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After following the cattle and the pushing riders outside of the pen, she reined her mount around to the fence where twounder the stirrup, she loosened the cinch to give her horse a breather

“You’ve got ’em all, Arch,” she informed her camp foreman in a terse fashion, then bobbed the rolled brim of her dusty hat in the direction of the older e “H’lo, Nate”

“Jessy” He returned her nod of greeting Nate Moore was the bachelor sage of the ranch His bones were too stiff and brittle to tolerate the abuse of a saddle anymore, but his eyes hadn’t failed him And his eye for cattleon the Triple C Ranch Since he couldn’t ride the range anymore except in a pickup, he was always on hand whenever there was a gather on any part of the ranch to take a close-up look at the breeding stock

“We’ll hold ’erass in the ,” Arch Goodround, heading off to advise the other riders of his plans

Nate stayed on his perch “O’Rourke’s gettin’ back a better herd than he left” He took cigarette papers and a tobacco pouch from his vest pocket Most of the old-timers still rolled their own ser joints were enlarged and stiff

“That’s true enough” Jessy observed his aard atteh “I’ll do that for you”

He passed her the ht a Ty is at O’Rourke’s helpin’ his on the place”

“I heard that” She caught the tobacco string between her teeth and pulled the pouch shut

“That engage It’s off, ya know”

“Heard that, too” She rolled the paper around the tobacco and ran the long edge of the paper across her tongue to lick it shut

“Jilted him, I understand,” Nate observed Jessy passed hi the underside of his thigh to light it “Can’t say I think ive her word, then call it back”

“She probably had her reasons” She still felt raw inside at the way she’d been used by Ty, knowingly or not And, in all honesty, Jessy couldn’t say she was sorry at the way he’d been treated by his ladylove There was a certain sweet revenge in it

“Sidin’ with her, are ya?” Nate observed while he cupped the flaarette and puffed it to life

“Just sticking up for ed a shoulder

“There are kinds—an’ then, there are kinds” He stared off a ways, conte the vastness of the sky “Most ranchers het all het up about bavin’ the best breedin’ bull an’ spend whatever it takes to get top qualitythen put hiood calf”—Nate pulled his gaze back to look at her with equal thoughtfulness —“ya gotta have a good momma A lotta folks that claiets a lot more from his momma than from the bull that covers her A rancher’s ood cow than a bull It’s the female what counts, an’ don’t let anybody tell you differently”