Cowboy For Keeps

“No, thanks,” Reno said.

“I’m good,” Matthew answered. Cade noticed some color in his dad’s cheeks. The outing had been good for him. He was obviously enjoying Reno’s company.

Cade walked around to the passenger side, admiring the blue roan and wondering if he was a mustang. He studied the gelding’s legs and his large, black hooves. Black hooves generally chipped less easily than the light ones on horses with white stockings. The gelding shifted, and Cade frowned, eyeing the rear hoof on the off side.

“Your horse threw a shoe,” he said, handing his water to Reno.

“What?” She turned to look for herself. “Crap, I just had those shoes put on a week ago.”

“It happens,” Matthew said.

“You can’t ride him that way,” Cade pointed out. A horse could wear two shoes, as long as they were both on the front or on the rear. One odd shoe would put the animal off balance, at risk of going lame.

“I know that,” Reno said, not hiding her irritation.

“I’d pull the other hind shoe for you,” he offered, “but my farrier tools are in my trailer.”

Reno swore under her breath, just as Austin rode up on his sorrel. “Morning, Matt,” he called. “You doing all right?”

“I’d be better if I was sitting in the saddle instead of in this fancy truck,” Matthew said.

“What’s up?” Austin asked Reno.

“Plenty Coups threw a shoe.”

The sheriff chewed his bottom lip. “Not good. You want to swing up behind me? We can pony him back to the ranch.”

“I’ll drive her home,” Cade said. “It’ll be easier for you to pony the gelding without riding double.”

One time, at the fairgrounds when Reno was seventeen, he’d given her a ride on a frisky buckskin mare he’d recently bought. Reno had snugged up behind him on the back of his saddle, her arms tight around his waist. It was the first time he’d begun to think of her as anything other than the little sister she wanted him to see her as. He’d made the mare prance, so Reno would hang on tighter.

No way did he want Pritchard taking her home.

“DO YOU MIND?” Reno asked Austin, holding Plenty Coups’s reins out to the sheriff.

She didn’t miss the dark look he gave Cade before Austin smiled at her. “Not at all.” He took hold of the split reins. “Guess I’ll meet y’all back at the ranch. Good seeing you, Matt.”

“Same here.” The old rancher nodded, then slid over to the middle of the Chevy’s fold-down bench seat to make room.

She climbed in, saddened by the sight of his oxygen tank.

“Hope that blasted thing’s not in your way,” Matt apologized. “Just scoot it over.”

“It’s fine,” Reno said, arranging her long legs around the tank.

“So, what’d you two find?” Matt asked as Cade started the engine and drove farther down the road, looking for a spot wide enough to turn around.

Cade told him about the trailer tracks. “Also, I heard around town that an older-model, black-and-silver truck was seen in the area recently, hauling a six-horse trailer. Someone saw it near De Beque, too.”

“We’ve got to stop these guys,” Reno declared, her anger rising. “I don’t understand how people can stoop so low.”

“Makes two of us,” Cade said.

“Lots of bad folks out there.” Matt shook his head. “I hate to see this happening to the mustangs.”

“Nothing’s going to happen to them if I can help it,” Reno stated.

Back at the ranch house, Reno got out of the truck, then hesitated, leaning on the open door. “You sure you don’t want something cold to drink, Matt?” He looked so pitiful, with the oxygen tubes, his worn-out body. But his eyes were sparkling, and Reno had a feeling he hadn’t been anywhere in a while. She knew she hadn’t seen him in town in ages. “I’ve got sun tea. Better than bottled water any day.” She grinned.

“You’ve got that right. What fool ever started paying for something you can get right out of your faucet?” He glared at Cade as though the bottled water movement were his fault. “My daddy’s probably up there having a laugh at that one.” He lifted his chin to nod the brim of his dark brown Stetson skyward.

“I’m sure he is.” Reno had heard tales of the tough rancher who’d raised Matt to be a top-rate hand. “So, what do you say, cowboy? We can sit on the porch and enjoy the morning before it gets any hotter.”

“We really ought to get back, Dad,” Cade said. “Mom will worry.”

But Matt was already halfway out of the truck. “Let her.”

“Here, I’ll help you with that.” Reno reached for the oxygen tank.

“I’ve got it.” Matt waved her away. He wheezed as he stepped down from the Chevy, setting the wheel-mounted tank on the ground and walking with Reno toward the house.

She avoided Cade’s eyes, leading the way up the steps, knowing Matthew would take offense if she stood back to let him go first. “Make yourselves at home,” she said, indicating the rocker and two ladder-back chairs, one on either side of the front door. “I’ll be right with you.”

Inside the kitchen, Reno lifted the jar of tea from the refrigerator and poured some into three plastic tumblers she filled with ice. She cut lemon slices and stuck one on the edge of each glass, wondering if Matt took sugar. She didn’t, and she remembered that Cade didn’t, either. Just in case, she scooped up Wynonna’s sugar bowl and set it on a tray.

Balancing her load, Reno went out to the porch. As she nudged the screen door open with one shoulder, Cade caught it and held it for her. Suddenly she felt shaky. What was with her? He was the same Cade she’d always known.

“Here you go, Matt.” Reno set the tray on a small round table between the rocker he’d settled into and one of the chairs. She dropped down next to him, leaving Cade to sit on the other side of the door. Instead, he pulled the chair closer, facing out toward the surrounding mountains.

“That’s quite a view,” Matt commented.

They made small talk until Austin rode up, leading Plenty Coups. Reno set down her empty glass and went to meet him. “Thanks, Austin,” she said, taking the blue roan’s reins. “I sure appreciate your help with my horse.”

“No problem.” He looked toward the porch. “Y’all having a tea party?” he drawled.

Reno grunted. “I guess we are. Want a glass? It’s nice and cold.”

“Don’t mind if I do.” Austin swung down from the sorrel, replaced the bridle with a nylon halter and lead rope, and tethered him to the horse trailer parked in the driveway.

“Help yourself,” Reno said. “You know where the fridge is.”

“Bring me a refill, Austin, will you?” Cade asked, with a thin smile. “Since you seem to be the knight in shining armor today.”

The sheriff chuckled, but the sound seemed forced, and Reno turned her back on the pair to lead her horse to the barn. They were acting like a couple of high school boys, trying to impress a girl. But then, she often wondered if the male gender ever grew up.

After caring for Plenty Coups and turning him out into a paddock behind the barn, Reno returned to find the three men in a deep discussion about the poachers.

“I’ve got everyone on the force keeping their eyes peeled for anything even remotely suspicious,” Austin was saying as Reno sat in the chair Cade vacated for her. “And I’ll bet the poachers know it. I’d say they aren’t likely to strike again for a while. You probably scared them off last night.”