His sons, Hawk and Walker, were a worthless pair for sure. Hed never been as close to them as he had to Lizzy. Neither of them gave a damn that hed built an empire for them. Although they were as different as night and day, if he advised or corrected one of them, they stuck together. After Caesars recent quarrel with Walker over the artist hed chosen to do the murals depicting ranch life for the new Golden Spurs museum, Walker had stormed out in a huff. Hawk had followed suit. Who knew where they were keeping themselves these days. And even the board had sided against Caesar, as well, and the painter had stayed.
Now Caesar had his sons responsibilities to see about in addition to his own. Theyd been in charge of organizing the grand opening of the museum and the celebration of the ranchs 140th anniversary, which were scheduled during Thanksgiving week.
The whole thing was ridiculous. Because of various crises the ranch had faced recently, the board had trumped up the museum and celebration to restore faith in the ranchs name. There would be tours, lectures, a big party and a horse and cattle auction during the week-long festivities. Caesar had thought the celebration was ill-timed to say the least, especially since it would be during a holiday, but hed been outvoted by the family and the board.
If Hawk could just walk off, maybe Caesar could, too. Maybe it was time he did what the damn bunch wanted and turned the ranch over to the smart-ass suits in San Antonio. Let them come down and run the ranch and this ridiculous celebration theyd dreamed up.
But if he did, the ranch would go to hell in a handbasket. Sam, for all his talent, didnt look at the big picture. The board would diversify into more profitable business ventures than cattle. They wanted the Golden Spurs name on cattle equipment, hunting vehicles, leather goods and guns. They were interested in farming and government subsidies and environmental research, but not a single one of them was a real rancher.
Times are changing faster than you are, Dad, Walker had yelled at him before hed left.
The boardand even Samhad made him furious when theyd told him the same thing.
But, hell, had any of them been named rancher of the decade?
Caesar had a cell phone clipped to his wide belt and a phone number in his breast pocket. The girl that went with the phone number was an exotic dancer in Houston. Last Saturday night hed watched her perform a wanton cowgirl routine on stage with a real live horse.
She was nineteenyounger than his kids and nephews, but old enough, well worth the hour-long plane ride from the ranch. She had implants, big hair, fake eyelashes, but there was nothing fake about those legs of hers that went forever or the megawatt smile shed flashed him or the promises shed made with her big blue eyes and soft hands when shed gotten off her horse and had done that lap dance wearing a silver, sequined cowboy hat and not much else.
He thought about Joanne and the cold, loveless years of their marriage. Maybe it was time he hung his own spurs on the tree and kicked his heels up, too. It had been a while since hed had any fun with a woman.
He pulled Cherrys number out of his pocket and memorized it. Then he put it back and grabbed his cell phone. His body heated as he leaned forward and nudged Domino with his spurs.
The geldings walk was a wonderful kind of tap dance. Domino was the best horse Caesar had ever had, a real genius.
It was only nine in the morning, and already the temperature had to be in the high eighties. But that wasnt why Caesar felt as hot as a billy goat in a pepper patch.
Should he call her? He stared up at the deep azure sky unmarked by clouds and felt beads of perspiration pop out on his forehead. It would get way hotter, and so would he.
He punched in her number, and a recording answered. He waited a few seconds, before he got up the nerve to stammer hello.
A womans soft voice interrupted and said, Hi there
His big hand shook so hard, he punched something and broke the connection. Then he cursed himself for being such an idiot.
Thank God hed hung up on her. Gulping in a breath, he attached his cell phone to his belt again.
Heartbreak and grief and disillusionment were supposed to age a man, but Caesar knew he looked and felt much younger than he was. Maybe it was all the hard, physical work hed done on top of the constant mental challenge of running his empire.
Not his empirethe familysand it was a big family, not just his immediate familya difficult family with more than a hundred members Which meant there were a lot of calves sucking off a single tit, which meant the ranch had to produce.
