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“Calders don’t have friends.” Ty sat up. “If you need proof, ask my father about Buck Haskell.”
“And just what category do you put Tara in?” In bra and panties, Jessy pulled a pair of jeans and a sweater out of the closet.
“It is strictly business between us,” Ty snapped the retort.
“No doubt that’s the reason she calls you ‘darling’ all the time,” Jessy mocked.
“Dammit, you know that is just Tara’s way.”
“And maybe it’s just Ballard’s way to be kind and considerate.” She pulled on her jeans one leg at a time and tugged them over her slim hips.
“Ballard is a woman chaser. That’s why he hangs around you every chance he gets.”
With both arms in the sweater sleeves, Jessy paused before pulling it over her head. “In all honesty, I can’t call Tara a man chaser. But by your definition, she’s a Ty chaser. She hangs around you all the time.”
Ty stood up and snatched the oversized towel off the bed and wrapped it around his middle. “I told you, it’s business with Tara. We’re not talking about her anyway.”
“And my dealings with Ballard are business.” Jessy yanked the sweater down around her waist. “But you choose to forget that. And let’s definitely not bring Tara in this. If we did, you might have to admit that a double standard is being applied here.”
“The circumstances are different, and you know it. I don’t trust Ballard.”
“Then that makes us even,” Jessy retorted. “Because I don’t trust Tara.”
“Tara has her faults. At times, she can be thoughtless, self-centered, and spoiled, but she isn’t mean-spirited or vindictive.”
“Which shows how much you know about women. I would sooner trust a cornered rattler than Tara. At least a rattler will give you some warning before it strikes.” Jessy shoved a foot into a boot and stomped it into position. “With Ballard, the worst he’ll do is make a pass. And if he does, I guarantee you he’ll be walking around hunched over and spraddle-legged for a week.” As soon as the second boot was on, she headed for the door. “You still need that shower. You’d better go take one. I’m going downstairs and give Sally a hand with dinner.”
Grim-lipped, Ty stared after her. “Meek” had never been an adjective that described Jessy. But “stubborn” was proving to be very accurate. She was a fool to think Ballard was harmless. No man was harmless. And no woman, for that matter.
Yet Ty couldn’t help thinking that there was one name they hadn’t discussed—Buck Haskell. Ty had a nagging feeling that Buck wasn’t about to fade into the background. They would be hearing from him again.
Dust swirled about the stock pens at the Triple C headquarters, kicked up by milling cattle, bawling in confusion. Their noise was underscored by the clatter of cloven hooves as animals were prodded up the wooden chute and into the slat-sided stock trailer. The curses and shouts from those on the ground and on horseback added to the racket.
In the midst of it all, a photographer and his assistant darted about, seeking the right angle and lighting for the shots they wanted, and further spooking the range-wild cattle in the process. Watching it all from his
perch on the top rail, Ty kept his mouth shut with difficulty. For two cents, he would yank them out of the pen, shove them in their car, and tell them to get the hell down the road.
A pair of small white hands gripped the rail next to his leg. He glanced down as Tara pulled herself up to lean against the top rail, her arm brushing against his leg.
“How is the photo shoot going?” She scanned the pen to locate the photographers.
“Don’t ask,” Ty replied as the photographer knelt in the middle of the stock pen, his camera aimed at a horse and rider working hard to turn a bunch of cattle toward the chute. The same cattle the photographer had just scattered. “These cattle should have been loaded and gone an hour ago.”
“It will be worth it,” Tara stated confidently. “A feature article with photographs—that’s free publicity.”
“That’s why I haven’t kicked them out of here yet. But they’ll be damned lucky if they don’t get roped and hog-tied by one of the ranch hands.”
“As soon as they get the shots they want of this, they will be all finished.”
“It can’t come soon enough.”
“Oh, I almost forgot. Chase wants you at the house. He’s closeted in the den with those lawyers.”
Ty frowned in surprise. “They’re here?”
Tara nodded. “Their plane landed a few minutes ago.”
“Keep an eye on those two. If you can hurry them along, do it,” he said and vaulted to the ground.
