4. A Rude Encounter

Everest didn't expect the trek from her picket gate to the rancher's own to be so long. She had trekked just a few feet along the road before coming across the abandoned house beside hers. She could barely see the house except for the top of its old shingled roof and three bucket chimneys jutting out at different angles. Tall, wispy perennial grass sprang high in dense masses all over the property, covering the whole house up behind it.

The house must have been about two stories though, for the roof looked way taller than hers.

After spaning the overgrown expanse, she didn't come upon the rancher's residence at once. Rather, the road took a gentle dip downhill and then she could see a white picket fence stretch on and on for a distance. Kissing the fence was a wide expanse of freshly mown grass.

The piece of grassland stretched on and on for a range, rising and dropping in match to the topography. Then Everest could see a tall two-storey in the distance. Two chimneys stuck out of its tall roof and she could see smoke, but it didn't seem to be coming from the chimneys.

She hurried down the road to where the wide picket gates were. It was getting darker, and although the cold had dispersed, she still didn't feel strongly about traversing an unfamiliar piece of land so late in the day. She walked through the gates, breathing in the sharp grassy scents in the air.

A tire-track marked sand-and-gravel driveway led down to the house which she could now see better and closer. She could hear the boisterous laughter of men and she frowned a bit, wondering if she would be welcome there.

Throwing caution to the wind, she strutted into the property. The toy set box in her arms was starting to feel heavier and she had to return it to its run-away owner. The box happened to have four sets of tires at the bottom and a long-stemmed handle to drag it by, but doing that would have taken her years to get to the residence.

On either side of her were wide expanses that stretched on and on, like golf courses. They might as well be, she thought.

As she neared the house, she could now see where the laughter had been coming from. At the front of the house was a long diner table laden with feast and about a dozen or fewer men sat around it. They ate and talked loudly, making her wince. From the way they were dressed, she knew they were ranchmen. She wondered where the head rancher was, or what were they called?

Bonnie Casss hadn't mentioned the residence being so large. Did they all live here? Like a ranch bunkhouse or lodge?

Before she could ponder more on her question, the little girl darted into view. She had put on matching yellow platform flip-flops. She was at the front end of the long table, which barely touched the tip of her head and seemed oblivious to the men as she darted in and out between their chairs after something.

Then Everest saw what she had been chasing. Well, hardly saw it. It was a snow-white fur ball of a small animal. It had just darted under the large table and the giggling girl had gone on her knees after it when one of the men seemed to notice her. He put out a hand to hold her back, uttering something. The kid frowned, stood up slowly then planted both her feet on one of his leather boots. The guy gave a mock howl, winning laughter from his mates as the giggling kid scampered after the snowy fur ball.

Everest found herself smiling at the antics. The smile quickly slipped when about a dozen pairs turned to her. Her face suddenly felt hot as she wondered how silly she must look, clutching a plastic box like that.

Pursing her lips to stop herself from biting on them, she lowered the box.

"Good evening," one of the men said in a gruff baritone.

She heard a few whistles and raised her eyebrows. What the heck?

"Hello. I'm here to return this to an Ilene," she said instead.

All the pairs of eyes turned to the kid who had finally appeared at the other side of the table, near the porch. The kid froze and looked down at the ground.

Somebody cleared his throat in the background and she looked up to see a guy at a barbeque stand just ahead of the feast. She had failed to notice the guy turning huge slabs of fatty meat at the grill.

The guy strode towards her, a suspicious look in his eyes. Everest thought he looked rather sexy in the checkered shirt unbuttoned at the neck, rolled up sleeves, denim and stetson. Who didn't rush a cowboy in a stetson?

He stopped just a few feet from her, his look intimidating.

"Queen," he said, his eyes still on her.

Everest watched the now sullen kid trudge to stand beside him. She wouldn't look up from the ground and had found sudden keen interest in rubbing one foot against the other.

Her eyes widened as she looked back at the guy. She hoped she hadn't just put the kid in trouble. From the aura he gave off and the other men's reaction to him, he was obviously the head guy.

"I... I just wanted to return her toy set. She left it behind when she left the shed. . ." She trailed off when the man still wouldn't stop staring at her as though she had offended him.

"What shed?" he demanded, glancing down at the kid for a second before returning his tired frown to her.

She tried and failed to smile. What was his problem? "I just moved into the house up the road."

The guy frowned harder and looked back down at the kid. "Queen."

The girl slowly raised her eyes to him. It was already moist and shone with emerald tears.

"Did you go up to Mrs Casss' little house today?"

The girl crossed her hands behind her and played with her feet more. "No, I didn't, Daddy," she said slowly.

The father pursed his lips and continued to stare at his daughter.

Shards of guilt threatened to slice Everest's heart into tiny pieces. She started to open her mouth to defend her when the kid sighed deeply and spoke up.

"Yeah, I did," she admitted sorrowfully and bent to pick up the long handle of the box.

Awkwardness lolled heavily in the air as the girl dragged the box up to the house. The din from the feasting men seemed to fade into the background as Everest and the man had a staring competition.

Everest for one was pissed off. What was the big idea anyways? Why was he so angry? And at her who was a complete stranger?

If situations had been different, she might have found herself appreciating his physique. He was tall, probably standing at an inch above six feet, nothing daunting for her since she was also tall herself. He looked to be in his mid-twenties and was caucasian but had smooth tan skin from what she could tell from the hat-shadowed face and muscular arms.

But something else about him piqued her interest, something she couldn't quite put a finger on.

Was it his intense grey eyes that seemed to x-ray her or the way his dark blonde hair fell in waves in front of his forehead beneath the stetson?

It didn't matter anyhow. He was some rude bastard. And was still starting at her rudely like she was a child he wanted to scold.

She gave him her best slighting look. "I had better be going then."

He grunted in reply and nodded. His reprimanding look still remained on her as she turned to leave.

She half-expected him to call her back and apologise and thank her but nothing of such happened as she walked up the long driveway to the picket gates.

Everest scowled and had half a mind to kick at the gates as she got unto the road.

Whatever his problem was, he could shove it up his arse.