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“No” The offer was fir out in defiance

“Wouldn’t you like to take a bath? I’ll put lots of bubbles in the tub,” Ruth coaxed

The little girl considered the offer for a long minute before she finally held out her hands to the older woman Chase surrendered her into the wo his usually hard features as he listened to his daughter jabbering to the wo her up the stairs

“She knows exactly what she wants, doesn’t she?” he ie

“And you see to it that she gets it,” she murmured dryly in return

“That’s a father’s prerogative,” Chase insisted as he bent his head to roll his mouth across her lips “Hoas your visit with Culley?”

“Fine” It was always a wrenching experience to see her brother in that institution, but she took co helped “They let me show him a picture of Cathleen today Culley insisted she looked just like me when I was a toddler”

“He was bound to notice the reseain in miniature”

“But I was never spoiled the way she is,” Maggie retorted “So her have whatever she wants She’ll grow up thinking the world is hers for the taking” Realizing she had allowed the hter to sidetrack her, she returned to her original topic “Getting back to Culley, the doctor was encouraged by his reaction to Cathleen’s photograph It didn’t seem to faze him at all that she’s a Calder”

“That’s probably because she looks like you instead of me” His mouth slanted in its familiar hard smile

“Maybe,” she conceded “But it’s a beginning”

“For your sake, Maggie, I hope it is” Her brother had never given hi but trouble, so he didn’t pretend to have any personal interest in the prospects for Culley’s recovery He kneisted with hatred Culley had been toward the Calders, infecting Maggie with it for a long time Ultimately Buck Haskell had used that malice her brother had felt andhe couldn’t forget, although he kept his silence on it

Maggie knew his feelings and sain at the remainder of the mail to be sorted “Ruth said you went to Broken Butte What’s the status on the drilling?”

“They expect to reach the desired depth in teeks” He peered over her shoulder as she separated the ranch-related correspondence frousher this tily “The results from the first well and the tests that have been completed indicate it’s a shallow field,a dozen wells, so there’s little chance that we are going to becoh off the barrels being pumped to make some improvements on the ranch All the roads need work, and there’s so And we do need better housing for some of the married men”

“I was thinkingthe lines of a new car, or new drapes for the upstairs bedrooms” So few of the profits from the Triple C were used for their personal lives All of it seeie how greedy the ranch was—not that she lacked for anything, but personal items were certainly far down the list of priorities