Page 26 of Chance (Wild River Ranch #3)

A s soon as Chance had Jasper saddled and ready, he headed out to the Castelo Place. It would take time to get there on horseback because, of course, it was the easternmost pasture on the ranch. He had to take Jasper, though. The four-wheelers would be much more likely to spook the bison.

Most people saw bison and thought they were just bigger cows. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Bison were wild creatures. Not only were they larger than cows, but they responded like non-domesticated animals. Take them out of the pasture they were used to, and they became unpredictable.

The thing that really worried him was they had finally moved Bullwinkle from the holding pen a few days ago and relocated him to the Castelo Place pasture.

If he was one of the bison who’d gotten out, there was no telling the destruction the bull could cause if he got rattled.

He just hoped they could get Bullwinkle back to the right pasture without having to put him down.

Something moved to Chance’s left at the edge of the horizon. There were no main roads over there. Looking closer, he couldn't see anything out of place. It had probably been a wolf or a flock of low-flying birds. With one more scan, he returned his attention to the problem at hand.

When he reached the cattle pasture, Trace was already there unloading the Australian shepherds they used as herding dogs. They were experienced with moving bison, and Trace was the best handler Chance had ever seen.

Each dog had its own set of whistles. Trace controlled each dog every step of the way just by varying the sound.

Leaving Jasper to forage among the brush, Chance headed for Javier. "What's the latest, Javi? Have you been able to find the missing stock?”

Javi ducked his head to spit. "Yeah. But frankly, I don't know how they made it as far as they did. Normally, they just eat their way across the pasture and don’t go too far past it as long as there’s food and shade.

There’s both right here, but these strays made it a little over two miles before someone spotted them and gave me a call.

It's gonna be a hell of a long day getting them back in.

And then we have to patch the place where they got out, once we find it. "

Two miles? Javi was right. Unless something spooked them and caused them to stampede through the fence, there wouldn't be any reason for them to go that far. If that was the case, they're just lucky the herd stopped when it did.

"Did you see any evidence of wolves or cougars? I thought I saw somethin’ on the way over here.”

“Nope, nothing like that.”

This was something they could deal with later. Turning to Javi, Chance said, “Well, we can try to figure out what happened once we get’em back. Daylight’s burnin’ and we best get to it.”

He started back toward Jasper, then remembered what he wanted to ask Javi about the bull. “Did you put eyes on Bullwinkle?"

Javi cocked his head. "Who? "

Dammit. He hadn't meant to call the bull that name. The fact Ironside was now Bullwinkle was supposed to be a secret, just his and his gypsy’s. Now he was gonna have to explain to Javi. Old women didn't hold a candle to ranch hands when it came to gossip. He was never gonna live this down.

"Ironside,” he growled. “I'm talking about Ironside."

Javier's brows shot up in disbelief. Then he grinned, which was worse. “How's Joy settling in, by the way?"

Fucker. "Shut the hell up." Chance didn't have time for this shit. "These bison ain't gonna herd themselves. I suggest you get everybody on their horses and let's get this taken care of. I don't have all day." Chance walked away with the sound of laughter echoing in his ears.

It turned out Bullwinkle was one of the bison that had broken out of the fence because, of course, he was.

But it actually turned out to be an advantage.

All the other bison saw Bullwinkle as the lead bull.

Since bison are social creatures and are perfectly willing to follow, the only bull they really had to worry about was Bullwinkle.

At first, the massive bison had been in no mood to lead the herd anywhere.

No matter what he tried or how much he coaxed, Bullwinkle wouldn’t cooperate.

This was not the same bull that played fetch with his Little girl the week before.

Chance hadn't even told anyone about that because, if he did, no one would have believed him. Hell, he’d seen it with his own two eyes, and he didn't believe it.

But he couldn't help but wonder how the bull would react if they had a ball to toss right now.

Remembering his brother Trace had come in his truck, Chance figured they didn't have anything to lose. He might as well say something because the men were laughing at him anyway. He caught Trace’s attention and asked, "Do you have any of your training supplies in your truck? "

Trace looked confused at the question but answered it anyway. "Of course, I always have stuff in my truck."

