Lassoing A Montana Heart

by Flightner, Ramona

  Davina nodded, unable to hide her overjoyed grin from her cousin. When Sorcha continued to stare at her dispassionately, Davina’s smile faded, and she moved into the room to sit near her cousin. “Aye. I’m sorry if that upsets ye.”

  Sorcha closed her eyes and shook her head. “Of course it doesna. Slims is a good man. I’d despaired of him ever meetin’ a woman he’d want to marry.”

  Davina stared at her in confusion. “I dinna understand. Why are ye upset? Was there somethin’ in the letters Slims brought in from town that was no’ to yer liking?” Davina asked. When Sorcha continued to stare at her like a storm was brewing, she sobered even further. “What is it?”

  “Ye ken ye are family to me?” Sorcha asked. “Just as Slims is.” She ceased spinning and set aside the wheel. “There’s a complication, an’ ye need to ken it.”

  “Tell me, Sorcha, please.”

  “Did Slims ever mention a woman named Charlotte Ingram?” When Davina shrugged, Sorcha reached forward and gripped her cousin’s hand. “Charlotte was a cook we hired last summer. This is a large ranch, and we had a terrible winter a few years ago. As ye might ken, we almost lost our ranch. Unfortunately Frederick’s neighbor went bankrupt, and Frederick cobbled together enough money to buy out that ranch. ’Tis good land. They have a homestead a few hours ride from here.” She waved a hand in a vague direction away from the house.

  “Why are ye tellin’ me this?” Davina asked with furrowed brows. “I ken there was a fierce winter, but I dinna see why I should care the ranch is so large.”

  Sorcha closed her eyes and then squared her shoulders as she met her cousin’s gaze. “Slims and Shorty spent the summer on their spread—the new land—moving cattle to distant grazing land. From all accounts, Charlotte drove Slims mad, and there was rumor of a love affair between them.”

  “No,” Davina whispered, slipping her hand free of Sorcha’s, as she shook her head.

  “Aye,” Sorcha said, with a brisk nod. “We all thought it humorous at the time. The thought of a wee slip of a woman drivin’ such a big man mad. I’m sorry.” She paused before blurting out, “An’ now Charlotte’s back, Davina. She was the cook I said disappeared in December. Do ye remember?” She paused as though weighing whether or not to impart the worst of the news. “Claims she’s with child. And that Slims is the father of her babe.”

  “Nae!” Davina yelped, standing up quickly, slapping her hands over her mouth to still any further outburst to prevent waking the bairns. She turned one way and then the other before collapsing to the ground. “Nae,” she gasped, dropping her hands to hold them to her heart, as though that alone kept it from splintering into a thousand tiny pieces. “Nae,” she pleaded, as her shoulders shook.

  Sorcha knelt in front of her, gripping her cousin’s shoulders. “She could be lyin’. I canna lie an’ say I ken her well. I dinna. I met her only a few times. Afore she went to the new land an’ when she came back.”

  “Why would she claim something that wasna true?” Davina asked, as tears seeped out and coursed down her cheek. “What could she hope to gain?”

  Sorcha sighed and rubbed at her temple. “She had no idea ye were here. That ye an’ Slims were in town an’ that ye were to marry. I’ve never seen a woman more distraught than her yesterday, when Shorty came into the kitchen with the news ye’d returned and wanted time to enjoy bein’ newlyweds.”

  Davina sat in a dazed stupor, her gaze unfocused, as she rocked forward and back. “He said he had cared for a woman recently, but she had left him for another.” Her stricken gaze met Sorcha’s. “Why am I always a fool?” she whispered. “Why did I ever believe in a man’s promise again?” She fell forward into Sorcha’s arms as insuppressible sobs burst forth.

  * * *

  Slims whistled a ribald tune as he worked mucking out a stall in the horse barn. After another passionate night with his bride, the sharing of her pasts and his truths, he felt like their relationship would only continue to grow. He had not allowed himself to feel such hope since he was a boy in Kansas, but he refused to believe this unexpected gift of Davina would be so cruelly taken away from him. For now he would focus on their everyday joys and would hope she continued to find contentment with her life with him. For he did not know what he would do if she did not.

