An Encounter of Courageous Hearts: A Historical Western Romance Book

by Lorelei Brogan

  “What do you suggest?”

  “I suggest we follow him. See who he is meeting with.”

  Derek leveled him with a friendly glare. “How do you suggest we do that when we don’t even know who he is?”

  Nick smiled, feeling a little hopeful for the first time in weeks. “Actually, you’ll be surprised who he is. Let’s meet tonight at the entrance of town. I have to take Lana back home first.”

  Derek rose his eyebrows twice in rapid succession in a teasing manner. “What is going on there? I saw how close the two of you were when I rode up. A little bit on the friendly side, now are we?”

  Nick chucked him on the shoulder in a friendly way. “Nothing is going on. Now meet me in town tonight. Believe me, you’re not going to want to miss it.”

  Nick heard Derek’s chuckle behind him as he walked away toward Lana. He didn’t look back at his friend. He had no idea what he was talking about.

  But despite his denial, Nick knew that Derek might be right. He remembered the moment he had caught Lana. Being that close to her had made him feel things he hadn’t thought it wasn’t possible to feel for Lana. Just the thought of the moment made his cheeks feel warm.

  “What do you think?” Nick asked, nodding towards the small vegetable garden Lana was admiring.

  “It’s nice. Did you plant it?”

  Nick nodded, “Along with pretty much everything else here.”

  “You did this all alone? You even built the cabin?” Lana looked very impressed and for a moment Nick considered taking credit for the cabin, but that would be going too far.

  “No, not the cabin. There was a man who taught me everything I know about ranching. His name was Eric. He left me the place. He’s the one who built the cabin.”

  “Oh, what happened to him?” Lana ran her hand over the fence that was waist-high. Nick had built it to keep the rabbits out of his plants. It also served well to keep the chickens at bay when they escaped their coop on rare occasions.

  “He died a few years ago.” Nick’s voice was thick with emotion.

  Lana looked up with eyes full of sympathy. Nick knew that look. Lana understood what he was feeling.

  “I’m sorry. It’s always hard to lose people.”

  Nick nodded, “It is. There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t think of Eric or my parents…” Nick paused for a moment, “and now Daniel. I suppose he’s the hardest to believe is gone.”

  “We all have our time to go. I think it’s always the hardest for those of us left behind.”

  “We may all have our time to go, but it wasn’t Daniel’s time. Someone made it his time. We need to find justice for that.”

  Surprisingly, Lana didn’t protest; instead, she just nodded somberly. Nick was closer than ever to getting Justice for Daniel, and in part that was due to Lana.

  He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. Maybe her coming out west hadn’t been as bad as an idea as he had thought.

  “Come on, let me give you a ride home. At the same time, you can try your hand at riding.”

  Lana eyed him with a suspicious look. Nick chuckled softly. This time, he wasn’t trying to mess with her. He just wanted to get her home and teach her to ride a horse.

  ---*---

  “How are you doing?” Nick looked over at Lana. Her face was pale, and she looked as if she were more frightened than Nick would have thought possible.

  “I-is he supposed to be walking like this? I think I’m going to fall off.” Lana’s tone was brittle, like a thread pulled tight about to break.

  “You won’t fall. That is completely normal for him to be doing. Just relax and enjoy the ride.”

  “There is nothing enjoyable about this. I feel like I am really going to fall off.”

  Nick couldn’t help but chuckle.

  “It’s not funny. I’m trying, I really am.” This time, Lana’s voice trembled, and Nick realized she was really afraid. “I feel like I’m so high up.”

  Nick pulled his horse to a halt and the other horse stopped as well. The poor animal gave Nick a look and if Nick had to guess was asking him why he had such a clueless human on his back.

  “Whoa, whoa. Calm down.” Nick reached out and gave Lana’s arm a quick squeeze. “It’s okay. You’re not going to fall. You really have to learn to ride a horse to be in the west, you know.”

  Lana nodded, but she looked unsure. “Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?”

  “What? All of a sudden? I’m always nice. I’ve been nothing but nice since you arrived. When have I not been nice?” he said in a mock hurt voice.

  Lana laughed at this and it was a refreshing sound. He realized that it was the first time he had seen her look so happy.

  “You don’t laugh much, do you?” he asked.

