White clouds skidded across an eggshell blue sky. In the distance Jese could see sharp snow capped mountains, rising heavenward. The soft green grass underfoot preventing the horses hooves from making any sound. Only the creak of metallic spats could be heard.
Nova rode in front of him in silence. She'd given her horse its head, and the black mare had set a fast pace. Her hair flowed behind her like a revolutionary flag.
"Did you hear that?" She called over her shoulder, before drawing her horse to a halt. She turned to him, her cerulean blue gaze stopping him in his tracks.
They'd come abreast of a wide river. The water charged through the rapids dragging debris onward at breakneck speed. Jese reined in in his mount in he listened intently. "It's a pup."
The fearful whines of distress were barely audible. Confusion tugged his brows together. He hadn't seen or heard another soul about, and for the life of him he couldn't discern where the noise was coming from.
"What is that over there?" Nova dismounted and made her way to the side of the river, where a hessian sack had become tangled in the undergrowth of a Willow tree. Snapping a nearby branch, Nova managed to hook the bag with it and drag it toward the bank.
The strangest combination of yelping and clanking brass bits assailed her ears. Nova untied the sack with trepidation. There, amidst its four dead siblings, was a tiny puppy hacking up water.
"You poor little mite!" Nova scooped the puppy out. Only then noticing the brass contraptions that had replaced the pup's amputated legs. "Oh God!" She felt her stomach heave. "Some creep has been tampering with these animals." His dead litter mates had all fallen victim to a psychopath.
Jese was beside her in a moment, inspecting the mechanical components. "Can it walk?"
She placed the pup on all fours, but it soon wobbled and crashed earthward. "Who would do this to an animal?" Her voice wobbled with controlled rage.
"Someone hoping to make their fortune. There is always someone out there that would spend his money on a novelty purchase."
"What were they thinking? Even if it had worked - momentarily - the poor thing would have outgrown them. What breed is this?" She lifted the pup to eye level. "A kelpie coyote cross?"
"It's a mongrel alright," Jese said. He stood up. "I should put it out of its misery quickly."
A mixture of horror and anger greeted him. "What is wrong with you?"
"The thing can't move. It is the kind thing to do."
"His tail is wagging... did your sight go missing at the same time your soul did?"
"I can't remember," he said tonelessly. A momentary look of compassion crossed her features, which had him worrying that he too would be added to her overflowing menagerie of wounded animals. If she thought she could rehabilitate him then she was completely deluded. He was a lost cause.
"He is coming with me."
"Why?"
"I can help him. And who knows? Maybe one day he will be able to help me."
He laughed loudly. "You expect an immobile dog to protect your house? Perhaps he will... if all intruders are polite enough to make themselves known to him."
"He won't be immobile for long. Then, who knows? Maybe he'll help work the cattle."
"If he has a mix of Coyote he'll be too primitive to train."
"I'll be the judge of that." Nova squeezed the moisture out of the pups fur, glancing about in suspicion. "Someone must have just passed through. He's not miserable enough to have been in the bag for long."
In a whirl of silk she wrapped the young Coyote up in her scarf, and popped it safely down her shirt. It's forlorn head peeped out from above her collar, with big soulful eyes.
Had she been about to marry another man, Jese might have laughed at the absurdity of that moment. That a woman who'd almost been forced off her ranch, thanks to debts, couldn't harden her heart to one lone pathetic animal. How had she managed to survive this far in life without him?
But she was about to marry him. He was about to become shackled to someone with no financial sense.
Taking a deep breath, Jese managed to clear the brain fog. The smell of pines, and fresh mountain hit him like a splash of cool alpine water to the face. He didn't need to worry. He was going to take control of this ranch. Jese strode toward the horses. "Come on then," he said. Tone brusque, jaw clenched.
Casting a glance back he saw her - struggling to calm the puppy down her blouse. His heart clenched. What was wrong with him? He was faced by an emotionally unstable, financially incompetent woman and he was struggling to catch his breath?
But he knew from past experience that if you starved feelings long enough then they would perish. Sure, she was eye catching now. A feather tangled in her hair, and those jeans... But soon her beauty would diminish. If he looked at her face enough then he would become immune to her charms.
#
Nova mounted Twilight cautiously. The little Coyote wriggled about - desperate to loosen the bonds restricting his limbs. Perhaps wondering what kind of malevolent torture this human would soon inflict on him.
