Part 35 (1/2)
”The man knows his way around cows,” Rio remarked to Daisy as they watched Tyler walk toward the rope corral.
”He grew up on a ranch in Texas. He knows cows backwards and forward. He hates them.”
”Doesn't show.”
”Very little does.” Daisy put her hands to the fire. It was warm while the sun was up, but the temperature fell with dusk. The fire felt good. ”I guess I'd better get started with dinner,” but stopped before she'd even picked up a pan. ”Rio, go take care of the horses for Tyler. Tell him I need him to cook.”
Rio looked skeptical. ”You sure?”
”Just wait and see.”
Thirty minutes later, it didn't take more than one bite to convince Rio Daisy had known what she was talking about. ”You ever cooked chuck before?” he asked Tyler.
”All the way from Texas to Wyoming,” Tyler replied. ”Most of the places in between.”
A grin split Rio's brown, leathery face. ”Bet you've been on a lot of roundups. What do you think of this one?”
”I'd move the camp each day instead of bringing the cows into a central location. It would save time driving and upset the cows less. They don't like being taken out of their familiar territory.”
Rio looked at Daisy. ”What do you think?”
It sounded like a lot of unnecessary work. She wasn't going to take his advice quite so quickly, even if he did know far more about roundups than she did. She would think about it. Meanwhile she would ask Tyler a question rather than answer his. ”Did you see many cattle in those hills?”
”Some big stuff two and three years old.”
”I thought Daddy had you brand the calves each year,” Daisy said to Rio.
”I told him I couldn't get them all by myself, but he wouldn't let me hire any help.”
”And you've got rustlers,” Tyler said.
Rustlers! Greene said they'd been stealing from him and Cordova. Now they were stealing from her as well.
”What do I do?”
”Stop them.”
She didn't know how to do that. She needed Tyler's help even though she didn't want to admit it. That would mean putting herself in his hands once again, but somehow that wasn't as distasteful as she had expected. ”How much income do you figure I'm losing?”
”Impossible to tell until we get some idea of the size of the herd, but I'd say thousands of dollars.”
Daisy felt like cussing. She remembered all the years her mother had suffered because her life was so unlike what she had expected, and none of it had been necessary. Her father had allowed rustlers to take more than enough money to have made her mother comfortable, all because he was afraid somebody would find a gold mine that didn't exist!
”You know these hills pretty good?” Rio asked Tyler.
”I've been riding through them for the last three years.”
”Why don't you give the orders tomorrow?”
”You'd better take that up with Miss Singleton.”
Daisy would have liked to be able to spurn his offer, but Rio wouldn't have suggested it without a good reason. Besides, it was clear Greene and Cordova's hands respected Tyler. Whether she liked to admit it or not, she felt safer with him around.
”We can try it,” she said, unwilling to give in completely the first day he showed up. She was flattered he had followed her, but this was the third time he had come into her life unexpectedly. There was no reason to think he wouldn't disappear again. She loved him, but she wasn't going to let her love overwhelm her good sense.
For the first time in her life she was her own boss, and she liked the feeling. She now knew the ranch could make enough money to support her comfortably. If she could get all her cattle branded and hire a couple of dependable hands to help Rio, she would be independent. If she learned her job well, in a few years she would be free to do just about anything she wanted.”Don't you trust me?” Tyler asked.
”I know you can cook, but I don't know whether you can organize a roundup,” she replied. ”I'd rather see what you can do before I make a decision.”
Daisy couldn't deny the feeling of satisfaction that warmed her soul. She'd never before had the power to tell a man what to do. Until she told Guy she wouldn't marry him, she had never refused one. She actually felt like the owner of this ranch, like a boss in charge of making decisions.
It felt wonderful!
She knew she had to keep a cool head. She didn't know anything about ranches. Tyler did. But the decision was still hers. She could tell him to go or stay.
Of course he'd do what he wanted -- Tyler always did -- but that didn't dilute her happiness. She stood up. ”I want to be in the saddle at dawn.”
”You want me to cook breakfast?”
”We sure do,” Rio answered for her.
”Then Jesus has got to help him,” Daisy said. ”You can't expect him to be cook and foreman without help.”
”I don't mind,” the boy replied.
”Okay with you?” she asked.
”Sure,” Tyler replied.
”Good.”
”Wait up a minute,” Tyler called when Daisy headed toward her tent. She turned just in time for him to slip his arms around her. Before she knew what was happening, he kissed her long, tenderly, and quite thoroughly.
Daisy thought every bone in her body must have dissolved. Maybe it was fatigue, maybe it was tension, but she felt unable to stand alone. She leaned against him, the heat of his body flowing through her. Shamelessly she clung to him, her arms locked around his neck.
”I don't like to go to bed without saying good night,” Tyler said.
She didn't know how he could talk so casually about what had just happened between them. It was like heaving ground under her feet. She would have rustled every cow between here and the Colorado border to have him kiss her good night like this for the rest of her life. By a superhuman effort, she managed to control her voice. ”I don't want you thinking it's going to earn you special treatment.”
”I wouldn't dream of it,” Tyler said.
Daisy released her hold on Tyler and took a shaky step toward her tent. She'd been able to control her emotions all day, but she didn't know how much longer she could keep it up. It was one thing to say she was going to act as casually as Tyler. It was quite another to do it after he kissed her. It brought memories of their last night in the cabin flooding back.
Shoring up her resolve one more time, Daisy crawled inside her tent, but half an hour later she still hadn't been able to fall asleep. She might be in control of her actions, but she wasn't in control of her feelings, and her love for Tyler was just as strong as ever. It didn't help to know he couldn't forget her any more than she could forget him. Like Laurel had said, Randolph men didn't come easily to love. She couldn't imagine anybody coming more slowly than Tyler. She wondered if he would make it.