Page 85 of Wyoming Heart

“I’ll miss you, too. Can you call me from time to time?”

“Of course.” He smoothed back her hair. “I’ll give you Parker’s number. If Dad gets out of hand, you can call him and he’ll come home and take care of whatever’s wrong.”

“Okay. But I think we’ll get along,” she added.

He chuckled. “That’s my girl.”

HEWASGONEin an hour, after a rushed goodbye. Mina’s things were sitting around her in the guest room. She unpacked her laptop computer first and set it up on a small desk by the window that overlooked the Davis Mountains, beyond the huge valley full of red-coated cattle. It would be a good place to write, she thought.

She put away her few clothes and grimaced, because most of them had come from low-end stores. She had the one good dress that she’d worn to Pam’s party, but she was going to need new clothes not only for Cort’s business interests, but also for her own. She had to dress the part of a successful author. And what about the guys, she wondered. How was Cort going to react to her commando friends? She rolled her eyes. Well, one disaster at a time.

She went downstairs, her cell phone in the pocket of her beige slacks that she was wearing with a yellow sweater. Chaca motioned to her.

“The grande señor,” she said, “has passed out in his room. He will probably sleep for the rest of the day.” She made a face. “So I will feed him when he comes to. But would you like something to eat? An omelet perhaps, or a salad?”

“An omelet sounds very nice. Can I sit in the kitchen with you?” she added, after a glance at the huge, luxurious dining room. “I’m a little intimidated by all this,” she confessed with a soft laugh. “I live on a tiny little ranch in Wyoming. I’m not used to fine things.”

“Nor was I, when I first came to work here,” Chaca laughed as she led the way into a huge kitchen with a small table and chairs in a corner. “It was hard to adjust. My people live closer to the border, in a little village called Malasuerte. We had fifty people and two Jersey milk cows,” she teased.

Mina chuckled. “I have Black Angus cattle on my ranch. So does my friend, Cort’s cousin Bart.”

“You could have knocked me over with a feather when Cort introduced you as his wife.” She shook her head. “So many glitzy women in his life, none of them with any character or any interests rather than money.” She glanced at Mina. “And here he brings me a quiet, sweet woman whose eyes have no trace of greed.”

Mina smiled. “I don’t care about money. If I have enough to pay my bills, I’m happy.”

“It is the same with me.”

“Are you married?”

“Oh yes, for twenty years. My husband is the livestock foreman here, a job of great responsibility. The family has stud bulls worth millions and millions of dollars. We have full-time security guards here, and not only for the bulls. We have had problems with drugs coming over the border on the southern edge of the property. Not often, but the people involved think nothing of killing anyone who gets in the way.”

“Good heavens!”

“There has never been a problem with safety here, at the house,” Chaca was quick to add. “And we have the Border Patrol as well. Those people are very good at their jobs.”

“That makes me feel better,” Mina said.

“The baby, you are happy about it?”

Mina drew in a long breath. “So happy!” she said. “Every day is like a miracle. I can’t wait until I’m really showing.” She grinned. “I’m looking forward to maternity clothes. I guess that sounds sappy.”

“It sounds like a woman in love who very much wants her child.”

“It’s like a dream, you know. I fell in love with a cowboy. I expected to live in a small house and do laundry and cook...”

“I do those things for you,” Chaca said with a smile. “So you have time to sit and dream about the baby.”

She laughed. “Well, I write a lot. So I’ll be in my room a good bit, especially while Cort’s away. Does he take these trips often?”

Chaca looked hunted. She didn’t reply, busying herself with the preparation of the omelet.

“Chaca?” Mina prompted.

Chaca took the completed omelet off the stove and slid it onto a platter. She turned off the burner before she brought it to the small table where Mina was sitting. “He is almost never home, as a rule,” she confessed, flushing a little. “It is a big responsibility, the business. When his father was home last, he took much of the burden off the señor. But since the talk of divorce, Vic has been helpless. He does nothing, so Cort must now do it all. It is a shame. When Parker lived at home, he also helped with the business.” She finished setting the table and poured coffee into a cup for Mina. “It is too much for one man. I would like to say this, but I only work here.”

“I’ll say it,” Mina promised.

“If he would only delegate,” Chaca sighed. “He has competent people who run the real estate business, but he must involve himself in every part of it. Like this labor strike. He has negotiators and a business manager who could solve it themselves, but he trusts no one to do it except himself.”

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