Earth and Sky

she retaliated, like any girl who grew up on a ranch full of butch cowboys would. She tackled him and dropped him in the water trough.

    Most of the wranglers and stable boys stood by in amusement, cheering Izzie on, but one determined young man wasn’t laughing.

    “Get your fucking hands off my fiancée,” he shouted.

    “Delco?” Izzie replied. “What the…?”

    John Delco was Izzie’s boyfriend, not her fiancé, as she pointed out every time he claimed he was. He worked on the rodeo circuit and didn’t make a bad living at it, but it meant he was barely ever home, except during the winter break. He wasn’t a big guy, like Hunter and Grant or even Hugh, but he had a jealous temper, especially when he saw someone look a certain way at Izzie. They’d had numerous fights about it because Izzie wasn’t afraid of him and she claimed she didn’t need a guard dog, especially not one who was barely around, but Delco kept defending Izzie against even the smallest of potential threats.

    Now Delco was launching himself at Grant, who was still crawling out of the trough, and pulling him out by his shirt.

    “Stop it!” Izzie shouted, knowing full well Delco didn’t fight fair, especially against bigger and badder guys. She also had to admit she didn’t know how Grant would react, and the last thing she wanted was for Grant to get indicted for assault. It wouldn’t be the first time Delco had called the local sheriff after losing a fight.

    Luckily, Grant didn’t fight back. Delco was making a fool of himself, taking on a boxer’s stance and raising his fists at Grant, but Grant just shook his head and wrung some of the water out his clothes before walking away.

    After a few moments of hesitation, and after realizing none of the ranch hands were running to his aid, Delco followed Grant into the barn.

    With his eyes still adjusting to the relative darkness of the barn, Grant turned around to face Delco. “Listen. Izzie and I work together. I have no intention of moving in on your turf. Don’t get me wrong. She’s a swell girl, but not my type.” He turned around to grab a towel out of his locker, but Delco poked him in the back with his finger.

    “What are you? A fruit? She’s a beautiful woman. Any guy would have a hard time keeping his hands off her, and that’s why she needs me to defend her.”

    Grant chuckled. “Trust me, she can take care of herself.”

    “But you want her, right?” Delco, with all his bravado, looked like a rooster ready for a fight, the way he was shuffling his feet and shaking his shoulders. “Hey? I bet you want to nail her in a big way. Well, you can’t, ’cause she’s mine.”

    Again, Grant shook his head and walked out, leaving Delco to stew in his own fat. Grant determinedly paced in the direction of the crew quarters to get some dry clothes and hoped it would calm his heartbeat down. Delco wasn’t worth getting into a fight with, although his instincts had told him to flatten the little runt. It was true that he liked Izzie. She was a nice girl who could work like any of the guys on the ranch, despite her long brown mane and overt femininity. She had a wicked sense of humor, which pleased Grant a lot, and she could take a joke or a taunt like the other guys too, but he didn’t lust after her. If he lusted after anyone here, it was her brother, but it was clear that Hunter hated his guts. That was something Grant was just going to have to live with. He wasn’t here looking for a partner anyway. He was only here to make a halfway decent living.

    In his small room, Grant got rid of his wet shirt and jeans and took out a clean set. He didn’t linger, both because he needed to get back to work and because he didn’t want to give himself too much time to think. He’d have plenty of time for that later, as he waited for sleep to catch him. Right now he would look for other ways to keep his mind occupied.

    On his way out, he bumped into Izzie.

    “Listen, Grant, I’m sorry about Delco.”

    Grant shrugged. “It’s okay. He’s harmless.”

    Izzie shook her head. “The thing is, he isn’t. He fights mean, and if he can’t win he’ll find other ways to gain the upper hand.”

    “Like what?” Grant asked, a little apprehensive about what to expect.

    “He’ll spread rumors. He managed to get one of the wranglers at the Hope Ranch fired last year,” Izzie answered reluctantly. The Hope Ranch was one of the large ranches one county over, and