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Green Calder Grass

Their land…their fas they love, they fight to win

Jessy Niles Calder grew up on the Triple C ranch, six hundred square rassland that can be bountiful or harsh, that bends to no man’s will—just like a Calder As Ty Calder’s wife, Jessy finally has all she’s ever wanted But even in the reedy for the rich Montana land, and willing to shed blood to get it Not to oes And soon Jessy will be faced with the fight of her life—one that will change the Triple C forever

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High clouds drifted above the Blue Ridge Mountains as a haept down fro over the rolling terrain below Wheeling only once, the hawk flew through vast,far bands of sun and shadow Sheltered by nature, the rich land of Virginia’s valleys had been tilled for generations and tao, unlike the ancient mountains that rose abruptly froo The hawkobject below Its sharp eyes quickly identified a vehicle traveling along Route 231 But it took no interest in the dark-hairedwest toward the Shenandoah

With eyes as keen as the hawk’s, the driver saw it lift away, then refocused his attention on the road ahead, catching glilasses shielded his eyes frolare The cut of his cheekbones and jaw line were on the hard side Although only in his early thirties, RJ Bannon looked more experienced than that

As he let a truck pass hi, a solitary outcrop of the Blue Ridge, the only one with a bare rock summit A smile of reme that iant boulders to beat his brothers and father to the top

The experience got hi by the ti he very much doubted he could do noelve years later

Bannon sat up straighter when he felt a twinge near his spine, an unwelcoed there Inhis brothers had taken into account when they’d asked him to open the backcountry cabin the three of the drive over ruts that the winter had deepened, to look the place over Nothing too dire The roof was still on,and, after a little persuasion with a wrench, so was the plu A critter or two had taken up residence beneath the floorboards—he’d flung open all the s and gotten into the crawl-space with a flashlight tothere but drifts of fur

After that it had been nice to get out into the air, and do the hard work of clearing away and chopping fallen branches around the property for firewood and kindling When he was done, he hadn’t wanted to leave But now that he was on the road, he wasn’t sure when he’d get back out again With Deke and Linc out of the state on assign out at the cabin on his own

He drove on, hu to himself, toward Wainsville He could see it in the distance Not his ho to live in a town that tiot, until Wainsville had been “discovered” Now its friendly old houses were overshadowed by condos and too many trees had been taken down to make room for them The town even had a couple of office parks on land that had been bought cheap and developed with no thought to tradition The surrounding area was still beautiful and largely rural, but an influx of hedge-fund titans who’d cashed out had come here Their new, out-size mansions were everywhere and their nouveau riche attitude rankled the locals

Bannon scowled as he passed a just-built one that sat on raw soil, an eyesore frole Construction debris was half-heartedly controlled by an orange plastic fence that flapped in the breeze He didn’t have a good reason to feel superior After all, he lived in a condo,the place Being a cop, you h to pick up an envelope of paperwork and headed out again