Page 56 of Grady

“Yep.”

“Glad to hear it. She’s a nice person. Parker likes her.”

“And that makes her a good person?” Grady raised an eyebrow.

Maverick grinned. “Yes. She’s a good judge of character. Though she likes you, so she’s not perfect.”

Grady laughed. “You could be right.”

“Parker is still talking about going on that chopper.” Maverick shook his head in amusement.

Grady started past him, slapping him on the shoulder before saying, “She has more balls than you do. I’m fixing Savannah dinner tonight. It’s her birthday.”

“Tell her happy birthday for us.”

“Will do. I’ll talk to you later.”

Grady walked toward the bunkhouse, opened the door and stepped inside. Only a few of the men were there. Most were already out working.

“Where’s Jeff?” he asked.

“In the feed barn. Beckett Feed is delivering soon,” one of the hands said.

“Alright.” He looked at the men. “Jud, could you head over there and wait for the delivery, and tell Jeff I want to see him in the main barn, please?”

“Yes, sir.” Jud walked out the door with Grady following him, but Grady entered the barn to saddle his horse.

A few minutes later, as he tossed the saddle on Onyx’s back, Jeff walked toward him.

“Something up, boss?”

“I’m going up to check the new fence. I’d appreciate it if you’d go along.”

“Sure. I’ll get my horse and meet you here.”

“Thanks, Jeff.”

“Yes, sir.”

Once he and Jeff rode to the west pasture, Grady couldn’t stop glancing around. Those wolves could still be out there… waiting. Even though it was late May, they could still be looking for food. He noticed Jeff looking around too.

When they arrived at the fence, they rode along it, Jeff following Grady to make sure he didn’t miss anything.

“It’s a nice day,” Jeff said.

“Yeah, it is. We’ll be in for hot weather soon.”

“I’m ready for that. I hate the cold.”

“As Warren says, ranching is a bitch anytime of the year. Sweat your ass off in the summer or freeze your balls off in the winter.” Grady shrugged. “I love it all though.”

“I do too. I just don’t like being out in the cold and after seeing those wolves last month…” Jeff shook his head. “I don’t know how your horse didn’t panic.”

“He was way calmer than I was,” Grady said. “I thought for sure; I was a goner.”

“If you’d been riding any other horse, you might have been. Horses can smell the wolves; they don’t need to see them. Onyx knew they were there.”

“Yeah, I could see his muscles twitching. He was aware of the danger.”

---