FROST WAS ON THE DESERT. The horses were breathing steam and the riders were bundled up. They huddled in their saddles as they rode out for the back gate.
“This is how he treated me up on that ranch every morning, and it was lots colder up there than it is down here. ‘Oh, Jones,’ he would say, ‘it will be hot by noon time.’ ‘Damnit,’ I would swear. ‘Let’s wait until tomorrow to find these crazy cattle.’”
“Then he would say, ‘this is what summers are like in Europe. Your breath turns to snow like that.’”
Mark shook his head. “He moaned all the time about something.”
Julie started laughing, and soon Lupe joined in.
“Did he ever tell you he was a movie star?” Mark asked her.
“Was he?”
“Yes. They paid him two hundred dollars to stomp dance with some Navajo women in one movie.”
“They were all ugly ones too,” Jones said.
“He was in one movie playing Geronimo. He even made a speech in Pima.”
“I didn’t know any Apache. He said talk like an Indian.”
“What did you say in Pima?” Julie’s breath misted around her face.
“‘Stop your pig from loving my pig.’”
They laughed the next half mile, riding through stirrup high grease wood prairie. Mark and Jones used field glasses to scope the land.
“Wow.” Jones studied the new expensive field glasses in his hand. “We needed these looking for cows up on the ranch.”
They searched the west end of the McDowell Mountains and saw some mustangs but no yellow mare. She wasn’t staying, and definitely not with a bossy stallion. Sliced roast beef sandwiches, potato chips, and candy bars made lunch, all washed down with thermos coffee or canteen water.
They came back home on a wide swing. Jones found some tracks of a large horse and a colt. “They could be hers. She’s not with any band.”
They looked over the area but found no sign of her. They ended up at the ranch at sundown. The men fed the stock hay and put up the horses. Jones looked at everything.
When he saw the welded gates, he turned to Mark. “You made these?”
“Sure, I learned how to weld in FFA in high school.”
“Is it hard to do?”
“No, you strike an arc and go after it. You have to wear a mask or go blind.”
“Someday you can show me how.”
“It will take some practice, but you can weld. What are you going to build?”
“A pen for wild horses.”
“Let me know when you want to start.”
Jones nodded, and they walked up the road toward the trailer. “The log house is nice and sturdy. When can you move in?”
“They’re finishing the rooms. It fits us better than the one we originally planned. It’s still a big house.”
“Like Missus McCormack’s little house?”
He laughed about Jones comparing his to that estate. “No, she has more money than I do.” She was the International Harvester heiress who had a large estate on Scottsdale Road before reaching his.
“Every day they rake the gravel drive at four p.m.”
“I won’t have any gravel rakers.”
“Good. I’ll still come to see you then.”
As they walked inside, both women went in a fury to the kitchen, so they went to sit in the living room.
“You and Lupe going to Sam’s party?”
“What place would we have there?”
“You’re my friends.”
“Maybe I could stand at the door and hand out cigars.”
“Hell, you could tell them you are Geronimo.”
“And give them my get your hog off my sow speech, huh?”
Mark fell back in the sofa laughing. “That too.”
The women chattered away, the small kitchen of the trailer barely big enough for both of them, but they were getting along. Mark liked that. Jones was his best friend, even considering Sam and all he had done for them. The meal smelled good, like garlic and chili peppers with bread baking in the oven.
After supper, they played rummy, then turned in. Before they went to bed, Jones frowned at the weather on TV. “He knows what the weather will be?”
“He didn’t say it was going to rain, did he?” Mark asked.
“Hell, I could predict that.” Jones scowled.
Lupe caught his arm. “You’d make a good one.”
“Good night.” Jones took her off to the small second bedroom in the trailer. It had a double bed and that was about all.
Mark and Julie turned in, him planning tomorrow’s horse hunt. After a hot breakfast, they filled thermoses with coffee and bundled up to ride out again. It was about as cold as the day before when the sun came over the Superstition Mountains. Short-loping their frisky horses across the plains, they started in the east where Jones found the tracks from the day before. Using field glasses, they scoured the land. They rode harder and split up frequently to see more country that might hide them. Then Lupe came back, waving her hat over her head to get their attention. They headed for her, sliding to a stop.
“I saw her. She’s headed for the reservation. The colt is with her.”
“Do we need permission to look for her on their land?” Mark’s heartbeat quickened. Maybe they’d get them this time. “You asked them for our permission hunting that band down.”
“We don’t get caught, what can they do?” Jones stared at Mark as if he was asking his permission.
“You’re our fearless leader. Ride on.”
Julie shook her head, amused at the decision.
They rode east for the river and the small settlement. Jones found her tracks and they were on her trail. Twice from a distance, Mark spotted her yellow form through the glasses, moving toward the Salt River with her colt.
