No One But You by Leigh Greenwood

Author:Leigh Greenwood [Leigh Greenwood ]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781428509214
Publisher: Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.

Chapter Fourteen

Salty was so surprised he didn’t know what to say, but Jared wasn’t similarly handicapped. “He did marry Mama. I saw him.”

“Morning, Henry. What can I do for you?” Sarah had joined Jared in the doorway. Ellen wiggled through to stand next to Salty.

“You can tell me this man was lying when he said you married him.”

“I can’t because I did.”

Henry Wallace was typical of many men who’d pulled together a successful ranching operation after the war. He was big, loud, and probably as strong as he looked. Dressed in a coat, shirt, and tie more suitable for time indoors than riding across open range, he appeared to be somewhere in his forties, with his thick brown hair and beard showing only a trace of gray. He rode a rawboned, piebald gelding, which he treated with rough impatience. His easily kindled anger was as apparent in his eyes as his contempt for people he didn’t consider his equal.

“He doesn’t look rich,” Wallace said.

“He’s not.”

“Then why the hell did you marry him? He’s not a looker like Roger.”

“I like him,” Jared said.

“Me, too,” Ellen echoed.

“What you brats like doesn’t matter,” Wallace snarled. “It’s your mother who has to sleep with him.”

Salty was tired of Wallace, and he was fed up with the man’s treatment of Sarah and her family. “I assume you have some reason for being here other than to abuse my wife and our children?”

Wallace’s grin turned wolfish. “Staking your claim, are you? Maybe you’ve grabbed for more than you can hold.”

“Never happened before.”

“I guess we’ll see, won’t we?”

Ellen moved closer to Salty, and he put his arm around her shoulder, something that Wallace didn’t appear to like. The man turned to Sarah. “Your cows are on my range again.”

“This is open range,” Salty reminded him.

“My range isn’t open, and I’ve told Sarah that lots of times before.”

“Unless you’ve got a deed to that land, our cows have as much right to that grass as yours.”

“I don’t need a deed, because I control the range.”

“That can change,” Salty replied.

Wallace turned, red in the face. “Are you threatening me?”

“Simply stating a fact. I’ve been hearing talk about a kind of barbed wire that can be used for fencing. Once they perfect it, that’ll be the end of the open range. You’ll have to own the land your cows graze.”

“You did marry an idiot,” Wallace said to Sarah. “I never heard a more ridiculous tale in my life. And if somebody did invent such a wire, ranchers wouldn’t stand for it.”

“Ranchers will be asking for it, because fencing is the only way to improve our herds.”

“There’s nothing wrong with the Texas longhorn,” Wallace said. “It’s the cheapest beef in the world.”

“And will always sell for the lowest price. If you want to see the future of ranching in Texas, go see what George Randolph is doing.”

“I don’t need anybody to tell me how to run my ranch,” Wallace snapped. He turned back to Sarah. “If you can’t keep your cows off my land, I can.

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