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he pulled his
horse off the path altogether and Trixie saw that they had come to a picnic
area.
    Pat
took the bag and the Thermos out of his saddlebag, walked to a picnic table,
and began to set out the food. Trixie felt another flare of resentment at not
being consulted about the rest stop. But the stiffness of her muscles as she
dismounted convinced her it was a good idea.
    Honey
seemed eager for the chance to sit and talk with Pat. She helped him pour the
lemonade into the paper cups his mother had provided, then sat down across from
him and gave him her most winning smile. “This is a beautiful place. Do you
come here often?” she asked.
    Pat
nodded while drinking his lemonade.
    “I
was surprised that we didn’t ride along the river,” Honey said.
    “No
place to go,” Pat told her. “There’s a forest on one side that’s full of
deerflies this time of year. They’d drive the horses crazy. The other side of
our ranch is—is private land.” He picked up an apple and began polishing it
against his shirt sleeve.
    “It
looked like a construction site,” said Honey. “What’s being built there?”
    “A
darned nuisance,” Pat Murrow said curtly.
    “Wait
a minute!” Trixie exclaimed. “Wasn’t Burke the man your father talked to
yesterday?”
    Pat
Murrow fixed her with such an angry look that Trixie felt her pulse quicken.
“Sorry,” she said, “just asking.”
    Pat
softened his gaze. “It wasn’t your question,” he admitted. “It’s just that
Burke and his little project aren’t big favorites of
mine.”
    “The
project must be Burke Landing,” Honey guessed. “What is it?”
    Pat
grimaced. “It’s what they call a time-share resort complex,” he said. “City
folks pay big money for the chance to spend two weeks every year out here with
Mother Nature. Only they do it in an apartment with all the modern
conveniences. The apartments are all stacked up in a bunch of big, ugly
buildings.”
    “Yuck!”
Trixie said.
    Pat
looked at her and, for the first time, showed a glimmer of a smile. “I couldn’t
have put it better myself,” he said.
    “I
can understand why you wouldn’t want something like that right next door,”
Honey said. “Isn’t there anything you can do?”
    “Sure,”
Pat told her. “Burke himself has given us the perfect solution. We just sell
out to him and go someplace where it’s peaceful.”
    “That’s
what he wanted your father to think about,” Trixie surmised, remembering the
men’s conversation at the corral. “But it doesn’t sound like your father is
taking the offer very seriously.”
    “Of course not. It’s our land,” Pat retorted, as though those three
words explained everything. “My father was born here. His father brought an
Arabian horse to the ranch from the East before folks around here had even
heard of such an animal. Grandpa got thrown off that horse and broke his neck
and died. My dad could have shot it, but that wouldn’t have proved anything. He
trained it, instead. That was his memorial to his father. So is the ranch.”
Pat’s brown eyes flared with emotion.
    Gee! Trixie thought. This is the guy I thought was an unfeeling
jerk.
    Seeing
the girls’ admiring looks, Pat suddenly turned cold again. “Besides, moving the
operation would set the horses back six months because they’re so sensitive. It
would be crazy to do that when we’re finally on the verge of making it big.”
    “He
can’t force you to sell, can he?” Honey asked.
    Pat
snorted. “He would if he could. But he hasn’t, so I guess he can’t.” For a
moment, his bantering tone made him sound just like his father. He gave Honey a
big smile that showed even, white teeth and made a dimple appear in his right
cheek.
    Oh, no, Trixie thought. That did it. She’ll have stars in her eyes
and her feet in the clouds for the rest of the trip.
    “Anyway,
we’d better head back,” Pat said curtly. “I have some work to do with the other
horses this afternoon.” He