Christmas at Blue Moon Ranch (8 page)

A tinge of red
brightened the dark complexion. “Miss Rosa asked.”

“Ah.” Daniel
nodded. “She’s a persuasive lady.”

“That, she is.”

They drank to
the bottoms of their mugs in silence. After pouring a refill for them both,
Daniel cleared his throat. “I won’t deny I need the help. I did some ranch work
as a teenager, and I’ve done a lot of reading but—”

“Ain’t the same
as doing it.”

“No.”

“You got a bum
leg, too, I hear.”

“Yeah. And some
back problems.”

Nate nodded.
“Need to be careful about the horse you ride. Some’ll take care of you, some
won’t. Plus, you’ll need a crew doing the ground work for you.”

“Do you know a
few guys who need jobs?”

“I think I can
round up some decent hands. How much you paying?”

“What’s the
going rate?”

By the time
they’d finished their second cup of coffee, Daniel and Nate had struck a
mutually agreeable deal. They talked for the rest of the morning about starting
up the New Moon operation. Nate knew of a rancher in Jim Hogg County who was
selling off equipment and cattle and whom Nate thought would give Daniel a fair
deal. “We can take a ride over there this afternoon, see what he’s got.”

“Sounds good.”
Daniel brought two steaming bowls of stew to the kitchen table. “I appreciate
getting the benefit of your experience.”

With his mouth
already full, Nate waved his spoon in dismissal of the gratitude. “This is Miss
Lili’s stew, ain’t it?”

“They brought me
some frozen meals to get me started.”

The foreman
nodded. “Those two women are the best cooks in the county. Maybe in the state
of Texas.” He spooned up another mouthful but sighed instead of eating. “Lucky’s
the man who could persuade one of them to cook for him full-time.”

“As a job, you
mean?”

“Nah.” Nate
finished his bowl and went to the stove for seconds. “You’d have to marry her
to get her to leave the Blue Moon.”

Daniel hid his
smile. “Did you ever ask?”

“Nah,” Nate said
again. “A Mercado wouldn’t look at the likes of me. They’re blue bloods, you
know? I’m just a cowpoke.” The regret in his rough voice kept Daniel silent.

With his stew
finished and his bowl rinsed, Nate returned to business. “What we’re gonna do
now is find you a horse. Lotsa ranchers do their work with trucks and ATVs and
such—even airplanes—but I hold that a man should be able to ride if he needs to
and is able.”

Daniel pushed
out of his chair. “Well, I don’t know about the
able
part, but I’m
willing to try.”

“You just need
the right animal, careful and smart. I expect Willa’s got one that’ll do. She’s
a wonder at breaking and training a good horse.”

“You want me to
buy a horse from Willa Mercado?”

“You got a
problem with that?”

“No, but she
might.”

Nate clucked his
tongue and shook his head. “Don’t believe it—she’ll take good money like
anybody else. Let’s get down there, see what she’s got for sale.”

The expression
on Willa’s face when Daniel parked his truck near her horse barn a few minutes
later proved him right. The line between her arched eyebrows, the downward tilt
of those wide, soft lips, plainly said he wasn’t welcome.

Nate ignored the
message. He moseyed over to where she stood by the gate to a corral. “’Afternoon,
Miss Willa. We came to look at some horses.”

She glanced at
Daniel, who was following Nate, then looked at the other man again. “You’re
helping him buy horses?”

“I’m his new
foreman. We’re getting his operation set up, and I figured you’d have a mount
he could depend on.”

If anything, her
frown deepened. “You’re working as foreman on the New Moon Ranch?”

“Yes, ma’am.”
Nate’s attention had gone to the horses standing quietly inside the corral. “I
like the look of that buckskin, there.”

But Willa
wouldn’t be diverted. “You worked on the Blue Moon for twenty years, Nate.”

