Unable to remember anything about the feedlot or the reason it sat idle, Chase questioned Jessy about it. After she had given him the background on it, they went over Monte’s proposal again.
“It sounds very similar to the deal I made,” Hattie interjected. “I leased my pasture land to a company. They run their cattle on it and pay me to look after them.”
“You have a ranch in Texas?” Jessy said with some surprise.
Hattie nodded. “Southwest of Fort Worth, but it’s a small spread compared to the Triple C.” She ran an idle glance around the cabin. “Actually the house on it was in worse shape than this cabin when my husband and I bought the place over thirty years ago. The previous owners had used it for hay storage. Fortunately the old house was still structurally sound, because we couldn’t afford to build a new one, but it took a lot of work to make it habitable. One of our neighbors told us that it had been built prior to the War Between the States.”
“Benteen Calder came from southwest of Fort Worth,” Jessy recalled thoughtfully. “It’s likely he visited that ranch at one time or another.”
Uninterested in idle conjecture, Chase nodded an absent agreement and brought the discussion back to its original subject. “I know that Markham’s proposal is financially a win-win situation for the ranch, but my instinct tells me to refuse it.”
“On the other hand,” Laredo inserted as he pushed back his now empty plate, “it might be wise to pick up the cards he’s dealing. If he runs cattle in that lot, it sounds like he will be a more frequent visitor. Plus it gives Jessy a good reason to hire some extra help—namely me.”
“But you are no cowboy.” In Jessy’s mind, that presented a problem.
Laredo didn’t deny it. “I know enough about cattle to pass for a feedlot cowboy. And none of your regular hands will think twice if a stranger asks a bunch of nosy questions. I might find out things you can’t.”
“That’s true.” But she doubted he would get many answers.
“Besides, it’s going to become increasingly difficult for you to slip away and come out here. Since I would make the trip back and forth every day, I can bring Chase any information that you or I might have learned.”
“That settles it as far as I’m concerned,” Chase announ
ced. “Tell Markham you’ll do the deal. But I want to see any agreement before you sign it.” Finished with his meal, Chase stood up, signaling an end to any further discussion.
Jessy rose as well. “I’ll call Monte as soon as I get back to The Homestead.”
Laredo reached the door ahead of them and stepped outside to hold the screen door open. Jessy was halfway through the opening when Laredo stepped into her path, blocking her exit, his head turned away, tensed and uplifted in a listening pose.
“I think I heard someone,” he murmured in warning.
Just as Jessy was about to scoff at the notion anyone would be out here, she caught the creak of saddle leather, followed by the dull clink of an iron shoe on stone. She wasn’t sure, but the sounds seemed to come from somewhere around the base of the hill.
“Get back inside. I’ll see how close he is,” Laredo ordered in a low but crisp undertone and slipped away from the door.
Jessy hesitated only a split second before following him, copying his hunched-over posture as he made his way to the edge of the slope. Well short of it, he sank to the ground and waited for her.
When she crouched beside him, he pulled her the rest of the way down. “I told you stay inside,” he muttered, his eyes a hard blue.
“You wouldn’t know if it was someone to worry about or not,” she whispered back.
“And you would, I suppose,” he taunted in disgust. “Make sure you keep flat. I’d like to see him before he sees us.”
He slipped off his hat and laid it on the grass beside him, then crept forward on his belly. Copying his actions, Jessy inched up to his shoulder and lifted her head slightly to look below. Almost instantly Laredo’s hand pushed her head down, but not before she had caught a glimpse of a horse and rider. Brief as it had been, it had been enough for Jessy to identify the man on horseback.
She signaled Laredo to follow and pushed backward, her thoughts weighted by a heavy certainty that this hiding place was about to be discovered. “It’s O’Rourke,” she whispered when he joined her. “I think he might be following my tire tracks. He must have seen me come this way.”
It took Laredo a full second to remember where he had heard the name before. “Cat’s uncle, the shy one in the trees?”
“I forgot to mention he can also be nosy.”
“Come on.” Laredo scooped up his hat and rolled to his feet in a low crouch. “We better warn Chase that we are about to have company.”
They hurried back to the cabin. Laredo paused with one hand on the screen door and pinned his gaze on her. “O’Rourke—will he ride right up to the cabin or circle around it?”
“I don’t know,” Jessy admitted. “But he’ll definitely come close enough to see where my truck is.”
“Then go out by your truck and wait for him. Don’t let him slip behind the cabin. And before he starts wondering what you are doing up here, make sure he knows you hired me to fix the place.”