Chapter 9
Lyric and Melody worked together in the kitchen. Melody fried the eggs while Lyric flipped pancakes on the griddle.
“Have you seen Papa this morning?” Melody asked.
“I saw him a few hours ago,” Lyric replied. “He drank some chicken soup and took a shower. That was before you got up.”
Melody spun around with the spatula in her hand. “When did you wake up this morning?”
“About five, I guess.”
Melody bent over the frying pan with a shake of her head. “You shouldn't work so hard, Lyric. You'll burn yourself out.”
“Someone's got to do it. I woke up when I heard Papa moving around in his room. I went down there and found him trying to get out of bed, but his legs are still too weak. I had to help him take a shower.”
“I was thinking,” Melody replied, “maybe we should hire someone to help take care of him. You shouldn't have to carry all the burden of running the house plus taking care of him. He could be weak for a long time.”
“We can't afford to hire anyone. I'm in the house all day. I'll do it.”
“Of course, we can afford it,” Melody shot back. “This ranch makes enough money to sink the Titanic.”
Lyric chuckled and set the pancakes on the table. “I only meant I don't want to waste money hiring someone when I can do the job as well or better. Besides, who would we hire? We would have to put the word out all over the Peak and hope someone's not busy with something else. It wouldn't work.”
“Then let me take over. You already do a full-time job running this house. You let me take care of Papa and give you a break.”
Lyric snorted. “Since when have you ever gotten up at five in the morning to do anything? You can't take care of Papa, and I'm stronger than you.”
“I'll get stronger. He's my father as much as yours, and you need all the help you can get.”
Lyric smiled on her sister. “Helping Papa is just my way of showing him I love him. If you want to help me, that would be great. You can start by calling Azer and Riskin down.”
“Down? Aren't they out to work yet?”
“I was the first one up this morning, and no one has gone out that door since I've been here. All three of them must be still upstairs.”
Melody shoveled the eggs onto the platter. She walked to the base of the stairs and shouted up, “Azer! Riskin! Mattox! Breakfast time!”
She helped Lyric put the rest of the food on the table when Azer and Riskin came downstairs. Azer yawned and did his best to comb his disheveled hair into place. Riskin smelled of Old Spice and wore a new plaid shirt. His wet hair stuck to his scalp, and his face still gleamed where he'd shaved. He sauntered over to Lyric and kissed her on the cheek. Lyric turned away and said nothing.
“You're not still mad about last night, are you?” Riskin threw up his hands. “Fine. Let me know when you cool off.”
He took his place across the table from Azer, and the two men started eating.
Melody and Lyric took the chairs on opposite ends. “Where's Mattox?”
“He must still be asleep,” Melody remarked. “That's not like him.”
“Maybe he's got a sweetheart somewhere,” Riskin suggested. “Maybe he had a late night last night. Maybe he's still passed out in the clover.”
Azer choked on his scrambled eggs and wound up coughing. He did his best to control his laughter. “A sweetheart—him? Maybe that cow he's keeping is his new sweetheart.”
Lyric glared at them. “You said yesterday he was still asleep when he was really out in the barn unloading the hay truck. Neither of you chumps noticed he finished the job in a few hours. That's why he was late for breakfast. He's probably out there doing your work for you right now.”
Azer rounded on her with smoke billowing from his ears when the front door opened. All conversation died in an instant. Melody cried out in surprise, Riskin's mouth fell open, and Lyric turned around to see what the fuss was about. Her heart almost stopped when she saw Mattox.
His short hair hugged his scalp and bore the fresh marks of scissors. His face shone clear and clean-shaven, and he wore a tight white T-shirt with no leather jacket in sight. Black leather pants stretched over his stout thighs and rested on top of his polished boots. His shoulders strained the T-shirt over chiseled muscles and a slim, muscle-cut midsection. Everyone could see dark ink covering his chest and shoulders under his shirt.
Everyone stared at him, but he only smiled and sat down next to Melody. His shoulders popped when he scooted in the chair. He lifted three pancakes onto his plate and cut them up with his knife.
Azer's fork hung limp in his hand. Riskin’s mouth hung open. Lyric swirled through a maelstrom of conflicting emotions. This couldn't be the same man she ate breakfast with these past six months. This man caught her in a web of attraction she couldn't resist.
