Coming Home (7 page)

“Don't you start—I get enough of that from my family.” She scowled. “And that big jerk, Jeb.”

Roman put a friendly hand on her shoulder. “Just teasing.” A brow quirked. “Jeb's been giving you a bad time?”

“No, not exactly. It's just that everyone seems to think that I'm some hothouse flower and will wilt in the real world—they should try living in the modeling world. Believe me, hothouse flowers die in that competitive field. You have to be tough—and I'm a lot tougher than people give me credit for.”

Roman didn't disagree. He and Roxanne had dated a couple times and had discovered they liked each other too much to ruin a beautiful friendship by falling in love, or lust, as Roxanne characterized it. They had happily settled on being friends and confidants. More than most people, Roman knew that there was a lot more going on behind the beautiful airhead facade she presented to the public. She was smart. She was funny. And she was tough.

Mounted on their horses, the blue heeler, Blue, and the black and white Border collie/Mcnab mix, Honey, trotting behind them, Nick and Acey rode up to where Roxanne and Roman were standing.

Both men tipped their cowboy hats in Roxanne's direction. “Morning,” said Nick. “How're you liking it up here?” He grinned, his green eyes very like Roman's glinting with laughter. “Bet that cow gave you a start.”

Roxanne made a face. Not for the life of her would she admit that she'd had the pee scared out of her. Airily, she replied, “Yeah, you could say that.” She tipped her head in the direction of the cow. “So what's the plan?”

Acey scratched his chin. “First thing, we're gonna get the calf and get that navel dipped. Be tricky 'cause it's a fact that momma cows don't like you messing with their babies, but it ain't like we haven't done it before. Since you don't have any corrals, we thought about just herding her home through the woods, but with the calf, it'd probably be easier just to load them up in the trailer. Roman can drive it home and Nick and I can follow on horseback.”

Nick looked at Roman. “We need you to turn the rig around and open the trailer doors wide. I've got a couple of panels tied on the side of the trailer and if you'll set them up like a pair of arms; we think we can just drive the cow and calf up into the trailer.”

Roman nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

The first part of the plan went slick. Acey and the two dogs kept the cow distracted while Nick jumped down from his horse, flipped the calf over, and dipped the navel with a solution of Novalsan to prevent infection. He had just enough time to leap on his horse and trot away before the cow broke through Acey's line and raced to her calf. It was as they started herding the cow and calf toward the trailer that the plan fell apart.

Cow and calf moved right along until confronted by the yawning black hole of the opened trailer. The cow stopped dead in her tracks, examined the trailer and then with her calf scampering at her side did an about-face and hightailed it to the woods. Even with two
mtn
on horseback and a pair of dogs working her, she proved fearless, stubborn, elusive, and downright obdurate. The cow paid no more attention to the snapping dogs than she did the insects and just plain didn't give the men on horseback any respect at all. They'd get her going in the right direction and she'd veer off into the woods. Swearing, Acey and Nick urged their horses forward and plunged into the brush after her. Eventually, after crashing around in the underbrush, the cow would break cover, the terrified calf at her side. This was repeated several times, tempers fraying every time it happened. Once, they separated the cow from her calf, but before Acey could get it on his horse, the cow charged and Acey wisely forgot about catching the calf and got the hell out of her way. The dogs fared worse; Blue took a vicious kick that sent him yelping and limping off on three legs. Having vanquished one of the enemy, the cow disappeared into the brush once more, Nick riding hard behind her. Concern on his weathered face, the cow forgotten for the moment, Acey called to the dog. When Blue half slunk, half limped over to him from his hiding place under a manzanita bush, Acey swung off his horse.

Roxanne held her breath as Acey examined the dog.

“He's OK,” Acey called out a few minutes later. “The leg isn't broke. He'll be fine, but he's in no condition to tackle that cow again today.” Roxanne understood what was left unsaid: cows killed working dogs—even well-trained, smart dogs—and an injured dog was just a fatality waiting to happen. Ten minutes later Honey was slammed against a tree, propelled through the air by a powerful whack of the cow's head. After satisfying himself that Honey was not injured, just the breath knocked out of her, Acey ordered her to join Blue in the back of the truck. He wasn't getting his dogs killed by some rank range cow.

