Aspen Gold Read Online Free PDF Page B

the pair, too.
    Briefly she met his glance. "Why did he come along with us? I've never been clear on the reason."

    "The next time you're close to him, take a deep breath," he suggested, cloaking his contempt of the man in amused disdain. "You'll smell two things: greed and fear. Kit is his ticket to the big time and the big money and he's terrified she'll dump him." He paused, then added, "I wish she would."
    "He's been her agent from the very beginning." The slight lift of her shoulders seemed to indicate that settled the issue, but he could tell by her expression that Paula didn't disagree with him.
    "You're Kit's friend. Convince her she needs to get rid of him and sign with some high-powered agency like Creative Artists or William Morris, one that can do her some good."
    "I'd be wasting my breath. Kit's too loyal." Her smile turned wry and a little sad when she looked at him. "I believed in such things once. Didn't you?"
    "I don't remember," he replied a little stiffly.
    "Yeah, it's been that long ago for me, too."
    She turned and climbed into the limo.
    Dan Somers came striding across the tarmac, arriving at the limo simultaneously with Kit and Maury. "Everything's taken care of," he said.
    "Ready?"
    "Ready," John confirmed and offered an assisting hand to Kit as she slipped into the limousine.

    The cattle milled in a tight circle, a black mass of bawling confusion after the silence of their run. Bannon reined the buckskin in alongside the lank and weathered Hank Gibbs.
    "How many got away into the trees, Hank?"
    Bannon sat straight-legged in the saddle, one arm full length and the other lifted slightly with the reins. The afternoon sun gave his face a deep bronze cast and the shaggy edges of his hair showed a dark brown beneath his faded hat.
    Hank's left cheek bulged with a wad of tobacco. He turned and spat a stream of yellow juice at the ground before answering. "Near as I can figure, about a dozen."
    Bannon nodded. That had been his guess, too. "We'll come back tomorrow and round them up.
    Take the point, Hank. Let's get this herd lined out for home."
    "Whatever you say, boss." Hank swung the sock-legged sorrel away from Bannon and pointed it toward the now-distant gate.
    Once Hank was positioned between the herd and the gate, Bannon signaled to the other riders.
    Within minutes, the crossbred Angus and Hereford cows were strung in a loose line with Hank in the lead, a tobacco-chewing pied piper.
    This time the cattle didn't have a chance to balk at the gate. Hank looped his rope around the neck of the lead cow and dragged it through. The rest followed as docile as shorn lambs. Bannon brought up the rear and closed the gate when the last one was through.
    His daughter, Laura, waited for him on her flashy black-and-white pinto. She wore a boy's denim work jacket and a pair of snug jeans with the legs tucked inside small cowboy boots. Her black hair was plaited in a single braid down her back, the headset to her pocket tape player dangling forgotten around her neck.
    "That was a real stampede, wasn't it, Dad?"
    Her gray eyes still held the excitement of it.
    "It was a real one, all right," he confirmed with a half smile. Together they moved after the herd, putting their horses to a shuffling trot to catch up with it.
    "It was awesome," Laura declared, then bit her lower lip in sudden delight. "I can hardly wait to tell Buffy. She's gonna die when she hears about it."
    Bannon watched her giggle, seeing the liveliness in her eyes and the growing beauty in her face. Both came from her mother. It was something Bannon had watched for through the years. And yet, as much as he'd expected it, it was still unsettling to see in her the image of a woman who'd been dead for nine years. It was as if his wife--the beautiful and tempestuous Diana--was reaching out from the grave to remind him of that one brief, beautiful ... and miserable year of their marriage.
    "The Pie almost came unglued when the plane buzzed us. It was all I