The long hair, the full beard, the fringed leather jacket, the cast-down eyes—all those things protected her from finding out who Mattox was underneath his mountain man façade. Nothing protected her from him now. She couldn't tear her eyes away from his face. His arms and chest and shoulders made her mouth water and her whole body sizzle with electric energy. He kept this hidden all these months, only to unleash it on her now.
Mattox cast his benign smile around the table and helped himself to several slices of bacon. Melody recovered first. She returned his smile with a huge glowing grin. “Wow, Mattox! You look great!”
“Thank you, Melody. How's old Rex this morning?”
“I haven't seen him. Ask Lyric.”
He turned his eyes on Lyric, and her heart skipped a beat. His eyes drilled straight through her. “Would you mind if I visited him later today? You know better than anyone if he's strong enough to receive visitors.”
Lyric couldn't hold his gaze. Her cheeks burned, and her mind wouldn't function. She wound up looked down at her plate, but she couldn't eat, either. “I'm sure Papa wouldn't mind a visit from you, Mattox. You're the one who found him and brought him home. You can visit him anytime you want to.”
A trace of a smile touched his lips. His mouth dragged Lyric's eyes toward it with unstoppable force. She stared at his teeth and tongue showing between his lips.
“I wouldn't want to step on anybody's toes,” Mattox was saying. “You better ask him, just to make sure he doesn't mind.”
Lyric stared at him. His words said he didn't want to step on anybody's toes, but his demeanor told a different story. Whatever Mattox Farrell was yesterday, today began a new chapter in the Mackenzie ranch story. He no longer cared whose toes he stepped on. Of that, Lyric was absolutely certain.
Uncomfortable silence descended over the table. Everyone stared at Mattox while he ate bite after bite of his breakfast. He smiled at everyone, but they only sat there in stunned silence.
In the end, Mattox turned to Azer. “I want to ask you, Azer. What do you have planned for those cows down on the south slope? They've been down there for six weeks, and no one has been down there to look at them.”
Azer started out of his trance. “Them? I don't have any plans for them. Most of them are too old or too tough to be good breeders anymore. I hadn't really made up my mind one way or the other, but I planned to send them to the slaughterhouse, come the end of the season. Why do you ask?”
“Well, if you want to know, I was down there to look at them last week. If you're not too busy this morning, I want you to come with me and go see them.”
“What for? They're no good.”
“If you really want to get rid of them, I want to buy them off you.”
Lyric's head shot up. Mattox caught her eye, but she cast her eyes down to her plate again. She couldn't meet that gaze.
Azer shifted in his seat. “If you want to go look at 'em, I won't stop you. Like I said, they're no good to me.”
Mattox gazed straight across the table at him. “You ought to at least look at 'em before you get rid of 'em. You might change your mind.”
Azer squirmed. He couldn't meet Mattox's direct gaze, either. “All right. If you say so, we can go down there after breakfast.”
Melody laughed too loud. “I swear, Mattox, you look so good with your hair and beard cut off. I bet you'll have girls crawling all over you now.”
Lyric's cheeks burned. “Melody! Keep quiet.”
“Why should I? Look at him. He looks fantastic. I bet you never thought a man as handsome as him could be hiding under that rough exterior.”
Lyric floundered in confusion. She couldn't decide where to look. “We can all see what he looks like. You don't have to blast it out to the world.”
“What's wrong with you?” Melody snapped. “Are you trying to tell me he doesn't look good? You must be blind.”
Riskin piped up. “You're wasting your time with those cows. They'll never come to anything.”,“Maybe not,” Mattox murmured. “I'd like Azer to go with me to look at them, anyway.”
“If you want those cows,” Azer replied, “I'll give 'em to you real cheap. It saves me the expense of transporting them to the slaughterhouse. I might even be willing to pay you to take 'em off my hands.”
“Azer!” Lyric gasped.
“What? He'll be doing us a favor. We might as well cut him in on some of the savings.”
Lyric passed a hand over her eyes. “Please, just think about what you're doing.”
“I am thinking about it.”
“I've got a better idea,” Mattox chimed in. “Instead of paying me to take 'em off your hands, how about you throw in old Pompey on the side?”
“Pompey?” Riskin snorted. “That old bull is way past his prime. We should have sold him three years ago, but he's too tough even for the slaughterhouse. He's a waste of decent grass.”
