Montana Refuge Read Online Free PDF Page B

plate.
    Tyler introduced himself to the two people he’d yet to meet. The lawyer was surprisingly quiet given the flamboyance of his mustache and those buckskin chaps, but that might be explained by his frequent tips of the carafe into his wineglass. Heavy drinkers could be a problem out on the range and Tyler made a mental note to keep an eye on Red. The woman turned out to be a real estate broker from California.
    “I was at a conference,” the woman who introduced herself as Meg Peterson from Sherman Oaks, California, said. “You’ve never seen so many depressed people at one place, not ever. What with this economy...” Her voice trailed off. Tyler thought she might currently live in California, but she harbored a distinct Minnesota accent. She turned to John, her hands flying as she talked.
    “I was checking out of the hotel, wishing I didn’t have to go home yet,” she continued, “and then the desk clerk showed me a brochure of this ranch. Why I took off right then just on the chance the ranch would have room for another guest for a few days and discovered I was in time to take part in a cattle drive!” She nodded at Tyler’s mother. “That dear lady signed me right up. Rose is just a peach.”
    “Have you ever ridden horses or been around cattle?” Tyler asked. It was unlike Rose to agree to greenhorns with so little time to evaluate their skills and give them the basics.
    “I ride all the time at home,” she said. “I just couldn’t be more excited if I was going to Disneyland.”
    “I know you’ll enjoy yourself,” Tyler said. He turned to Red who seemed to have fallen asleep sitting up and then to John Smyth. “You got here early this morning, Mr. Smyth. Did you find enough to do to keep you busy?”
    “Call me John, please. Sure, I took a ride, saw a couple of hawks and practiced roping a sawhorse. You get the cows to stand still and I’m your man to bring them in.” As Meg Peterson laughed, he smiled at his own joke, looked at Red and shrugged. Turning back to Tyler, he added, “Rose was gracious enough to let me look through some of your old picture albums when I expressed an interest in the ranch’s history. It’s been in your family for three generations, is that right?”
    “That’s right. My father’s father bought it back when it was just a cattle ranch.”
    “I didn’t see any albums of that period,” Smyth said.
    “There are none. A fire thirty years ago destroyed all the early records except those that we’ve been able to copy from county historical files.”
    “That’s a shame.”
    “Yes. Well, we do have lots of photos from that point on, though.”
    “That you do.”
    John Smyth had a scar on his chin, but that kind of suited his rugged looks. In fact, up close like this, now that Tyler thought about it, Smyth looked vaguely familiar—and slightly sinister. “Have you been here before?” he asked. “Maybe on a previous vacation?”
    “No, never before. I gather the decision to turn this into a guest ranch came about fifteen years ago?”
    “After my father died, my mother knew she would need to switch things up if she was going to keep the ranch long enough to hand it down to me,” Tyler said. “That’s why you guests are so important to us. We don’t make stuff up for you to do. While you’re here, you’re as much of a cowboy as you want to be.”
    Meg Peterson squealed with delight.
    “Did the wranglers explain the low-stress attitude we employ to manage the livestock around here?” Tyler asked. Everyone except Red nodded. “Good. The trick is to make them want to go where we want to go. You’ll get the hang of it. Be sure you get some good sleep tonight and enjoy your comfortable beds.”
    “Do we come back here every night?” Meg Peterson asked.
    “No, ma’am, afraid not. This is a real drive. We need to get the herd up to greener pastures.” The trip wouldn’t really take five days if that was its only purpose and everyone knew exactly