But she wouldn't be nearly as trusting as she was before.

Although the atmosphere at the dinner table that evening was far from amiable, Tara seemed to be impervious to the heavy undercurrents. If anything, she seemed perfectly at ease with the situation.

Naturally the antics of the twins occupied much of the spotlight, both as a diversion and a safe topic for conversation. If Tara noticed that any responses tended to be coolly civil, she didn't let it show.

But Jessy felt the strain of having the enemy in their midst. It evoked a kind of quiet, simmering anger toward Tara. She knew exactly what the woman had achieved by being there: Tara was in a position of power and she had forced them to acknowledge it. And that was one more thing Jessy held against her.

It was with a trace of relief that Jessy rose at last to help Sally clear away the dessert dishes. "I will be right back with the coffee," Sally promised.

"We'll have ours in the den." Chase pushed his chair back from the table and glanced pointedly at Tara. "You do plan to join us, don't you?"

"Of course." Rising, Tara retrieved her oversized shoulder bag from the chair back and smiled lightly. "To be honest, I feel a bit like Daniel. Only I'm about to enter the den with two Calder lions."

Unable to suppress her resentment any longer, Jessy countered smoothly, "I'm sure you are very experienced at catfighting, Tara."

Jessy had the satisfaction of seeing a flicker of annoyance in the woman's eyes before Jessy departed for the kitchen, a stack of dessert plates in each hand. Sally was already there, busily arranging the coffee service on its tray.

She looked up when Jessy entered. "I'll help you with the twins just as soon as I take coffee in to Chase."

"For two cents, I would put poison in her cup." Jessy shoved the dirty plates onto the sink counter.

After a moment's hesitation, Sally suggested, in an attempt at offhandedness, "Maybe it won't be as bad as you think."

"I am not going to hold my breath."

As far as Jessy was concerned, Tara and trouble were synonymous. She had a history of bringing it, and the uneasy grumblings among the Triple C riders bothered Jessy.

Much of the ranch's success was predicated on a combination of strong leadership, loyalty, and a guardianship of the land. Every blade of grass had long been held to be precious. When Tara obtained legal title to those ten thousand acres that had been considered Calder property for years, she had rocked its foundation.

Everyone on the ranch was anxious for something to be done about it. But in typical Triple C fashion, there was the usual way to handle a problem-and there was the Calder way. And it was the Calder way they wanted to see, but the grumblings revealed a doubt that they would get it.

Truthfully Jessy was a little concerned as well. For the life of her, she couldn't think of any action Chase and Ty could take.

Sandwiched between the two men during the walk to the den, Tara covertly studied them. She was struck again by the strong resemblance between them, both possessing the same granite chin and brow, the same impenetrable darkness of wide, deeply set eyes, and the same high, hard cheekbones. In Chase, age had chiseled extra lines in his face, and there was a sagging of the skin beneath the jawline, but neither made him any less formidable.

Tonight both men wore the same mask of polite indifference. As yet, she had detected no break in it, no hint of temper or impatience. She smiled to herself, recalling how her father had often complained that the Calders were as impossible to read as the Saudis. It was true. Although in the past, Ty hadn't been as adept as his father. Therefore Tara watched him a little more closely. With few exceptions, she had always been able to manage him.

When they reached the den, Chase stepped aside, allowing her to precede him. But there was little about it that made her regard it as a gentleman's courtesy. Which made her wonder if he was reluctant to present his back to her, a possibility she found most interesting. For herself, she had no such qualms, entering the room ahead of both men.

"Have a seat." Chase motioned to the matching wing-backed chairs that faced the desk, and made his way to the big one behind it.

"Thank you." Slipping the handbag off her shoulder, Tara sat down in the first chair and tucked her purse in the small space next to it, wanting to keep it within easy reach.

She was a bit surprised when Ty folded his long frame into the other chair. In the past, he had usually ranged about the stone fireplace. She was quick to note the break in his pattern, although it was difficult to tell what it signaled.

Tara searched but found no trace of tension in Ty. He appeared to be loose and relaxed, almost as though he were the one in control. But Tara knew better.

Hampered by his arthritis, Chase was slow, as usual, to get settled in the big leather chair. Tara didn't attempt any small talk to fill the moment. For the time being she was content with the silence. Once she began her pitch, she wanted no interruptions. And, like Ty and Chase, she was aware that Sally would arrive at any moment with the coffee.

Her glance strayed briefly to the framed map behind Chase, depicting the immense scope of the Triple C Ranch and its boundaries, its paper yellowed with age. Tara was smugly aware that she had snatched a great big chunk out of it.

Footsteps in the hall signaled Sally's approach. Tara took advantage of these last few seconds to mentally review her proposal, satisfying herself once again that there was no objection to it that she couldn't reason away logically.

