Read Online Cowboy PI by Jean Barrett - Free Book Online Page B

you, Sam?”
    “Be happy to.”
    “Fine. Let’s roll then.”
    Shep and Cappy headed for the gates on the other side of the pasture. Dick, with a good-natured wink in Samantha’s direction, trotted after them. Jamming his hat over his unruly curls, Alex saluted her with his own boyish smile of encouragement, wheeled his horse, and rode off to take up his post.
    When they were gone, Roark leaned toward her from his saddle. “You don’t have a clue what just happened here, do you?”
    “My education at the Walking W didn’t include Cattle Drive 101,” she admitted. “So, if you’d care to translate…”
    While the others moved into position, Roark enlightenedher. “Horses not working are too impatient to follow slow cattle, so the remuda is always out in front. Riding point means leading the herd. Flank riders are at the sides to keep the herd from bulging. Drag brings up the rear to discourage strays and keep the herd moving. And swallowing dust—”
    “That I’ve already figured out. It’s what you and I are going to be doing back here behind all these cows.”
    “Well, two hundred longhorns are going to raise some clouds.” He stood in his stirrups to see over the herd. “Gates are down. You all set?”
    “Absolutely,” she lied, clutching the reins.
    From the far side of the pasture came Shep Thomas’s shout. “Move ’em on out!”
    Someone—Dick Brewster probably, Samantha guessed—raised a yell worthy of the best cattle drive movies. The others took it up, urging the longhorns forward. They poured through the open gates, streaming south along the trail.
    The drive was underway.
     
    W ITHIN THE FIRST ARDUOUS HOUR of the trek, Samantha decided that someone had made a serious mistake. Unlike its aggressive ancestors, this new strain of longhorn had been bred to be docile. Trouble was, the cows didn’t seem to know that. Looking out over a sea of backsides, she was convinced that no beasts could be more stubborn, more stupid or just plain downright ornery.
    By now, Samantha had added another word to her growing cattle drive vocabulary. Cowbrutes. And that’s exactly what the longhorns were. They were forever challenging their drovers by either making repeated attempts to turn back, straggling from the herd to graze on vegetation no respectable steer would touch, or, for no apparent reason, simply coming to a complete standstill.
    She supposed she had no good reason to complain. It was, after all, Roark who so capably dealt with these problems whenever they occurred at the rear of the herd. Samantha wasn’t able to help him, even had she known what to do. She was far too busy amid all the noise, smells and dirt just staying on her horse.
    So far she was managing to keep her seat, which Roark was largely responsible for. When he wasn’t dashing off after strays, he stuck close to her side, offering her patient advice.
    “Not so tight on the reins. Trust Dolly. She knows what to do.”
    And again. “Try to relax. You’re holding yourself so rigid, you’ll be worn out before our first break.”
    And finally. “That’s it. You’re getting it. You’ll be a drover yet.”
    Samantha doubted that, but he did have an easy faith in her that heartened her, and a lopsided smile that tugged dangerously at her insides.
    The sun was well above the horizon when the others dropped back for a brief conference on the progress of the drive.
    “Most of ’em is starting to settle down nicely,” Cappy observed, “but we got us a headache with that one there.” The old man spit tobacco juice in the direction of a reddish heifer. “She’s forever up to mischief.”
    Shep nodded. “She’s a late calf. Recently weaned by the looks of her and probably too young for the drive. But I couldn’t leave her behind with Morning Star shutting down its operation.”
    “Yeah, but chasing after one heifer is taking up too much time and effort we need for the other beeves. What’re we gonna do about her?”
    There