollister?” Tessa asked.
Maureen’s smile deepened. “Sorry. All his family calls him Joe,” she explained, then shot a pointed look to Sam. “I hope you’ve been helping this young lady get settled in.”
Scowling, Sam said, “Maureen, I don’t need to be questioned. You know I’ll see to my duties.”