It was with eagerness that Tara observed Sally's entrance into the den. She had anticipated this meeting for so long, and now it was almost here. It seemed to take interminable minutes for the coffee to be poured and the cups passed to each. At last Sally exited the room, leaving them alone.

Ignoring the steaming cup of coffee in front of him, Chase rocked back in his chair and folded his hands together. "Since this was your idea, why don't you begin?"

"Of course." Tara continued to balance her cup and saucer on her lap. "I hope both of you can appreciate how very, very awkward this is for me. In the last year, we have managed to reach a close friendship of sorts. It is something I value a great deal even though my recent purchase of Wolf Meadow might suggest otherwise to you."

"What's your point, Tara?" Ty's voice was full of dry disinterest as he raised his cup, eyeing her over its rim.

"It's simply to clarify that if I had it to do over again, I would go about it differently, without all the secrecy that makes it seem like such a betrayal of your friendship."

Her voice and her expression held just the right note of sincerity, but Ty couldn't shake the feeling that it was nothing more than lines delivered by a skilled actress.

"We all have our regrets," he said. "It doesn't change anything."

"I know that," Tara agreed easily. "But I hope you will give me a chance to convince you that they are more than just words to me."

"How do you propose to accomplish that?" Chase laced his fingers together, a gesture that reinforced his challenging skepticism.

In answer, Tara set her cup and saucer on the desk, opened the large purse at her side, and extracted a slim folder. "With this, I hope." Fluidly, she rose and placed it in front of him.

Ty wasn't about to go for the bait. Like his father, he remained motionless. "What is it?" He wanted her to tell him.

Resuming her seat, Tara answered, "I took the liberty of having my attorney draft a lease for your review."

If anything, her explanation hardened something inside Ty. "I take it you have changed your mind about building a second home there."

"Actually I haven't. In the lease you will see that a fifty-acre tract, on which it will sit, has been excluded. Out of roughly ten thousand acres, that is no more than a postage stamp."

"The site is at windmill eleven, you said?" Chase arched a questioning glance at Ty.

"That's right," Ty replied then idly studied his hands. "The only water source in three miles, and some of the best hay ground in Wolf Meadow."

"Quite honestly I wasn't aware of that," Tara admitted. "But we can incorporate some kind of language that would allow you access to both. After all, this is just a first draft, and I am determined to find a way to make this work for both of us. It's the least I can do," Tara added, her whole demeanor soft and persuasive.

Chase grunted a nonanswer and rocked forward, pulling a pair of reading glasses from his pocket. After slipping them on, he flipped open the folder and perused the enclosed document.

"What are the terms?" Chase slid Tara a glance over the top of his glasses.

"I think you will find they are quite generous. Fortunately my income is such that I don't have to be concerned about a return on my investment. In fact, I have my tax lawyers working now on finding a way to deed the land over to you without creating a lot of tax complications for either of us."

As dangled carrots went, Ty gave Tara high marks for finding a particularly tempting one. But knowing her, he was certain there would be conditions attached to it. There always were, even if they weren't spelled out at the beginning.

"That's a very grand gesture," Ty remarked, aware that it was one without substance at the moment.

"On the surface I suppose it seems that way. But it isn't really. Since my father passed away, you are the closest thing I have to a family. And I will never forget the way you were there when I needed you," Tara declared in a subtle bid for more sympathy, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "It meant more to me than you will ever know."

"It was nothing."

"Maybe not to you, but it was to me. That is how this whole thing got started-I wanted to do something for you. Considering that my father was more or less responsible for you losing title to Wolf Meadow in the first place, it seemed only right that I should try to get it back for you." Pausing, Tara allowed a small smile to play across her lips, one that was a little rueful and apologetic. "Then I became a little selfish and decided to keep a little piece of the Triple C for myself so I could live here, too. I knew that was something neither of you would normally permit."

"So you resorted to extortion to get it," Ty concluded.

"That's putting it a bit strongly, I think, considering that my intent is to restore your ownership of the property."

"Except for fifty acres of it," he countered dryly.

"I am certain that we can ultimately come to some sort of understanding whereby it is titled in your name with a proviso that I have a life estate to it. That's something our attorneys can work out."

"In the meantime you want"-Chase paused to locate the precise phrase in the document-" 'ten dollars and other valuable considerations' for a one-year lease."

"Obviously if a transfer of ownership can be accomplished sooner than that, we will." Tara's expression brimmed with confidence.

"By the way," Chase addressed his remark to Ty, "among the 'other valuable considerations,' she wants access to the fifty-acre tract as well as a utility easement."

"I am building a home there," Tara said, as if they needed to be reminded of it.

Leaning back in his chair, Chase removed the reading glasses and idly toyed with them. "There is something I've been wondering."

"What's that?" Tara asked, all bright and helpful.

