Buffalo Summer. Nadia Nichols

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СКАЧАТЬ in the thicket and before Caleb’s dazzled eyes a huge buffalo cow burst from the draw, tail held high, and made off at a dead run. She climbed a knoll at a speed that seemed impossible for such an ungainly-looking beast and yet she was pure grace and incredible power as she fled their presence and sought the safety of the rest of the herd.

      “What’s that?” Caleb said, his breath catching in his throat. “Look, beside her. What is that!” He watched the little blond ball that bounced at the cow’s flank as she raced up the knoll.

      Guthrie’s reply was an affirmation of something Caleb already knew. “That’s a baby buff, boss,” he said. “That cute little critter is one of your first baby buffs.”

      THE EUPHORIA of the afternoon stayed with Caleb on the long ride home. The buffalo were all there. Not only were they all there, but the ten cows had made seven calves. Not bad at all, considering he’d bought all ten without having them certified pregnant. Seven out of ten wasn’t bad, and maybe they weren’t done calving, either. Caleb was feeling pretty good about things.

      “Lord, they were something, weren’t they?” he said for the umpteenth time as they jogged home.

      “Yessir,” Guthrie said.

      Hard to tell what Guthrie really thought about it all. Did he really think the buffalo were a good thing? Or was he too much of a cattleman to ever change his ways? “They scare me a little, I won’t lie,” Caleb said. “But they’re the true natives of this land. They belong here.”

      “Yessir.”

      “I think this ranch will be a better place for having them.”

      “Me, too,” Guthrie said.

      Caleb drew rein so abruptly that Billy snorted in protest. Guthrie was slower to follow suit, easing his horse to a walk and pivoting it around to face him. He gave Caleb a questioning look.

      “Do you mean that?” Caleb said.

      “You forget that I grew up here with Jessie,” Guthrie replied. “I’ve been working on this ranch since I was thirteen years old, and she’s been wanting this to happen for a long time. Ripping down the cross fences and bringing back the buffalo. Giving the land back to itself and letting it heal the wounds we’ve made in it over the years.”

      “But what about you? How do you feel about it?”

      Guthrie studied him for a moment then shifted his gaze to the distant mountains. “All my life has been about beef cows and alfalfa hay,” he admitted. “Worrying about the weather and the cows. Worrying about the graze and the cows. Worrying about makin’ hay and makin’ money and losin’ all of it when the cattle prices just dropped and dropped. I’m just like all them other ranchers. I think in beef cow. But when I look at them buffalo I feel like someone’s taken me by the scruff of the neck and given me a good shake, and I catch myself thinkin’, what the hell took us so long to get smart?”

      The two men regarded each other for a long silent moment. Caleb nodded. “I want to make this work.”

      “So do I,” Guthrie said.

      “Good.” He nudged Billy with his heels and walked him up beside Guthrie’s horse. “You really think Ramalda saved any of those ribs?”

      Guthrie grinned. “Dunno. How much do you suppose five hungry boys can eat?”

      “I think they could eat a whole buffalo.”

      “Let’s just hope they don’t, or we might be out of business by summer’s end.”

      CHAPTER THREE

      CALEB WAS RENDERED speechless at the size of the boys. He’d been expecting a spread of five-to twelve-year-olds. He’d been expecting to have to smooth Ramalda’s feathers when she realized she’d be babysitting in addition to her other duties at the ranch, but he’d been way off base. These weren’t little kids. He sat in the saddle, gazing at the five young men who stared silently back at him, lined up along the corral fence just outside the pole barn. They’d been sitting on the top rail when he and Guthrie had ridden in, studying the horses inside the corral, and had jumped down at their arrival, lining up as if for inspection. Pony was nowhere to be seen.

      “Well,” he finally managed to say. “I see you made it here all right. Did Ramalda feed you?”

      All five nodded.

      “Good. Did she show you where you’d be bunking?”

      Another somber nod of five heads.

      “You picking out your horses, are you?”

      The smallest boy said, “I like the dun.”

      “That’s a good horse. His name’s Gunner.”

      “I’m Jimmy,” the boy said, standing taller. “This is Roon, Dan, Martin and Joe.”

      “I’m Caleb McCutcheon,” he said, shaking each boy’s hand in turn, “and this is my ranch manager, Guthrie Sloane. You boys will answer to him as long as you’re riding for the Bow and Arrow.” He hesitated. “Is your mother around?”

      “Mother?” Five blank expressions met his gaze.

      “Pony.”

      “She’s down near the creek,” Jimmy said. “She wanted to see what grew along the banks.”

      Caleb glanced at Guthrie. “Why don’t you introduce the boys to the horses? We’ve got a couple hours to kill before supper. I’ll find Pony and then give everyone a brief tour of the ranch.”

      He touched his heels to Billy’s flanks and headed toward the creek, half dreading the encounter with the dark-eyed young woman. Ever since the moment they’d first met he’d been more than a little intimidated by her.

      “She’s a lot like Jessie,” he told Billy Budd, and the gelding flicked his ears at the sound of his voice. “And I have to tell you, old boy, she kind of scares me.”

      He almost hoped he wouldn’t find her, but he came to the bank of the creek and spotted her almost immediately. She was standing in the shade of a gnarly old cottonwood, holding a bunch of wildflowers she’d picked, dressed in jeans and a red-and-black plaid flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled back. Her thick, shiny black hair was plaited in a braid that hung over her shoulder.

      “We would have gone to work right away,” she said when he approached, regarding him with those dark, direct eyes. “But there was no one here to tell us what to do.”

      Caleb reined Billy in and swung out of the saddle to stand beside her. “Those five boys can’t all be yours,” he said.

      “Mine?” For a moment her eyes were puzzled, and then she shook her head. “No. At least, not in the way you mean. I am not their biological mother.” Her slender shoulders rose and fell around a helpless shrug. “It’s more like they’ve adopted me. I’m sorry. I should have explained that beforehand. You must have been expecting—”

      “Babes in swaddling clothes,” he admitted. “But those boys are big enough to do a man’s work, and I’ll be glad СКАЧАТЬ