  Shorty approached him and kicked hay at him. When Slims saw him glowering at him, he frowned. “What’s got you so upset? Why were you actin’ odd yesterday?”

  Shorty shook his head. “How could you, Slims?”

  Slims looked over Shorty’s shoulder and saw Frederick and Dalton standing behind his best friend, their expressions mirroring Shorty’s. “What are you talking about? How could I not?” he asked, as he set aside his pitchfork, and moved toward the men who were like brothers to him. “I married her to protect her.” He smiled. “And because I’m crazy about her.”

  Dalton took a step forward and punched him in his shoulder, knocking him back a step because he was taken by surprise. “How could you take a bride when you’d already promised Charlotte you’d marry her?”

  Slims’s jaw fell open, and he gaped at his friends, before bursting into laughter. When he saw they were deadly serious, he shook his head with incredulity. “You are joking?” Looking at Shorty, he said, “Don’t you remember we didn’t have one kind word to say to each other last summer? That she threatened to starve me if I dared speak to her again because I was so uncivil?”

  Frederick shrugged. “That reminds me of my courting Sorcha. We were always nipping at each other because we were crazy about each other.”

  Slims took off his gloves and slapped them on his thighs. “You cared about Sorcha. I never liked Charlotte! I’ve no interest in the woman! Did I seem upset when she disappeared in December? No! Good riddance!”

  “And the fact she’s carryin’ your babe?” Dalton asked, his jaw ticking as his eyes shone with anger and challenge.

  Slims froze, his eyes widening in horror. “My what?” he gasped. “No. Never. I never touched her.” He held up his hands in a plea for his innocence.

  A soft gasp sounded at the entrance to the barn, and a woman of middling height with reddish-blond hair entered. “How can you deny what we had?” she asked in a breathless voice, choked with tears. “How can you treat me like this?”

  Slims took a step back. “Charlotte,” he spat out, his voice filled with contempt. “I never treated you as anything other than you are. An opportunistic woman eager to latch on to a man of power at the ranch.”

  She held a hand to her belly. “You’d deny me? Deny your baby his rights?”

  Slims shook his head. “You lie,” he said. “And I’m married. To a woman who’d never try to deceive me.” He looked at his friends and saw doubt in their gazes, although he prayed they were doubting her and not him. He looked beseechingly at Frederick. “Go into town. Fetch Helen. Have her examine Charlotte. Prove that there is no way this … this could be mine.”

  Charlotte threw herself at him, and he easily sidestepped her. She landed in a pile of hay, and he watched dispassionately as she sobbed into her hands.

  “Aye, I’ll go into town. With any luck, I’ll make it back today,” Frederick said. He motioned for Slims to walk with him. Shorty walked beside them, but Dalton stood near Charlotte, waiting for her to calm enough so he could help her to her room in the bunkhouse.

  Frederick paused halfway to the large house, his hands balled into his fists, his breath coming faster than usual, and his cheeks reddened. “I don’t like this, Slims.” He paused as he stared into his foreman’s eyes. “Tell me the truth. Is anything she claims true?”

  Slims shook his head. “She could be carryin’ a babe, so that might be true. But it’s not mine,” he said emphatically. “I never touched her. There is no possible way that babe is mine.” He looked at Shorty. “You know the hell I lived through out there.”

  Shorty nodded and let out a deep sigh. “I do. I feared, on the rare day I rode alone out on the range, that somethin�
�� had happened.”

  Slims shook his head over and over again. “Never. I swear on everything I hold holy.” He paused and swallowed. “On my marriage to Davina, I never laid a hand on that woman. I wanted to throttle her numerous times for her insolence and her sass, but she’s still breathin’.”

  Frederick sighed. “What a mess,” he muttered. Casting an apologetic glance in Slims’s direction, he muttered, “You know Sorcha will have informed Davina of Charlotte’s arrival. And of her pronouncement.”

  “Dammit,” Slims hissed. “All I wanted was a little time to settle in with my bride. To learn what that was like. Was that too much to ask?” He stormed off in the direction of the big house. After entering the house, he paused, taking a moment to calm his anger and to remind himself that none of this was Davina’s fault. He needed to soothe her.

