Frisco rode up beside her as Grady led her horse away. “It was a damned sloppy job,” he snapped. Staring down at her, he watched her brush dust and dry grass off her pants.
“But I did it!” A grin widened her lips. She stamped a boot on the ground and spun in a happy circle. “I caught a longhorn!” Hooking her thumbs in her back pockets, she rocked back and laughed up at him, her eyes sparkling. She wanted to talk about it, wanted to tell him just how she had done it. But he’d been there, a few feet away, watching everything she did.
“Sometime soon, you and I are going to have a little discussion that neither of us is going to enjoy.”
Climbing up to sit on the fence, she cleared her mind and watched Les. Even from this distance, she could see that Les was shaking like an aspen tree. To her surprise, Freddy felt a little sorry for her sister. Especially when she noticed that Ward had moved closer to the fence and watched sharply as if he planned to critique Les’s performance later.
Frowning, she watched Les draw a deep shaky breath, close her eyes for a long moment, then ride into the herd of milk cows. Immediately it became apparent that Les was having trouble, too. The cattle didn’t gallop off and scatter as they had after Freddy’s thrilling entrance. Instead, they moved as a group, with Les caught in the middle.
Swinging her head, Freddy looked for Frisco and studied his expression. He was frowning, trying to decide whether to intervene, as Les and the herd drifted farther away. She thought he was ready to signal the boys to ride out and bring the small herd back when Daisy came out of the bunch with Les right behind her.
Freddy couldn’t believe her eyes. Stiffening, she sat up straight and watched Les work the longhorn. Les slid and moved on the saddle exactly as they’d been instructed, her gaze fixed on Daisy, her body moving with the horse’s motion. Daisy was riled up from Freddy’s run and tossed her horns and tried to break for the open range, but Les was right there, guiding her back, blocking a turn, dodging the horns, and moving her toward the gate of the pen.
Wide-eyed and disbelieving, Freddy watched Les drive Daisy into the pen. And she whirled toward the fence when a cheer went up and the watching men applauded wildly. A frown clamped her brow. They hadn’t cheered or clapped for her.
Frisco rode up to where she sat on the fence. “Les did it right,” he said coolly, as if he knew what she was thinking. “You entertained your audience—and they’ll be laughing at you for a long time—but you didn’t do what you were supposed to do.”
Embarrassment flooded her throat and face with bright pink. She couldn’t stand the thought that the cowboys were laughing at her and cheering Les. Les! If Frisco had wanted to deflate her and make her feel foolish, he had succeeded.
“Les just fainted!” she said with scorn. Les had slipped off her horse, blinked, then wilted to the ground. Freddy saw Ward climb over the fence and run toward her.
“Every one of those men knows how important it is to obey instructions,” Frisco said in a tight hard voice. “Les did what she was told to do. You made a fool of yourself by stampeding the herd.”
“You’ve made your point,” she said, snapping back at him and feeling the fire in her cheeks. And she’d learned a lesson that she wouldn’t forget. Never again was she going to allow Les to best her. It was humiliating. “I want another chance.”
“Not today. Next, all three of you are going to practice shooting.”
Suddenly she glimpsed a face along the fence that she hadn’t noticed before. She jerked and the crimson deepened in her face. Her hands flew to the tangled hair streaming down her back. “What’s Jack Caldwell doing here?”
“Caldwell is Mrs. Roark’s representative,” Frisco said, casting a contemptuous glance toward the man at the fence. “He’ll accompany the drive.”
It was one thing to know that Jack and Lola were being seen together, it was another to learn they were involved to the extent that Jack would act as Lola’s representative. Her chest contracted, and her stomach hurt. Jack’s defection, his betrayal, was now complete.
Sliding off the fence, needing to escape for a few minutes alone, Freddy left Frisco without a word and fled toward the house. She had almost reached the side yard when Jack called to her.
“Aren’t you going to say hello?”
Hating it that he had followed her, she turned and reluctantly waited for him to catch up, her heart sinking when she saw him. She had kissed those lips, had tugged her fingers through his heavy gold hair.
“You and I have nothing to say to each other.” The rich scent of bay rum enveloped her as he approached, smiling the same smile that she’d found so attractive.
“I know I’ve got some explaining to do.”