dozen buildings beside the main house on its thousand acres. They even had a bunkhouse for use mostly during calving and branding season, when neighbors and extra help could stay the night. The ranch was a family business, manned by Nate and his parents and siblings. They had been self-sufficient for generations, and proud of it.
But the last thirty years or so, things had changed in the Roaring Fork Valley, as skyrocketing land prices made selling out family ranches far too easy to do. But the Thalbergs stood for tradition in Valentine, and Doug Thalberg had wanted to do what his father and grandfathers before him had done, run cattle.
And Nate had been able to continue his father’s family traditions, with a little smart investing, and he’d never been prouder. And it hadn’t taken anything away from the job he did day to day on the ranch—he made certain of that.
Josh and their dad were just leading a saddled horse out of the barn. Ducks quacked and scattered out of the way, heading back to the pond. Josh would be driving the ATV in case they needed extra supplies quickly. Doug Thalberg squinted out over his land with the narrowed, gray-eyed gaze of a man who knew the worth of what he did. He had the same brown hair as Brooke and Josh, but his was going gray, along with his mustache.
Josh, as usual, looked like he’d just rolled out of bed, rumpled and unshaven, but always alert and ready for whatever the weather and the ranch would bring that day. His eyes, so similar to their father’s, saw the world kindly, but lately he’d been focusing too sharply—needlessly—on Nate.
“Nate, did you get word about the part for the swather?” his dad asked, all business. “The hay won’t cut itself.”
“And the cattle won’t feed themselves this winter,” Brooke added, grinning at their father’s oft-repeated phrases.
Josh smiled at their sister.
“He just called,” Nate said. “I’ll head to the office and call him back right now. You all go on ahead, and I’ll meet up with you.”
“Take your time,” Josh said. “We can handle the dams.”
“Nope,” Nate said briskly. “I won’t be long at all.”
“Afraid I’ll move my dams quicker than you will?” Josh taunted, grinning.
He sounded completely good-natured, but Nate knew a challenge when he heard one. Lately, everything with Josh ended up with a challenge.
“Not a chance,” Nate said. “I always do my share.”
Josh studied him, then shook his head. “I know you do.” He headed for the truck shed where the ATV was parked.
Brooke and their father mounted and rode off, several ranch dogs chasing them, but Nate stood with his hands on his hips, watching until Josh disappeared inside the shed.
Lately, Josh had this crazy idea that Nate was trying to do too much, spreading himself too thin, and Nate was mightily offended. He’d spent years juggling the ranch investments, his own, as well as his ranch chores. Nate tried to ignore Josh’s concern rather than confronting him outright, partly because he didn’t want their father to think something was wrong. When Nate had insisted on going to Colorado State while his parents would have preferred he go to school closer to home, things had changed between Nate and his dad. He got the feeling that Doug Thalberg thought he was going to leave the ranching business—much as he’d always told Nate he could choose whatever career he wanted. A subtle tension had worked its way into their relationship even though Nate had majored in animal sciences along with business.
When Nate was young, there was always a part of him that wondered if Doug could think of him as a real son because he’d been adopted. Nate’s biological dad had married his mom, then abandoned them when Sandy had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Nate, only four at the time, had brief memories of his mom’s sorrow, and that perhaps things had been hard, but his mom made sure he never knew it. A year later, Doug had fallen in love with Sandy, and when he married her, he adopted Nate. True to his word, the adoption had been a pact between them, and Nate didn’t think his dad could possibly love him or his mother more.
College had seemed to change something between them, and it had taken years to work itself out. They were fine now, and he didn’t want Josh upsetting things. Nate had the ranch’s best interests at heart, and he knew what he was