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“So ill you do? Send the cattle to h one of the local auction barns?”

“Probably not” Holding the wet sheet by its opposite corners, Quint kept it off the ground while Dallas pinned it to the line “It would be too easy for Rutledge to get wind of it The sa a local hauler”

“What, then? Will you hire someone from out of state like you did with the hay?”

“You’re just full of questions this ”

Her heart leaped into her throat as she threw him a startled look His expression was one of amusement with no trace of suspicion, but it did little to ease the guilt she felt Dallas looked away

“I can’t help it,” she said with a stiff little shrug “By nature I’m a detail person Any time I hear a decision, my mind automatically jumps to the steps that have to be taken to carry it out”

“Spoken like a true bean counter” Quint grinned and passed her the ends of the sheet he held “In this case, before any steps can be taken, other questions have to be answered first And a hard look needs to be taken at the grazing land that’s left From that we can make a determination of the number it can support That number will tell us—”

“How many have to be sold,” Dallas inserted, quick to follow his line of thinking “Which tells us how many have to be shipped to market, and the number of trucks to haul them”

“Now you’ve got the idea” Quint smiled in approval

But Dallas found little pleasure to be taken froent enough to ask the right questions

Boone Rutledge stared out theof the granite-and-glass-skinned building, headquarters for the congloaze failed to take in the view of Fort Worth that the executive office suite provided His expression had a look of brooding iitated and interht hand

In a surge of restlessness Boone swung away fro door to theit open He dragged his gaze froe Instead he crossed to the sleekly conte across it, he punched the phone’s intercom button

“Yes, Mr Rutledge?” Despite its slight drawl, the female voice that answered projected a note of businesslike efficiency

Boone had no trouble picturing the brunette on the other end The onetilorified waitress/receptionist, hired to provide his father’s cronies soo Boone had discovered that her sole a or old, she didn’t particularly care which Failing to snare him, she had moved on to richer pastures

“You did inforht away, didn’t you, Miss Bridges?” he demanded curtly