Stepbrother Cowboy: A Western Romance (6 page)

I spit it out, sputtering and wiping my tongue. No way did I want to eat grass that might have cow piss sprinkled around it. She let out a surprised squeak and turned to start running when I bolted forward after her, dropping my food to the ground. Fuck the horses, they could stay there… I chased after her, kicking up little bits of grass until I tackled her, using my body to pad the fall. We wrestled a moment, before it turned into another kiss. And another.

“We have to finish this fence soon,” she told me, running her fingers through my hair as I pulled her tight to me.

“We have time,” I kissed her neck, watching her body stiffen.

Two gunshots broke the silence around us. She tried to jump up, but I held her down, and motioned for her to crouch, low in the grass. I couldn’t see any threats and the coast was clear for quite a ways. The shots hadn’t sounded right next to us, but somewhere just out of eyesight maybe. Echoes are funny in the mountains, something I learned the hard way.

“Stay down low, let’s get to the horses.”

“Were they shooting at us?”

“They could be anywhere. Sound is funny out here, but no, I don’t think they were shooting at us.”

“Good. I think.”

Getting back to the basin of water, I finally stood, stretching my muscles in my back as I took stock of everything around us. There were bushes where somebody could be hiding, but nobody would be out this far on foot, not if they were smart. I guess that’s one of the disadvantages of living on a large ranch. Bill’s was one of the largest in our area, and even as a kid, I’d never been over all of it.

“Take care of the horses.” I told her, picking up the rifle and using the scope to look around.

It took me a minute, but I saw a small cloud of dust to the south of us, towards the fence line.

“Looks like they are over there.” I motioned.

“I can’t see anything.”

“It’s far off. Want to look?” I held out the rifle, but she shook her head.

“Let’s go look, but don’t ride right on me. Keep about a football field apart from us. God, I wish I had a cell phone right about now.”

“You don’t have one?”

“There was no point until I got home.”

“Don’t worry, I have one. Do you want it?”

“No, but if we have trouble, you need to call for help.”

“Jackson first, right?”

“Yeah, the guys with the trucks are the closest. Then call the Sheriff’s office.”

“I don’t want to call them, they-” She didn’t have to finish that sentence for me to understand her opinion of the sheriff, and the help he might give. If any.

“I know, I know. Trust me, ok?” She just nodded and we mounted up.

She listened; I’ll have to give her that. The look she gave me when I rode off told me she wasn’t happy being so far back, and in a way I understood. She was probably scared of something happening to me, because I was out front… Something could happen to her, while I was far ahead. I was scared of that too, and that’s why I had the rifle across the saddle, one hand holding the reins. I have to give Charlie’s horse credit, other than the nip this morning, the rest of the day she’d proven to be a well trained and a good tempered horse.

I slowed Lightning’s walk to almost a crawl, following the fence line now. The ground on the other side of the fence had been worn down to bare earth. I’ve seen horses do that, but not so much cattle. I came to the top of the gentle hill and saw two riders on the other side, one of them doing something with the fence. I turned and waved to Alison and started down, kicking the horse into a fast gallop.

If there was going to be trouble, I wanted to have the element of surprise. A horse coming at you full run while you were standing flat footed at a fence should do that. I think. Probably would help if they knew I was armed, but I was improvising, not seeing any on them. The two looked up in shock as the sound of the hooves reached them, and one of them fell over backwards. The one who didn’t, pulled his hat off and his chest moved with what could only be laughter. That put my mind at rest. I got within shouting distance when I realized that the cowboy who’d fallen had a lumpy, black and blue face and was moving stiffly. It took me a moment, but when I got to within twenty feet I knew for sure who it was.

“Tim, what the hell you doing messing with our fence?” My voice was low, threatening. I held my fist up beside my head in the universal stop motion and hoped like hell Ali understood.

The stranger saw my motion and his gaze followed my back trail. He could probably make out the form of a rider back there. Even if he saw it was Ali, he wouldn’t know if she was armed or not. As far as things went, it was a pretty funny way to meet.

“We were fixing a break,” the stranger said, motioning with a pair of pliers. “Your damned cows keep coming on our side. And it’s our fence too, this side at least.”

He had a point, he was on the other side, and there wasn’t any sign of their horses crossing the break.

“Was that you shooting?” I asked the stranger while keeping a wary eye on Tim.

“Yeah, coyotes have been bad this year. Got one about a three minute ride south of here. You going to put that up?” He asked, pointing at my rifle. It was pointed away from them, towards the heart of the ranchland, but it wasn’t on my back. Theirs was in the scabbards, hanging off their saddles.

“Yeah, I might as well,” I told him.

“Is that Alison up there? I’ll kill that fucking bitch.”

“Shut up dickhead,” the stranger snapped at Tim, who looked shocked.

I smiled, this guy might be alright.

“I’m Cameron,” I dismounted and held my hand out over the fence. He took it and shook.

“Dade,” Oops, maybe not.

“You guys riding fence?”

“Yeah, about the same as you. Which direction are you and your rider heading?”

I pointed the direction, which was the same as where they had come from. “That way.”

“You guys find anything?” He asked me.

“Fence was cut, about twenty minutes into the ride. Know anything about it?”

“Nope. We found this section after shooting the coyote. Also found two cows who’d wandered over. We ran them back through the hole.”

“How’d you know they were ours?”

“Your ear tags are orange. We use white.”

“Smart.”

“Why are you talking to that shithead? He’s the motherfucker who did this,” Tim started spewing words, pointing to his face.

“Beat your ass into pulp, taught you a lesson? Shut your stupid mouth before I give you the same,” maybe this Dade dude wasn’t so bad after all.

