Page 44 of Wyoming Tough

“I’ve been around cattlemen all my life,” she said after a minute. “Certainly long enough to know a prize bull when I see one. I just didn’t recognize him while I was trying to keep from being shoved to death,” she added ruefully.

He gave a short laugh and gave up his suspicions. “Sure. I can understand that.”

“I guess I’d better get back out to the line cabin…”

“Miss Brannt!”

She and Darby turned at the cold and belligerent address.

“Yes, sir, boss?” she asked.

His eyes were as cold as his face was hard. “Come to the bunkhouse, please.” He turned and walked out.

“The bunkhouse?” she wondered aloud. She went out with Darby and noticed that Bates was smothering a grin.

Darby went with her. He knew the boss’s moods. That look was dangerous. He’d seen it be fore, when the cook, Vanessa, had been fired. He had a bad feeling and he looked at Morie with concern.

They walked into the bunkhouse. Mallory was there, with Ms. Bruner and Cane and Tank. None of them were smiling.

“Open your rucksack, please,” Mallory asked curtly.

She lifted both eyebrows. “Sure. But why?” she asked as she retrieved it from her room and handed it to the boss.

“Open it, please,” he repeated.

She shrugged, put it down on the table near the door and opened it. She pulled out clothing, books and…

Her expression was genuinely shocked. That was a replica of one of the famous Romanov Easter eggs that had originally been made for the czar of Russia and his wife. It was made of pure gold, which was going for over a thousand dollars a gram at current market prices, and studded with diamonds and sapphires, rubies and emeralds. It was worth a king’s ransom. She held it in her hand and gaped at it. She’d last seen it in the Kirks’ living room in a locked case. How…?

She turned and looked at them. Ms. Bruner wasn’t smiling, but there was a look on her face that made Morie want to put her out a window.

“This egg was left to us by our grandmother, who was given it as a Christmas gift from her husband decades ago,” Mallory said with ice dripping from every syllable. “It’s utterly priceless.”

“At current gold prices, the gold alone would buy a Jaguar,” she murmured, shocked.

“Interesting, that a poor working cowgirl would know that,” Mallory replied.

She handed the egg to Mallory. Her eyes were full of abused pride. “You think that I would steal from you?” she asked quietly, and searched his face.

“The evidence pretty much speaks for itself,” Mallory told her.

She looked from his angry face to Cane’s shocked one and Tank’s bland one. Darby lifted his chin.

“She’s no thief,” Darby said shortly. “I may not be the world’s best judge of character, but I’d bet my retirement on this girl’s honesty. Saw her run down a cowboy who dropped a five-dollar bill out of his wallet and didn’t notice. Not the act of a thief,” he added.

“This was missing out of the case.” Mallory indicated the egg.

“How did she get the key?” Tank asked aloud.

“Mine is missing,” Mallory said coldly. His eyes narrowed on Morie.

She just stared at him, with her heart breaking in her chest. She was damned without a trial. Everybody was looking at her with varying degrees of suspicion. She knew she’d been set up and she knew who did it—that Bruner woman, with some help, she would have bet, from that grinning cowboy in the barn who’d gone riding with her. Bates.

But it would do no good to condemn him on a stray thought. Nothing she said was going to convince Mallory that she’d been set up. She could see that in his face. It twisted her heart. If he’d cared for her at all, he’d never have believed her capable of this.

She stared at him with resignation. “I suppose you want to call the sheriff now,” she said, and thought how she was going to explain this to her parents. Her father would be outraged. He’d come after Mallory with his team of family attorneys and it would be a major assault on the man’s reputation and wealth. Her father was vindictive. Especially where his children were concerned. Mallory Kirk had no idea what a hornet’s nest he was stirring up, nor did that Bruner woman, whose entire past would be laid out to public view when her dad got through.

“No,” Mallory said, averting his eyes. “I won’t do that. But you’re resigning as of right now. I want you off my land in one hour. No more. And Darby will watch you pack, to make sure nothing else goes mysteriously missing.”

---