Then his eyes went past Emma’s pretty face and reaching arms to see Belle, her jaw so tight it was a wonder her teeth hadn’t been worn down to nubs.
A spark of defiance flared to a flame Mark couldn’t quite control. “Emma, when do you think you’ll be old enough to consider taking a husband?”
Emma froze. Her eyes wide. Her reaching hands not coming a bit closer. He saw her throat work as if she were gulping down something she hadn’t meant to. “I—I reckon I’m a woman grown now, Mark.” Those frozen eyes thawed.
From behind Emma, Mark heard a noise similar to one he’d once heard from a mountain lion that he’d startled. Part snarl, part scream, all terrifying.
A hard hand landed on Emma’s shoulder and pulled her to her feet. Belle stepped between Mark and Emma.
Mark struggled to get to his feet, without stomping on Tanner or knocking any child to the ground.
“I told you she’s too young, Mark Reeves. You do your talking to me, not Emma.”
Emma came around Belle and hoisted Tanner into her arms. She thrust the boy at Belle. Then Emma tore Angela off Mark’s back. That left Catherine yammering around Mark’s knees and Jarrod asleep in his arms and Betsy jumping at his side.
Very deliberately, Emma stepped closer to Mark and faced her mother. “You’ve always told us we’re not to let anyone force us into marriage, Ma.”
“I’m not going to force you—”
Emma grabbed Mark’s forearm and sank her fingernails in so hard Mark shut up to keep from yelling in pain.
“But I don’t think I’d let anyone force me into not getting married either. You raised me to be strong enough to take care of myself, and that includes making decisions for myself.”
“Not about this. Not when this polecat is acting as if he’s such a good caretaker of children. He’s doing it to charm you, Emma.”
“I am not. I—ow!” Mark closed his mouth before he ended up with scars on his arm.
“He’s taking care of these children because Mandy is an old friend of his family, from back in Texas.”
Belle’s dark eyes slid from Emma to Mark. “First I’ve heard of that.”
Mark glanced at Emma to see if she was going to let him talk. Her nails retreated from his skin a bit, so he took that as a good sign.
“I didn’t speak of it at first. Tom Linscott and everyone with him saw that we knew each other. I didn’t hide that. But I didn’t tell about where we’d met. I wasn’t sure how Mandy had ended up there on that mountaintop, with the name of Lady Gray. When I saw her—” Mark looked at Emma. He’d already told her that Mandy was important to him, but not in the way Emma was. He hoped Emma knew that.
He hoped Belle did, too.
“I just—I hadn’t seen anyone from home—” Mark thought of how hard it had hit him, to see all the trouble that had landed on his old rival. How it made him feel when she launched herself into his arms and started crying.
“Mandy and Tom had to send the children to safety. I couldn’t help Mandy. Tom was doing that.” Mark’s throat ached at how badly he’d wished he could do more for Mandy.
“But the children needed someone. I think they can tell I care about—” Mark’s voice broke. Horrified, he quit talking and crouched down and got real busy gathering Catherine into his arms, keeping his head down, and taking far too long to shift Jarrod to one side. His pa would be shocked. His brothers would torment him forever. A man didn’t cry.
Emma’s hand on his arm slid away as he crouched. He got the burning of his eyes under control, and the embarrassment of it all eased the thickness of his throat, but now his cheeks burned as if he’d turned ten shades of red.
This was not how he’d planned to court Emma, by arguing with her ma and showing himself to be a weakling in her presence. He squared his shoulder, braced for the sneer he’d see on Belle’s face and the disdain on Emma’s.
He looked at Belle first because he couldn’t help himself and saw … kindness.
He almost dropped Catherine.
“Let me take Jarrod.” Belle relieved Mark of one of his burdens. She now held two children in her arms without looking overly burdened. He shifted so Catherine was on his right hip.
Then he dared to look at Emma. Her eyes shined right into his, and there was only softness and sympathy.
Could crying possibly be useful in attracting women? Mark had never considered such a thing before. He wondered if he’d be able to learn to do it on command.
