This Calder Sky Read Free Page A

recognize about your ownfather. And Maggie resented Webb Calder for presenting such a stark example of what her father could never be.
    Realizing the conversation was going nowhere, Angus O’Rourke turned his gaze to the herd gathered in the hollow of the plains. His face took on the expression of one reluctant to leave good company but had work to be done.
    â€œWell, I see a Shamrock brand or two in the herd.” He collected the reins to back his horse before turning it toward the cattle. “I’ll just cut out my few strays and head them back to their own side of the fence.”
    â€œI’ll have one of my boys help you.” Webb started to raise a hand to signal one of his men.
    â€œWe can manage,” Maggie inserted. They may be poor, but she wasn’t short on pride. She’d been taught by her mother never to accept favors unless she could return them someday, and it was ludicrous to think a Calder would ever need a favor from them.
    Webb Calder’s hand remained poised midway in the air while he looked silently at her father for confirmation that they wanted no help. “The three of us can handle it,” her father stated to back up her claim, although he would have readily accepted the offer if she hadn’t spoken up.
    The hand came down to rest on the saddlehorn. “As you wish, Angus.”
    As he turned his horse, Angus flashed Maggie a black look and rode toward the herd. She and Culley trailed after him. Feeling the Triple C riders looking at them, Maggie sat straighter in the saddle, conscious of their overall shabby appearance, from their clothes to their ragged saddle blankets.
    From the far side of the herd, Chase watched the motley trio of riders approach. Nate Moore had already passed the old man’s orders around, so he knew one ofthe three riders was female. Buck let his horse sidle closer to Chase.
    â€œHow do you tell which one’s the girl?” Buck’s low voice was riddled with biting mockery.
    â€œIt must be the small one.” Chase let a smile drift across his face. “She’s supposed to be the youngest.”
    â€œShe’s young, all right,” Buck agreed dryly. “I like my women with a little more age on ’em and more meat on their bones. Crenshaw was telling me this morning that Jake Loman has him a new blonde ‘niece’ working in his bar.”
    â€œThat right?” Chase murmured, aware, as everyone was, that Jake’s “nieces” were prostitutes. “That man does have a big family, doesn’t he?”
    Buck grinned. “When this roundup is over, you and me are going to have to check her out. She might know some new tricks of the trade.”
    â€œAnother week of looking at these cattle, and I’ll be satisfied if all the new girl knows is the old tricks,” Chase replied and turned his horse to head off an errant cow, succeeding in changing its mind about leaving the herd.
    By then, Buck had returned to his former position several yards ahead of Chase. And there was no purpose in trying to resume that particular conversation. The O’Rourke family worked the herd to cut out their strays, while Chase and the other riders kept the cattle loosely bunched.

Chapter II
    During the noon break, the cowboys switched again to fresh horses from the remuda string held in a rope corral close to the camp. Chase swung his saddle onto a blood bay gelding with a white snip down its nose, and pulled the cinch tight. As he stepped into the stirrup and swung aboard, Buck rode by on a blaze-faced roan.
    â€œHurry up there, pilgrim. We’re burnin’ daylight,” Buck admonished in a poor imitation of a John Wayne drawl.
    Chase held in a sigh. From the day he could remember, Buck had laughed, joked, and grinned his way through each hour. He appeared never to take anything seriously. Reining his horse around, Chase fell in alongside him.
    â€œYou’re a hopeless case,