  After poking his head into the kitchen and finding it empty, he walked down the hallway to Sorcha’s sitting room. He paused, listening to Sorcha sing what sounded like a lament to him but which she would claim was a love song and then knocked. “Is Davina here?”

  Sorcha continued to spin her wool, her gaze filled with concern as she beheld him. “Nae, she said she needed time to consider the news.”

  Slims saw the children asleep in the corner and kept his voice down, although he flushed with indignation. “You know as well as I do that that woman lies, Sorcha.”

  “Perhaps. But what I dinna understand is why she would claim such a thing when she had to ken we’d send for Helen?” She shook her head. “Thus I’m thinkin’ part of her story must be true. She’s with child, but not honest about who the father is, aye?”

  Slims heaved out a breath. “You believe me? That I’m not the father?”

  Sorcha flushed. “I canna lie, Slims. I had moments where I doubted ye. An’ where I felt disappointment in ye.” She paused as she studied him, standing as though a supplicant in her bower. “But seein’ ye standin’ afore me miserable, an’ knowin’ how hard ye’ve avoided any an’ all entanglements in the past, I dinna see ye takin’ a wife when ye had so recently been involved with another woman. ’Tisn’t like ye.”

  He suddenly found himself battling deep emotions at her expression of her faith in him. “Thank you, Miss Sorcha. Your belief in me is humbling.”

  “Ye’re an honorable man, Slims. An’ ye’ve earned my trust.” She paused. “I fear my cousin’s faith in ye is more fragile.”

  Slims swore under his breath and ran a hand through his hair. “I’ll speak with her. And try to talk sense into her.” He turned to leave, pausing to whisper, “If she only has faith after Helen proves my innocence, is that a trust worth valuing?” He slipped from the room before Sorcha could answer.

  Rather than return to his cabin and confront Davina, he walked into the kitchen to pour himself a cup of coffee from the pot that was never allowed to be left empty. As he filled up his cup with the last of the coffee, he moved around the kitchen, making a fresh pot. Memories from the previous summer flitted through his mind. He remembered a persistent sensation of extreme aggravation and annoyance. The frustration that such a woman had been assigned to work the small homestead as the cook for him and Shorty. How many times had he grumbled to Shorty that they would have done better alone?

  He sat with a thud as he thought through Charlotte’s possible motives, and the only possible one was what he’d already accused her of. That she wanted him because he was a man of position on the ranch. For she’d never favored him when they were away from the big house.

  Sighing, he took a sip of coffee and heard the sound of bells as the sleigh left for town. Slims rose, glancing outside to see which horses Frederick had decided to use today and dropped his cup to the floor at the sight of Davina riding beside Frederick. Riding away from him.

  * * *

  Davina sat beside Frederick as the sleigh made its way to town. Although the day was brilliantly bright, and the mountains shone in the distance, she failed to see the day’s beauty. Thankfully, Frederick seemed to understand her need for quiet, and the only sounds were that of the horses’ hooves and the bells singing.

  She clenched and unclenched her hands together in an attempt to dispel some of her tension, but it didn’t work. Tugging the blanket tighter around her, she snuggled under its warmth, attempting to banish her memories of riding in the sleigh beside Slims. Of feeling cherished and safe. How could he have betrayed her like this? Now he would have a child with another woman, and that child would live. He would know what it would mean to be a father, and Davina would have no part in that experience.

  Her breath caught as an overwhelming pain filled her. She had thought her first husband’s disdain the worst torment she had to bear. How naive she was. This was a pain past bearing. To know her husband would have a child, and she never would … She fought a sob as she attempted to push down her panic and despair.

  She closed her eyes, reminding herself that they hadn’t been married when the affair was purported to have occurred. He hadn’t even known she, Davina, existed. However, her sense of betrayal did not abate. For he had never told her about Charlotte. Was that because Charlotte meant more than he wanted her to? Was he ashamed of his feelings for Charlotte? Davina shivered. Or was he ashamed of her?

  Frederick made a sound in his throat, and she couldn’t tell if he were making a noise for the horses or for her. He cast a quick glance in her direction. “You’ll make yourself sick by imagining things. Only by speaking with Slims will you know the truth.”