Emma moved Angela to her left side and rested her arm on Mark’s back, not even looking at her mother and not a fingernail to be found anywhere. “I think it’s wonderful that you’ve been so good to Mandy’s children. Wonderful.”
Mark wished like crazy that Belle Harden would just take these children and go away. In fact, he wished it so bad, he turned to her. “I want a private word with Emma, Miz Harden. We won’t go far, and we won’t go for long, but if Emma’s agreeable—”
“I am.”
He snuck a quick look at Emma when she said that. And liked what he saw.
Turning back to Belle, he was having a little trouble even being scared of her, which was just pure down-to-the-bone stupid. “Please.”
Belle’s kindness faded, but she replaced it with worry and just a hint of sadness, which made Mark feel like a worm. The woman was just trying to protect her daughter. Here Mark stood with all these children, children he’d die to protect. He could feel exactly what Belle did, only her feelings had been going on all Emma’s life. His had started when he’d met these children a few days ago.
“Betsy, help me get the children inside.” Jerking her head toward the cabin, she added, “Let’s go get some cookies.”
Angela raced for the house with Betsy on her heels. Catherine started wiggling, and Mark let her down to run for the promise of sweets.
Tanner started squirming and tugging on Belle’s hand to get loose. He yelled, “I want a cookie!”
Belle let him go, which left her with a sleeping baby and a scowl. “Don’t be gone long.” Belle turned and stomped toward her cabin.
Mark could barely breathe as he reached out to Emma and she caught hold. There were lookouts everywhere. Mark couldn’t think of anywhere he could possibly be alone with her.
Emma dragged him straight for the barn. She pulled him inside, swung the door shut, and turned.
He tried to work up the nerve to say what was in his heart.
Emma launched herself at him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
He laughed, caught her around the waist, and lifted her right off her feet. The words wanted to all get out at once, and for a moment Mark wasn’t sure he’d be able to say anything. “I’ve homesteaded some land only a couple hours’ ride from here. I’m planning on having a cabin built before the snow falls. Will you—”
“Yes!” Her smile was blinding bright.
“Marry me.” Mark said the words, but he didn’t need to hear more. He laughed, spun his woman around in a tight circle, then set her on her feet, lowered his head, and kissed her.
It was his first kiss. He’d have taken one a few times before, but he could never convince the girls to go along. He suspected, considering Belle’s extreme watchfulness, it might be Emma’s, too.
They were both fast learners.
Mark pulled away reluctantly. “I can get the cabin built fast, but it won’t be much at first.” He ran one hand over Emma’s beautiful hair, pulled back in a no-nonsense braid that reached down to her waist. He wanted to see her hair loose. He wanted to have the right to ask her to leave it swaying around her shoulders, just for him.
“I don’t want to wait until spring.” He kissed her again. He desperately didn’t want to wait until spring. “But what I’ll have up by the time snow flies will be a humble home. We’ll be able to stay warm.” He had no doubt of that. “But—”
“Can we ask my pa to help build it?”
“Your pa?” That got Mark’s attention. He frowned. “I don’t want
him to think I can’t provide for you, Emma. I wouldn’t ask you to marry me if I couldn’t. We’ll be okay.”
“He helped build Lindsay’s first house when she got married.” Emma was a tough Montana pioneer woman, and Mark knew that. But she was acting purely female now, with a coaxing smile and her hands brushing across his neck.
He was sorely afraid he’d agree to anything. “I’d love the help, but—”
“It don’t matter. I’m not sure you can stop him.”
“Truth be told, I’m mainly worried about your ma.” Mark could almost feel Belle Harden burning a hole in the barn with her eyes.
“She let us come in here. That means she’s going to be okay. She might not ever admit it. And she might threaten to kill you from time to time, but that’s just tough talk.”
“Tough talk?”
“If she really gets mad, you’ll never see her comin’.”
Nodding, Mark slung his arm around his brand-new promised-to-be wife. “Well, let’s go give her the good news. Right now. Before Mandy’s young’uns figure out they don’t need me and your ma can run me off her range.”
