Julie studied the man. He was the best thing since ice cream on a stick and she was in love. A quick pass through memory lane in a hayloft and her hands went clammy.
"Biddin' or passin'?" Harvey asked Griffin.
"Passin'. He's a fine old boy, but I'm not in need of new blood right now," Griffin answered.
"I'd buy him just to stand out there in the pasture and look pretty," Tom said.
"Not if I wanted him," Harvey said.
"We going to get into it?"
Harvey leaned forward and raised his hand when the auctioneer started the bidding. "I think we might."
"What are they doing?" Julie whispered.
Her warm breath was so close to his ear that passion stirred in his blood. He forced himself to think about something else. The heifer he wanted was coming up for bid soon and if he started thinking about Julie, Milli Luckadeau would bid it right out from under him. After he'd bought the cow, Julie had better be careful or he'd have her naked in the hayloft so fast she'd wonder if she'd ever even dressed that morning.
He whispered back, "Bidding against each other. They're both richer than Midas. Harvey is from west Texas. Milli grew up on the ranch next to his. Tom is from east Texas. They're old time sale barn buddies."
Tom raised his hand to outbid Harvey and glanced over his shoulder at Griffin and Julie. "Y'all don't be talkin' about us. Pay attention to each other and not to us. I come up here next year, I expect to see a baby."
"Baby cow?" Julie asked.
"No, a baby Luckadeau."
"Stop your meddling, old man. They can take care of their own business without you," Harvey said.
"Will you save me a dance tomorrow night?" Tom asked Julie.
"Going once, going twice," the auctioneer said.
Tom raised his hand to up the bid. "You old fart. You nearly caught me off guard. Now that bull is going to cost you double."
"Why are they doing that?" Julie asked.
"It's a game from here on out and benefits Slade. Neither of them needs the bull. They both want it to win the game. It's kind of like the pile in the middle of a table at a poker game."
"But the money?" She gasped when she heard the bid go in excess of five thousand dollars.
"It'll get higher. That's one of Slade's registered bulls. He'll go for at least ten thousand and maybe higher if these two keep up a bidding war. Slade has raised him and about ten others for this day."
"Mercy, how much does a sale like this bring?" Julie asked.
"Ours brought almost three quarters of a million. Slade is hoping to top a million today."
Julie heard the big numbers but what stirred her heart was one little word…
ours.
"How much do the cows go for?" she asked as the single little four letter word rattled around in her head.
"Depending. A thousand bottom rate. Five probably, tops. Milli paid four for the one I wanted."
"Why'd you want that particular one?"
"She's a good breeder. Good sire. She'd be an asset."
"I'll never learn all this stuff," she mumbled.
Ours. Yours. Pro. Con.
Harvey outbid Tom with a final bid of twelve thousand dollars. Tom swore that when the next bull came up for grabs he was having it no matter how much Harvey dug out of his hip pocket. They headed toward the refresh ment table set up in a tent outside the barn. Harvey said that he had a hankering for a barbecue sandwich and Tom said he was crazy for eating that kind of food when there was chocolate cake.
Griffin looked over at Julie. "Don't let the old guys rile you. It's just their way. They've been teasing me every year since Dian left. At the sale party they've tried to fix me up with every woman from barely out of jail bait age to Ellen's buddies."
"Granny Nellie and Ellen are just as bad," Julie said.
"Want to play along with them? Pretend you are truly with me the next couple of days. Don't slap me if I throw an arm around you like we're a couple. Let's give them something to talk about," Griffin said.
"I've got a bet going with the ladies," she admitted.
"What's the pro and the con?"
"Doesn't matter. It would help me win if we snook ered them into believing we were together. Make it a lot sweeter when I take their money," she said.
He extended his hand. "Deal, then?"
She shook it. "Darlin' if you ain't the most handsome thing here, I'll eat my hat," she drawled.
"Hey, make it believable. They can smell a lie a mile away."
"Deal," she said simply but she didn't drop his hand.
Harvey and Tom were back in a few minutes, this time interested in buying a different bull. It took fifteen minutes but Tom wound up with the high bid. When Slade led the next heifer into the ring, Tom looked over at Harvey, who shook his head.
Griffin put both his hands on the bar in front of him and began to bid, Milli working against him from across the barn. When the dust settled, Griffin owned the heifer for three thousand dollars and Milli waved good naturedly, yelling above the din that the next one was hers. Beau pointed at his chest, telling Griffin that the next one was his.
"Why don't y'all just come over here any day of the week and buy what you want from Slade?" Julie asked.
"And ruin the fun, honey?" Tom leaned around Harvey and cocked his head to one side.
"For the whole next year these cousins will gee-haw about who got the best deal. When that heifer Griffin just bought calves, he'll call Milli and swear it's the biggest, best calf ever born with the Lucky Clover brand and it's too bad she doesn't have such a big old bull calf to raise for her sale," Harvey explained.
"And when they get together for their family affairs, they'll all talk about how they're raising a calf that'll bring half of Fort Knox at the next sale. It's ranching, honey," Tom said.
"It's all Greek to me," Julie said.
"I'm not interested in anything now until late after noon. You want a tour of the farm?" Griffin asked.
"If you don't want to tour it with him, I'll show you around. Matter of fact, you want to see something worthwhile, just crawl up in my pickup tomorrow night after the dance and I'll show you a real ranch," Tom said.
"Ah, don't make Griff jealous. He'd feel bad if we was to show her our spreads against his little ole chigger-and-tick operation," Harvey said.
She shook her head and smiled at them. "He is the jealous type. Gets mad every time I look at another man. Should've seen him when I danced more than once with Alvie Marlon at his sale."