“He is past his prime,” Mattox conceded, “but I want him, anyways. If you want to cut me in on the savings, I'll take him instead of cash.”
Azer broke into a grin. “You got a deal.”
Mattox set down his fork. Not one pancake remained on the plate, and no one besides him ate anything. “Great. We'll go down to your south end to see those cows before we shake on it. I want you to be sure.”
“I'm sure now.”
“Still, I won't feel right if we don't go.”
Azer shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
Riskin interrupted again, “You're getting yourself a lot of cattle, Mattox. Are you trying to start your own breeding line?”
Mattox wiped his lips with his napkin. “Yes.”
Azer and Riskin stared at him. Then they looked at each other. Mattox surveyed the little family with that direct, challenging gaze of his. He didn't lower his eyes anymore. In the end, Azer shifted in his seat. “We better go, if we're going. We've got to get out to the fence line before it gets too late.”
Mattox slid his chair back. “Let's go.”
He made it to the door first, and the other two followed him outside. Lyric shot out of her chair and hurried around the kitchen. She gathered up the breakfast dishes but got distracted into cleaning the stove.
Melody set the leftover eggs on the counter. “I'll finish clearing the table. I just want to check on Papa for a second.”
Lyric dropped her rag and raced to the table. “I'll clean up here. I should have done that first. I'm sorry. You go ahead.”
Melody frowned at her. “What's the matter with you, Lyric? I thought you wanted me to help you.”
Lyric wrung her hands. “I don't know what's come over me. It's just…Mattox looks so different. He acts so different. I can't stop worrying about him.”
“He'll be all right. He knows what he's doing. He wouldn't buy those cows if he didn't have a plan for them.”
Lyric whirled around. “Oh, he's got a plan, all right. That's the problem. Don't you understand? He's trying to take over the ranch. He just admitted straight out he's starting his own breeding line. He'll build a pedigree stronger than ours, and he'll put us out of business.”
Melody set her hands on her hips. “I’m ashamed of you, Lyric. You've always hated Mattox. You want to see him fail, especially now that he's coming out of his shell and making his mark. You want to stop him and ruin his chances of making a life for himself.”
Lyric stopped stock still. “I don't hate Mattox. I just…” She trailed off.
Melody threw up her hands. “You've been nasty to Mattox since he first showed up. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
Melody stormed off. Lyric did her best to carry on her usual work, but she couldn't stop her hands trembling. What was happening, to her? How could she ever explain? She didn't hate Mattox—far from it. She…she didn't know what to think of Mattox and his plans.
Cleaning up breakfast and getting lunch ready took ten times longer than usual. Lyric couldn't decide what to do first. She couldn't concentrate. She kept looking out the front window and running everything over and over in her mind.
She repeated every word Mattox ever said to her. He never made any effort to hide what he was doing. He took those cows Azer didn't want. He told the guys straight out he wanted to start his own breeding line. What could be wrong with that?
Those commanding eyes hovered before her sight no matter which way she turned. Mattox came right out and told Azer to drop his fencing operation and come with him to the south end. Azer couldn't contradict him. He had to do what Mattox said.
In front of her eyes, Mattox started taking over the ranch. He took over Azer, and he would take over everything else. He would take over her, too, if she didn't do something to stop it. What could she do to stop it? Everything he touched fell into his hands. She fell into his hands, along with the cattle.
Towards lunchtime, she happened to look outside one more time. She spotted a bunch of cows ambling over the fields toward the barn. Two men on horseback drove them in. Another man stood on the ground by the corral and watched.
Lyric's heart leapt into her throat. She raced out to the front porch to see. The old bull, Pompey, lowed among the cows. A bunch of half-grown calves huddled close to their mothers. That herd contained some of the ranch’s best breeding stock. Mattox wouldn't be buying them if they didn't, and Azer didn't even know it.
Azer and Riskin herded the cattle into the corral while Mattox stood outside the fence. He pointed and shouted orders to the men. He closed the gate behind them, and Azer dismounted to join him.
Lyric ran across the yard. The wind whipped her dress around her bare legs, but she hesitated to go too near. Mattox and Azer cut across her view. Mattox pulled a roll of bills out of his pocket and handed it over to Azer. The two men shook hands, and Mattox patted Azer on the shoulder. Azer went one way to his fencing, while Mattox went into the barn.