LITMIR.BIZ

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feeling like the intolerable chore he’d imagined it to be this morning. “We’ll do our best.” He straightened back up as he saw Billy bringing Daisy closer. No matter what, Gunner would keep a sturdy fence between the thousand-pound beast and the bitty Calder women. As a bottle-raised orphan whose parents had been humans rather than bison, Daisy was by far one of the friendliest bison the Blue Thorn had ever seen—but animals were still animals.

      Coming up to the fence, Daisy gave an enormous snort, swiveling her huge head around to consider her small pink visitor. “Billy Flatrock, Daisy,” Gunner began the introduction even though it felt silly, “this here’s Audie.” He caught Brooke’s eye for a fraction of a second. “Daisy already met Mrs. Calder yesterday.”

      “Hi, Daisy!” Audie said brightly, much less intimidated by the wall of brown fur in front of her than her mother had been the day before. As a matter of fact, Brooke still looked a bit wary. “Mom,” Audie whispered loudly, elbowing her mother, “say hi.”

      Brooke straightened up. “Hello, Mr. Flatrock. Hello, Daisy. Congratulations to Daisy on being a mama soon.”

      “Yep. That’s really exciting.” Audie poised her thick pink pencil over her notebook like a candy-coated junior reporter. “Tell me, Daisy, do you want a boy or a girl baby bison?”

      To Gunner’s amazement, Daisy actually looked as if she was considering the question before she gave a series of low, rolling grunts. Gunner felt as though he was losing control of the situation with every passing minute.

      Audie looked right at Billy and in all seriousness asked, “What’d she say?”

      Billy took the whole thing right in stride. “Daisy had a girl bison last year, so she wants a boy this time.” When Gunner raised an “aren’t you taking this a bit far?” eyebrow, Billy added, “I think.”

      All the adults waited while Audie carefully wrote “baby boy” on her notepad. The girl then proceeded to work her way through a set of ten questions—some crazy, others downright thoughtful for someone so young. From Gran’s expression, she appeared to be growing fonder of Brooke and Audie every second. When Audie complimented Daisy on the soft new coat coming out from under the old one and her “be-yu-ti-ful” eyes, Gunner felt the cuteness factor tip over his toleration level. Suddenly, I’m a bison’s publicist. He could almost hear his father’s amused laughter echoing out across the ranch. No telling what would happen if any of the other ranch owners got even a whiff of this.

      Still, the kid was so excited, he couldn’t be entirely annoyed, even if the whole thing took twice as long as he’d planned. Brooke Calder looked at him as if he was some kind of hero, instead of just being a busy rancher who’d just gotten lassoed into the strangest social call of the year.

      When Audie finally got the “reply” to her final question, Gran pronounced it time for cookies and lemonade on the lawn. He’d clean forgotten about Gran’s social plans, and watched helplessly as another work hour of his afternoon evaporated before his eyes. He envied Billy as the man walked free and clear into the barn. The foreman offered him a smug smile, glad to be escaping the ladies’ tea party Gunner now was forced to endure.

      He gave Daisy a long last look as he stepped onto the porch behind the chattering females, and even the bison seemed to enjoy his predicament. “See what I started?” the big brown eyes seemed to say.

      Thanks for that, Gunner thought as he tucked his long legs under the picnic table and reached for a cookie.

Chapter Four

      Jace Markham leaned back in his chair Monday morning, the Austin sunshine pouring through the many windows of his corner office at DelTex’s corporate headquarters. He smiled. “Brooke Calder, I underestimated you.”

      Brooke looked up from her agenda notes. “How’s that?”

      “I’ve been trying to work my way into Adele Buckton’s good graces for years now, and you did it in four months.”

      Brooke felt a little band of annoyance stretch under her stomach. DelTex offices weren’t exactly small, and Austin was a big city—how had word of her visit to Blue Thorn traveled so fast? “It wasn’t a professional visit, Mr. Markham.”

      Mr. Markham chuckled as he unbuttoned his suit jacket. “Oh, no, I heard the bit about the book report. Brilliant.”

      “Science project. And it really wasn’t anything more than that. I ran into one of their bison on my way back from picking up files at the Ramble Acres site.”

      Mr. Markham’s eyes popped. “You ran over one of their herd?”

      “No.” Brooke winced at the poor choice of words. “I met Daisy as she blocked my way across the road. Gunner Buckton came by and helped get the bison out of the road so I could get home.”

      The big man chuckled. “Well, that’s a bit easier to understand. I couldn’t quite see how you turned roadkill into a social call.” He leaned forward. “I take it you received a chilly reception?”

      “At first. And most definitely from Gunner. Gunner Junior, that is. He iced over the minute he worked out who I was. Then Audie decided to do her native Texan animals report on bison, and I didn’t see how I could let an opportunity like that get away.”

      Mr. Markham raised an eyebrow. Brooke meant an opportunity for hands-on learning for her daughter, but clearly her boss had other interpretations.

      “I had Audie call and ask to see the bison because I was sure he’d refuse me,” she continued. “Only, Audie reached Adele first, and Mrs. Buckton warmed to the idea of a visit right away—maybe because she didn’t yet know where I worked.” Brooke shifted her weight. “They don’t think very highly of DelTex. They think Ramble Acres will eventually spread to take their land.”

      The vice president took off his reading glasses. “Oh, that’s no news to me. These ranchers are passionate about their land. Most times that’s a good thing. Only, sometimes the public good clashes with that stubbornness, and forward-thinking developers like ourselves have to make unpopular proposals.”

      “I know.” It was one of the reasons Brooke had a job—sometimes the public needed education, or awareness, or just flat-out convincing that a development was good for everyone. Part of what she did at DelTex was to help local folks see past the temporary inconveniences of development and embrace the long-term advantages. Or in cases like Ramble Acres, see why some private land was going to be needed to make way for the infrastructure to support a large-scale project.

      “And that’s why we pull in the local leaders to get those proposals green-lighted. You know the song—everybody wants a highway, so long as it doesn’t cross the back forty that’s been in their family for three generations.”

      Brooke was indeed familiar with the conflict. She’d spent the past four months fine-tuning presentations for DelTex execs and the involved local politicians. Infrastructure almost always needed land, and that was a surefire recipe for public conflict. “It did end well, if that’s what you’re asking. Audie had a wonderful time, and Adele is just like I imagined her.”

      “Adele Buckton is a grand, gracious lady. She and Gunner Senior became fixtures in this part of Texas back when I was younger than you.” Mr. Markham folded his hands on his dark marble desktop. “I’ve always thought Adele would see reason much faster than Gunner Junior. That boy has his daddy’s stubborn streak, that’s for sure.”

      Brooke thought of the tall, commanding rancher she’d spent time with and found that boy nowhere near a fitting term. “I know the basics of the project, Mr. Markham, but what exactly is it you want from the Bucktons?”

      Mr. Markham stood up and motioned for Brooke to join him in front of the large map that took up most of one office wall. He ran a finger down the highway Brooke had traveled on Friday afternoon, the one where she’d met Daisy. “This is Buckton’s place.” He tapped the finger on

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