Wyoming Tough - Diana Palmer [60]
Morie was fascinated by the guest list. She watched famous people stroll around the premises with starstruck awe.
“Stop that,” Daryl teased, holding her hand. “You’ve seen them before.”
“Yes, on television,” she assured him. “Dad’s never gone whole hog like this for a production sale!”
“He’s making a statement,” Daryl said in an odd tone.
She frowned. “Excuse me?”
He sighed. “Never mind.” He grinned. “Race you to the sale barn!”
“I can’t,” she objected. “I have to help in the kitchen, making canapés. Even with all of us helping, including Aunt Edie and Safie and the caterers, it’s a pinch getting it done in time for the party tonight. While all the visiting cattlemen are drooling over Dad’s seed bulls, the women are grinding their teeth trying to provide enough food. And that doesn’t include the barbecue that’s going on in the tents for lunch,” she added, indicating the row of tents and the smokers that were going full tilt to provide barbecue. “At least the cowboys are handling that for us! Thank goodness we got old Rafe to come out of retirement long enough to make those famous Dutch-oven biscuits he’s famous for. Not to mention his beef barbecue.”
“It will be worth it if your dad sells enough bulls,” Daryl observed.
She thought of something. “Daryl, you have oil holdings. Do you do fracking?”
He glared at her. “No. We do offshore drilling, and we have a few rigs set up in Oklahoma, but we’re very careful where we drill and we have safeguards in place. We have a wonderful record for safety.”
“I didn’t mean to offend,” she said quickly. “But I wondered if you knew any companies that do fracking up in Wyoming.”
“I know one that’s trying to,” he said. “A man named Cardman owns it. He’s been sued in two states for lax safety procedures—if it isn’t done properly, it contaminates the local water table. See, you inject water, and chemicals, at high pressure into the ground to fracture the shale rock and release oil and gas. It’s not popular at the moment. There was even a documentary made about the dangers. That’s one reason we don’t invest in it.”
“Cardman,” she mused.
“He’s a shady character,” he affirmed. “He’s known for buying up scrubland from unsuspecting landowners and then putting up operations on it. Several people have sued him. He just moves to another state and keeps going.”
“Shame.”
“Really.”
SHE MENTIONED IT to her mother when they were loading the last silver tray with hors d’oeuvres that evening, just before the guests congregated in the ballroom.
“Fracking,” her mother mused. “What a nasty sort of operation it sounds.”
“I know we need oil. Nobody wants to live in grass huts and walk fifty miles to a city,” Morie stated. “But there are safe ways to extract oil, and then there’s this high-speed injection fracturing. That woman I told you about kept trying to get Mallory to sell her friend some scrubland on his property. She didn’t say why, but now I’m curious.”
“You should mention it to your uncle Danny. He knows the Kirks.”
“I might do that.”
Shelby touched her daughter’s cheek. The scratch had healed, and the skin was soft and velvety and blemishless, just like her own. “Sweetheart, are you really going to marry Daryl?”
“Dad wants me to.”
“What do you want to do, Morena?”
Her dark eyes were sad. “I want to marry for love,” she replied. “But when it isn’t returned, maybe it’s best to settle for someone honest and kind that you really like. Daryl is a wonderful person.”
“He truly is. But if you don’t love him, and he doesn’t love you, the two of you are cheating each other.” Her face was solemn. “I married for love. I’ve never regretted it. Not once.”
“You were lucky,” Morie said with a smile.
“Eventually.” Shelby chuckled. “Oh, if you’d known your father as he used to be!” She rolled her eyes. “It was like domesticating a wolf!”
“It was?” Morie laughed.
“Worse! A grizzly bear.” She pursed her perfect lips. “Your Mallory Kirk sounds just like your father. They’d butt heads at first, but then they’d be friends.”
“Chance would be a fine thing.” Morie sighed.