Читать книгу Healing the Forest Ranger - Leigh Bale - Страница 11

Chapter Three

“I like Dr. Baldwin.” Kristen glanced at her mother as Lyn drove them home an hour later.

The girl rolled her car window down halfway, and the afternoon breeze teased golden wisps of hair that framed her oval face. A tangy smell hung in the air, and Lyn hoped it might rain up in the mountains. The wildlife sure needed the moisture.

“You do, huh?” Lyn kind of liked Cade, too, even if he didn’t like her. The way he’d put Kristen at ease had impressed Lyn. It’d been a long time since she’d seen Kristen actually try to do what her doctor suggested. It wasn’t that the girl was contrary, but rather, she seemed to have given up hope of ever walking normally again.

Truth be told, Lyn had almost given up, too.

“Yeah, he’s a lot different from Dr. Fletcher.”

Lyn silently agreed, but kept up the small talk, delighted to see her daughter smile again. “How so?”

“Dr. Fletcher is so...old.”

Lyn laughed. “There’s nothing wrong with old age as long as you get there, hon. Dr. Fletcher was always nice and helpful.”

“Yeah, but Dr. Baldwin is handsome, and he smells nice. He’s lots different,” Kristen repeated.

Lyn laughed. Cade definitely smelled good. But he was unusual in other ways, too. His dark, gleaming eyes, his gentle frankness as he showed Kristen how to walk properly, his solid good looks. Lyn just hoped she could trust him to do what was best for her child.

“We’ve been too busy and gone way too long without you seeing a doctor,” Lyn said. “Now that we’re settled in, I’ll get you to physical therapy every week.”

“With Dr. Baldwin, that’ll be nice,” Kristen said.

Hmm. Maybe Kristen had a small crush on the attractive doctor.

As they ate dinner that evening, then prepared for bed, Kristen talked nonstop about Cade. Today had been a great start, and Lyn felt an inkling of optimism for the first time since Rob’s death. Perhaps Cade was just what Kristen needed.

* * *

The last thing Lyn expected the following morning was Cade showing up unannounced at her ranger’s office. Looking up from a pile of paperwork stacked on her desk, she found his tall silhouette outlined in the doorway and inhaled a sharp breath. He’d appeared silently out of nowhere, and she wondered how long he’d been watching her work.

“Cade! You startled me.” She glanced behind him, speculating on where Cindy, her office manager, was and how he’d gotten past her without interception.

He gave a lazy shrug. “Sorry. I had an idea and decided to stop by to see if you might be amenable.”

He didn’t smile, but his gentle eyes betrayed his inner feelings. He wanted something. From her.

“You got a minute?” he asked, his thumbs hanging casually through the belt loops of his blue jeans.

She stood and indicated a chair across from her desk. “Sure! Please, sit down.”

He sat, lifting one long leg to cross the booted ankle over his opposite knee. She caught his subtle aroma of spice and leather, and her gaze lowered to the hollow of his throat where a thin, white scar ran along the front of his throat. Almost as though he’d been sliced by a knife.

She swallowed and focused on his face. “So, what did you want to talk about?”

“I’m actually here in an official capacity,” he began. “I’m the wild-horse representative for the Toyakoi Tribe.” He paused as though letting this information sink in.

“I’ve heard of them, but what does Toyakoi stand for?” she asked.

“Mountain peak. We’re a federally recognized Shoshone tribe with our own constitution.”

“I see. And what can I do for you?”

“You said you go into the mountains on Fridays. I was wondering if it might be possible for me to accompany you now and then.”

She hadn’t expected this request. Not at all.

“I don’t have time to go out every Friday.”

He shrugged. “That’s okay. I’d like to accompany you when you do have time.”

“But what about your doctor’s office? Don’t you have to work?” she asked.

“I only work in my office three days a week. The rest of the time I usually do research. For now, I’d like to spend some time with you, checking on the mustangs.”

She tilted her head, an edge of suspicion filling her voice. “You mean you want to spy on me? To see if the big bad forest ranger is plotting the demise of all the wild- horse herds?”

He hesitated, his eyes crinkled with misgivings. “No, I don’t want to spy, but I do want you to show me the problems so I can better understand how to help the wild horses.”

She shook her head and laughed, trying to lighten the tense mood. “All right, I can accept that. But remember, I want to help the mustangs, too, Cade. I really do.”

