Green Calder Grass (31 page)
Read Green Calder Grass Online
Authors: Janet Dailey
“What on earth is a remittance man?” Sally asked, a slight laugh in her voice.
“As I understand it, the term was usually applied to a younger, ne’er-do-well son of a wealthy European family, usually members of the aristocracy. They often paid him an allowance not to come home,” Cat explained.
It was an old story to Ty, one that had interested him little in the past, and even less now. But he remembered how excited Tara had been when she discovered the two photographs. At the time she had been thrilled by the possibility a Calder might be linked, however nefariously, to English aristocracy.
“Obviously you can see the coincidence,” Cat said. “Madelaine Calder runs off with a remittance man. Then years later, Lady Elaine Dunshill, the wife of an earl, shows up at the Triple C.” Cat lifted her hands, palms up, to indicate she wasn’t sure what it meant.
Laura started fussing in Jessy’s arms. When Jessy checked, her suspicion was confirmed. After gathering up the bulky diaper bag, she turned to Tara. “Excuse me. Is there someplace I can change Laura’s diaper?”
“Of course. Down that hallway, second door on the right.” Tara pointed to a wide archway framed in stone that opened off the great room. After a second’s hesitation, she offered, “If you like, I can show you the way.”
But something in Tara’s expression made it obvious that she thought it unnecessary. “I’ll find it. Thanks.” Toting the diaper bag, Jessy moved toward the stone arch and the hall beyond it.
Tara immediately turned back to Ty. “I still think it would be fascinating to do a little research into Lady Dunshill’s background. I would be curious to find out who she was, before she married the Earl of Crawford, and where she was from.”
“It’s hardly important.” He lifted his shoulders in a shrug of disinterest.
“I don’t know how important it is, but there is this blank spot in your family history. What happened to the runaway Madelaine Calder? Where did she go? What did she do? When did she die? Where? Your family tree won’t be complete without that information,” Tara argued lightly.
“Actually it would be interesting to track down more information on the family,” Cat said thoughtfully. “Not just Madelaine Calder, but Grandpa’s wife Lily, too. And where was Seth Calder born? In Texas?” She glanced at her father for the answer. “Do you know?”
“I can’t recall anyone mentioning it to me,” Chase admitted. “And I was never curious enough to ask. I know he had a ranch somewhere outside of Fort Worth called the C Bar. Beyond the fact that he was buried in Fort Worth, that’s about all I know.”
“We really should document our family’s history,” Cat decided. “For the sake of future generations, if nothing else.”
“I can’t disagree with you, Cat. What do you say, Ty?” Chase cast a glance his direction, eyes twinkling. “Shall we put Cat in charge of it?”
“I think she’s the perfect choice,” he agreed, smiling.
“You two are making a joke of this, but I’m serious.” Cat wore a determined look.
“So are we,” Chase assured her, fighting back a smile.
“Wonderful. It’s all settled.” Tara beamed at the three of them. “It will be a fascinating project, Cat. If I can help at all, let me know. In the meantime, though”—she paused and pressed a hand on Ty’s arm, claiming his attention—“I have a favor to ask of you.”
“What’s that?”
“I know the perfect housewarming gift you can give me.”
“You’re assuming I planned to give you one,” Ty countered.
“You wouldn’t be so rude, and I know it,” she insisted confidently. “Shall I tell you what it is?”
He noted the avid gleam in her eyes. “I think you should before you burst.”
Tara tipped back her head and laughed, exposing the slender curve of her throat. “You know me so well, Ty. The mere thought excites me because I know it will be the perfect finishing touch for the house.”
“Don’t keep us in suspense,” Cat protested a trifle impatiently. “What is it?”