Was Chance really doing this? Yes, he guessed he was. "You don't happen to have a ball in with your supplies, do you?"

"I do. Why do you want to know?"

Chance didn't want to take the time to explain. Instead, he simply told Trace to get the ball out of his truck and hand it to him.

Guiding Jasper to the front of the herd, Chance stared at the ornery bull. Narrowing his eyes, he said, "Don't you go making a bigger fool out of me than these guys already think I am."

Not quite believing what he was about to do, he tossed the ball ahead of Bulwinkle in the direction of the fence. After pausing a minute to watch the ball roll down a hill, Bullwinkle trotted after it.

Behind him, Javi said, "You are shitting me."

Shouts varying between amazement and amusement filled the air behind Chance, but he didn’t care. Yes, it was stupid. Yes, it was unexpected. But if it worked, it worked.

Javi's prediction was spot on. It took them several hours to herd the bison back into the correct pasture.

After taking a break for a late lunch, they started riding the fence to find out where the bison escaped.

It was by sheer luck they found it. There was no food or water outside the fence to draw the herd there.

It didn't look like any fence broken down by a herd of bison he’d ever seen.

But it was more important to get the thing patched.

Chance grabbed a post hole digger and was headed toward the spot when his phone rang. After the morning he’d had with Joy, he wasn't about to ignore the call. It surprised him to see Sam Nelson's name on his caller ID. What did the sheriff want this time of day?

If Detective Jackass James tried to come back out to the ranch, he was gonna find the gate shut and locked. He was about sick of seeing that man's face. And if James tried to talk his gypsy into leaving him and going back to Texas one more time, Chance was gonna punch him in the mouth.

Taking the call, Chance said, "Hey, Sam. What's going on? I kinda have a situation here, so if it can wait, I'll call you back."

"I'll be quick, but I think you're gonna want to hear this."

Great. What now? If one more bad thing happened today, he was gonna shoot somebody. "All right, Sam. Hold on. Let me hand this off to one of my men, and then we can talk." After tossing the post hole digger to Javi, Chance walked away from the noise and asked, "OK, Sam, what's all this about?"

Sam did not make him wait. "I know you've never been especially fond of our detective friend from Texas, but because of his badge, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt."

Chance narrowed his eyes at the sheriff's use of was instead of am .

“Exactly what do you mean by was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, Sam? Has something happened that made you change your mind about that?"

"You could say that. The last two days, I’ve watched the detective get more and more insistent about talking with Joy and taking her back to Texas. It started hitting me wrong, so I thought I'd do a little research."

Chance got a cold feeling in his chest that had nothing to do with the freezing temperature. "And what did your research find?"

"Nothing good. The detective said the Nameless PD sent him up here specifically to talk to Joy. He said he was assigned to ask her questions and get her back home. But here’s the thing: when I talked to the chief of police down there, he said Chris James was on extended leave. A leave, mind you, that he requested."

Well fuck. "Are you telling me James is not here representing the Nameless PD?"

“Not officially. But it gets worse. "

Of course, it did. That cold, sick feeling spread from his chest into his gut. Before Sam said another word, Chance headed for Jasper to get him saddled up. "Don't make me play twenty-two questions, Sam. What the fuck are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the chief of police not even knowing there was an open case against Eddie Sharp. Much less that Sharp had killed someone. He didn't say much after that, except that he'd be looking into it and he'd get back to me. I thought you should know."

Hell, yes, he should know. He needed to get home to Joy. He wasn't letting her out of his sight until they knew exactly where Detective Chris James was. And only then if he was headed back to Texas in handcuffs. "Obliged for the information, Sam. Let me know if you hear anything else."

"Will do, Chance. And if the detective shows up at Wild River Ranch, I expect a call from you. This is a police matter now. I don't want you to go off halfcocked and wind up sitting in jail."

The hell he would. His gypsy was just that. His. He would protect her at all costs. Now that he knew what the detective was up to, he’d make sure the man didn't get anywhere close to his Gyspy.