"So," her companion's voice spoke up drily. "The reason your ranch is suffering is because you are trying to save every snotty nosed animal in the county?"
She bristled with indignation but didn't rise to the bait. "Perhaps."
Mounting his horse Jese tucked his foot into the opposing stirrup. "Now that I'm going to be in charge we are going to have to make changes."
"In charge?" She shot the words at him like gunfire, half expecting him to fall from the horse - fatally hit. "I don't remember that being in the arrangement."
"You really didn't have much say in the arrangement," Jese continued. "As I remember I had you over a barrel."
Her stomach tightened. By all means, she thought, go ahead and gloat. I'll find a way out of this arrangement.
"There are of course things we will be needing to clear up," he continued. "You won't be working as a saloon girl anymore. And I won't allow my wife to wear jeans."
Her mouth fell open in outrage. Well! What did you know? You give a man the night to sleep on things and his reasonable arrangement suddenly became far more complicated. "How on earth am I supposed to work with cattle in a dress?"
"You'll figure something out. I'm not having all of the men in the neighborhood leering at you like you are some kind of whore."
"I don't care about what people think of me; all I care about is running this Ranch efficiently. You try rounding up bulls on a side saddle! You'd break your neck. And as for the saloon I don't think you will turn your nose up at it when you see the money it injects into the ranch."
"No jeans and no job." His determined stare silenced her, before he continued. "Even with your pathetic hand I offered you a fair deal. Marriage - no strings. You don't have to pretend to love me. You don't even have to pretend to care about me. Life continues on just the same for you, except now I'm in charge of the finances. Because I'll be damned if I save your sorry ass now only to have more debts pile up."
Well, Nova gazed at her companion in shock. This attitude was something she'd been determined to avoid in a husband her entire life. The memory of her father's uncontrolled mayhem over the family finances came rolling back like it was only yesterday.
The ranch had been left to their father when his younger brother had died. The first time she'd seen the place she'd been enthralled by the pretty house and wraparound verandah, she'd watched it glint in the sun like a heavenly mirage. Overwhelming relief that the years of persecution were over, hailed her. Now they had a chance. They were finally equal with their neighbors. No longer the daughter of a poor Scots-Irish and his native wife. No more name calling. Only hope.
And then he'd drunk it nearly clean away.
Eyes flashing Nova snarled at her fiancee, "Trust me Mr Calhoun, if I can find a way out of this arrangement, then I will escape like a Salmon from a Bear's paws. I shan't be spending the next forty years being abused like my mother was."
"I am nothing like your father," Jese his eyes flashed in rage. Digging his calves into his mount's flanks he advanced, ominously. Capturing Twilight's reins, close to the bit, he ground out, "And believe me when I say that I am a very single minded bear, I won't be letting this salmon get away so easily."
Her heart raced from a combination of anger and fear. Nova struggled to take a calming breath. Instead her voice was quivering when she spoke. "Then you have met your match."
The sound of a bull bellowing, dogs barking, and a lone gunshot, silenced his next comment. The hand which had held her reins to restrain the owner now restrained the mount. The pup clawed fearfully at the scarf.
Jese dropped the reins and they turned to canter in the direction of the noise.
They came upon the duo suddenly. The two men had their guns held aloft, about to fire again at the cattle fleeing the scene. Dogs were diving at the livestocks ankles, tearing flesh away. One lone bull thrashed about on the turf.
"What in God's name are you doing?" She called, as two more shots rang out. One more bull dropped to the ground, killed instantly.
The men turned in their saddles, one glance at Jese and Nova and they'd whipped their mounts to a gallop, leaving in a blaze of color.
"I'm going to follow them," Jese called; as she dismounted and ran to her bull's aid.
"Wait. I need to come. You don't know the terrain." But the bellow drew her attention back to the blood soaked crime scene. When she finally turned Jese was nothing but a blur - disappearing into the horizon.
Nova hurried to staunch the flow of blood from the bull's bullet wound, but the poor beast's eyes were already glazing over. She was too late. Anger overwhelming her. Why on earth would anyone shoot her cattle in the middle of nowhere? Were they intending to butcher them and somehow cart the meat back? It didn't make any sense.
Her anger soon turned to nervous energy, which wrapped around her stomach like an icy cold hand. The thought of her fiance chasing the two armed men - at such a speed - over rough terrain was the quickest route to a coffin.
Silly woman, she scolded herself, he's already been to the bank... if he dies now, what should I care?
But still her eyes searched the horizon, hoping for his return.