Her Wyoming Hero. Rebecca Winters

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СКАЧАТЬ of the property away from the forest that provided spectacular blocks of color. It was the last day of August. Another week of temperatures in the lower seventies, and then it would be fall. Carson had told his friend from a more southern clime that the cold came a little earlier here, so enjoy the warm weather while they could.

      Ross’s dark brown eyes followed the flat, treeless sweep of sage with no sign of civilization in sight. He loved every square inch of this fabulous property watched over by the magnificent Grand Teton.

      “If you’re having reservations about our recent decision to keep the dude ranch running year round, I’m open to anything you have to say. This place hasn’t operated in the black for years. It’s nothing new.”

      That’s what worried Ross. Though their regular dude ranch business was growing, he wanted Carson to be able to get out from under the constant worry of making ends meet, a problem Ross had never been forced to deal with.

      “No reservations. Like you, I’m anxious to keep this going for a year to see how we do in our venture.”

      Turning the working ranch into a dude ranch had been Carson’s idea when the three of them had been hospitalized together at Walter Reed in January. He’d inherited it from his deceased grandfather and wanted to make it into a profitable business.

      The guys had gotten together and pooled their resources. Once they’d been discharged from the hospital, they’d started making their dream a reality. Besides building new cabins and making renovations to the ranch house and other structures, they’d created a website and done enough advertising to attract people from all over the country who wanted to experience life on a ranch. It had been a major endeavor that had included the hiring of staff.

      Throughout all that process they’d also discussed how to manage their guilt for surviving the war and had come up with the idea to give a week’s free vacation once a month to a son or a daughter of a fallen soldier. To be a substitute daddy for a week to the fatherless children had been a part of their goal, but there was much more to it.

      The guys hoped that in helping the mothers and children explore the outdoors on horseback and take in the wonders of the rugged natural world, they’d let go of some of their grief and learn that there was joy in being alive despite their loss. The children needed to know their fathers were good men who’d made an invaluable contribution to their country and would always be remembered. Hopefully the activities the ranch provided would help restore their confidence.

      So far the “daddy dude ranch” experiment, as they called it, had produced wonders far beyond anyone’s expectations. Not only had the two women and children who’d come this summer found new joy here, his partners had lost their hearts to them and there’d been two marriages.

      Ross found it uncanny what had happened, marveling over the happy coincidences. Now there was one more military widow with her son due to arrive this evening—Kathryn and Andrew Wentworth. Their husband and father happened to have been the son of Charles Cavanaugh Wentworth from Maine, an established and wealthy East Coast family.

      According to Colonel Hodges, Mrs. Wentworth had been hesitant to accept the guys’ invitation, feeling it should go to a family in financial need. That piece of information did her credit, but her husband’s exceptional valor had decided them on giving him and his family the special recognition he deserved.

      Ross had still to decide what it was going to be like taking care of two people who’d been given every luxury life had to offer. Having been born a Livingston of the billionaire oil barons of Texas, he knew firsthand the kind of society she and her son had come from. He would reserve judgment, however, until after he’d spent some time with them.

      As for now, he was excited about an idea he wanted to explore with Carson. It had been percolating in his mind for a long time, but he hadn’t wanted to bring it up until he could see how well their dude ranch business had been doing.

      “So, what gives?” Carson prodded him.

      Ross would have answered, but like Carson and Buck, he had a cough they’d picked up in Afghanistan that had ended their military careers. This morning there was a hint of smoke in the air from a forest fire in nearby Yellowstone. It had aggravated their coughs. He pulled out his inhaler prescribed by the doctor. Pretty soon he got some relief, but the medicine had a tendency to make him sleepy, something he had to fight while they were out on the range.

      When he finally caught his breath, Ross began. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t you once tell me your great great grandfather obtained the mineral rights to this place before the government could get their hands on them?”

      Carson eyed him with curiosity. “I did.”

      “I’ve been giving it a lot of thought since Sublette and Fremont Counties bordering you have been seeing a boom in natural gas.”

      “That’s right. You graduated in petroleum engineering. You think there’s gas under my land?” he asked before letting go with a cough.

      “With more and more energy companies springing up around Lander and Thermopolis, I think there’s a pretty good possibility you’re living on top of a big pocket of it here in Teton County. Wyoming has the second largest proven natural gas reserve in the U.S. behind Texas.”

      I ought to know, he thought with a grimace. His last name was synonymous with oil in the Lone Star State, where he’d been raised.

      “The money you’d derive from a producing well could keep the ranch solvent for years to come. It’s just a thought.” One Ross would like to see happen for his friend.

      “A few years ago my grandfather told me he’d been approached by a gas company, but he wouldn’t hear of doing anything about it.”

      “I can understand that. Wyoming is a pristine environment that has been underexplored and underexploited. I’m sure he wanted to keep it that way.”

      “He feared the onslaught of progress.”

      “You can’t blame him. But the ever-increasing demand for gas in the U.S. has led to a quadrupling of the price, causing companies in Russia and Venezuela, both big natural gas suppliers, to have shut off access to foreign companies. The same in the Gulf of Mexico where easy-to-drill reserves have been depleted. Progress has made its way to your door.”

      Carson pushed his cowboy hat back on his head. “You’re talking about drilling for it right here?”

      “This is the flattest uninhabited section of your land away from people and animals. Bringing in a road over this section would cause the least amount of disturbance to the environment and would be virtually invisible. Naturally I can’t give you proof there’s gas here without doing some preliminary drilling.”

      His friend was quiet for a minute. “Wouldn’t that cost a ton of money I don’t have?”

      Ross nodded. “But I have some savings I can draw from. It would be my way of investing in your ranch to give you something back after what you’ve done for me. Then I’d feel a real part of it.”

      “You already are,” Carson answered solemnly.

      “I’d like to do more for you.”

      After a pause Carson asked, “What all would be involved?”

      Ross was pleased his friend was at least listening to his proposal. СКАЧАТЬ