The day grew hotter; tempers flared and worry about the calf increased. All the running and crashing around in the underbrush wasn't good for a newborn. They'd given up on trying to load the cow and calf in the trailer and were now just concentrating on trying to herd the pair home. The cow wasn't having any of that either. She seemed dead set on remaining right where she was.

Hot, dusty, their faces sweat-stained, Nick and Acey took a break and walked their equally hot and sweaty horses over to where Roman and Roxanne had been watching. Wordlessly, Roxanne handed them tall glasses of iced tea. Roman had two buckets filled with water for the horses. The four humans turned and stared at the black cow. Now that the cow was no longer being harassed, she was contentedly cropping the yellow weedy grass not thirty feet away from them. The calf was lying flat out on the ground beside her.

“That is undoubtedly the meanest bag of T-bones I've ever come across,” Acey admitted with a malevolent glance at the cow.

“Oh, come on, Acey. She's got a newborn at her side. All cows are cranky at a time like this,” Nicksaid. “And look at the bright side—we know where she is.”

“There ain't no bright side,” Acey muttered. “It's downright humiliating. I can't believe that after all these years, I'm being outsmarted by hamburger on the hoof.”

The sound of a vehicle approaching had them all turning to look in that direction. They'd half been expecting Shelly and Sloan to turn up and for a moment there was confusion when a big red truck pulled into view.

Roxanne recognized the truck immediately. Jeb Delaney. And who invited him? she wondered sourly.

A smile on his face, Jeb stepped out of the truck. Wearing jeans, boots, a black checkered shirt, and a black cowboy hat, Jeb walked to the quartet. By way of explanation, he said, “Shelly phoned me. Said she and Sloan were tied up.” He nodded to the cow. “So you guys ready to start loading her?”

“Start?” Acey asked in bitter tones. “What the hell do you think we've been doing half the morning? That piece of beef is the crankiest, rankest critter this side of the Mississippi—and that's no bullshit. She put Blue and Honey on the ailing list—and I'm not likely to forgive her for that. If you've got your gun on you, I'd just as soon you shoot her between the eyes.”

“Proving difficult, is she?” Jeb said lightly, his gaze skimming over Roxanne in her cropped top and jeans. “I've known a female or two like that.” He looked back at Acey. “All it takes is a little finesse.”

Nick snorted and gestured to the cow. “Well, be my guest and finesse all you want. We'll just sit here and watch.”

Jeb studied the cow and calf for several minutes. He eyed the trailer and the distance from it to the cow. Then the two men and their horses.

“She won't load?” he asked.

“Not so far,” Nick answered. “And believe me we've tried.”

“And she won't herd?”

“Nope,” Acey said. “We've tried that, too.”

Jeb pushed his hat back. “Guess we'll just have to trick her then.”

“And how do you intend to do that?” Roxanne asked, challenge in her voice and her eyes.

Jeb winked at her. “Watch and you might learn something, Princess.”

“So what do you plan to do?” Roman asked hastily, aware that Roxanne was nearly vibrating with temper at Jeb's taunting words. They really did rub each other the wrong way, he thought, amused. It would be interesting, he admitted, to see who emerged alive if they were locked up together in the same room for fifteen minutes. His money was on Roxanne, but he imagined that Jeb could hold his own. Maybe that was the problem: neither of them was willing to give an inch.

Jeb grinned and glanced at Roman. “Gonna find out if I'm still as fast on my feet as I once was.” He looked at Nick and Acey. “Get those panels down. Have those doors ready to swing shut. Oh, and make certain thesafety door at the front of trailer is open—when I go out, I'll be in a bit of a hurry.”

Nick and Acey grinned at him. “Yeah, I'll bet you will be,” Nick said as he moved off to take care of Jeb's request. Returning to Jeb, Nick asked, “Now what, boss?”

“Think you fellows can distract her long enough for me to get the calf? If you can and can give me a head start, we should do just fine.”

Roxanne's eyes widened. “Are you crazy? She'll make mincemeat out of you.”
“Ah, Princess, I didn't know you cared,” he drawled, his dark eyes twinkling.

Roxanne's hand curled into a fist. “I don't,” she said in a snooty voice. “I just don't want to hire a bulldozer to scrape up what's left of you.”

Jeb laughed. “Don't worry—I won't put you to that expense.”