"Now there's a man you shoulda gone home with. Owns half of Wyoming and could buy the other half if he wanted it," Tom said.
"And he's good looking," Julie kept it going.
"Are you going with me or not?" Griffin's tone was short.
"Aha, we've made him mad. See, what'd I tell you? I look at you two handsome hunks and he gets all testy," Julie said.
Tom's blue eyes glittered. "Shame, ain't it?"
Griffin took her hand and led her toward the stairs. "I don't get mad when you look at another man. At least not if he's eighty years old."
"Is this conversation for real or is it part of the deal?"
"You decide." He kept her hand in his and they walked toward another barn closer to the house. They were in full view of the ladies, now several strong in the backyard. Kids ran in and out of the house. Lizzy and Annie, always together, and easy to spot with that flash of white in their black hair. Chuck making friends and fitting in like he was a true Luckadeau.
"I don't care enough to decide," she lied.
"Okay, then you won't care if I start dating someone else?"
"You're a grown man. Do whatever you like," she said but her tone had an edge.
"This is the barn where Jane took Lizzy to get her away from those mean kids," he said as he led her inside a hay barn. "Listen. Be very quiet."
Julie stood perfectly still, almost afraid to move. She'd been out to the barn a few times at the Lucky Clover searching for the girls when they went looking for their kittens. Once she looked up to find a rat the size of King Kong staring down from a rafter at her. She had backed slowly out of the barn and hadn't been back.
"Are there rats in here?" she whispered.
"Probably. That's why we keep cats in barns— so the rats won't take over," he said.
"Then let's go," she shivered.
"You're afraid of a rat? Damn, woman! I didn't even think Lucifer could scare you."
She nodded slowly and deliberately. "The devil is nothing compared to a rat."
"Don't worry. Jane has kittens and momma cats in here. They'll take care of any rat that comes along. Let's go up in the loft where you can see out across the lay of the land," he said.
"Why were we being quiet and whispering?" she asked.
"So we could hear kittens. There might be a new bunch hiding in the hay," he said.
Julie smiled as she followed him up the ladder. That Griffin even thought about finding kittens to show her endeared him even more to her heart. She sat down beside him on a bale of hay back in the shade. The loft doors were wide open and she could see for what seemed like miles. Gently rolling hills. Black cattle. Mesquite trees. A few horses grazing in the distance. Wide open Texas spaces and lots of family.
"What are you thinking about so serious?" he asked.
"All this Luckadeau family," she said.
"When God said 'Go ye forth and multiply' I think he was talking to the first Luckadeau from down in Louisiana. Then there were lots and lots of sons, as many as the grains of sand beside the sea, or something like that. You could quote it better than me since you're the preacher's daughter," he said.
"You've heard the stories about the preacher's kids, haven't you?"
"You tellin' me you were wild and woolly?"
"No, but I wasn't a saint, either," she said.
"Ever cheat on your husband?"
"Not one time. We were divorced even though it wasn't final when I met your brother," she said.
"How 'bout you? Ever cheat on Dian?" she asked.
He shook his head and pursed his lips. "Didn't even kiss another woman. Guess she did more than I did."
He slid over a few inches until his thigh touched hers. "Kiss me."
"They can't see us. We don't have to play the game when we're in here," she said.
"I'm not playing a game right now, Julie," he said huskily.
She looked up and his eyes were all dreamy. She put one arm around his neck and the other on his chest and kissed him. She didn't know if she could endure fifty years of marriage to a man who rocked her world with his touch and a kiss made her insides all soft and mushy, one who with one look made her wish she was in bed with him. Surely that kind of fire would burn itself out before their lifetimes were spent… or would it?
"Good practice for when I make those women think we are really a couple," she said when they broke away.
"I wasn't practicing for anything," he said. "I wanted to kiss you. I'd like to do even more but there's too many people and we'd get caught for sure."
"You ready?" she asked.
"For what?"
"To go back to the sale. To go see about the children. To whatever. I'm not staying another minute in this hayloft with you, Griffin. It's too damn dangerous. I'd just die if someone caught us making love in the hay."
"Why?"
"Because… you know why. They already think I'm a hussy and they're all just now beginning to treat me like I'm not out to take you to the cleaners," she said.
She headed for the ladder leading down and was in the doorway of the barn before he caught up to her. He grabbed her hand and together they walked toward the yard fence, where he opened the gate for her.
Lizzy and Annie came at them in a dead run, both talking at once, telling how they'd got to hold Ellie and how cute she was and Jane said they could play with her some more.
"And when are y'all goin' to have one of them babies to play with? They're better than Barbie dolls," Annie said.
Julie blushed.
Griffin combed his hair back with his fingertips and stammered.
Granny Nellie burst out laughing.
Ellen threw up her hands defensively. "I didn't put them up to that, I promise."
Lizzy crossed her arms and patted her foot on the grass. "Well, when?"
"That's a hard question. Can I think about it and get back to you with an answer?" Julie said seriously.
"That's what you always say. Jane says it takes nine months to make one of them babies and that's a long time to wait. If you think about it, it will be even longer and I don't want to wait. I want one of them babies at our house," Annie said.
"You want a baby or a pony more?" Griffin asked.
Annie turned the tables. "That's a hard question and I'll have to think about it."
"Not me, I gots a pony and I want a baby," Lizzy declared.
"We'll see," Griffin said.
"That's what you always say when the answer is no. Well, then I want one for in my Easter basket," Lizzy kept on.
Griffin squatted down beside her and made her look in his eyes. "This is a subject that is embarrassing, Elizabeth. I want you to quit talking about it right now or Julie might decide to move," he whispered.