Chapter 3

When Millie arrived downstairs in the morning, Gus and his sons were already at breakfast. Rosa, their plump housekeeper, was serving. She gave Millie a cheerful smile.

Gus got to his feet. "Sorry to eat without you, Millie, but we figured maybe you'd feel like sleeping late. No use you getting up with the chickens just cause we have to."

"It's all right," Millie said, returning Gus's smile. She took her place at the table.

"Morning, Millie," Cal said from across the way.

"Good morning."

She glanced shyly at Pete. His eyes were directed at his plate as he speared a forkful of steak and egg.

"So I'm going in to the county seat and have a talk with Charley Sturm," Gus said to his sons, obviously continuing a conversation which had been in progress. "Maybe there's something he can do."

"Not likely," Pete replied, chewing. "Charley just sends out the tax bills. He don't make appraisals. We should've yelled when our appraisal was set up last spring."

"I didn't check it, cause I didn't figure it would take a big jump," Gus said defensively.

"That happened cause Reed pulled some strings and got his appraisal cut. There's been talk of that in town. With him owning half the land in the county, everybody else just naturally has to pay more."

"It ain't right!" Cal said vehemently.

"Danged right it ain't," his father agreed. "I've known Charley a long time. Maybe I can get him to give us a break."

"Dad, you're grabbing at straws," Pete said. "We're just going to have to pay the increase somehow."

"With cattle prices the way they are, it'll bust us," Gus complained.

Rosa brought a large glass of orange juice for Millie, and she took a sip as she thought about what she had just heard.

Danny had told her of the trouble his family was having with the man named Reed. His holdings completely surrounded Stallion Ranch, and he was pressuring the Hinshaws to sell out. In recent weeks there had been a number of strange happenings on Stallion Ranch--stock had been rustled, fences broken, and the access road had been flooded by water spilling over from Reed's land. Apparently getting the Hinshaws' taxes increased while his own were lowered was the latest of Reed's tactics.

Gus finished his coffee and stood. "Excuse me, Millie, but I've got to be going. It's better than an hour's drive to the county seat, and I want to be there when Charley opens his office. How's Danny this morning? Did you look in on him?"

"Yes," Millie replied. "He's getting along all right."

She glanced guiltily at Pete and caught him watching her. He quickly averted his eyes and stood.

"Come on, Cal," he said.

"Be with you in a minute," the younger man responded. He grinned across the table at Millie.

Her breakfast arrived. It consisted of a generous serving of steak and eggs, with a stack of hotcakes on the side. Millie had never eaten so much in the morning in her life.

Cal kept his blue eyes on her as he sipped coffee. "How about letting me show you around the ranch.today?" he suggested. "Danny didn't get a chance to do that before he was hurt."

"Thank you, but I'll have to stay here at the house," the young woman replied. "Danny needs looking after."

"Rosa can tend to him."

"I'd rather look out for him myself."

"If I was the one that was hurt, would you be looking out for me?" Cal asked, his eyes twinkling.

"I'm married to Danny," Millie replied coolly.

"But now it's like being single again, ain't it?"

Millie colored and looked down.

"Well, let me know if you change your mind about riding across the ranch," Cal said as he got up. "There's some mighty pretty scenery around the back line."

"Thanks, Cal. I'll let you know."

Millie watched the husky young man leave the dining room. As she finished her breakfast, she was alone with her thoughts. They turned first to Danny, than to Pete.

I must have been out of my mind to let Pete go as far with me as he did, Millie thought. Before I was married, I would never have let any guy do that. Even Danny never got under my dress.

She wondered what had happened to her panties--whether Pete had kept them. What if he showed them to Cal or somebody else?

Even though she was alone, Millie blushed.

She visualized Pete's stiffly erect penis as she had seen it last night on the lawn.

No! she told herself sternly. I can't think about that. Danny's my husband, and I love him. Anyway, I couldn't stand to have another man stick his thing into me! If one of Danny's brothers were to do it, it would be a double sin.

She hoped Pete wasn't saving her panties and that he wouldn't show them to anyone. Whoever saw them would think he had taken her. He might even say that he had.

Millie felt more and more uncomfortable. She couldn't finish her breakfast, though the food was very good.

She left the table and thought about returning upstairs to be with Danny. But she felt she couldn't face him right then. She decided to step outside and get some fresh air.

The day was already warm. A bright sun was blazing in a virtually cloudless sky. Millie stood in the shade of a large tree and breathed in the subtle, invigorating scent of the prairie.

"So you decided to come out after all," Cal said as he emerged from a little building next to the house.

"Just for a minute," Millie replied.

Cal grinned as he walked up to her, moving with a characteristic strut which Millie found objectionable. "I had to adjust the pump," he said. "Have you seen it?"

"No."

"I'd better show you how to turn it on and off. We only run it a few minutes a day, to fill the water tank for the house. It's going now."

Millie followed the robust young man to the open door of the shack. He stepped aside and let her enter first. Inside an electric motor was whirring. A pipe extended from the motor down a dark shaft.

"That's our well," Cal said. "Take a look down there."

Leaning against the protective railing, Millie bent forward. Suddenly she felt a hand at the back of her thighs. She straightened quickly, but not before the hand had scooted all the way up under her skirt and was pressing her panty-clad bottom.