Under the Open Sky (Montana Heritage Series) (2 page)

             
“Hey, do you know who Cade Winston is?” Amanda fell into step beside her best friend.

             
“Of course I do; why?” Samantha was watching her warily.

             
“My daddy hired him at the ranch; I don’t know who he is.”

             
“You don’t know…” Samantha stopped to stare at Amanda.

             
“What?”

             
“I swear, Mandy, when your head isn’t in a book; it’s in the clouds.” Samantha rolled her expressive eyes and continued walking.

             
“Well, who is he?”

             
“He’s a senior.”

             
“I know that,” Amanda rolled her eyes in impatience. They were nearing their lockers, both noting the stance of two boys down the hall; curiosity pulled them closer.

             
Amanda recognized the shorter of the two as Michael Fredricks; he had been a friend of her brother until their sophomore year when they’d had a falling out, over what Amanda never knew. She had seen Michael’s opponent around school, at least she thought she had, but he wasn’t someone she knew. He had thick black hair that stood on end as though he had the habit of perpetually running his hands through it. His vivid blue eyes were snapping in fury, causing a small scar, wider at one end than the other, at the corner of his left eye to stand out. His jaw, clenched in anger, appeared to be sculpted of stone.

             
“Come on; fight like a man!” Michael shot at the taller man, his hazel eyes reckless with anger.

             
Amanda watched as the other young man’s shoulder’s bunched, muscles pressing beneath his shirt and his hands fisted; causing the muscles of his arms to bulge against his rolled sleeves. His stance was loose from his slender hips; he was ready to pounce. He didn’t look like a man Amanda would want to cross.

             
“Your father was a drunk and your mother was a whore!” Michael bellowed. Amanda watched the other man spring forward, the sound of flesh meeting flesh causing her to jump. The fight was brutal, the tall stranger taking very few hits in exchange for the many he threw.

             
“Break it up!” Principle Jones and Coach Seiver pushed their way through the throng to each grab a hand full of shirt. Coach Seiver hauled one student one way and Principal Jones dragged the other student in the opposite direction. As Coach Seiver passed, hard blue eyes made contact with Amanda’s causing her to shiver.

“
That
is Cade Winston,” Samantha spoke from behind Amanda.

Two

              Amanda sat crossed legged in the hay loft, a book discarded in her lap, and watched as her brother and Cade Winston sized each other up. They reminded her of two dogs dancing circles around each other as they decided whether or not the other was friend or foe. The morning’s fight had left Amanda morbidly fascinated with their new hand and somewhat in awe of him. Trent stood, arms crossed, opposite a negligent Cade.

             
“You say you’ve done ranch work before?” The look on Trent’s face was skeptical.

             
“More’n once,” Cade seemed almost disinterested in the conversation, his voice so low that Amanda had to lean forward to hear him. Her movement drew her brother’s attention.

             
“You spyin’ on me again, Brat?” her brother called.

             
“I was reading.” Amanda held her book up for her brother’s inspection.

             
“Go on in and help Aunt Naomi instead of hidin’ in the barn,” Trent was doing his best to come across as authoritative; it would have amused Amanda if it hadn’t irritated her so badly.

             
“I already helped her with laundry and dinner; she said I could read,” Amanda made no offer to move.

             
“Go on, Mandy!” Her brother’s tone had turned sharp and Amanda knew if she stayed he would get truly good and mad at her. She sighed as she stood and reached for a beam opposite her. She hopped onto it, reached for a thick metal pipe, seated herself on it and flipped upside down from her knees; then grabbed another pipe below her to swing to the floor.

             
“Dad would have your hide if he caught you swingin’ from his pipes like a monkey,” Trent threatened.

             
“A lot goes in the barn that Daddy doesn’t know about doesn’t it?” Amanda shot her brother a saucy smile as she passed and had to dodge his hat as he took it off to swing it at her behind.

             
“Get out of here!” Trent called after her.

             
“Make me,” Amanda turned to walk backwards and made a face at her brother. She caught a hint of amusement in Cade’s eyes and the increase in her heart’s tempo more than her brother’s ill glare prompted her to turn and leave.

             
“She’s a pest but I love her,” Trent’s words drifted to her as she left and made her smile. She nodded to Greg, one of the hands who was approaching the barn as she passed.

             
Amanda meandered her way back toward the house only to stop where her father was working on the tractor.

             
“Hi, Daddy,” Amanda leaned against the tractor’s large wheel.

             
“Hey, Cupcake; you been reading in the hay loft again?” Sterling’s gaze was amused when he looked up at her.

             
“How’d you know?” Amanda stared at her dad suspiciously. Sterling reached over to pluck a piece of hay from Amanda’s hair and she smiled at her father.

             
“Is your book good?” her father’s gaze was back on the engine in front of him but Amanda knew he would listen to every word she had to say.

             
“I guess so; the heroine’s kind of stupid.”

             
“How so?” Sterling glanced up at his daughter to let her know he was interested.

             
“She’s weak; ‘oh help me, help me,’” Amanda pitched her voice high and waved her hands dramatically. Sterling chuckled at his daughter’s antics.