  “How?” Davina gasped out. “How can I trust him?”

  Frederick nodded, looking ahead to follow the road. “Aye, that’s the crux of it. Trust.” He paused. “Do you believe Sorcha and I have never hurt each other? We have,” he said, regret lacing his voice. “And I’ve given thanks every day she trusts me not to ever hurt her intentionally again.”

  He paused for a few moments. “You want to know how to trust Slims? You do it by believing what you know to be true rather than by giving any credence to your fears.” He pulled back on the reins so the horses slowed as they rounded a corner. “Fears only lead to heartache and disillusionment, Davina.”

  She shivered again, pulling the blanket tighter around her. However, the chill she felt was from deep within. “How do you get over feeling deceived?” she whispered.

  “By not runnin’ away from what scares you,” he said with a wry smile. “Face Slims. Face Charlotte.” He looked at her for a long moment. “Believe that you have the right to be happy, Davina. For, if you don’t, you never will be.”

  Davina shuddered at his words, as though they were prophetic. For so long, she had thought she had little value. That her happiness was forfeited due to her inability to produce healthy babies who would survive more than a few months. Now she finally questioned those who would make her feel unworthy for all her sufferings. Why should she base her value off that alone?

  “He doesn’t want anything but you, Davina. The woman who laughs and sings and fights with him. The real you, not the woman who attempts to know her place,” Frederick murmured.

  Davina nodded, lost in thought, already wishing she were riding back to the ranch, rather than away from it.

  * * *

  Slims walked to the barn with the milk cows, determined to find work to ease his tension now that Davina had left. He saw that most of the work had been completed, but he ensured none of the cows needed milking and fussed with spreading hay around. Tasks that didn’t need to be completed but kept him busy.

  Dalton joined him in the barn, and he leaned against a pole as he watched the big man work. “Why are you here, rather than talkin’ to your wife?”

  Slims slammed his pitchfork down and glared at his friend. “My wife hitched a ride into town with Fred. I don’t know when she’ll be back.”

  Dalton paled, and his eyes rounded at the news. “Slims,” he said, as he shook his head, “what’s goin’ on?”

  Pacing the small space between stalls, Slims shook his
head. “Damned if I know. I thought that infernal woman was gone for good.” He paused as he glared at Dalton, a man he’d known for years. “Tell me what you believe.”

  “After talkin’ with you this morning, and seeing how Charlotte acted, I now realize I was a halfwit to believe her.” His gaze held his unspoken apology. “That woman is desperate, and she’s latched on to you in desperation,” Dalton said with a shake of his head. “But I don’t believe her claim. You’re a man of honor, Slims. You’d never start up with your missus if you still had an attachment to Charlotte. And I know you.” He paused. “If you had an attachment to Charlotte, you wouldn’t have been so glad to see her go.” He waved at Slims’s pacing. “Look at how you’re actin’ because a woman you barely know has gone into town.”

  “Davina’s special, Dalt,” he whispered.

  “Aye, which means Charlotte never was to you. And you wouldn’t have entangled yourself with a woman who we all knew was an innocent. That’s not who any of us are.”

  Slims let out a sigh of relief. “Then why were you so mad this mornin’?”

  Dalton flushed. “She’s a convincin’ actress, and you weren’t here. She was. I’m afraid it’s easier to sow seeds of doubt than I thought it was.” He shook his head again. “And then you returned, married.” A smile formed, and he chuckled. “I never thought I’d see a person faint dead away, but she almost did last night.” He frowned. “The problem is, she will most likely remain on the ranch until the thaw.”

  “Aye, an’ Miss Sorcha has a big heart. She won’t evict a heartless, homeless pregnant woman,” Slims muttered. “No matter how much I’d like her to.” He shared a rueful glance with Dalton.

  “No you don’t,” Dalton said. “That’s your anger talkin’. You would never want to harm a woman. That’s not like you.”

  Slims nodded, but he feared Dalton was wrong. For he knew that, if Charlotte threatened his marriage, he could see harming her. He couldn’t lose Davina. Not when he’d just found her.