“Are we going to move her out of the country?” Mark was concerned when they stopped to eat a quick bite and take a drink.
Jones nodded, as if he was worried about the same thing. “Those dumb horse chasers have her leery of anyone.”
“What can we do?”
“Go home. Next week we’ll move her west. Truck our horses past her, unload them, and see if we can make her go back.”
“We could get her back in Paradise Valley then?”
Jones nodded. “I think she might go back there.”
“What if the chasers run her off again?”
“Maybe we should shoot them.”
Julie chuckled at his words. They tried to see the mare again in their field glasses, but she and the colt were gone.
Jones and Lupe thanked them, and then headed home in their rickety old pickup truck.
“I wish they’d stayed for supper,” Julie said as they went inside the trailer.
“I wish we’d caught her.”
“Oh, you’ll get her. They say that sometimes the hardest things to come by are the most valuable.”
Mark agreed. “I really want that colt.”
Before he knew it, she was in his arms and they were kissing.
He grinned. “We’re alone.”
Her forehead pressed against his.
“Hell, we can eat later.”
“Let’s go to bed.” She took his hand.
“Amen.”
—
THOUGH MARK WOULD RATHER HAVE gone out again in pursuit of the colt, early Saturday morning, they loaded their dress clothing in the Lincoln trunk and headed to meet the movie producer at the old Dutch airport. They were waiting when the twin Cessna landed and a man in his forties or so climbed down and then helped a familiar woman out of the plane.
“Isn’t that Linda?” Julie swiped a lock of hair from her face.
He nodded.
“Did he mention her coming when you called him?”
“No.”
“Welcome to Mesa,” Julie said under her breath.
He restrained her. “She means nothing to me.”
Julie nodded, but said nothing.
Linda shouted his name across the tarmac. They waved.
With their luggage unloaded from the plane, Mark took charge. “We can send those to your hotel. We came in a coupe.”
“Give me the small one, Dan. That’s my makeup.”
“Linda, you remember Julie.”
She hugged him. “Nice to see you again, Julie. Thanks for coming for us. Dan, will you see about the luggage being delivered to our hotel?”
“I will.”
“I can arrange it,” Mark said and stopped him.
Dan shook his hand. “El Florence is the hotel.”
Mark told the man in the airport building to get the luggage and deliver it to their hotel. He gave him twenty dollars to cover it. Two young men rushed to secure it.
“Linda tells me you’re a war hero.” Dan tagged along. “I was in Hawaii in a shipyard. Not much danger there after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I missed that by four months. She also said you were the best man to secure me sets for a western movie I plan to film.”
“I make it my business.”
“She said you have access to longhorn cattle for this movie. Driving Herefords isn’t like the west was back then.”
“Right. I can get more Mexican cattle if you need them. Any idea about the kind of sets you want?”
“Vast ones.”
“Maybe we should go to Flagstaff and see where John Ford made Stagecoach.”
“No, then they would tell me I wasn’t original enough. Everything has to be authentic. This movie must be a blockbuster.”
“I think I know what you need.”
“Good. I’m prepared to pay for your services. I know people climb all over each other to get producers to use their sites. I want to hire you as the advisor too. Linda says you know more about the west than anyone in the business.”
“She overrates me. We’ll have lunch at the Mesa Country Club and then take you and her to the hotel. There’s a party tonight at my partner’s house, Sam Cline. It’ll be western style, of course.”
“Thanks for getting us an invite. I hope it is not inconveniencing you any.”
“No problem. Let’s go eat.”
The girls rode in back and talked about their lives. Mark told him about the citrus groves and the Dutch use of that field where they had landed. They were soon on the highway and headed into Mesa.
“Wide enough streets,” Dan said.
“Yes. The Mormons planned those, so a wagon could turn around anywhere.”
He chuckled. “Any polygamous families here?”
“You won’t know. They conceal them.”
“I see. They say Utah has some great places to shoot films.”
“I’m not certain. I’ve never been north of the Grand Canyon.”
“Well, neither have I.”
Inside, the waiter showed them to their reserved table at the windows. Linda ordered some French wine. Dan ordered a martini. Julie ordered a Coke and he did the same.
“Oh, neither of you drink?” Linda said.
“No. I do, but he doesn’t.”
“That’s right. He doesn’t drink, does he?” Linda looked over in his direction like she knew a lot about him.
Mark wished she wouldn’t do that.
After they ordered, both Dan and Linda excused themselves. When they were beyond hearing, Julie leaned over and whispered, “I certainly hope there are no crumbs in her chair.”
He snickered under his breath. “So, do I.”
