Cattleman's Choice. Diana Palmer

college, and they still met occasionally when the younger woman was home on vacation.

      “Well, what do you think?” Mandelyn answered her. “Isn’t it a great location, just off the town square? And I can help you get a great interest rate if you want to finance it over a twenty-year period.”

      “I’m speechless.” Patty grinned warmly. “It’s exactly what I wanted. I’ve got space for an operating room here, and enough acreage out back to put in fences for runs. This gigantic living room will make a perfect waiting room. Yes, I like it. I like the price, too.”

      “I just happen to have all the paperwork right here,” Mandelyn laughed, producing an envelope from her large purse. “Then you can meet with James over at the bank and convince him you need the loan.”

      “James and I went to school together,” Patty told her. “That won’t be any problem at all. I’ve saved up a hefty down payment, and I’m a good credit risk. Just ask all my classmates who loaned me money!”

      “I believe you.” Mandelyn smiled as she watched Patty sign the preliminary agreement. “This is a sunny office. I can see you making your fortune right here.”

      “I hope you’re right.” Patty stood up, folding her arms over the tan sweater she was wearing with casual jeans. “Wow! All mine.”

      “Yours and the bank’s, at least,” came the dry reply.

      “You’re a jewel, Mandy,” Patty told her. She glanced curiously at Mandelyn’s lip. “I heard you were riding around with Jake in the early morning hours.”

      “Small towns,” Mandelyn said gruffly. “Yes, I was. Carson had the local bar in an uproar again.”

      Patty laughed. “Just like old times,” she said, and looked oddly relieved. “Carson’s a bearcat, isn’t he? I’m on my way out there next, on a large animal call. He’s got a sick bull.”

      “Don’t get too close, he might make a grab for you,” Mandelyn teased.

      “Me? Not Carson, he’s too polite.”

      “That’s rich!” Mandelyn laughed bitterly. “He’s a savage. Something right out of ancient history.”

      “He’s always been polite to me,” Patty said. “Strange, isn’t it, that he’s never married?”

      Mandelyn felt her blood boil. “It doesn’t seem strange to me. He’s too uncivilized to get a woman. He’d have to kidnap one and point a gun at her to get a wife!”

      “I thought he was your friend,” Patty said.

      “He was,” Mandelyn said coldly. She turned. “Well, I’ve got a developer coming round in about an hour. I’d better go and have my lunch. I’m glad you liked the office.”

      “Me too,” Patty said, laughing. “Say, do you really think Carson would be all that bad in bed?” she added curiously. “He’s awfully sexy.”

      Mandelyn couldn’t meet her friend’s eyes. “If you say so. I’ll give you a call later about the details of the agreement, okay?” she said with a forced smile.

      “Sure,” Patty said. “Thanks again.”

      “My pleasure.”

      Mandelyn had a salad at the local cafe, but she didn’t enjoy it. Her thoughts kept returning to Carson and to Patty’s disturbing remarks about him. Afterward, she went back to her office where the developer was pacing back and forth, waiting for her. She made a sly wink at Angie, her new secretary.

      “Hello, Mr. Denton,” she said pleasantly, extending her hand. “Sorry I’m late. I was finalizing another deal.”

      “Perfectly all right,” he returned, a tall, dignified man in a gray suit. “I’d like to go out to the ranch, if you’re ready?”

      She hesitated. “I’d better check with Mr. Wayne first,” she said.

      “I had your secretary do that,” he said curtly. “He’s waiting for us. I’ll drive my car.”

      She didn’t like his high-handedness, but she couldn’t afford to antagonize a potential client, so she ground her teeth together in a false smile and followed him out the door.

      “Sorry,” Angie mouthed at her.

      Mandelyn gave her a shrug, and winked again.

      All the way to the ranch, Mandelyn felt as if her stomach was tied in knots. She glanced out across the grassy valley rather than ahead to the ramshackle house nestled in the cottonwood trees with the mountains behind it. She didn’t want to see Carson. Why was fate tormenting her this way?

      His black Thunderbird was sitting near the house, covered with dust and looking unused. The pickup truck Jake had driven the night before was parked by the barn. The corral was deserted. The front door was standing open, but she couldn’t see through the screen.

      “This is where he lives?” Mr. Denton asked in astonishment as he pulled his green Lincoln up in front of the rough wood house.

      “He’s rather eccentric,” she faltered.

      “Crazy,” he muttered. He got out of the car, looking neat and alien in his city clothing, and Mandelyn fell reluctantly into step beside him. She was wearing a blue knit suit, with her hair in a bun. She looked elegant and cool, and felt neither. She’d tried to disguise her swollen lip with lipstick, but it was raw where her tongue touched it.

      As they started up the steps, Carson walked out onto the porch with quick strides. He looked even taller in his work boots. He was wearing faded denim jeans and a blue chambray shirt half unbuttoned over his broad, hair-roughened chest. He looked tired and hung over, but his blue eyes were alert and at least he seemed approachable.

      “Mr. Wayne?” the developer said, putting on his best smile. “Nice place you have here. Rustic.”

      Carson bent his head to light a cigarette, pointedly ignoring the developer’s outstretched hand.

      “You won’t take no for an answer, will you?” Carson asked him with a cold blue glare.

      Denton looked a little ruffled but he withdrew his hand and forced the smile back onto his thin lips. “I got rich that way,” he replied. “Look, I’ll up my previous offer by two thousand an acre. It’s a perfect tract for my retirement village. Lots of water, flat land, beautiful view…”

      “It’s the best grazing land I’ve got,” Carson replied. “And there’s a fort on the place that dates back to the earliest settlement.”

      “The fort could be moved. I’d be willing…”

      “My great-grandfather built it,” came the cold reply.

      “Mr. Wayne,” the developer began.

      “Look,” Carson said curtly, “I don’t like being pushed. This is my place, and I don’t want to sell it. I told you that. I told her that,” he added, glancing toward Mandelyn. “I’m tired of talking. Come out here again and I’ll load my gun.”

      “You can’t threaten me, you backwoods…!” the developer began.

      “Oh, no,” Mandelyn ground out, covering her face with her hands. She knew even as Carson began cursing what was going to happen. She flinched at the first thud, the shocked cry, the heavy sound of a body landing on hard ground. She peeked between her fingers. The developer was trying to sit up, holding his jaw. Carson was standing over him with calm contempt, smoking his cigarette. He didn’t even look rumpled.

      “Get off my land, you…” He tacked on a few rough words and bent to lift the other man by the collar. He frog-marched him to the Lincoln, tossed him inside, and slammed the door. “Vamoose!” he growled.

      Mandelyn stood there, frozen, while the Lincoln jerked out of the yard. She stared for a long minute and then, with a sigh, started after