The Cowboy Lassos a Bride(6)

"I've got a sight more experience with cattle than you do."

"Dad, I can't second-guess myself out there. You must know what it's like-you took over from Grandpa."

Holt snorted. "Your grandpa called the shots until he was in his grave.  And then some. The day after we buried him I found a schedule he'd  written out for the next two months. I followed it, too. I was afraid if  I didn't he'd claw himself back out of the ground and give me a  whupping!"

Jake chuckled despite himself. "You didn't mind that he kept bossing you around?"

"Of course I minded. My father was a stubborn son-of-a-bitch. It's different for you."

"Different how?"

"I'm as sweet as maple syrup compared to him."

"Sure thing, Dad. Sweet enough to kick me off the ranch if I don't marry in thirty days."

Holt shot him a look. "I'm helping you get something you actually want.  You just don't know it yet. Now what about that bison? You found  somewhere for it to go?"

Jake heaved a sigh and decided to ignore the first part of that  statement. He took a swig of his beer and gazed out through the windows.  "I want to start a herd."

"Start a herd of what?" Holt leaned forward and held out his hands toward the fire.

"A herd of bison."

Holt straightened up. "Now that's the dumbest thing I've heard in a long time."

Figured. Holt wasn't one to jump on new ideas, which was one reason Jake was feeling so fed up these days. "Dumb how?"

"The Double-Bar-K trades in cattle, not bison. Always has, always will."

Jake sighed as a familiar restlessness overtook him. Would he ever be  able to introduce a single innovation on the ranch while his father was  alive? Some days he wondered if he was stupid for staying here. But he  couldn't leave. He just couldn't. The very dirt of this place made the  framework of his soul. None of those Mathesons before him had taken off  when times got tough. He didn't mean to be the first. "We can do both.  Bison meat is becoming popular. It's good for you. You can charge twice  as much for it, too."

"That's because it's twice as much work." Holt eyed him. "What's really behind this? A pretty girl with white-blond hair?"

"No. You're dead wrong there," Jake lied. He fixed his father with a  hard look. "And just for the record, they're half as much work, not  twice as much. They don't need all the extra tending in winter our herd  does."

"Stick to what you know, boy." Holt stared into the fire. "If you're  smart you'll shoot that bison yourself, eat it and be done with it."

"You done lecturing me for tonight? Haven't you made my life miserable enough for one day?"

"You think getting a wife will make you miserable? Getting married was  the best thing I ever did. A man can't run this place by himself. He  needs a woman by his side. Someone like your mother-hardworking,  level-headed, tough as nails. I've waited a long time for you to get to  the matter on your own. I didn't think I needed to play the kind of  games I did with Rob."

"I would have loved to play that game. Where's my two hundred acres?" A  couple of months back Holt had made the announcement that the first son  to get married would get a parcel of land for his very own. Then he'd  turned right around and told Jake, Ned and Luke they weren't eligible to  win the contest. He'd known Rob was on the verge of flying the coop, so  he used the ruse to trap him at home. It had pretty much worked. Rob  proposed right away to Morgan Tate and brought her from Victoria to  Chance Creek. Now he owned property on both the Cruz and Matheson  ranches, but while he was building his home on the Cruz side of the  property line, he still helped out on the Matheson side, too, and he  lived here in the meantime. Not across town or in another county. Holt  was satisfied.                       
       
           



       

Holt dipped his chin. "You don't need two hundred acres. You'll share the whole damn ranch with Ned and Luke."

"If I marry within a month. Otherwise, you'll kick me out and the whole  place will go to ruin. You know damn well Ned can't manage his way out  of a paper bag. No way can he run the herd."

"You'd be surprised what Ned can do. A good manager knows the strengths  and weaknesses of his workers. You're so blind you can't even see your  own brother."

"I see Ned. I see that he's a hothead who's as liable to burn the barn down as fix its leak."

"Ned's quick with his anger, but he's quick with his wits, too."

"Yeah. That's why he didn't make it past eighth grade."

Holt was silent a long moment. "I didn't make it past eighth grade,  either, and I've done a sight more with my life than you have. Get a  wife, Jake. Or get out."

Holt rose to his feet and walked stiffly away, leaving Jake to wish  again he'd kept his mouth shut. Both Holt and Ned had a way of pushing  his buttons until the basest part of him took control. His father  treated him like he was still fifteen years old, and he inevitably ended  up acting that way. Something had to change. His whole family needed a  new way of doing things.

Jake chuckled to himself grimly. That wasn't likely to happen. A few  minutes later he let himself out into the dark and strode the quarter  mile to his own cabin. His parents had built a small two bedroom  structure for each of their sons when they turned twenty, hoping that  would encourage them to stay on the ranch and eventually settle there.  He had always appreciated the measure of independence it gave him, while  still keeping him close to his work. Now he recognized it for the trap  it was.

For years Holt had paid him and his brothers a tiny allowance and gave  them room and board in exchange for their work on the ranch. Since they  each expected to inherit a share in the spread, and had enough for their  trucks and nights out on the town, they hadn't felt poor. They'd been  raised to value ranching and family above all else. To an outsider it  probably looked like they were at each other's throats all the time, but  although they fought like wolves, they were as clannish as a wolf pack,  too. Faced with any outside threat, they formed ranks and presented a  united front.

It was Rob who finally shook things up enough for them to come to their  senses and demand real wages for the work they did. That was a recent  development, however. Jake still didn't have much cash. If he struck out  on his own it would take him years to save up enough to buy a new  spread, and even then it wouldn't replace the Double-Bar-K in his heart.  No, he'd stay and figure this out.

If it killed him.

He stood in his small, sterile kitchen and listened to the ticking of  the clock on the wall. If he didn't get married-fast-he might lose the  life he loved so much. And damn it, he wanted a wife. He wanted Hannah.  He wanted a family, too.

But he also wanted more than that. Unlike his father or brothers, Jake  believed whole-heartedly in innovation and he wanted to be a part of it.  Scientists all around the world were talking about the earth's climate  changing and Jake knew that every facet of modern life played into  that-including the ranching practices he and his family employed. He  wanted to be a part of that discussion. He wanted to experiment with his  own herd and ranch. He read all he could, hung out on online forums,  and watched the latest talks and movies on YouTube about the subject.  But until Holt backed off and let him run things the way he wanted to,  he'd remain a bystander in the shift to brand-new ranching practices.

Holt actively resisted all changes to the way things were done on the  Double-Bar-K. He distrusted innovation and his dyslexia and bad  experience with school had turned him against most forms of education,  too. When Jake had talked of going to college after graduating from high  school, Holt put an end to that idea by threatening to disown him if he  did.

Well, it was his own fault for not sticking up to the man. Holt hadn't  kept him here at gunpoint, after all. He could see now that if he'd  demanded to go there would have been all kinds of fuss and bother, but  it would have blown over in time. He wished he'd stood up to his father  back then. It was too late now. Jake picked up his pace. Time to quit  feeling sorry for himself and get a move on. He'd see Hannah at the Cruz  ranch tonight for Thursday night poker and pool.

Holt was right about one thing; he had wasted a lot of time. If getting a  wife would bring him one step closer to taking over the Double-Bar-K,  he'd ask Hannah out before the night was over, just as he'd already  planned.                       
       
           



       

And marry her before the month was up.





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Chapter Two