It took several minutes for everyone to get positioned. Jeb figured the least distance he had to run with an eighty-pound-plus calf in his arms was best and so while he lurked nearby in the underbrush, Acey and Nick gently worked the cow and calf in the direction of the trailer. When the cow was about a hundred feet out from the trailer she started getting stubborn so they backed off and let her graze.

Roman and Roxanne prepared to do their part. Once Jeb snatched the sleeping calf, it was up to everyone to do everything, short of getting killed, to distract the cow until Jeb made it to the trailer. Rox anne was armed with pots to bang and Roman had towels to wave.

The calf slept. The cow ate. The humans eased into position. Standing behind a patch of buck brush, Jeb considered the situation. The calf lay about ten feet in front, of him—and almost a hundred feet away from the safety of the trailer. The cow was grazing about thirty feet from the calf; Acey, Nick, Roxanne, and Roman ready to rush between them the instant he grabbed the calf. He took a deep breath, wondering if he was crazy. Looked at Roxanne in those low-rise jeans and cropped top. Her expression was tense and she clutched those two pots of hers as if her life depended upon it. Funny thing—his probably did. No doubt about it—he was crazy—he hadn't showed off for a female since he'd been sixteen.

The cow continued her browsing, putting another six or seven feet between herself and the calf. Jeb waited, his heart thumping. A moment later she was another couple of feet away and her back was to the calf. Now or never, Jeb told himself.

He wiped his hands on his jeans, took in a lungful of air, and exploded out of the brush. Sprinting over to where the calf lay, he snatched it up, surprising a bleat from the animal as he threw it over his shoulder. The next second he was racing toward the trailer.

Even though they knew the plan, Jeb's actions took everyone by surprise and for one almost fatal second, they all just stared. Even the cow who had spun around at the first sound from her calf.

After that, everything seemed to happen at once. The cow let out a bellow and charged. Acey and Nick kicked their horses forward and plunged into the area between the cow and the running man. Yelling and whistling, they swung their ropes in the air. Roxanne and Roman added to the din, Roxanne banging the pots together for all she was worth and Roman waving the towels like a madman. It worked. Confused by all the noise and activity the cow hesitated. A second bleat from her baby, however, was all she needed to send horses and humans scattering and plowed through the ragged line.

Nick swung his horse around and rode hard after the cow, the loop of his rope singing in the air. Acey was a half horse length behind him.

Her heart in her throat, Roxanne stared helplessly as the cow ate up the distance that separated her and her calf as it bleated piteously and bounced on Jeb's shoulder.

It was going to be a near thing, Jeb not ten feet from the trailer and the cow, enormous and black and enraged, five yards behind him—and closing fast.

Half laughing, half swearing, Roman yelled, “Run, Jeb. Run! And don't look back!”

His chest feeling as if it would burst, Jeb hit the trailer in one desperate leap. The trailer shook and rattled. A second later, the trailer shuddered violently and rocked as more than half a ton of furious momma cow plunged inside. Jeb dumped the calf on the floor at the front of the trailer and feeling the hot breath of may hem on his back, plunged out the safety door at the side of the stock trailer. He misjudged it slightly and, intent on escape, wasn't aware of banging his head on the metal frame or the trickle of blood that ran down the side of his face. All he'd wanted was out. Now. Once outside, he hung on to the side of the trailer and shoved the door shut behind him. Breathless, laughing, and foolishly pleased with himself, he lowered himself to the ground and leaned against the side of the stock trailer as Acey and Nick, right on the heels of the cow, swung out of the saddle and swiftly slammed the two rear doors shut. One cow and calf safely loaded.

Roman and Roxanne ran up to join the others by the trailer. For several minutes, there was laughter, whooping and backslapping and congratulating.

When the initial adrenaline rush had ebbed, his dark eyes dancing with amusement, Jeb said to Nick, “Cut it a little close there, didn't you, boys?”

“Nah,” replied Nick, grinning, “for a big guy you ran like a deer and we figured the cow needed better odds.”

“Jesus, Jeb,” Roman said with a chuckle, “I thought you were a memory for sure. That cow had to be right on your neck when you hit the trailer.”

Jeb laughed, absently wiping away the streak of blood. “You're not far wrong. All I could think was don't stumble, don't trip, 'cause if you do, it'll be last thing you
ever
do.”