Part 3 (1/2)
”Buck?” he called. The door to the cabin instantly opened and Buck stuck his head in the door. ”Go start the truck. You're taking Ms. Holland back to town.”
Buck shot a sympathetic glance to Reggie, but had the good sense not to argue before he ducked back out the door.
”I don't think you realize how important this is. Can't we please discuss it like rational adults?”
”No. Get your stuff. You're out of here.”
”What will you do for a camp cook?” she asked.
”We'll manage.”
She studied him for a moment, fire in her eyes, then turned and went to the set of bunk beds in the corner. A huge expensive suitcase was open on one of the lower bunks. He caught sight of a bunch of frilly lingerie. He groaned inwardly. A woman like this in a cow camp? He was going to kill Buck.
”I wish you would reconsider,” she said, looking close to tears. ”This could open all kinds of doors for you. It could very well make you famous. Everyone wants fifteen minutes of fame.”
”Not this man. Or his b.u.t.t.” He moved beside her, closed the suitcase and picked it up. ”Shall we?” he said, motioning toward the door.
Before she could move, Buck opened the cabin door. ”Boss?” His face was pale and drawn as he motioned J.T. over. Worse, Buck only called him boss when there was trouble.
Now what?
”The truck won't start,” Buck said. ”When I looked under the hood-”
J.T. didn't wait for the rest. He shoved past the foreman and headed down the hillside to the old stock truck. That truck had never let him down even when it was forty below zero and blizzarding outside. He could hear Buck behind him, muttering to himself.
Buck had left the hood up, a flashlight lay across the top of the radiator. J.T. picked it up and shone it at the engine and swore.
”That's what I was trying to tell you,” Buck said. ”Someone took the distributor cap.”
Was it possible someone had taken the part as a joke? This sort of thing was definitely not funny. Any fool knew there could be an emergency that would prevent one of them from riding out of here on horseback and they would need the truck to get out.
J.T. turned slowly to look at Buck. ”You don't know anything about this?”
Buck looked shocked by the question. ”Why would I do something this stupid?”
To help that woman in my line shack. But he knew Buck was right. He wouldn't do anything this dangerous. Not even for a beautiful woman. But he knew Buck was right. He wouldn't do anything this dangerous. Not even for a beautiful woman.
”I was thinking about the last time something like this happened,” Buck said quietly, glancing toward the campfire. ”The truck had been disabled that time too, right?” Buck hadn't been on that roundup nine years ago. But like everyone else in four states, he'd heard about it.
”The tires were slashed,” J.T. said. The method used was different, but the end result was the same. ”And the hands involved are all dead.” One crazy, two greedy fools. All dying horrible deaths. And for what? He glanced toward the line shack. ”This has to be that woman's doing. She's the only one who benefits from this-and the only one who doesn't realize how dangerous it is.” She'd already proved how low she would stoop to get what she wanted. She'd done this to prevent him from sending her packing.
”You're right,” Buck said, sounding relieved.
This had to be her doing. But he couldn't stop thinking about the cow Bob Humphries had found. Also Reggie didn't look like the kind of woman who would know a distributor cap from a hubcap, he thought, remembering how she hadn't even been able to change her own tire. But in hindsight, that had probably just been a ruse to get him to stop and help her.
Had to be Reggie's doing, J.T. told himself as he slammed the hood. He refused to think something else was going on here and that she wasn't the only one who didn't want any of them leaving here.
But as he headed for the cabin, he felt his skin crawl as he glanced past the camp into the darkness of the pines and imagined someone hiding out there watching them, waiting to pick them off one by one. Just like last time.
Chapter Three.
Buck caught up to him just before he reached the line shack and stopped him. ”You won't be too hard on her, will you?”
J.T. stared at the older man in astonishment. Either Buck Brannigan was getting soft in the head or that woman had gotten to him. Either was unbelievable having known Buck all his life.
