Diana Palmer - Heartless

HEARTLESS

Also by Diana Palmer

Fearless

Her Kind of Hero

Nora

Big Sky Winter

Man of the Hour

Trilby

Lawman

Lacy

Hard To Handle

Heart of Winter

Outsider

Night Fever

Before Sunrise

Lawless

Diamond Spur

Desperado

The Texas Ranger

Lord of the Desert

The Cowboy and the Lady

Most Wanted

Fit for a King

Paper Rose

Rage of Passion

Once in Paris

After the Music

Roomful of Roses

Champagne Girl

Passion Flower

Diamond Girl

Friends and Lovers

Cattlemans Choice

Lady Love

The Rawhide Man

DIANA PALMER

HEARTLESS

To the ArtDepartment: your beautiful covers help sell my work.
I value your creativity and dedication so much.
Thank you from the bottom of my heartDiana Palmer

Contents

GRACIE MARSHS CELL PHONE exploded with the theme to the newest science fiction motion picture. She jumped, and dirt from the ground where she was busily cleaning out her flower beds splattered her spotless yellow sweatshirt.

Oh, darn, she muttered, wiping her hands on her old jeans before she dived into a pocket for the very loud instrument.

Wheres that music coming from? Mrs. Harcourt, the housekeeper, called from the front porch, where she was setting out pansies in a massive planter.

Its just my phone, Mrs. Harcourt, Gracie assured her. Its probably Jasonhello? she gasped.

There was an amused pause. Dont tell me, came a deep, drawling, masculine voice. Youre up to your neck in dirt and now your pocket and your cell phone are smeared with it.

She laughed in spite of her frustration. Her stepbrother knew her better than anyone else on earth. Yes, she admitted.

Id be cussing.

I did say darn, she replied.

He sighed. Ill have to take you in hand, Gracie. Sometimes the situation calls for something more elegant and descriptive than darn.

Youd know, she retorted, recalling that he cursed eloquently in two languages, especially when one of your cowboys does something you dont like. She frowned. Where are you?

At the ranch, he said.

The ranch was his property in Comanche Wells, where he ran purebred Santa Gertrudis cattle and a new equally purebred Japanese breed that was the basis for the famous Kobe beef. Jason Pendleton had millions, but he rarely stayed in the family mansion in San Antonio, where Gracie spent most of her time. Jason was only here when business required it, but his heart was on his huge Santa Gertrudis ranch. He lived there most of the year. He could wheel and deal with the international business set, chair board meetings, run huge corporations and throw incredible parties, with Gracies help as a hostess. But he was most at home in jeans and boots and chaps, working cattle.

Why are you calling me? she asked. Do you need somebody to come help you brand cattle? she teased, because hed taught her to do thatand many other thingsover the years. She was as much at home on the ranch as he was.

Wrong season, he replied. We drop calves in the spring. Its late August. Almost autumn.

She frowned. Then what are you doing?

Rounding up bulls, mostly. But right now Im getting ready to come up to the auction barn in San Antonio for a sale, he said. Theyve got some open Santa Gert heifers I want, he added, referring to the purebred native Texas Santa Gertrudis breed that was founded on the world famous King Ranch near the Texas coast. Replacement heifers to breed so theyll drop calves next spring.

Oh. She tried to remember what that meant.

He sighed loudly. Open heifers are young cows that havent been bred for the first time, he explained again. Theyre replacements for cows Ive had to cull from the herd and sell off because they didnt produce calves this year.

Sorry, she murmured, not wanting to emphasize her memory problems. She forgot things, she plunged down steps, she lost her balance in the most unexpected places. There was a physical reason for those lapses, one which shed never shared with Jason, not since she and her mother had moved in with him and his father almost twelve years ago. Her mother had been frantic about keeping the past secret, swearing Gracie to silence. Cynthia Marsh had even told everyone that Graciela was her stepdaughter, not her real daughter, to make sure any background checks on Graciela didnt turn up information on her daughter, herself and her late husband that would damage Gracielas place in the Pendleton family. Gracielas father, a widower with a young daughter, had died in the Gulf War, Cynthia emphasized again and again. He was a war hero. It wasnt the truth, of course. The truth was more traumatic.

One day youll get the hang of it, he said easily. He was patient with her, as some people in her life hadnt been.

Why are you calling me, if you dont need an extra ranch hand? she asked merrily.

I thought you might like to go to the sale with me, he said comfortably. Ill buy you lunch after were through.

She grinned. Id love to, she said.

Not only did she enjoy his company, but she loved the atmosphere of the sale barn. It was always crowded, always fun. She liked hearing the auctioneers incredibly rapid spiel as he prompted buyers to go higher and higher on prices for the various lots of cattle. She liked the other cattlemen who turned up there, many of them from Comanche Wells, as well as Jacobsville, which was only a few miles from Comanche Wells. There was a select group of environmentally staunch ranchers to which Jason belonged. They raised old grasses that were earth-friendly, they improved the land and provided habitat for wild animals, they used modern methods of feed production that were kind to the ecology, and they were fanatics about the good treatment of their purebred cattle. These cattlemen never used growth hormone and they only used the necessary antibiotics, most particularly those that prevented bovine pulmonary disorder. They didnt use dangerous chemicals to control weeds or pests. Cy Parks had introduced the idea of using predator insects to control many pests. The lack of poisonous substances on plants helped grow more colonies of honey bees, which were essential to pollination of grain and feed crops.

None of the environmental group of JacobsCounty ranchers ran beef cattle; they were all producers of herd sires and champion young bulls, cows and heifers, which they sold for herd improvement. It got them into trouble sometimes with beef producers who wanted a quicker profit. There had been some notable fistfights at cattle conferences in the past. Jason had been involved in one of them. Gracie had gone to bail him out of jail, bursting into laughter when she saw him, disheveled and bloody and grinning like a Cheshire cat as they led him out of the detention cell. He loved a good fight.

I said Ill pick you up in about twenty minutes, he repeated, because she hadnt answered him.

Okay. What should I wear?

Jeans and a T-shirt, he said. If we walk in wearing designer clothes, the price will jump twenty dollars a head before I sit down. I dont want to be recognized.

Fat chance if we show up in your Jaguar, she drawled.

Im driving one of the ranch pickups and wearing working clothes, he drawled back.

All right. Ill finish cleaning out my flower beds later.

As if we havent already got enough damned bulbs poking up in the front yard. Youre getting soil ready to put out more this fall, arent you? he muttered. And Ill bet youve got Harcourt refilling those planters on the porch.

He knew her too well. Its just pansiestheyll last until late autumn. I wont plant bulbs until October. But bulbs are beautiful in the spring, Jason, she defended herself.