His dark gaze
swung back to hers. “Yes, ma’am, I did. Then Mr. Mercado, may he rest in peace,
fired me. I’m sure you remember that.” When Willa started to speak, Nate raised
a hand. “Now, I ain’t harboring hard feelings. What’s past is past. I heard
Major Trent, here, needed some help. I was getting tired of listening to myself
think and thought I might as well be doing something useful. So tell me about
the buckskin. How’s he go?”

Willa blew out a
deep breath. “He’s hot,” she said, exaggerating only a little. “Needs an
experienced rider.”

“Okay, how ’bout
the black-and-white pinto gelding on the rail? I like the look in his eyes.”

She did, too.
She’d been thinking about keeping him for herself, since her favorite horse,
Montezuma, was turning twenty-two next year. He couldn’t keep working forever,
and the pinto would make a dependable cow pony.

But selling
meant one less horse to feed this winter. The price would easily cover the
wages she’d paid out on the weekend. “He might be a good choice,” she conceded,
avoiding Daniel’s blue eyes. “Real smart, easy gaits, no tricks. I like him.”

Nate nodded. “Let’s
put a saddle on him.”

She called
Robbie, who brought a saddle and bridle out of the barn. Nate tacked up the
pinto without fuss, then pulled himself easily onto the horse’s back and
proceeded to put him through his paces.

“He’s good,”
Daniel commented, coming up beside Willa as she propped her arms on the fence.

“Nate spent
years on the rodeo circuit.” She didn’t look at him, but she could feel his
size, his warmth next to her. “He can ride anything with legs.”

“I tried to tell
him you wouldn’t want to sell a horse to me.”

Willa risked a
glance at his face and found that grin waiting for her. She fought the urge to
smile back and won, barely. “As long as you take care of him, I don’t have a
problem selling you the horse.”

“Nice mover,”
Nate said, pulling up beside her at the fence. He swung his leg over the
saddlehorn and slid to the ground. “Major Trent, have a go.”

Willa, watching
closely, saw Daniel swallow hard. “Sure,” he said, leaning his cane against the
fence post. “What’s his name?”

“Calypso,” she
stuttered. “We call him Cal.”

Inside the
fence, Daniel circled to Cal’s left side and put a hand on the gelding’s neck. “Hey,
there, Calypso. How’s it going?”

“We’ll take him
out in the middle.” Nate headed the horse away from the fence. “Give you more
room to mount.”

“Yeah, right.”
The soft comment came from Robbie, who’d joined Willa at the fence. “You might
as well call the ambulance now, Mom. This won’t be pretty.”

“Hush.” Her urge
to defend Daniel surprised her. “He’s ridden before.”

“Cal will take
care of him,” Susannah said from Willa’s other side. “He’s a good horse.”

Toby squeezed in
between Willa and Robbie but didn’t say a word as Daniel took the reins in one
hand and put the other hand on the back of the saddle.

“We’ve got a
mounting block,” Willa called. “We can bring it out…”

Daniel gave a
single shake of his head. His knuckles tightened at the rim of the saddle, and
his shoulders lifted on a deep breath. He bent his left knee.

Toby said, “That’s
not how—”

Daniel gave an
awkward jump, which somehow landed him on his stomach in the saddle, with both
legs dangling on the horse’s left side. As they watched, he fumbled for the
stirrup with his left foot. Willa caught her breath—Cal wasn’t used to this
kind of mounting technique. Would he stand still?

Nate had hold of
the bridle and reins, but Calypso sidled several steps under Daniel’s weight. Willa
didn’t know whether to offer help or simply watch disaster unfold.

“Mom…” Susannah
gripped her arm. “He’s going to fall.”

“I told you,”
Robbie said.

But then
Daniel’s boot slipped into the stirrup. Using the extra support, he
straightened his arms, as in a push-up, over the horse’s back. With Calypso
fidgeting underneath him, he swung his stiff right leg from the hip—up, up and
over the horse’s hindquarters. Finally, he lowered his seat carefully onto the
saddle.

Willa thought
her knees might collapse in relief. Daniel leaned forward and patted Calypso on
the side of the neck. “Good boy,” he said. “We’re going to get along fine.”