“Shut up Tim. You’re lucky you’re not in jail. You should be, but I don’t know how you’re out. Shut the fuck up before you buy yourself a world of hurt,” my voice was cold, but I meant every word.

“Fuck you.” He stormed off towards the horses.

“If you fixed that section already, I’m going to head back to the main house.”

“I’m going to head down towards the coyote you shot. Jackson says they’ve been getting the new calves lately. Maybe I can find a den.”

“Old Jackson’s still there?”

“Yeah, old as dirt and twice as ugly.”

“That’s him.”

“Yeah. You know… What’s the issue between the Bart’s and the Masterson's? Water, land?”

“A woman I think.”

“Oh shit.”

“Yeah, it’s always about a woman, isn’t it?”

“What about the water thing?”

“I didn’t have anything to do with that. Engineers from the army corps of engineers did something, and we’re developing that section of land. Guess the water went where it wanted to.”

“There’s some butt hurt over on this side of the fence, and some think the water getting diverted was deliberate.”

“Not that I know of…”

The shot whipped by my head, almost blowing out my eardrum with the sonic wake. I pulled the butt stock of the gun, using the sling to spin it around my shoulder until it was in firing position and flicked off the safety. Tim, I’d lost eye contact with Tim. He was lining up for a second shot on me as Dade turned to rush him. I hesitated for half a heartbeat and shot.

Both Tim and the horse he was sitting on fell heavily, and Tim started screaming. I could hear pounding hooves behind me, but I was out for blood. I had another round chambered as Dade pulled the rifle away from Tim, who had a leg pinned by his dead horse. I had only a split second to decide. Kill him and start a whole new batch of trouble or knock the horse out from under him and throw his aim off. I was done with the killing business, so I got the horse.

Dade held the rifle out over his head, his other hand up. I ducked under the wire fence, my aim never wavering.

“Easy man, I got the gun from him.”

I still had them both covered, the muzzle of the gun going an inch between both targets. The one holding the weapon and the one screaming on the ground. Either would be an easy shot.

“Don’t kill him.” Alison said behind me.

“That’s twice now, that she’s saved you, Tim.”

“Get this horse off me.” He gasped.

In the course of trying to pull himself out, his shirt rode up, and his chest was taped heavily. I smiled grimly and thought of how bad that fall had to have hurt with broken ribs. Too bad about the horse though, I hated killing a good animal.

“I called Jackson. Want me to call the sheriff’s office?”

“Don’t bother, I’ll call him myself,” Dade said coldly. “Howdy, Ms. Alison. Sorry for meeting you again under these circumstances.”

She said nothing, but I could hear her dialing.

“We’re at the Masterson's ranch. Tim Bart just tried to shoot Cameron. Uh huh. Oh no, Tim isn’t going anywhere. He’s got a dead horse pinning him down. No, no, the horse is dead. No Tim shot at Cameron.”

“This should be fun to explain to Carl,” Dade said dryly. “I said I’d call…”

“I ought to kill this stupid bastard,” I grumbled.

“Shhhh, she’s still got 911 on the phone,” he grinned. “Marines?”

“Army.”

“Nobody’s perfect. Want to help me drag his ass out from under the horse so he’ll quit crying like a fucking pansy?”

“No, let’s leave him for the coyotes,” I said, but Tim started screaming at that point.

“It might hurt, pulling him out.”

“You’ve got a deal,” I told him grinning and putting the rifle sling around my shoulder again.

Tim got one good look at my expression and put his hands up, starting to beg. I got my hands under one arm, Dade the other and we started to pull savagely. My arms flexed, and I was pulling with all of my strength when his leg slid free. I had just enough warning not to lose my feet and bang my head on the gun. He screamed for a minute about his ribs, and I knew he was in pain. He had tears running down his cheeks and was lying on his side, his leg straight out, in pain.

“Think I should still shoot the dumb fuck?” I said.

“Naw, I won’t let him ride fence with a gun anymore. Not while I’m foreman,” Dade told me.

“Carl isn’t going to like it.”

“It isn’t up to Carl, it’s up to you?”

“It’s like that?” I asked, totally confused.

“It’s up to you. This kid can either go to jail for probably forever. I don’t know how he got out of trouble the other day, but I saw him try to shoot you. So did Alison. You can put this boy in prison forever, or you can let me run his ass ragged.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Reputation mostly. It’s all I have, and I can’t let some kid; even the owners son do the shit he’s doing. I’ll have his ass confined to the house if I have to.”

I was cooling down, and for once, my mind was spinning and planning. If I let this drop and took Dade at his word, I might buy Bill and Mom some breathing room or goodwill with the Bart's. On the other hand, if the kid tries it again… I decided.

“He comes at me again, I’ll kill him.”

“I would have killed him the first time, but it’s up to you. What do you want me to tell Tyler when he gets out here?”

“That his nephew is walking back to the ranch,” I said with a smile.

“That’ll piss him off.”

“Everybody wins. Tim lives, and I get to piss off my two favorite Bart’s.”

“Yeah, I heard about you popping the old man’s jewels. I told him to stay away.”

“At least somebody on your side has a cool head.”

“I do try. I’ll have Tyler stop out after he collects this shithead.”

“Thanks. I’ll be at Tory’s Cabin.”

“Me too,” Alison spoke up.

“Ok, well, nice to meet you, and Alison, always a pleasure to see you. Sorry about all of this.”

“See you next time.” I told him and ducked under the fence and mounted Lightning.

As we were riding away, I heard Tim’s blubbery whiney voice. “Are you really going to make me walk?” I broke Lightning into a fast run, before my laughter made me a fool. I had to slow down to rest Lightning and Ali kept right beside me now, still silent. I thought about checking out the spot where the coyote was shot, but decided it could wait for another day. Then I remembered and turned to Ali.