After lunch, they took them to the hotel. Dan acted very pleased when they showed them around the Mormon Temple and the older parts of town with Victorian homes on the wide streets.
Mark pulled Dan aside. “Sam’s driver will be here for you at six-thirty. He knows Linda. So, get some rest and we’ll party tonight.”
“Thank you so much, man. She told me you were a regular Gary Cooper.”
Julie and Linda talked with each other. Mark had no idea what they said, but wished he knew. With his luck, Linda was bound to make something out of nothing, and he didn’t want Julie upset.
Alone with Mark later, Julie laughed. “She asked how we met, so I told her all about it. She huffed up. Had the nerve to ask me how old I am.” Julie leaned in close and blew in his ear. “She wishes she had you.”
“I think you’re overselling it, babe.”
“May I ask what she asked you while glaring at me?” Julie scooted across the front seat of the Lincoln.
“If you were old enough to drink.”
“That bitch. Did you tell her I get my driver’s license in six months?”
“Easy. She’s not my type, so don’t worry.”
With her arm around his neck, she kissed him on the cheek. “Let’s get to Sam’s. I want to get some rest before the party tonight.”
“Great idea. We have all afternoon to ourselves.”
“I’m sorry, but she came back here to get you.”
“I swear to God. She’s out of my sights.”
“Good.”
That evening, Mark took a shower while Julie dressed.
“I want a shower big enough for two in that new house.” She leaned close to the mirror and clipped on a pair of garnet earrings.
“Good idea.” He stuck his head out and looked at her new dress. “It looks wonderful on you.”
She smiled. “Thanks. I wondered if you’d notice.”
“Hey, hey. Be nice.”
“What’s under all those silk sheets on the patio?” She went to the window and looked down.
He joined her, still drying off. “Where?”
“Down there. Is that a big surprise?”
“Who knows what Sam’s got going on.”
“Must be expensive. Those are silk sheets.”
“You want some silk sheets for our bed?” He stepped into a new pair of blue slacks and took a darker blue shirt from the closet.
“Sure.”
“Buy them.”
“I thought they were too expensive.”
“It’s time we realized that such things are not too expensive.”
She put her hands on her hips. “Did you and Alma do it this much—”
He nodded soberly. “Yes, we did.”
She went back to putting on her makeup and lashes.
“Julie, you do know I love you.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Good. Be nice. She will be gone in a short time. She means nothing to me.”
She took a deep breath and pulled her dress up in front. “I wish I had her boobs to hang this dress onto.”
“I don’t.” He slapped her butt going by. “It’s time you went down and answered the door. I’ll be there in a minute.” He dropped down on the bed to pull on black Justin boots.
“What did you say he was having this for?”
He threw his hands up. “Hell, who knows? Ask Sam.”
She frowned. “This is a very funny deal. First your old girlfriend arrives, and then Sam has something under wraps and you don’t know anything about it either.” She went out and shut the door.
Whew, if it didn’t get any worse than that, he could take it.
Women.
Still muttering, he pulled on the second boot by the ears, stood, and stomped in his heel. Sam’s helpers wouldn’t let Julie look under the sheets, either.
“Oh, Miss. Sam will kill me if anyone gets a peek. Please don’t lift a thing.”
“Tell him I’m the hostess.” Hand on her right hip, she shot a cold gaze at Mark. “What will I tell the guests when they come?”
“Big surprise is all I know.”
She went stomping by him in her new dress to answer the doorbell. “Mark Shaw, if you are going to do something like let off a bomb, you better warn me.”
He shared a quiet look at poor Cody and then winked. “Don’t light the fuse.”
Cody had to choke down his laughter. But he was damn sure handling security on the surprise.
Anna, who was Sam’s housekeeper deluxe, came and stopped by Mark.
“I am glad to hear you married her.”
“I am too. I love her and that’s that.”
She hugged him, then looked around to be certain they were alone. “And she is the best one. She don’t know about that car?”
“No, and don’t tell her. That’s his surprise.”
“I ain’t telling no one,” and the short Mexican woman was gone.
He went down to the alcove and moved beside her. Under her breath, she asked, “You learn the secret out there yet?”
He shook his head. Considering his moves, he was sticking close to her all night. No one was going to accuse him of running off into a dark corner with Hollywood Linda, least of all his new wife. But he could hardly control his laughing. This was going to turn out funny. Damn near as much fun as chasing wild horses, though that had been neat too.
Jones would figure it all out about the foxy mare. That is, if the wranglers didn’t mess him up. That Injun knew how horses thought. They would catch her in the next few weeks. Then he’d find out what Price had to have for the pair if the fool could prove he owned them. That would be interesting too. In less than a month, they would belong to Mark, one way or the other. Damn he loved how that colt ran with the red dun mare.