Oakleys seem determined to stay and be an unpleasant part of the landscape. Maybe when the Bar C passes to you, you’ll have better luck running them off.”
What if Bye ended the feud by marrying Slade Oakley’s only child? Bye almost proposed that to his father but decided to hold his tongue. “Karen Oakley seems to be making a success of herself,” he mentioned, keeping his tone bland.
“Once trash, always trash. She may have gotten through law school and set herself up in practice, but she’s still an Oakley and that means trouble.”
“Trouble how? It seems to me she’s managed to keep her crazy father from going after people with guns since she’s been back from school. Karen’s pretty and smart, and I don’t think you ought to be thinking of her as trash.”
Four shot a hard look Bye’s way. “Have you forgotten about the feud? I can assure you Slade hasn’t. He won’t, either, ornery old cuss.”
Bye was beginning to believe he could eventually persuade his father the Rocking O with all its oil reserves would be worth sacrificing a son to annex. But that was the easy half of the problem. Slade Oakley most likely would kill somebody before he’d align himself with the family he blamed for having made his people outcasts for more than a hundred years. “Yes, Dad.”
“You might want to think about settling down with a nice girl like Liz Wolfe. The Wolfe spread’s close to half the size of the Bar C.”
Bye expected Four to start salivating at the idea of annexing another prime piece of the high prairie, so he thought he’d better set the old man straight. “Liz and I are friends. That’s all. I seriously doubt she’d be any more interested in me than I am in her.”
“You could easily get her interested, boy. Women fall all over you.”
Bye imagined he’d scare the shit out of quiet, mousy Liz if he ever came on to her. “She’d be terrified if I made a pass at her.”
His dad let out a laugh. “Maybe I’ll go after her mother, then. Mavis isn’t much of a looker, but then she’s got a lot of other qualities.”
Fuck. Four had just buried his wife of thirty years. What was the bastard doing, thinking about bagging another woman so soon? Bye’s laugh was cut off when bile rose in his throat. “Isn’t the Bar C big enough for you, Daddy ?”
“Land is wealth. Don’t you go taking that tone with me. I know you spend your evenings at the Neon Lasso, and I bet you’re not whiling the hours away playing poker. At least not the kind you play with cards, ha, ha.” Byron clapped a hand down on Bye’s knee as though he was sharing a private joke. “You know you could marry Liz and keep on playing sex games all you want. She’s too much a lady to pitch a fit about what you do when you’re away from home.”
“The way Mom was?” It was taking real effort for Bye to keep from throwing up his breakfast.
Byron pulled up in the curve of the road and got out of the Jeep, motioning for Bye to join him. “I’ll let that pass, son. I loved your mother, and I’ll miss her. I never would have subjected her to the kind of sex I enjoyed with my mistress until she tried to pull a power play on me, but a man occasionally needs his sex down and dirty.”
“Did Mom know?”
“Never. I kept your mother wrapped in tissue, surrounded by a houseful of pretty things and all the love she could possibly have wanted. I gave her my respect, and I satisfied my baser needs far out of her world so she’d never be hurt. I let her bring up my children the way she wanted. That may be why you’ve never developed the hard edge a man needs in this world.” He paused, looking out in the direction of the wind farm Bye had developed on his mother’s part of the ranch. “She may have been right when she said you’d flourish if I let you build your damn wind farm. It’s starting to make the Bar C money, you know.”
“Yeah. I know. I may have majored in engineering, but I took some finance courses,
What if Bye ended the feud by marrying Slade Oakley’s only child? Bye almost proposed that to his father but decided to hold his tongue. “Karen Oakley seems to be making a success of herself,” he mentioned, keeping his tone bland.
“Once trash, always trash. She may have gotten through law school and set herself up in practice, but she’s still an Oakley and that means trouble.”
“Trouble how? It seems to me she’s managed to keep her crazy father from going after people with guns since she’s been back from school. Karen’s pretty and smart, and I don’t think you ought to be thinking of her as trash.”
Four shot a hard look Bye’s way. “Have you forgotten about the feud? I can assure you Slade hasn’t. He won’t, either, ornery old cuss.”
Bye was beginning to believe he could eventually persuade his father the Rocking O with all its oil reserves would be worth sacrificing a son to annex. But that was the easy half of the problem. Slade Oakley most likely would kill somebody before he’d align himself with the family he blamed for having made his people outcasts for more than a hundred years. “Yes, Dad.”
“You might want to think about settling down with a nice girl like Liz Wolfe. The Wolfe spread’s close to half the size of the Bar C.”
Bye expected Four to start salivating at the idea of annexing another prime piece of the high prairie, so he thought he’d better set the old man straight. “Liz and I are friends. That’s all. I seriously doubt she’d be any more interested in me than I am in her.”
“You could easily get her interested, boy. Women fall all over you.”
Bye imagined he’d scare the shit out of quiet, mousy Liz if he ever came on to her. “She’d be terrified if I made a pass at her.”
His dad let out a laugh. “Maybe I’ll go after her mother, then. Mavis isn’t much of a looker, but then she’s got a lot of other qualities.”
Fuck. Four had just buried his wife of thirty years. What was the bastard doing, thinking about bagging another woman so soon? Bye’s laugh was cut off when bile rose in his throat. “Isn’t the Bar C big enough for you, Daddy ?”
“Land is wealth. Don’t you go taking that tone with me. I know you spend your evenings at the Neon Lasso, and I bet you’re not whiling the hours away playing poker. At least not the kind you play with cards, ha, ha.” Byron clapped a hand down on Bye’s knee as though he was sharing a private joke. “You know you could marry Liz and keep on playing sex games all you want. She’s too much a lady to pitch a fit about what you do when you’re away from home.”
“The way Mom was?” It was taking real effort for Bye to keep from throwing up his breakfast.
Byron pulled up in the curve of the road and got out of the Jeep, motioning for Bye to join him. “I’ll let that pass, son. I loved your mother, and I’ll miss her. I never would have subjected her to the kind of sex I enjoyed with my mistress until she tried to pull a power play on me, but a man occasionally needs his sex down and dirty.”
“Did Mom know?”
“Never. I kept your mother wrapped in tissue, surrounded by a houseful of pretty things and all the love she could possibly have wanted. I gave her my respect, and I satisfied my baser needs far out of her world so she’d never be hurt. I let her bring up my children the way she wanted. That may be why you’ve never developed the hard edge a man needs in this world.” He paused, looking out in the direction of the wind farm Bye had developed on his mother’s part of the ranch. “She may have been right when she said you’d flourish if I let you build your damn wind farm. It’s starting to make the Bar C money, you know.”
“Yeah. I know. I may have majored in engineering, but I took some finance courses,
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