This Calder Sky Read Free Page B

Buck,” he declared with a brief shake of his head.
    â€œI know it, but ain’t it fun!” He grinned so often, there were already permanent grooves in his cheeks, and laughter lines fanned into the corners of his eyes. “I’ve been thinking, Chase,” Buck said very sober andstraight-faced. “It wouldn’t be right for both you and me to visit Jake’s niece at the same time.”
    â€œWhy is that?” Chase gave him a slow sideways look, knowing he was being set up for something.
    â€œOnce that little gal gets a look at this face and this body, she’s going to forget you’re even around. That just wouldn’t be fair. We’re practically brothers.”
    â€œBuck, you have to be the most conceited man I know.” There was a rueful lift to one corner of Chase’s mouth, slanting it at a mocking angle.
    Buck was acquiring a reputation as a ladies’ man, not wholly unjustified. There was something about his engaging smile and the laughing wickedness in his eyes that the women went for. Through tall tales, wild flattery, and sheer persistence, Buck eventually wore down any woman’s resistance. It wasn’t Chase’s style, although he usually got what he went after, too.
    The remark only drew a laugh from Buck. “I’ve told you before, Chase, that I’m really you and you’re really me. My momma just switched us when we were babies so she could have the handsomest one for her own,” he said, repeating his often-told theory with a twinkling look.
    â€œIs that right?” Chase mocked his friend with a challenge. “Then why is it you have curly hair and blue eyes like Miss Ruth, instead of brown hair and eyes like me and my dad?”
    â€œHell, I ain’t figured that out, either!” Laughter peeled from Buck’s throat, ringing loud and hearty.
    The thunder of running hooves attracted their attention to the herd they were approaching. A cow had been separated from the others, a Shamrock brand on its hip. Now it was bolting for freedom, its tail high in the air. Pursuing it was the young O’Rourke girl. Chase watched her force the cow to turn, then manhandle her horse onto its haunches, and roll it back to keep thecow from taking off again, slapping a coiled rope against her thigh.
    â€œThat little gal sure can ride,” Buck remarked. “She’s making that heavy-headed nag do things it didn’t know it could do.”
    â€œYou spoke too soon,” Chase said as the cow made another lunge for freedom. When the girl stopped the horse and tried to haul it around on a pivot, the bay couldn’t get its legs under itself and lost its balance. The girl was catapulted from the saddle as it went to its knees. She hit the ground hard and didn’t immediately move. “I’ll see if she’s okay.” Chase spurred his horse forward.
    Half a dozen other riders had seen the spill, too. If the downed rider had been a man or a boy, they would have waited to let him get up on his own. But the fallen rider was a girl, and that made all the difference.
    Chase reached her first, dismounting and walking to where she was sprawled face down in the grass. She had just started to shakily push herself up from the ground. Her hat was knocked askew, but the coiled lariat was still in her hand.
    â€œAre you hurt?” he asked.
    â€œNo.”
    He heard the broken, airy sound to her voice and guessed she’d had the wind knocked out of her. Bending, Chase took hold of her arm. “I’ll help you up.”
    As he began to lift her, he reached with his other hand to catch her under the opposite arm and stand her up. The unbuttoned jacket was hanging open. When his hand slipped inside, it closed around a soft, budding breast. For an instant, he was stunned by the rounded shape hidden under the oversized clothes.
    Before he could move his hand, she had found her feet. “Take your dirty, lousy paws