A Calder at Heart by Janet Dailey

Author:Janet Dailey [Dailey, Janet]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2022-11-04T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

A FEW DAYS LATER, LOGAN LOOKED UP FROM FILLING THE CATTLE tank to see a rider approaching from the direction of the Triple C. Even through the blur of distance, dust, and summer heat waves, there was no mistaking the erect figure of Webb Calder.

Logan finished filling the tank, then strode to meet his visitor at the house. Webb hadn’t been here since the day Logan had purchased the ranch and made it clear that he would run the place his own way. Tension had escalated between them when Logan had negotiated the road access with Blake Dollarhide and hired Lars to build his barn. Maybe Webb had decided it was time to make peace.

Or maybe Kristin had confessed her late-night visit.

Standing on the porch steps, Logan watched his relative dismount, hitch his horse to the rail, and walk across the yard, his bootheels raising little whorls of dust behind him. The silence was broken only by the sound of hammers from the barn, where Lars, Pete, and Angus had begun layering long, flat boards over the roof beams.

“Welcome, neighbor.” Logan stepped off the porch. “I’ve been wondering when you were going to pay me a visit.”

“I’m just on my way back from town,” he said. “Kristin asked me to give you her best.”

Logan willed his pleasant expression to freeze. If Webb had come for a confrontation, he could expect anything.

But Webb simply turned toward the hammering sound. “Nice barn,” he said. “Big.”

“Yes, and the stable addition will make it even bigger,” Logan said. “Come on in if you want. I can’t offer you anything to drink except water, but at least it’s cold.”

“Thanks, I’ll take it out here,” Webb said. “Next time I’ll bring you some Scotch. I’ve still got a good supply.”

“I won’t tell a soul.” Logan went back into the house and filled two glasses from the canvas bag he kept wet to cool the water by evaporation. Taking a glass in one hand, he hooked his arm through the back of a chair and carried it out to Webb.

When he came out a second time with another chair and a glass for himself, Webb was seated, sipping from his glass and studying the barn again.

“Looks like they’re doing a decent job,” he said. “But are you sure you want that scrubby little Irishman on your property? If you’d asked me, I’d have warned you about him.”

“O’Rourke?” Logan shrugged. “He seems okay. We were short a man when he showed up asking for work. He’s done all right, except that he never stops talking. Why? What would you have warned me about?”

Webb finished his water and lit a cigarette from the pack in his shirt pocket. The pungent smoke curled upward as he exhaled. “Let’s just say you’d best keep a careful count of those steers,” he said. “If any come up missing, look for them on the O’Rourke place. That’s where I’ve found a few of mine.”

“Isn’t stealing cattle a hanging offense?”

“It is. But I’ve never caught the little buzzard red-handed.

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