Ambush Before Sunrise: Bonus Story (Cardwell Ranch Book12; Montana Legacy

of a growing restlessness. She suspected he would be returning to Cardwell Ranch soon to stay.
Ella turned in her saddle to look back, making sure they hadn’t lost any cattle. In the distance she could see the chuckwagon bouncing up the trail behind a team of two horses with Max at the reins. Closer, Royce and Cash were riding next to each other, appearing deep in conversation. As if sensing her watching them, they separated to move some of the slower cattle up into the line.
She didn’t like the vibes she picked up from the two men and planned to sleep with her sidearm handy. She’d been a little surprised that Jinx had taken them on. But the ranch woman was desperate or Ella and her cousins wouldn’t be here.
“First cattle drive with a woman wrangler,” Royce said as he rode up next to her. But when he saw Jinx riding in their direction, he pretended to turn back to look for cattle.
“Doing all right?” Jinx asked her as she brought her horse alongside Ella’s.
“Just fine.”
Jinx rode astride her for a few minutes. “You let me know if anyone bothers you.”
Ella laughed. “I can handle myself.”
“I don’t doubt that. But there’s two of them and I don’t trust either of them, do you?”
“No. Don’t worry. I’ve been keeping an eye on them. I’m not sure why, but I don’t expect them to stay with us long.”
“Funny you should say that. They both hit me up for an advance on their wages before we left this morning,” Jinx said. “I turned them down, but I suspect I’ll be paying them off before we ever reach summer range.”
If that was the worst they could expect, Ella thought. They rode along for a few minutes, the herd of cattle a rust-colored mass of slow movement. “I heard about your father,” Ella said without looking at the woman. “I’m sorry.”
She felt Jinx’s surprised gaze on her for a long moment before the woman said, “I wondered how much you all knew about my...situation.” Ella said nothing. “I suppose it’s no secret that my mother and Dana Cardwell Savage were friends.” Ella knew that the two women had met at cattlewomen conferences and stayed in touch until Jinx’s mother’s death. “I suspect that’s why the three of you showed up on my ranch.”
Ella kept silent, riding along through the spring morning, glad, though, that Jinx knew. She didn’t like keeping anything from the woman. She liked Jinx.
“I guess what I’m saying is that I appreciate you being here, but it could get...dangerous.”
Ella looked over at her and smiled. “Then I’m glad we’re here to help.”
The ranch woman chuckled at that. “We’ll see how you feel when the shooting starts—so to speak.”
She met the woman’s gaze. “We know what we’re up against. We didn’t come into this blind.”
“I just hope you don’t regret it.” With that, Jinx rode off.
STILL HALF-DRUNK AND sound asleep in Travis’s spare bedroom, T.D. came awake with a start at the sound of someone banging hard on the door.
“Tucker David Sharp, we know you’re in there,” a deep male voice called from outside.
He froze, wondering how they’d found him. He considered going out the only window large enough that he could fit through. Then he swore under his breath, realizing that going out the window wasn’t going to help. He needed to try to settle this and hope for the best.
“Give me a minute,” he called as he rolled over to look at his cell phone. He couldn’t believe he’d slept so late. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and put his throbbing head in his hands. The cattle drive. Jinx would have been up before first light. Who knew how far she’d managed to get by now. Cussing his hangover along with his bad luck, he wondered when his fortune would change. Trouble just seemed to dog him.
“Goin’ to bust down the door if you don’t open it,” said the voice on the other side.
“What’s going on?” Travis asked from the spare room doorway. “You know this guy?”
Pushing past Travis, he said over his shoulder, “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.” In the living room, T.D. took a deep breath, let it out and stumbled to the door.
The man standing outside was big and beefy with a bulldog face and dark eyes as hard and cold as a gravestone.
“Shawn, come in,” T.D. said as the man pushed his way in sans an invitation. He closed the door and turned to face him, a little surprised that Shawn had come alone. Little did he doubt that there were more men, probably waiting in the car in case T.D. caused any trouble. “Look, I know I owe you money.”
The man laughed, setting his jowls in motion. He stopped abruptly to narrow those death-like eyes on him. “You owed money. Now it is past due. Perhaps you didn’t read the fine print when you took out the loan.”
“This is a small town so I assume you know what’s happened to me.” He waited for Shawn to say something. When he didn’t, T.D. continued even though he knew his words were falling on deaf ears. “My wife is divorcing me. I have a lawyer who says I can get half of her ranch. You know the spread, so you know how much money we’re talking about here. So it shouldn’t be that long before I’ll have what I owe.”
Shawn smiled at that. “Don’t forget interest and the late fee that is added every day you don’t pay. But here’s the problem. My boss doesn’t want to wait.”
T.D. remembered his father’s expressions when bill collectors came around. They can’t eat you. But they darned sure could mess you up. Can’t get blood out of a turnip. Another of his father’s expressions. But Shawn wasn’t your normal bill collector. It was T.D.’s blood that was going to run free if he didn’t come up with a plan and quickly.
And it wasn’t