  Lana looked startled. She opened and closed her mouth once and then looked away for a second. “I guess there hasn’t been much to laugh about recently.” Lana shrugged her shoulders.

  “Everyone should have things to laugh about.” Nick smiled, realizing how much he missed the laughter. Ever since Daniel’s death, there had been one thing after another.

  They hadn’t really slowed down to enjoy themselves since then. Seeing Lana happy reminded Nick of all the times he had spent with Ginger, Daniel, and the children. He wondered if Lana had had people like that in the city.

  “Shall we try again? Just don’t worry about it, it’s going to work out and you’ll be fine. When the horse walks just imagine you are in a rocking chair. Just rock with the horse and it will feel more natural. Your feet in the stirrups will make you feel secure. You can stand up in them a little if the horse is bouncing when it trots.”

  Lana nodded and her lips curled up into what looked more like a grimace than a smile.

  “Okay. I’ll try,” she said. She took a deep breath and sighed loudly, trying to relax.

  Nick made a clicking sound in the back of his throat and the two horses moved forward. He had chosen Lana’s horse carefully. It was one of the gentler ones who listened well and very rarely caused problems.

  This time Lana didn’t start to panic, but she didn’t look any more comfortable than she had before.

  He was fairly certain that she and the horse both breathed a sigh of relief when they reached Ginger’s ranch.

  “I think I would rather walk,” Lana said as Nick helped her down.

  They were standing very close together and it reminded Nick of how it had been earlier when she had almost fallen. The strange thing was he didn’t want to leave or disturb their closeness, but he knew he needed to.

  What was wrong with him? Feeling this way about his sister’s friend.

  He took a swift step back and cleared his throat. “We’ll just have to practice a whole lot more so that you get comfortable with horses.”

  “I don’t know, do you even have time for that?”

  “Probably not, but it’s important for you to learn. After we have figured out this whole Jake Gold thing, it will be my first priority.”

  “Did Derek find something out? Is that what he came to talk to you about?”

  Nick nodded, “He thinks that Jake might be part of a gang, a very dangerous gang.”

  “You don’t believe him?”

  Nick scuffed his boot in the dust. “I don’t know. I mean, Derek doesn’t always see things the way they are when he has had too much whiskey. He got this information from someone he had never met before.”

  “So, what are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to follow Jake from the store a bit, see if he does anything suspicious. Who knows? Maybe we will find out something useful.”

  Lana’s cheeks flushed red and she looked down at the ground. “Be careful, all right? It would be terrible for Ginger if something happened to you.”

  “I’m going to be careful…for Ginger.” When he finished speaking, Lana looked back up at him and their gazes held each other for a moment. “I should get going. Don’t worry, it will all work out.”<
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  Lana nodded and stepped back, but she didn’t look convinced in the least.

  Nick took the horses’ reins and led them up to the house. After saying goodbye to Ginger, he needed to get back home and prepare for tonight. He wasn’t going to walk in without being ready for anything.

  He didn’t know if Jake from the general store really was Jake Gold, and he was didn’t know if he was part of the Linden Bandits, but he sure was determined to find out.

  He knew that he was probably being reckless, and he wasn’t thinking so much of his safety, but he felt he had no choice. He wanted to protect what little family he had left. His parents had been taken from him through illness, Eric through old age, and Daniel was the only one whose death he could do something about.

  Nick plastered on a smile before he walked into the cabin. No matter what had happened throughout this, he wasn’t going to let Ginger know what was going on until he had some real answers and some justice for her terrible loss.

  He didn’t need her to feel the urgent anxiousness he already felt. He would bear that for both of them.

  The cabin was warm and tidy and reminded him of good times as Lydia and Freddy ran into him to say hello. He laughed and smiled with them, but his mind never left his plans for that night.

  Chapter 22

  Derek was waiting for him at the meeting spot. He had tied his horse to a nearby tree and was pacing back and forth.

  “What’s wrong? You look more nervous than a man who’s about to propose.”

  “Don’t joke about this. What if we are about to cross a killer?” Derek looked truly afraid and for a moment, Nick felt sympathy for him.

  “Don’t be ridiculous. We aren’t going to be seen by him. That’s what it means to follow him secretly.”

  “What if something goes wrong? You know how I am. I often goof up these types of things.” Derek pulled a small flask from his coat pocket and took a fast swig.

