The table groaned under the weight of the evening meal.

Jese watched the fire stained cowboys demolish the feast he'd prepared. Listening to their happy chatter and bellowed wisecracks, Jese felt a warm sensation in his chest. He'd finally come home. That painful wedge of guilt and hurt would always linger, but at least he could experience some kind of peace here on Radcliffe Ranch.

"Corn?" Freddy passed him the bowl, from where he was seated.

"Thank you." Jese took a cob and munched down on it. It was slathered in freshly churned butter, each kernel popping sugary sweetness against his tongue. He found a chair - further down the porch - and seated himself. Stretching his long legs out in front of him, until he heard a knee click. The muscles in his thighs relieved at finally having some respite.

This, Jese thought, was life.

Corn devoured, Jese wiped the butter from his hands onto his well worn levis. He noticed a lone rider approaching.

Even from that distance he could make out Brandon McCabe's posture. There was something about the man that had Jese guarded. He wasn't sure if his caution came from an intuitive gut feeling that Brandon couldn't be trusted, or if it arose from something more primitive... Like jealousy.

It had been so long since he'd experienced such primitive human emotions. He needed to keep a cool head, or else he would make foolish mistakes.

Jese's cool and detached personality had been acquired, since that moment on the swamp, and it had worked well for him. His gut feelings had become so accurate that most of his days were spent in meditative silence... not bothered by the internal contemplations he'd once known. But, somewhere in the last few days, Nova had affected him.

She'd introduced him to a range of emotions that he'd not experienced since childhood. Erratic, irrational, possessive... he wasn't proud of having such infantile sensations, but there was nothing he could do could prevent them. He couldn't trust how he felt anymore.

While his wife might have affected his intuition, he decided. She hadn't managed to make him incapable of interrogating people. He waited for Brandon to approach, and then stood up. His muscles aching in protest. It didn't matter if his gut instincts couldn't be trusted - because his ears could. He was going to find out what Brandon McCabe was up to, even if he had to drag it out of him.

Brandon dismounted from his horse and looped the reins around the wooden railings, and approached the homestead. Not with the cautious air that one might expect from a man visiting the house of a newly married woman - but with the confidence that a person had when they entered their territory. Supreme self assurance.

Yes, Jese thought, his cockiness really was an annoying trait. But was it just cockiness, or was this man out to get him? Maybe he'd noticed how fragile the connection was between Jese and Nova and had set out to cause a wedge between them? There was a jaunt in his step, Jese wondered if he'd arrived to cause mischief. Was Nova involved?

Jese remembered the way his wife had stared up at him, hours earlier, as he pulled her from the fire break. There was a look on her face... like she'd finally begun to trust him. In her expression he'd seen that he might be causing the same feelings in her, that she was causing in him. Nova was a savvy woman. Far too smart to trust a man like Brandon... wasn't she?

He'd seen the hungry expression on Brandon's face when his gaze had rested on Nova. It was obvious to the world that Brandon wanted her... but he couldn't understand what it was for. A wife? A mistress?

"Mr. Calhoun," Brandon approached with ease, his hand held out to shake that of his host. Reaching out to grasp it, Jese's gaze fell to his visitor's opposing fist, where the tell tale wedding band was displayed. Honorable intentions off the list. "I heard about the fire, so I came to check if everyone is alright."

"Nova's got smoke inhalation. But nothing has burnt of consequence."

"On the contrary! Most of your pasture has been devoured by flames."

"Lives can't be bought and sold," Jese said. His eyes were trained on Brandon's expression. "Property - on the other hand - can be."

Brandon's face displayed nothing. Silent for a moment, he replied, "If you were to chose to buy and sell I hope you'd let me make an offer first."

"Why?" So he could save his mistress... wooing her with the romantic gesture?

"It has the best kept pasture - the Radcliffe men have made sure to keep the place tidy."

The Radcliffe men, Jese suppressed a snort. He knew that it was only thanks to his wife that the land was in such an immaculate state.

Jese had looked over her books. She had a good head for numbers, and after seeing the cattle he'd realised she understood pasture control and animal husbandry. The only thing she lacked was a heart - cold enough - to turn strays away. Her accounts had shown him a few cases where Nova had spent a lot of money on the purchase of neglected animals, in hopes to rehabilitate them. With him about he would make sure that she wouldn't be paying a coin more than they deserved. "I've looked over the place," Jese said. "I believe that I could ask for a very high price." He waited for a reaction. Seeing, in the depths of Brandon's piggy blue eyes, that a fire had been lit.

"What kind of price would that be?"

Jese stated a price far above the Ranch's market value. Or at least it would have been above the market value, if the buyer was completely ignorant to what Jese had seen the previous day. His mind flashed back... mineral deposits. Could it be true? He needed to double check.

Instead of the horror or shocked outrage of an ignorant party (upon finding out that the pretty house and fine Ranch were completely overvalued), Jese noticed the flash of suppressed enthusiasm. "That seems reasonable."

Reasonable? Jese waited for his visitor would continue.

"However," Brandon said, after a short pause. "You've lost most of your pasture in that fire... and I hear your Winter Feed was ruined. Nova told me that some of your finest bulls were shot... Perhaps - in the circumstances - that price might be a little high? But, if you are willing to sell, I'm sure we could come up with something."

Jese watched Brandon closely. The man wanted Radcliffe Ranch desperately, and because of that he was playing his cards close to his chest.