Page 1 (1/2)

PROLOGUE

When Virgil “Bull” Tyler left this life, it was said that his departing spirit roared like a norther across the yellowed spring pastureland, shrilled upward a the buttes and hoodoos of the Caprock Escarp above the high Texas plain

Later on, folks would clai like a sudden chill on the March wind But his son Will Tyler had felt nothing Busy withchores, Will was unaware of his father’s death until he heard the shouts of the husky et the old man out of bed and into his wheelchair

Will knew at once what had happened By the ti stone ranch house, he’d ht of that once-powerful body lying rigid under the patchwork quilt, the lifeless blue eyes staring up at the ceiling, hit hiut He’d lived his whole thirty-nine years in his father’s shado the old one But the shadow remained

“Do you wanth a parade of hired caregivers in the six years since a riding accident had shattered his spine, paralyzing his hips and legs

“What for?” Will pulled the sheet over his father’s face In the movies, somebody would’ve closed those eyes In real life, Will knew for a fact that it didn’t work

“We’ll need to call somebody,” the nurse said “The county coroner, maybe? They’ll want to knohat killed him”

Alcohol and pain pills, Will surmised But what the hell, there were protocols to be followed “Fine, go ahead and call,” he said “I’ll be outside if you need me”

Bernice Crawford, the plu ho’d been the Tylers’ cook and housekeeper since Will’s boyhood,down her apple-cheeked face “Oh, Will! I’m so sorry!”

“I know” Will searched for words of coht the world of you, Bernice”

“He was a miserable old man,” she said “You know that as well as I do But he carried the burden God gave him, and now he’s free of it”

Will gave her shoulder an aard squeeze before he turned away and strode toward the front door He needed fresh air And he needed tihts

He made it to the wide, covered porch before the raw reality slaripped the rail and forced himself to breathe His father was dead He felt the void left by Bull’s passing—and the weight of responsibility for this ranch and everyone on it that was now his to shoulder alone

Therass, and restless ani fro up the calving pens for the pregnant heifers that had been bred a week ahead of the older cows The rest of the cattle that had wintered in the canyon would soon need rounding up for the drive to spring pasture above the escarpiven that name by early Spaniards because the land was so flat and desolate that they had to drive stakes in the ground to keep fro their way

Looking down froaze sweep over the heart of the sprawling Rimrock Ranch—the vast complex of sheds, corrals, and barns, the hotel-like bunkhouse for un cookhouse and coalows for workers with falittered pale aquaht, but the water was no good to drink With the suly white patch of alkali where nothing would grow

Will scowled up at the cloudless sky Last suht su to dust and the cattle having to be sold off early, at a pittance on the plu beef market

Will had ed the ranch for the past six years and done it as competently as his father ever had But even fro spirit behind Rione, Will felt the full burden of his legacy

“Looks like we’ll be planning a funeral” The dry voice startled Will before he noticed the old , the ranch Border collie, sprawled at his feet Jasper Platt, Bernice’s older brother, had been foreman since before Will was born Now that rheumatism kept him out of the saddle, he was semiretired But Will still relied on hi the people, the way Jasper did

“When did you find out?” Will asked

“About the sah as an old saddle His hair was an unruly white thatch, his skin burned dark as walnut below the pale line left by his hat The joints of his fingers were knotted with arthritis