“The loan of Lady Dunshill’s photograph. Just long enough for me to have a good copy made from it,” Tara added in quick assurance. “I know this excellent portrait artist who creates the most stunning works, almost entirely from photographs. And the minute I walked into this room and saw this huge stone fireplace when the masons finished, I knew whose picture I wanted hanging above the mantel. Lady Dunshill, the home’s namesake.” Tara swung around to face the fireplace and contemplated the empty area above the mantel. “Won’t a portrait of her make a perfect focal point for the room?” She sent an appealing look over her shoulder to Ty. “Say that you will loan me the photograph. I won’t need it for more than a week.”
Without an adequate reason to refuse, Ty replied, “I’ll look for it the first chance I get.”
“It’s probably still buried in that old trunk in the attic with all the rest of the photographs. Perhaps one day next week we can look for it,” she said to Cat. “With roundup starting, Ty will be too busy. And there is an absolute treasure trove of memorabilia up there, both of the family and the ranch’s early days. It will be an ideal starting point for your research of the family.”
Cat hesitated, no longer quick to agree to any suggestion from Tara as she once might have been. “Actually Quint and I promised to help with roundup, but maybe we can slip away for an afternoon. We’ll see.”
“Wonderful.” Tara considered it a firm date.
Jessy had no difficulty locating the guest room. Its decor was another artful blend of old and new that was both rustic and elegant. The bed offered the only flat surface big enough, short of the floor, to lay Laura on. Jessy took one look at the bed’s off-white coverlet and dug a receiving blanket out of the diaper bag to spread beneath Laura.
The minute Jessy laid her down, Laura stopped fussing and took immediate interest in her new surroundings. Her eye was first caught by an old rocker in the corner, its wood finished in a distressed white, and its seat and back cushion covered in a black-and-white cowhide. Next Laura became fascinated by the gauzy drapes that swooped from a half-moon canopy to the end posts of the rusted iron headboard.
All the twisting and turning slowed the diaper changing process, but it was nothing new to Jessy. One more corner to pin and she would be finished.
Laura pointed a finger at the drapes. “P’etty, Mama. P’etty.”
“Very pretty.” The pin secured, Jessy reached for the ruffled and plastic-lined panties that matched Laura’s dress.
As she slipped them on, she became conscious of a prickly sensation along the back of her neck. Jessy suddenly had that uneasy feeling she was being watched. A quick glance assured her there was no one in the hallway.
When she stood Laura up to pull the panties over the bulky diaper, Jessy snuck a look at the sheer-curtained window behind her. Her blood ran cold when she saw the dark silhouette of a slim man in a cowboy hat looking into the room.
Haskell. Who else could it be? Jessy reasoned. A dozen thoughts whipped through her mind at once, Ballard’s warning among them. Her first impulse was to walk straight to the window, push back the sheers, and confront him. But having Laura with her made Jessy more cautious than she might have been on her own.
Careful to give no sign she had seen him standing outside, yet alert to any sound or movement, Jessy swung Laura onto her hip, picked up the diaper bag and walked unhurriedly from the guest room.
Approaching the great room, Jessy noticed Chase not far from the archway, standing apart from the others, a drink in his hand. She walked up to his side.
“Just now there was a man outside the window, watching while I changed Laura’s diaper.” She kept her voice pitched at a level intended for his hearing only. “I think it was Haskell.”
Chase didn’t bother to ask questions. “Ty.” His voice was hard with command. “Someone was outside. Come on.”
He headed for the door, setting his drink on a table. After a startled second, Ty handed Trey to Cat and went after him. Logan was only a half-step behind both men.
“What’s going on?” Tara frowned in confusion then whirled on Jessy. “He said someone was outside. What was he talking about?”
“Just that. There was someone outside watching me through the window.” She was blunt with her answer, her eyes cold in their regard of Tara.
“Just now?” Sally gaped at her.
“That’s ridiculous. You must have imagined it,” Tara insisted.
“You mean, while you were changing Laura’s diaper?” Cat said, as stunned as Sally.
Ignoring all of them, Jessy headed for the door, as eager as the men to confront the man. Tara, Sally, and Cat were quick to follow her.
Jessy reached the front walk in time to hear Chase bark, “Stop right there, Buck.”