The ranch had been established during the first half of the nineteenth century, turbulent years in south Texas. Land in Texas had gone from Spanish rule to Mexican rule to the Republic of Texas rule to American rule and then to Confederate and then back to Union rule in the space of sixty years. During this period of chaos, land titles and old Spanish land grants had been the original Caesar Kembles for the asking or as some said nowfor the stealing.
Not that the ranch had been easy to defend even back then. Mexican bandits had marauded constantly and stolen cattle. Northern cattle markets had been uncertain. Drought had plagued the ranch, until a constant source of water had been found.
Through all the disasters, generation after generation had bought land and never sold. The challenges in modern times were no less formidable than they had been during frontier times.
The Golden Spurs was constantly being sued. Only Caesars love for the land had sustained him through these rough and challenging times.
Not too long ago, a lowlife thief had trespassed on Golden Spurs property to steal gas pipes. Hed used a blowtorch to cut the pipe into movable sizes. The pipe had had a little gas in it and had exploded. The injured thief had sued for damages.
Caesar had blown his stack when the plaintiffs attorney had grilled him on the stand. As a result the thief had walked away with a huge settlement.
Ever since, his lawyers worked hard to keep him out of the courtroom. Under tough questioning, even after hours of tutoring from his attorneys, he couldnt be trusted not to speak the truth as he saw it.
So, he stuck to what he was good atranching. Cowboying had never been work to him. Hed given the ranch and his family his best years. Not that fifty was old. Still, it was an age when a man thought about his purpose and his legacy, especially when hed made a helluva lot of sacrifices and had asked others to do the sameand they hadnt.
All his children and his nephews wanted was the money. Right now they were pestering him for a bigger share of the mineral revenues.
As if they needed more money. Oil money was like play money to them. They bought anything their hearts desiredmansions, foreign luxury cars, airplanes, jewels. The money had made even wimpy little Lizzy confident enough to strike out on her own and try to prove she was somebody.
What the hell was that all about? New York? Crazy town. Too far from Texas. Too many people. City people. None of them with a lick of sense. Hed talked himself blue in the face, trying to get her to come home, but she was as stubborn as her mother.
You were somebody the day you were born, girl. You wereborn my daughter, hed thundered yesterday morning when hed called her.
But, Daddy, that doesnt mean anything.
You were somebody the day you were born, girl. You wereborn my daughter, hed thundered yesterday morning when hed called her.
But, Daddy, that doesnt mean anything.
It means a helluva lot to everybody in this state but you.
Thats just the problem. I dont deserve to be famous orrich. I didnt do anything. And youyoure always sayingIm wimpy.
I never ever say that, baby girl.
You do! When youre mad, you do!
Then its time you saddled up and changed all that.
I wasnt born to be a cowgirl. Its either born in you, orits not. At least thats what you always said, Daddy.
Hell, was your smart-mouth kid throwing your own pearls of wisdom back in your face?
What the hells wrong with you? You grew up on a ranch!I taught you everything I know!
Dont you see, this is why I had to go? I cant live mylifewith you bossing me around all the time. With you tryingto make me into something Im not. I want to make youproud, Daddymy own way! Im not a cowgirl! And I dontwant to be rich!
Well, you are. If you marry out of your class, hell eitherwant your land or your money!
Like Cole, Daddy? Is that what youre saying?
Yes, like Cole, damn it!
Not that Cole was quite as ornery as hed been before hed married Mia. Since the plane crash, hed been annoyingly easy to deal with. There wasnt a more talented cowboy on the ranch. Most of the hands worked in pairs to trap the worst of the bulls that had gone wild, but, hell, just like Caesars brother Jack, Cole rode alone. He understood bulls, understood their natures. He knew the exact second theyd turn and charge. And he was ready. Not that Caesar ever praised Cole aloud.
As for his own kidsnot one of them appreciated what Caesar had done. Not one of them wanted to do an honest days work. Of late hed begun to wonder if any of what hed thought was so damn important mattered at all.
Had all the years hed spent teaching Lizzy about the ranch and the business been a waste? From the moment shed been old enough to sit in his lap, hed taken her with him on mornings when the work would be light. Many an afternoon hed ridden home with her limp and sunburned in his arms.