  Nick sighed, “Since when have we done these types of things?”

  “I don’t know. I mean, we haven’t, but if we had, I wouldn’t be good at them. I’m sure of it.”

  “Nonsense. You are going to do great. If you want me to I’ll do it alone, but if you find my body in the morning, you won’t know what really went down.”

  Derek’s mouth opened and closed like a fish who had realized it couldn’t breathe air. “Your body? So, it would be better for everyone to find two bodies and no answers?”

  Nick tied his horse next to Derek’s. “Nobody is going to die. You just need to keep your cool and we go cautiously. It’s pretty simple.”

  “Fine, but only because you’re my only friend and I can’t stand to have nowhere to sleep when I don’t want to clean my place.”

  Nick laughed and tucked his pistol into his waistband.

  “Wait, what’s that for?” Derek’s eyes went wide.

  “Just in case we run into trouble,” Nick assured him.

  “What? You just said we wouldn’t even be seen by them. Why would you need a pistol if we won’t even be seen?”

  “Calm down. It’s only if we need it. Be happy. It’s protection.”

  Derek was still shaking his head as they headed into town. They kept behind the buildings, going slowly and ducking behind corners or objects whenever they spotted someone. Nick didn’t want anyone seeing them here. It could cause interactions that he wasn’t prepared for. Dusk was falling and it was casting a hazy, gray light over everything as the sun set for the night.

  It made it harder to see, but Nick knew they had to get used to it. Soon, the night would envelop them and it would be pitch black.

  It didn’t take them long to get to the back of the general store. There was a house right next door and they hid behind it by some bushes.

  Scrunching into the shadows, Nick watched both the front and the back doors of the general store.

  Nothing happened. He could see movement inside. Someone was there. What if Jake wasn’t working tonight? Maybe this whole plan was ridiculous.

  Nick waited and watched. Minutes turned into hours and a chilly wind began to pick up.

  Eventually, a sound made Nick perk up. Derek sat silently his eyes the only visible thing about him.

  Someone stepped outside the back door, securing it behind him. Nick poked Derek. He wasn’t sure if Derek had seen it too. It looked almost as if he had been falling asleep.

  “Wh- what? Did you see him?” Derek whispered in a tone that sounded more like his normal voice than Nick would have liked.

  “Shhh. He might hear us. Look, he’s going somewhere.”

  “Maybe he’s just going home,” Derek mumbled.

  “Come on, we’re going to follow him, regardless.” Nick took a step further.

  They moved after the dark figure that had emerged from the store. He still couldn’t be positive it was Jake, but he had no option but to assume it was.

  They kept enough distance that the man they were following couldn’t spot them or hear them, but they also stayed close enough so they wouldn’t lose him.

  Nick thought the man was headed to the saloon at first, but he took a different turn about halfway there. Every time that Nick guessed where the man might be going, he turned again.

  They wove through buildings and through back streets. They twisted about the town, going places that Nick had forgotten about.

  The man glanced behind him multiple times, making it harder for them to follow. They had to duck back and hide, risking losing him, whenever the man decided to double back and check.

  The longer they followed, the more Nick was convinced he had something to hide. He seemed awfully worried about someone following him to be innocent.

  Eventually, they were on the outskirts of town. Nick felt conflicted. After this, there were trees far and few between. He wasn’t sure that they could continue to follow without being found out.

  Thankfully, it seemed that the man had found his destination. He stopped right beside an abandoned home, pacing back and forth.

  A few minutes later, two figures joined him. In the moonlight, Nick could only make out shadows and silhouettes.

  “Jake, we thought you weren’t going to show for a minute.”

  The figure they had followed straightened up in a defensive way. “I always show, don’t I?”

  Nick recognized his voice. It was definitely Jake from the general store. He didn’t sound exactly the same though. The funny way that he talked was gone.

  “So, what’s the plan?” One of the figures who had joined the meeting seemed nervous. He paced a bit and glanced around a lot.

  A few times, Nick almost felt that the man looked directly at him.

  “I’ve been watching. It’s going to be an easy job. Especially with someone on the inside.” Jake was speaking now. “Everything is set for next week. We have to keep this quiet till it’s all over. This town could get pesky if they start to suspect anything.”