Branded in Black

Начало книги

The fool heifer had slipped into the mud of the slough and stood sunken almost to her swollen abdomen. She bawled in patient terror as she waited to die.

Astride a steeldust mare, Brad Ledbetter shook his lariat loose and threw a loop over the cow’s head. Her lowing had guided him here from a fence-mending job in the south meadow. As the loop settled, the steeldust, needing no instructions, put her weight against the rope. Instead of pulling free, the heifer bawled anew, laying back against the lariat.

Cussing the contrariness of all cows, Brad swung from the saddle, a tall man in his late twenties. He was heavy through the shoulders and his square-hewn face, creased and burned walnut by wind and sun, carried within it some of the bleakness of his winters; this was relieved in a measure by the crinkles at the corners of his gray eyes and the upturned corners of a wide-lipped, humorous mouth.

Читать дальше →