Dark Paradise by Tami Hoag

the
    descendant of Sioux mystics. It might have been true or not. Chaske was
    a wily old character. He had to be at least as old as Tucker, but had
    warded off the rheumatism that plagued his cohort.
     
    He attributed his stamina to sex and to a mysterious mix of ash, sage,
    and powdered rattlesnake skin he took daily.
     
    "Nope," J.D. said. "All together they don't have the sense God gave a
    horse." He patted the little mare and headed for the gate. She followed
    him like a dog. "Couple of them sure do resemble the back end of one,
    though."
     
    Tucker spat a stream of brown juice into the dirt and grinned his tight,
    shy grin, showing only a glimpse of discolored teeth. "That's a fact,
    son. A bigger bunch of horse's patoots I never did see." He swung the
    gate open and stepped past J.D. to snap a lead to the mare's halter.
     
    "I'll Cool her out. You better get a move on if you're gonna make that
    meeting. Will already went up to the house."
     
    "Yeah, well, he spends an hour in front of the mirror.If he spent as
    much time with his wife as he does picking out his clothes-"
     
    "Got that line of fence done up east of the blue rock." Tucker changed
    the subject as smoothly as an old cowhorse changing leads. J.D. didn't
    miss the switch.
     
    Tucker had been on the Stars and Bars a lot of years.
     
    He'd been a pal of old Tom, had stood by faithfully and worked like a
    dog during all the years Sondra had made their life a misery. He'd been
    a surrogate father to J.D. when Tom had been caught up in the agony of
    heart break, and a mentor after Tom had died, leaving the ranch to J.D.
    and Will when J.D. was only twenty. His role these days as often as not
    was that of diplomat. He didn't like dissention among the ranks, and did
    his best to smooth things between the brothers.
     
    "You find Old Dinah?" J.D. asked as they walked across the hard-packed
    earth of the ranch yard, their battered boots kicking up puffs of dust.
     
    Tucker chuckled. "Yea. In the back of beyond with a big good-looking
    bull calf at her side. She's got a mind of her own, that old mama cow,
    just like every female I ever knew."
     
    The little mare snorted as if in affront, blowing crud down the back of
    the old man's shirt. He scowled at her, but kept on walking, grumbling,
    "Jeezo Pete."
     
    "That's why you're single," J.D. joked, turning toward the house.
     
    "Yeah, well, what's your excuse, hotshot?"
     
    "I'm too smart."
     
    "For your own good."
     
    J.D. thought about that as he climbed the broad steps to the old
    clapboard ranch house with its wide, welcoming front porch. He planned
    to dodge matrimony for as long as he could. He didn't have time for
    courtship rituals and all the related nonsense. When he couldn't put it
    off any longer, he supposed he would go find a sensible woman with a
    ranching background, a woman who understood that the land and the
    animals would always come first with him. They would marry out of a
    mutual desire to raise a family, and the next generation of Raffertys
    would grow up on the Stars and Bars, learning the duty and the joy of
    life here.
     
    There was nothing romantic about his plan. Growing up he had seen
    firsthand the folly of romance. His father had lost his heart twice.
    First to J.D.'s mother, Ann, who died of cancer. J.D. had been only
    three at the time. He had no memories of the woman herself, only of
    sensations - comfort and safety, softness. But he remembered vividly her
    death and the way it devastated his father.
     
    Then along came Sondra Remick. Much too soon. Much too pretty. Much too
    spoiled. And Tom Rafferty lost his heart again to a woman. Totally.
    Utterly. Beyond all pride or reason.
     
    In the end, he damn near lost everything. Sondra had eventually left him
    for a more exciting man. Because of her infidelities, Tom had had a
    strong case against her as an unfit mother, and might have ended up with
    full custody of her darling Will. That was the only thing that had