             
“Not every woman is as strong as you are,” Sterling informed her.

             
“She’s still stupid,” Amanda insisted.

             
She strolled over to a nearby Oak, its limbs spreading wide over the land around them and climbed into one of the lower crooks to resume her book. Stupid or not, she wanted to know what happened to the heroine of her story; she was curious about the stranger who had just ridden to the rescue. When Amanda once again became frustrated with the heroine of the story, she closed her book and stretched out across the tree limb, to study her father.

             
He was silver headed, prematurely according to her aunt, and Amanda had always felt his name was somehow a moniker for his beautiful hair. She could remember, however, that he’d had dark blonde hair once upon a time, though even then it had been streaked with silver. She couldn’t help wondering why her father had never remarried. He was an attractive man and while their ranch wasn’t the largest or most successful they had never truly wanted for what they needed. For a time Amanda had blamed her Aunt Naomi; she had felt that she made her father’s life too comfortable for him to realize he needed a wife. She had almost immediately felt guilty; she loved her Aunt Naomi, even if she was a priss.

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              Amanda surveyed herself in the mirror and made a face; fifteen year olds were not supposed to be as straight as a rail. Well, that was not entirely accurate; she did have two pathetic bumps that were supposed to pass for breast but she wasn’t buying it. Her Aunt Naomi was completely unsympathetic too.
“All in good time,”
her aunt continually admonished. In the meantime Chris Atkins was purported to be “going steady” with Nancy Moore; she had the largest boobs of anyone in the school. Amanda turned from her mirror in disgust and dressed for the day.

             
“Happy birthday,”               Naomi greeted her as soon as she walked through the door.

             
“Thanks, Aunt Naomi,” Amanda took the offered plate of blueberry waffles, her favorite, and seated herself beside her daddy.

             
“Can we go get my learners permit after school today?” Amanda asked the question casually as she dribbled a generous portion of syrup over her waffles.

             
“Not today,” Sterling shot his daughter an amused glance before turning back to the morning’s paper.

             
Amanda made a face at her plate and tackled her breakfast; she wasn’t through with this fight yet. Today she planned to enjoy her birthday; she already knew the routine but never tired of it. After school she would come home and be shooed off to enjoy herself while her Aunt Naomi made her a special meal and a three layered German chocolate birthday cake. She would then open her presents and spend the night playing checkers with her dad, an activity he seldom got still enough to participate in.

             
“Happy birthday, Pest,” Trent seated himself across from his sister after giving her head an affectionate pat.

             
“You could be nice seeing as how it’s my birthday,” Amanda suggested. A grin was all the response she received from her brother.

__________________________________________________

              Amanda was growing impatient, a month had passed and her father still refused to take her to test for her permit. She’d just about had enough of his stall tactics. Taking deep satisfaction in the resounding bang that followed, she shoved the screen door open and loped off the porch and across the field to the corrals. Big Boy trotted along beside her, his tail wagging and tongue lolling. He was a large collie mix that her father had found abandoned at the feed store a few years earlier and brought him home. He was now as much a part of the ranch as the hands were.

             
“Mornin’ Mandy,” Jason greeted, from where he was climbing onto one of the tractors.

             
“Good morning, Jason,” Amanda returned.

             
Amanda called to the horses and reached into her pockets for the sugar cubes she’d tucked inside. It didn’t take the horses long to consume her supply of the treat and Amanda again found herself restless. Her father and brother had left for town that morning for supplies; Amanda had pointed out it would be a perfect time to get her permit to no avail. Amanda didn’t even have the satisfaction of trailing her brother and aggravating him. All the men seemed to be out in the pastures so she couldn’t even chat with them. Amanda sighed in boredom.

             
“You look like you just lost your best friend,” the voice behind Amanda made her jump. She turned and watched as Cade approached and propped one booted foot on the bottom rail. She had gotten to know Cade a little better in the weeks he had been there but she was still a little wary of the man.

             
“I’m stuck here, not getting my permit, while Daddy and Trent gallop around town,” Amanda glanced at him and then turned her attention back to the horses. She heard Cade chuckle and glanced at him again. He had turned to lean against the fence, his elbows on the top rail as he studied her.

             
“You are a skinny as a boy aren’t you?”

             
Cade’s stating of the obvious only annoyed Amanda and she lifted her chin as she decided to ignore him.

             
“Manny; there’s a nick name for you.”

             
Amada’s gaze snapped to Cade, he was grinning at her as though he had gotten exactly the result he wanted.

             
“Don’t you have work my father is paying you to do.”

             
Her Aunt Naomi would have been proud of the cool superior tone she pulled off. Her aunt was always reminding her that it was important to maintain a proper distance from the hired hands; an edict Amanda ignored at will.

             
“You really are a pest aren’t you, Manny?”

             
Amanda resolutely ignored him, though she was aware that he continued to watch her.

             
“Come on, Manny,” Cade offered her a hand.

             
Amanda frowned at his hand and then him.

             
“You want to learn to drive? I can teach you.”

             
“You don’t have a vehicle.” Amanda pointed out and then nearly bit her tongue; she was supposed to be annoyed at him.