But whenever he started plotting revenge, he reminded himself that she’d done him a favor without realizing it.Tough though the journey had been, he treasured his first view of the valley, a view he wouldn’t have enjoyed without Freddy’s scheming.He wouldn’t have slept outside and seen the stars spread over the night sky like fairy dust, or been given a new name, a name that seemed to fit as well and gave him as much confidence as Duane’s boots.
If Freddy hadn’t tricked him, he wouldn’t have awakened to the hoot of an owl and breathed cool morning air, a mixture of evergreen and charred cedar smoke that stirred him more than the most exotic perfume sold on Fifth Avenue.He wanted a piece of this land, the right to gaze up at a sky so clear it hurt his eyes, to sit by a smoldering camp fire and watch the pink glow of dawn creep over the valley, his valley.And Joe’s, of course.Maybe even Lavette’s.
They would sell the True Love eventually because it would be stupid not to.But maybe he’d use the money to buy another piece of the West and play the game all over again.
The owl hooted again.Ry looked up through the twisted branches of a cedar and saw the almond glow of a pair of eyes.For a few seconds, he met the owl’s unblinking gaze.Then, with a heavy flap of wings, the bird lifted above the tree line and soared out over the valley.
“Are you superstitious?”
Ry glanced across the dying fire and saw Freddy lying on her bedroll watching him.“No.”
“Some people think owls are a bad omen.”
“Too bad for the owls.”
“Have you heard about the curse on the True Love?”
He groaned.“Is this phase two of Get the Greenhorn?”
“I suppose you could say that.But if you’re considering buying the place, you should know about all the skeletons in the closet, don’t you think?”
“Are you making it up as you go, or is this a genuine, certified curse?”
She propped herself up on one elbow.“Okay, I deserved that.But the story has been told around campfires since Thaddeus homesteaded the ranch.Do you want to hear it or not?”
“Guess I’d better.”
Freddy lay back on her bedroll and gazed up at the pink sky.“The story goes that a small tribe of indigenous people was massacred on the site where the corrals now stand.A unit of cavalry swept in and killed a village of unarmed women and children when the men were off hunting.Afterward, when the men of the tribe returned, they put a curse on the land and said no white man would ever profit from it.”
“I’m surprised they didn’t stage a little massacre of their own.”
“They tried, but the cavalry handled them easily.It wasn’t one of our finer moments in history.”
Ry decided he’d keep that story away from any potential buyers, including his partners.It wasn’t a pretty tale, and besides, investors became uneasy when you talked about loss of profit, even if it was connected to something as goofy as a century-old curse.“Seems to me Thaddeus knocked the heck out of that prediction.”
“Not really.”Freddy laced her hands behind her head, a movement that lifted and defined her breasts.
Ry noticed and chastised himself.Freddy would be his foreman, and he’d known too many businessmen who’d ruined an employer-employee relationship by bringing personal attraction into it.“I thought you said Thaddeus owned three hundred and twenty acres before he died.”
“Owned is a relative term.He controlled three hundred and twenty acres, but he was in debt.That’s been the story all down the line.In terms of having money left over, making what I would call a profit, nobody’s done it yet.”
“Not even your father?”
“Especially not my father.After my mother died, he spent more time rodeoing than running the ranch.If it hadn’t been for Belinda and Dexter, who knows what would have happened to the place.”
Ry heard a familiar note in her voice, the same note of frustration he’d felt when his parents divorced and his world had been torn apart.“When did she die?”
“I was fourteen, Leigh was ten.”
“That’s rough.”
She looked over at him.“Lots of kids have it worse.At least I had a horse of my own and plenty of space to ride.Dexter let me go on the roundups, and I could ride a bronc as well as any of the hands.”
“I’ll bet you still can.”
She grinned.“There’s nothing like a good bucking horse to put life into proper perspective.”Then her smile faded as she gazed at him.“The True Love is great for making you forget your troubles, but I wouldn’t say it’s a financial gold mine.That’s why Westridge is selling, and all they’re after is what they put into it.I could get in trouble for telling you that, but I could get in trouble for this whole stunt, I suppose.”
“You’re right, you could,” he said with a straight face.“You should never have admitted a thing, Miss Singleton.I probably have the power to get you fired.”