“I hope that’s true. I’ve been thinking over what you said last week about the wild horses, wildlife and domestic livestock all being equally important. I think we should work together to find some satisfactory resolutions.”

“But last week you weren’t interested in hearing my ideas.”

He gave a lazy shrug. “I’ve reconsidered.”

Hmm. Maybe this could be a good thing. Working together with the Toyakoi Tribe might help alleviate a lot of tension between the horse advocates and the government entities.

“You realize the Bureau of Land Management has jurisdiction over the wild horses, not the Forest Service. I can’t decide anything for the mustangs,” she said.

“Yes, but I also know you have the power to call the BLM in to look at the situation and then get them to consider rounding up the mustangs and move some of them off your ranger district.”

He made a valid point.

“It’s not my ranger district, Cade. I’m merely the overseer here. And I won’t pretend I’m not very close to being forced to call in the BLM now. The horse and burro population grows by about twenty percent each year. Without any natural predators, that means they double in size about every four years. There’s just too many of them, and the damage has become quite serious.”

She didn’t mention the myriad of ranchers she had breathing down her neck, asking her to do something about the problem soon. She’d handle the ranchers the same way she would the Shoshone Tribe. With honesty, professionalism and tact.

He sat back in his cracked leather chair. “Look, Mrs. Warner. All I’m asking is that you involve me in your decisions. I can do a lot to talk about this with the Shoshone people and keep this problem from blowing up into a big hornets’ nest. We might be able to assist with some decisions, if you’ll let us.”

Yes, she was highly aware of that. Maybe a partnership of sorts would be wise. If Cade saw firsthand what she was dealing with in the mountains and valleys, he could take that information back to the wild-horse advocates and gain some support for what must be done.

“Okay, you’re welcome to come along—on one condition,” she said.

“And what’s that?”

“You call me Lyn. I don’t like formality if I can avoid it. I’d like us to be friends.”

He blinked, his eyes glinting with hesitancy. “Okay, I’ll call you Lyn. When is your next trip? What are the plans?”

She noticed his omission of them becoming friends. That was okay. She’d learned long ago that she could work with people she had no fondness for. As long as she maintained her composure and worked professionally, it wouldn’t be a problem. At least not for her.

“I’ll be taking a horse trailer up into the McClellan Mountains on Friday and then riding into Barton’s Canyon to look at the creek there. If you want to tag along, you’ll need to bring your own horse. We can ride together, but plan to stay out all day.”

He flashed her a devastating smile. “Deal. I’ll even pack us a lunch.”

“That’s not necessary. I can bring my own food.”

“I want to do it. I promise you won’t regret it.”

She let the subject drop. What she ate for lunch was the least of her concerns.

They made a few more arrangements, with Lyn planning to drive out to Sunrise Ranch so they could load his horse into her Forest Service trailer. Then they’d drive up onto the mountain and unload the horses. They’d spend the entire day riding across some very rugged terrain together.

Lyn doubted her sanity for agreeing to Cade’s proposal. Being near this man made her jittery for some peculiar reason. She tried to tell herself that working with him would help with resolving the wild-horse problems. But it could backfire on her, too. If he didn’t like what he saw or didn’t believe what she told him, he could make a lot of trouble for her with the Toyakoi Tribe. Then she’d be forced to override him and call in the BLM anyway.

The last ranger on this district had dealt with a lot of angry people and even a death threat. Lyn wanted to avoid that, if possible. If she disagreed with Cade, what impact might that have on Kristen? Cade Baldwin was now Kristen’s doctor. Lyn certainly didn’t want him for an enemy. No, not one bit.

* * *

This was a mistake. Cade never should have come here to Lyn Warner’s office and asked to be included in her visits to the wild horses. No matter what she thought, he didn’t want to make trouble. But neither did he want to see the mustangs driven to and fro by a helicopter, captured in a corral, and then loaded on a truck to be transported miles and miles away from their home.

“What exactly are you planning to look at on Friday?” he asked, trying to ignore a large picture on her wall of a black stallion with a long flowing tail and mane as he raced across a meadow of green grass. Absolutely spectacular. Remembering Lyn’s camera, Cade wondered if she’d taken the picture.

Her chair squeaked as she sat forward. “Being new to this ranger district, I’ve never viewed Barton’s Canyon. I’ve been told that the creek is in bad shape, and I want to see it for myself. The Forest Service has worked hard to build up a nice band of desert bighorn sheep in that area, and I want to make sure we don’t lose any of them.”