"Your reason for hiring Buck Haskell to work for you." He studied her with a look of detached interest yet he was alert for the smallest change.

Her smile was quick and careless, mildly chiding. "Who else could I find who knows every inch of the ranch as well as he does? I can understand why you would have reservations about him. But believe me, I checked him out thoroughly. I know it sounds terribly trite, but he is truly a changed man."

"Take it from me"-Chase tossed the reading glasses onto his desk-"he is as skilled at acting as you are."

She drew back fractionally, a wounded look in her eyes. "Please. This is not an act."

"Maybe not," Chase agreed without conceding the fact. "Just the same, you had best keep an eye on him. And whatever you do, don't let him slap you on the back without first checking to make sure his hand doesn't have a knife in it."

"I appreciate the advice, and I will follow it," Tara promised.

"I hope you do. As for this lease"-Chase touched the document before him-"I'm afraid we won't be able to sign it."

Undeterred, Tara smiled away his answer. "Obviously I didn't expect you to sign it tonight. I know you will need to review it with your lawyers. There are always minor changes that need to be made for one side or the other. I-"

"You don't understand," Ty interrupted. "We don't need to have our attorneys look at it because we can't accept it."

Startled, Tara divided her questioning look between the two of them. "Why ever not? What possible objection could you have to it?"

"We aren't in a position financially to take it on," Chase responded. "It isn't so much the ten dollars as it is the cost to stock it. We have already sold the cattle, and we don't have the spare capital to buy more. What resources we have available are committed to this auction. As tempting as your offer is, it simply wouldn't be prudent for us to accept it at this time."

"Why don't you give us a raincheck?" Ty suggested. "Then later, if the auction is as successful as we believe it will be, we can sit down with you again."

"Flabbergasted" was not an adjective that normally would be applied to Tara, but it described her reaction perfectly. "But signing the lease doesn't require any financial commitment on your part. It merely gives you control of the land. Surely you want that?"

"Wanting something and not being able to afford it are two very different things. But I doubt you have had much experience with that." Rising, Ty reached across the desk, slipped the lease back in its folder, and offered them to Tara. "I hope this hasn't inconvenienced you too much."

"Inconvenienced me? What about you?" Tara argued. "What about the winter hay you always got from Wolf Meadow? You will need it. And the water, too."

"We have already committed to buy our hay from an outside source. And without additional cattle, we don't need the water." Ty's smile was wry with regret. "If you had said something about this before, I could have saved you from going through all the trouble and expense of having a lease drawn up."

"I believe Buck is still outside waiting to drive you back to town," Chase inserted. "Ty, why don't you walk Tara to her car?"

Short of creating a scene, Tara realized she had no choice but to leave. As furious as she was over her plans being thwarted, she longed to indulge herself with a nasty scene. But both men had been much too cordial, too reasonable in their rejection, leaving her with no opening.

Keeping an iron control on her temper, Tara accepted the folder from Ty and rose to her feet then paused, determined to gain something positive from the evening. "At least tell me you aren't angry with me anymore? That you understand my reasons for doing this?"

"Naturally we understand. You explained things very well." Chase nodded in assurance. "And we always try to get along with our neighbors. Which is what you will be, right?"

"Right." Try as she might, Tara didn't know what to make of any of this. Both Ty and Chase were too calm, too congenial. It worried her. Did they know something she didn't?

PART THREE.

The wind, it's blowin' dry through the grass.

Trouble's brewin' a-plenty.

You hear its hum, But where will it come?.

It's a question that's makin' a Calder worry.

Chapter Fourteen.

Reclining in the driver's seat, Buck had his hat tipped forward to shield his eyes. The radio was tuned to a country music station, the volume low enough that he could still hear the murmured voices of the two cowboys lounging by the porch steps. He didn't recognize either man, but assumed they were more than likely the offspring of somebody he knew.

Neither cowboy had so much as nodded a hello to him when they walked up to The Homestead. Buck knew right away that Chase had given orders for them to watch him. It had crossed his mind to see if he couldn't engage them in some small talk just to pass the time, then decided not to give them anything to report, convinced that would bother Chase more.

A long rectangle of light spilled into his side vision, its presence signaling the opening of the front door. With a slight turn of his head, Buck glanced at the couple exiting The Homestead, quickly identifying Ty and Tara.

Giving his hat a push off his forehead, Buck sat up and popped the lever that brought the driver's seat back to its upright position. By the time he stepped out of the car, the two were coming down the steps. Quickening his steps, he had the passenger door open for Tara before she reached it.

All smiles, she turned to take her leave of Ty. "Please tell your father how grateful I am for his understanding. I meant it when I said you all are the same as family to me."

"I will tell him," Ty promised, smiling easily as he stepped back. "Have a good evening."