”Did you just temporarily lose your mind or were you drunk when you hired her?” J.T. demanded, more upset than he would have been under normal circ.u.mstances. He couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that had settled in his gut after seeing where the cow had been burned and dragged off into the woods. A missing distributor cap and a disabled truck. A crew he didn't know-or necessarily trust. h.e.l.l, he had more than enough to worry about without having a woman in camp. Especially that that woman. woman.
”You said, find a cook,” Buck said stubbornly. ”I found a cook. And let me tell you, I had one heck of a time but I knew better than to show up without one so when Regina walked into the Longhorn and begged me for the job...”
J.T. swore. There was only one way she had known about the job opening. J.T. had opened his big mouth and told her. But Buck still shouldn't have hired her.
”Any man with even one good eye can see that that woman doesn't belong off concrete sidewalks, let alone in a cow camp,” J.T. snapped.
Buck rubbed his grizzled jaw with a large paw of a hand, then grinned. ”Heck, J.T., she was such a determined little thing and cuter than a white-faced heifer. She talked me into hiring her before I knew what had happened. She said she was desperate for the job and we do do need a cook. I thought, what could it hurt?” need a cook. I thought, what could it hurt?”
They both looked back toward the truck.
”Sorry, boss,” Buck said again.
J.T. just shook his head. ”I want you to ride out at first light. Come back with the other four-wheel drive truck. When you get back, you take Ms. Holland to town and find us another cook if you can. Either way I want you back here by early afternoon.”
Buck nodded looking contrite. ”You didn't mention how you knew her.”
”No, I didn't,” J.T. said and glanced toward the fire. The men were all pretending not to be watching-or listening-to what was going on. None of them had complained that they hadn't had dinner yet. Under normal circ.u.mstances there would be some powerful bellyaching going on. Nothing about this roundup was normal.
He thought about the warm bunk beds waiting in the cabin as he glanced over at the wall tents where he would be sleeping instead. d.a.m.n this woman.
Reggie begged to be a camp cook? Well, J.T. would oblige. She could cook supper over the woodstove, then they'd see how she felt about being a camp cook.
He leveled his gaze at Buck. ”You'd better hope she's the best darned cook this side of Miles City, starting with supper tonight.”
”She was just so desperate,” Buck said again.
”Yeah,” J.T. said, ”but desperate to do what?” He was wondering if her story about the TV commercial was even true. Maybe there was something else she was after. Something even worse than his perfect posterior.
Buck chewed at the end of his thick mustache. ”I might be a fool but I can't imagine that woman in there taking the truck part.”
”Might be a fool?” J.T. let out a snort. Buck was no pushover, quite the contrary, except somehow Reggie had the old cowboy wrapped around her finger. But he had to agree with Buck, even if she'd faked her incompetence when it came to tire changing, he still couldn't see her stealing the truck's distributor cap-not with seven men in camp watching her every move. be a fool?” J.T. let out a snort. Buck was no pushover, quite the contrary, except somehow Reggie had the old cowboy wrapped around her finger. But he had to agree with Buck, even if she'd faked her incompetence when it came to tire changing, he still couldn't see her stealing the truck's distributor cap-not with seven men in camp watching her every move.
”If she's really behind this,” Buck said, ”then someone must be helping her. I suppose it could be someone who followed us up here and camped nearby. Or someone in camp.”
”My thought exactly,” J.T. said as he looked from the campfire back to Buck. ”No one in this camp better be trying to help her, Buck. I'm warning you and you better warn the men.”
”I can't believe the men wouldn't know how dangerous this is,” Buck said. Without the truck, the only way off this mountain was on horseback. A twenty-mile ride to the ranch. If anyone got sick or hurt- Maybe someone had followed them up here and was camped nearby. ”I'll ride out and take a look in the morning, if I can't talk her out of the distributor cap tonight.” He glanced toward the cabin. ”You have no idea what that woman is capable of.”