Cade thought the bighorns could surely cause as much damage as the horses. “How many sheep are we talking about?”

“Approximately thirty-three, including rams.”

Okay, maybe not. Even Cade knew there were many more mustangs running wild across the range than there were sheep. He’d seen the horses himself and knew the bighorn were way outnumbered.

“You like bighorn sheep, don’t you?” she asked.

Her question took him off guard. “Of course. I love all the wildlife.”

“Good. Because I’m told they’re in danger right now. Not enough food and difficulty getting to a decent water source.”

But how could the mustangs cause that problem? The horses were just living out there, trying to survive. It couldn’t be so cut-and-dried. There must be another reason the bighorn sheep were in danger. Maybe this was just another scare tactic. A strategy Cade had seen other government employees use in the past. Next he expected Lyn to blame the mustangs for the demise of the mule deer and antelope, too.

Something inside him hardened. “I hope you’re not going to blame all of this on the wild horses.”

She took a deep inhale and paused for several moments as though choosing her words carefully. “I’ll tell you what, Cade. Let’s ride up Barton’s Canyon and take a look. I’d like to view it before I make any judgment calls. Maybe my people are wrong in their reports and there isn’t a problem. That would make my job much easier. I wouldn’t have to disturb the horses. But if something is wrong, it’ll speak loud and clear, and then I’ll need to deal with it accordingly.”

Her reasoning impressed him. No thumping her fist on the desk. No insisting the horses were to blame. If she could stay impartial until she saw something wrong, then he could, too. Or at least, he hoped he could. “That sounds fair to me. But what kinds of problems have your people reported?”

Her brow furrowed. “Let’s just wait. If something’s wrong, we’ll see it. Let’s educate ourselves first, and then we can talk about it in depth, okay?”

Again, her insight startled him. He hadn’t expected the new forest ranger to be so reasonable. And that made him even more suspicious that she might have hidden motives.

“Okay.” He answered slowly, afraid he might have to defer to her judgment on this topic. After all, what did he really know about vegetation and wild animals? As a medical doctor, he’d studied plenty of science and biology. He was definitely smart enough to see through a shell game. But he knew almost nothing about ecosystems, watersheds, wildlife and grazing needs.

What if there was something wrong? And what if Lyn blamed the problems on the wild horses? Cade could write his senators on behalf of the Shoshone Tribe, but the BLM had the law on their side. They’d do whatever they deemed was right.

“And if we don’t find anything wrong, will you leave the mustangs alone?” He didn’t want the bighorn sheep and other wildlife to suffer, but neither did he want her to move the horses if they were innocent.

“Absolutely.”

But in her eyes, he saw doubt. And a bit of regret. And that gave him a shivery foreboding. “You seem skeptical.”

“I am,” she admitted. “I have a master’s degree in ecology, and I do this job for a living, Cade. I’ve seen this situation before. The problems aren’t always easy to address, but the cause seems to be consistent in these circumstances.”

In other words, she was almost certain she’d find problems, which would require her to act against the horses.

“Are you sure you can be objective toward the mustangs?” he asked, feeling a bit cynical.

She nodded, her eyes narrowing. “Oh, yes. Remember I’m here to protect all the wild animals, including the mustangs. I don’t have the luxury of preferring one animal over another. I’m a conservationist, not a preservationist. All of these animals are important to the area.”

Cade wanted to believe her. He really did. But there’d been trouble in the past, and he’d grown accustomed to distrusting government employees. But not at the expense of the desert bighorn sheep. And the mule deer. And many other species he couldn’t name right now.

No doubt Lyn could name them all.

“Okay, I can accept that.” As he said the words, he hoped he meant them. For now, he’d wait until Friday and see what happened from there. He’d know soon enough if the horses were the problem. And then he’d do everything in his power to help save them.

As he left Lyn’s office, he couldn’t help feeling a bit on edge. As if he’d been told he had a large lump in his throat that needed a biopsy to determine if it was malignant or benign. The unknown made him nervous.

He was absolutely certain of one thing. If Lyn Warner had ulterior motives, he’d ferret them out. Just as she must trust him to provide the best medical care for her daughter, Cade must also trust Lyn to do what was right for the wild horses.

And there lay the crux of the problem. Neither of them fully trusted each other. At least, not yet.