Emma laughed and slid her arm around his waist. “You’d better let me do the talking.”
“Don’t you think your ma will judge me a coward for that?”
“Nope, I think she’ll be impressed with your good sense.”
Mark walked out of the barn holding on to Emma, trying to figure out just what kind of family he’d be joining. And not caring one whit, because he’d be getting Emma. As for making her ma like him, well, he’d figure that out later.
When he stepped outside, he saw Belle and Silas. Silas looked grim. Belle had her six-gun tied down.
The first thing Cord saw when he rode into town was a man with a streak of white in his hair. And he wasn’t alone. He found a new passel of Cooter cousins waiting for him in Helena.
Striding up to the first man he saw with the odd hair tuft, he thrust out his hand. “You’re a Cooter, aren’t’cha?” He saw a small army of men standing behind this one. Not all with the family hair. Maybe time in America was breeding that out of the Cooters. Cord hoped so. He hated that hank of white.
“Yep, we’re from all over the country. We’ve been gathering for weeks waiting to hear from someone.”
Another man from the group said, “We heard a Cooter’d been gunned down, and we’re here to see the killer pay.”
Cord didn’t want to explain the whole truth. When it had been only a single woman against the Cooter family it had been a little bit embarrassing. But now they had someone to war against. “Tom Linscott has a ranch about three or four days’ ride south of here. He’s just killed three more of us.” Cord was pretty sure Lady Gray had killed them all. It stung bad that a woman could be so salty.
“He even got my brother Fergus, and they almost got me.” Cord knew the scratches still showed on his face. He was glad they did because it helped stir up his family.
Another of the nearly two dozen men standing in the crowd pushed himself forward. “I rode with Fergus a few years back. Anyone who killed Fergus is going to pay.”
Cord wasn’t absolutely sure Fergus was dead. After that terrible racing panic had eased, Cord remembered that Fergus had been running away just a step behind. What had happened to his brother? Cord wasn’t about to admit he’d run and left a wounded brother behind, not when he’d been the biggest talker when it came to sticking with family.
It didn’t really matter, except Cord didn’t want his kinfolk to find out he’d left Fergus behind. For a man crazy to stick with his kin, Cord was surprised how little he cared about his brother. They’d only met a couple of years ago. It wasn’t like they’d grown up together.
Cord took in the look of the group. A shady crowd. He knew there were poor Cooters, rich ones, honest ones, and outlaws. This group looked like a poor band of outlaws for the most part. Worn clothing, battered saddles. Weary-looking horses and boots that were down-at-the-heels. Probably no-accounts. He suspected they hadn’t all ridden here on a train, because the tickets were too expensive.
“We need to end this now,” Cord said. He heard the grumbling of agreement. Good. “And we’ve got enough men that we can attack hard and fast and finish Linscott and his men all at once.”
And his wife.
Again Cord kept that to himself. Cord would see to Mandy Gray personally. Even that wicked shooting iron couldn’t stand up to this many men. “Let’s saddle up and ride.”
They headed straight for their horses, mounted up, and were galloping before they’d reached the edge of town. As his kin thundered along beside and behind him, Cord’s throat swelled with pride. His family was here. Enough men to start a war. Now, with all of them thrown in with him, and that cursed land around Gray Towers not haunting them, the Cooters finally had a real chance to show the world they were a family to be reckoned with.
Cord counted down the hours until they could finally make this right. With luck, if they pushed hard, they could rain down like fire on the Linscott ranch in three days.
Twenty – one
We’ll be three days getting to the Hardens if we stop for the night. We are not stopping.”
Tom reined his horse to a stop. “Yes, we are.”
“You said it’s only about four more hours. We can keep going that long. And we’ll be at Belle’s house when the children wake up.”
Tom was careful to roll his eyes before he turned to face his nagging wife. Once he was looking at her, he did his best to be real respectful of the battle-ax he’d married.