Nate spent a
minute adjusting the right stirrup to accommodate Daniel’s stiff leg, then
stepped back with his hands on his hips. “Take him for a spin.”

Daniel grinned. “Not
literally, I hope.” First at a walk, then a jog and a lope, he rode Calypso
around the corral—not always in balance, not completely in control, but Cal’s
good manners made up for what his rider lacked in technique.

Robbie turned
away from the fence. “It’ll happen,” he predicted. “Hope somebody’s there to
pick up the pieces. Come on, Suze. We gotta finish cleaning the stalls.”

“I’m coming.” Susannah
started to follow but looked back just as Willa glanced her way. There was no
mistaking the stars in the girl’s eyes. She’d contracted a serious case of hero
worship.

Terrific,
Willa thought.
That makes two of
them.

Daniel
dismounted with more speed and less effort than he’d needed to get on and led
the horse back to Willa without Nate’s help. “I think Cal and I can work
together.” He rubbed the pinto’s nose. “I guess we’ll be buying a horse trailer
sometime this week and we’ll pick up Calypso then, if that works for you.”

“Sure.” Watching
him walk away with Nate, she thought she saw the toll his ride had taken in the
way he leaned on the cane. How would he manage the daily grind of ranch work,
if a few minutes in the saddle took such effort?

“He’s really
strong,” Toby said in an awed voice. “Trick riders do stuff like that.”

“Sometimes.” The
silver truck disappeared toward the main road in a cloud of dust. For the first
time since Daniel arrived, Willa felt like she could breathe easily.

Toby followed
her toward the barn. “I’ve ridden Cal. I could help him.”

“Nate works for
Major Trent, Toby. He doesn’t need our help.”

“But—”

“You’ve got your
own chores to do here, plus homework. When do you have time to help anybody
else?”

She reached the
barn door, only to realize that Toby had stopped quite a distance behind her. “Are
you coming?” she asked. “I want to check the fence line in the south pasture. We
can take Patches and Monty out for an afternoon run.”

He shook his
head. “I have homework.” Turning on his heel, her son stalked in the direction
of the house, leaving Willa with no doubt of what he thought about her reasons
for being a bad neighbor.

And the
really sad thing,
she thought as she saddled her horse,
is that he’s absolutely right.

S
HORTLY AFTER
SUNRISE
on Tuesday,
Daniel had just nailed up a new board to replace one of the broken pieces in
the corral when he heard the sound of hoofbeats coming up the road. He
straightened his back, groaning a little, to see Rob Mercado approach on his
tall black horse, with Calypso jogging close behind.

“Good morning.”
Daniel lifted a hand in greeting. “You didn’t have to deliver Cal—we would have
come to get him.”

“My mom told me
to bring him up here.” Rob held out Cal’s lead rope, and Daniel limped over to
take the horse. Looking around, the boy shook his head. “You sure got a lot of
work to do.”

“That’s right,”
Nate said, coming out of the barn. “And we could use some strong young muscles
like yours to help us. What do you say? Want to earn some extra cash?”

Rob’s eyes
brightened at the word
cash,
but then his face fell. “I’ve got school.
Besides, you’re hiring some hands, aren’t you?”

“Won’t start
till next week. The corrals as they stand ain’t safe enough for this nice
horse.” He took Calypso’s lead rope from Daniel. “Major Trent and me can get it
done, but the job’d go faster with some extra hands.”

Daniel kept
quiet—he figured any effort he made at persuasion would only drive the boy
away. After considering for a minute, Rob nodded. “I guess I could come for a
couple of hours after school. But I have to get my chores at home done, too. I
can’t stay late.” He threw Daniel a defiant glance.

“No problem.”
Daniel shrugged. “An hour or two will be a big help. Thanks for bringing the
horse.”

Rob cleared his
throat. “You’re welcome.” Once back in the saddle, he gave a brief wave. “See
you later.” With a movement of his heels, the black horse leapt into a
ground-shaking gallop, which gradually faded away.

“He’s a good
boy,” Nate said. “I hear he’s had a hard time since his daddy was killed.”