Page 30 of Lawbreaker

Rudy sighed. “Well, boy, is my face red!”

“Serves you right,” Tony muttered. “How about keeping an eye on the Daly couple? She’s afraid of horses.”

“Sure thing,” Rudy said at once, nodding politely at Odalie. It became clear at once that Odalie was spoken for, whether she or Tony knew it or not.

Odalie was in the dark. She thought Tony was just being nice, helping her ward off unwanted attention.

“That was kind of you,” she said as they started out the gate toward the wooded trail. “He’s a nice man, but I’m really not interested.”

“No problem. Stasia wouldn’t like it if I let you be harassed. By any man.”

Her heart dropped with disappointment, but she forced a smile. “Thanks.”

The trail was a long one, but it was cool and pleasant, with blooming trees and shrubs all along it. There was a small stream across the dirt trail and Tony pulled up at it to let the horses water.

They got off and let the horses drink.

“It’s beautiful here,” Odalie said to Tony while the other guests wandered downstream. “One doesn’t think of places like this in New York.”

“Why not?” he asked.

“Well, for some reason, we think if we’re in New York, it’s a big city.” She shrugged. “We don’t think of open places with streams and lots of trees.”

He chuckled. “We tend to think of Texas as big guys in cowboy hats and boots riding horses.”

Her eyes twinkled. “These days, it’s mostly bib caps and four-wheelers to help with roundup. Only the really big ranches do it the old-timey way.”

“That’s news.”

“Dad’s ranch is one of the exceptions,” she agreed, because it was done the old way on Big Spur. “It’s huge. We pack out a chuck wagon when roundup’s in swing, because it’s so much area to cover. The men set up temporary corrals and tilt trays all over for branding and tagging and vaccinations.”

“You ever go out with them?”

“We all used to,” she said. “On a ranch, everybody works. If you have company on a weekend, they work, too,” she laughed.

“What a life,” he teased.

“I loved it. I never minded getting down and dirty when we had to.”

“And you look like you never touched dirt,” he pointed out.

“I fell in a mudhole during one roundup. When I walked in the door, my own mother didn’t recognize me. It took forever to shower it off.”

He smiled. “I fell in an equally clingy substance, but it wasn’t mud. One of the cows had functioned, and I tripped. I thought my grandfather would laugh himself to death.”

She smiled back. “You must have loved him a lot.”

“I did. He didn’t have much, he and my grandmother, but they loved each other a lot.”

“My parents are like that. You almost never see one without the other, even at their ages. They said my grandparents on both sides were like that, too. Happy marriages run in my family. Or they did, until Stasia and Tanner split up.” She glanced at him. “Luckily, that’s no longer the case. They’re both very happy.”

“I noticed,” he said. “Stasia’s beaming.”

“Yes. She’s taking no chances. They want the baby very much.”

“I’d have liked kids,” Tony said, his eyes faraway. “But we never had any. Some men can’t produce them,” he added, and his voice was cold.

She started to speak, but he’d already turned away. “Better get moving,” he called to the others. “There’s a cloud coming up.”