“I am not riding up this trail in the dark.” He caught her reins and thought he might catch a fist in the face.
But despite her protests, her endless protests, her endless cranky protests, he was pretty certain Mandy was ready to stop for the night. It just seemed weak to her, so she was fighting it. And him. “I’ve ridden a lot of hard trails in my life.”
For an observant woman, Mandy didn’t seem to notice that he was tying her horse up, alongside his, and stripping off his saddle. He might have to strip hers off with her still sitting on top of it. “Come on down. That trail is a killer in the full light of day. I’m not riding up it with exhausted horses and exhausted riders. We’ll set out the minute the sky lightens in the morning.”
Tom knotted her horse’s reins tight enough she’d have to dismount to untie it. Once her feet hit the ground, he’d steal her saddle, and then he’d have her. Watching for his chance, he started building a campfire.
The growling behind him continued, but finally she got down. Ready to lunge, he was pleased to see her working the cinch loose. He went back to setting up camp, glancing up occasionally to make sure she hadn’t stolen the horse and run for the upland trail. He relaxed when she took to rubbing down the black mare she was riding. He had a fire crackling before she was done.
She grabbed a small pot and filled it with spring water for coffee.
“There are talus slides on that trail.” Tom wasn’t opposed to talking sense to his wife. Being reasonable, explaining his actions. It just proved to be a waste of time up till now. “It winds around like the great-granddaddy of all timber rattlers. I haven’t been on it in years. There are spots that cave off and drop away for a hundred feet.”
“If it’s so bad, we might not even be able to get through that trail into the Harden spread.” Mandy set the coffee on to boil and pulled fixings for supper from her saddlebag.
“We’ll get through. We might have to pick our way, lead our horses, and clear the trail in spots. We can’t do all that in the dark.”
She grunted but quit her nagging. Tom thought the quiet sounded like a slice of heaven. They worked quietly side-by-side setting up camp and getting supper.
“What are we going to do to keep the children safe? We should have—”
Closing his eyes in near physical pain, he knew she thought of something new to complain about. But she was upset. Tom didn’t blame her.
While she
fretted, they finished their quick meal. The coffee was black and hot. Tom poured them both a cup in the cool mountain night then edged back from the fire to rest his back against a nearby log. Even in August it got mighty cold at night in the mountains.
With a sigh of contentment, he took a sip of the wicked brew and sighed again when his brand-spanking-new wife sat down beside him. “I’m sorry we couldn’t get there tonight, Mandy girl. You know I’m right.”
Mandy grunted. Which was an improvement over the nagging. Tom thought he could handle the racket, though. He wanted a wife with her own mind.
“And I know how much you want to get to your young’uns.”
Mandy took a long sip of the slowly cooling liquid then sighed deeply. “They’d be asleep when we got there anyway.” She looked sideways at him.
In the flickering firelight, he was reminded of the first night he’d seen her. Well, the first night since he’d gone to drag her out of that tower she lived in. Her hair loose and white, her clothes as gray as the stones that surrounded her. The blue in her eyes washed gray by the firelight. Her eyes glittering—spooky. Beautiful.
“I’m just so crazy to get to them. I should never have—”
His lips stopped the beating she’d been giving herself all day. He pulled her coffee cup out of her hand and took that stupid rifle off her back and eased her sideways until they lay on the ground, between the log and the fire.
“Stop, Mandy. Please.” He ran one hand deep into her hair. “You thought long and hard before you left them.”
“No, I—”
Silence again reigned. Tom was almost starting to like her criticism of herself. Better than him. Besides, it gave him a great excuse to distract her.
When he eased away from her pretty lips, they were stretched out on the ground. “Enough. You’re too smart to waste this much energy fretting about something you can’t undo.”
With his body blocking the fire, he couldn’t see her eyes anymore. Her hair flowed like milk over her arms and chest, and he realized he’d pulled the leather thong away and let her braid loose. He caressed the silken weight and wished it were full daylight so he could read her expression better. As if she was making any secret of how she felt.
Sophie's Daughters Trilogy Page 83