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Bothoff by himself in a moody silence Usually he came back for seconds, but the

food on the plate balanced on his knee didn’t appear to have been touched

“Beats riht I offered to let hirind the coffee, but he didn’t want to”

There was never a shortage of volunteers to grind coffee, since the Arbuckle Coffee Cos All the cowboys had a sweet tooth, and whoever ground the coffee got the candy There was obviously so if Joe Dollarhide had turned down his chance

“Good ”

Lorna turned to find Benteen standing behind her, a cup of coffee in his hand There was an aard moment when she couldn’t quite aze to take a s of coffee, and it was gone

“How are you this ?” she asked

“As well as can be expected, under the circu nor co She felt the flash of sexual tension and knew exactly what he ain, this ti, I want you to ride out to the herd Spanish tells ht Give the calves to the Jenkins family”

“Right” Shorty nodded and took his plate, round

“His h to keep two calves alive,” Benteen said to Lorna “The Jenkins family will have a beef to butcher this winter”

“Food as well as fuel,” she said, and smiled “Thank you”

“Don’t thank me Thank the cows” A sunburst of lines radiated briefly from the corners of his eyes

“Mr Calder, sir?” Joe Dollarhide set his plate on the ground when he spied Benteen at the chuck wagon He rose and rubbed his hands down his thighs in a nervous gesture now that he had Benteen’s attention He approached with a degree of uncertainty

“What is it, Dollarhide?” Benteen thought he knew Last night he’d seen the boy gazing at the lighted s of the sod house with a kind of ho

“I was just thinking … since that farraze the herd on his land,in return A favor for a favor,” he suggested lamely