As she rounded the corner of the house, Jessy spotted the three men converging on a fourth, dressed in jeans, a blue chambray shirt, and a cowboy hat. Buck swung around to face them with an almost studied nonchalance. Even with the brim of his hat shading his features, there was no doubt in Jessy’s mind Buck was the same man she had seen moments ago.
“What’s got you in such an uproar, Chase?” Buck drawled with a kind of lazy innocence.
“You were seen looking in the window, Buck,” Chase stated, a steely flatness to his voice.
Buck drew his head back in a show of surprise. “What window? What the hell are you talkin’ about?”
“Don’t try to bluff your way out of this, Buck,” Chase warned. “It won’t work.”
Before Buck had a chance to respond, Tara arrived and inserted herself into the conversation. “Jessy claims there was a man outside the window watching her a few minutes ago.”
“Well, she’s wrong,” Buck declared forcefully.
Ty took an angry step forward, “You were warned—”
Logan laid a restraining hand on his arm and smoothly placed himself between Ty and Buck. “Why don’t you tell us what you’re doing out here, Buck?”
“I noticed somebody skulkin’ around the house.” Buck kept his eyes on Ty. “I figured it was probably O’Rourke and came over to take a look-see. For all I know, I could’ve been standin’ in front of a window, but I sure as hell wasn’t lookin’ in. I was tryin’ to spot where O’Rourke had disappeared to.”
It was a plausible explanation, one that Jessy found difficult to refute. The many folds of the sheers had prevented her from seeing more than the silhouette of a hatted man. Any other details had been obscured.
“There’s your answer.” Tara lifted her hand in a presenting gesture. “Obviously Jessy only imagined that he was peering in the window. Isn’t that right?” Her dark gaze gleamed with confidence.
“It’s possible,” Jessy admitted, still searching her memory in an attempt to pinpoint the reason she had been certain the man was looking inside.
“Culley is around here somewhere,” Logan inserted quietly. “I caught a glimpse of that bay gelding he always rides grazing in one of the draws as we were driving in.”
“You see, it was all a mistake,” Tara proclaimed and cast a pitying smile at Jessy. “It’s an easy one to make. I know if I saw a man standing outside a bedroom window, I would assume he was looking in. Any woman would.” She turned her smile on the others. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m relieved this whole fuss was over nothing.”
“Just make sure it stays that way,” Ty warned, continuing his stare-down of Buck.
Wisely, Buck made no response to that.
But Tara was quick to slide a calming hand over Ty’s arm. “Ty Calder, I swear you are just itching for a fight,” she chided, all beguiling charm. “This is a special evening for me. Don’t you go spoiling my first dinner party.” Then, as if to end this confrontation once and for all, she smoothly glanced at Buck. “Go on back to the trailer. And pay no attention if you see Culley about the place. He isn’t likely to cause any harm.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Buck dipped his head in a respectful nod and backed up a few steps before turning to head toward the trailer.
“Let’s go inside, shall we?” Tara suggested to all of them. “Dinner will be ready soon, and I still haven’t shown you the rest of the house.”
The incident was not referred to again that evening, but the memory of it stayed, like an uninvited guest at the table, creating a tension that didn’t allow any of them to totally relax.
Later that night back at The Homestead, the twins fell asleep almost before the covers were tucked around them. Bending, Jessy smoothed a dark strand of hair off Trey’s forehead.
“They’re exhausted,” she murmured to Ty.
“It’s been a long day for them.”
“It was.” Jessy nodded in agreement and drifted toward the door along with Ty.
Both paused in the opening to make a final check on the pair. A dim nightlight spilled over the sleeping toddlers and the baby monitor was positioned on a dresser between the cribs, ready to transmit the first cry from either of them.
Satisfied that all was quiet and likely to stay that way, they left the room, closing the door behind them. In a companionable silence, they walked to the master suite next door to the twins’ room. Jessy went directly to the closet to change into her nightshirt while Ty crossed to the bed and sat down to pull off his boots.
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