Hed hired the best riding teachers, bought her the best rifles. Hed sent her to A&M and forced her to study ranch management, refusing to pay for another major, refusing to listen when shed said she wanted to study English and be a writer.
Her brothers and sister had been jealous, wanting to know why he spent so much more time on her than the rest of them. The reason was a secret that Caesar hoped hed take to his grave.
Lizzy wasnt doing all that great in Manhattan. As always, Caesar had his sources. His kids couldnt keep anything from him.
Shed be back. Damn it, shed be back.
When Caesar was out of sight of the imposing white, red-roofed ranch house, he pulled in on the reins and let his gaze sweep the flat, coastal pasture. The sea of brown grasses seemed to stretch endlessly, but that was an illusion, as much in life is.
He frowned, not that anything was amiss with the brush-choked creek or the prickly pears along the barbed wire fence or the herd of cherry-red cattle grazing placidly. Or with the black buzzards lazing high above him on an updraft.
A red fox stood still in the distance, watching him warily from the edge of oak trees. Caesar breathed deeply, liking the rapport he felt with the wild fox as much as he liked the smell of the grass and the feel of the warm wind against this cheek. After a minute or two the fox scurried back into the thick brush.
Once Caesar had felt safe and confident here, safe in the knowledge that he was in charge, that his kingdom was secure for future generations. No more. The world was changing too fast and there was no one in the litter he trusted to follow him. The ranch and what it stood for was threatened on all sides.
Besides, the family wanting more of the oil and gas money, every month was a new challenge. The Golden Spurs wasnt just a ranch. It was a global, international, multifaceted, family-owned corporation that had diversified into other businesses, and it had to compete globally. The suits in San Antonio and an uppity, younger CEO, Leo Storm, constantly tried to dictate to Caesar.
Not that the problem that had been eating at him ever since Jim, his lawyer, had called last night was global. Another group of local jackals, distant kin of Cole Knight, had discovered yellowed copies of the same documents Shanghai had shoved in his face years ago, claiming the second generation of Kembles had stolen from their adopted sister. Just like Shanghai, the greedy bastards had had the effrontery to call his great-great-granddaddy a betraying thief and a liar, and, thereby, claim not only a large section of the ranch but all the royalties earned on the oil and gas the ranch had pumped out of the ground for the last sixty yearsplus interest.
But what really galled Caesar was the fact that the lawsuit was the result of a tip from someone in the family, whod leaked secret information from the ranchs sealed archives. Walker? Cole maybe?
Cole was at the center of a lot of the recent crises, and yet that very fact made Caesar suspect it was someone else. Cole had married himself square into the family. He was Vanillas father. He owned considerable stock in the ranch.
If not Cole, it was damn sure somebody.
Who the hell was the traitor?
Caesar was mad, so spitting mad he had one of his headaches. His ancestors would have fought their enemies with six-shooters. But in these new days, killing came at a price. Thus, this was a problem for his high-priced, fast-talking attorneys.
If anybody calls you, just refer them to me. Act reasonable, Jim had cautioned him just this morning.
Act reasonable? hed thundered. Not that hed said much more. Jim cost too much. Billable hours, he called it.
Since Jim had assured him there was nothing he could personally do about the problem except make it worse, Caesar had come out here to give himself an hour or two to settle down. He could have driven the pickup, but he preferred to ride Domino when he needed to get himself together. There was a purposefulness to the sounds of hooves on the ground and the movements of Domino through the grasses.
He was glad hed escaped Joanne. One look at his face and she would have grilled him for sure. She saw too much. She wanted things from him he couldnt give. Besides, she could have been the one who leaked the information.
Funny, he hadnt realized how demanding shed be when theyd struck their deal and hed agreed to marry her. Hed thought she was meek and mild. Hed thought shed be easier.
Caesar was staring across the thorny brush country beneath the hot blue sky when his phone rang. Expecting Jim again, he yanked it off his belt.
Hi, there. The voice was soft and breathy, and before he could speak, his armpits were damp and his body burned as hot as a smoldering tree stump.