by Ciara Knight
Jeb slung his saddle blanket over his horse. “As far as we can.”
Sounds of birds chirping confirmed that daybreak was coming, and with it the light he needed to guide him home.
Teddy stood by his horse and looked around. “Where’s Elizabeth?”
“Don’t know. Assume she’s staying behind.”
“Why’d she do that?” Bart asked.
Jeb settled his saddle onto the horse and secured it. “So she can marry Colonel Richardson.”
Teddy laughed. “I think you need more sleep.”
“I’ll sleep at home. I’ve got to set up another meeting this week. Don’t worry, boys, even if Colonel Richardson doesn’t agree to our terms this morning, the money we’ll get from this drive will carry us to the next. It won’t be an instant-rich kind of ranch, but we’ll manage.” Jeb wasn’t sure if he was saying this to his men for their sake, or his own. “Payment should be delivered at first light. Get the men ready, we leave immediately after.”
Teddy and the rest of hands huddled around the troughs and mumbled. Jeb was in no mood to discuss anything about Elizabeth or what had happened last night, but then Teddy looked at him and he just knew he was going to ask.
Fortunately, two soldiers approached with a sack in hand. “Here is your payment.”
Jeb took it and put it in his saddlebag to settle with the men at their first stop. “We deducted for the supplies you requested. One of the soldiers pointed to his men around the trough and two sacks full of food they were already nibbling on. With a nod of confirmation, Jeb returned to tending to his horse.
“I was beginning to think you were never going to get up and head out.” Elizabeth’s voice captured his attention and wouldn’t let it go, but he refused to look at her. She placed a hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off and moved to the other side of his horse.
“You going back with us?” Jeb asked.
Elizabeth laughed nervously. “Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
As if answering her question, Richardson said, “Good morning, Elizabeth.” His voice was like a bullet through Jeb’s chest, his words stinging his insides.
“Good morning,” Elizabeth said in a breathy tone. “I wasn’t sure I’d see you before we left.”
“If you’re going with us, you can ride with Samuel. I’m not paying for another saddle,” Jeb said in a cold, angry tone.
“I’d be happy to give you my best saddle, but you are welcome to stay here, and I can provide safe and more comfortable passage for you.” He took Elizabeth’s hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.
“No, thank you. I’d like to stay with the men and see this to the end. I was about to tell Jeb about the agreement.”
“Yes, there is that.” Richardson stepped around his horse and faced Jeb with a smug grin. “Your darling cook has persuaded me to continue our arrangement. I expect the cattle to arrive within thirty days at the fort.”
“Thirty days?” He glowered at the man. “That’s insane. We need to return to the ranch, then gather and brand the cattle within two weeks to make the almost fourteen-day trek to the fort.” It had taken far more preparation to make the few days they had just completed to the camp.
“Yes, that is correct.” He about-faced like a good solider and took Elizabeth’s hand, bending over and kissing it again, as if she were some princess. “And I’ll expect to hear from you soon.”
Elizabeth curtsied, then remained still until Richardson returned to his men and they all headed off. “Did you hear that? We did it. You’ve got the contract.”
“Yes, but at what price?” Jeb said with a sour taste flooding his mouth.
Elizabeth blinked at him. “Right. I know it’ll be difficult to make that deadline, but we can do it if we all work together.”
“Together? There is no together, you’re leaving when we get home, remember?”
Elizabeth stumbled back. “I thought….I thought I’d be staying on at the ranch.”
Flies buzzed around Jeb’s horse, and he shooed them away from his face and grabbed his reins. “Won’t you be in New York with your new husband?”
Without waiting for a response, he mounted his horse and bolted to the edge of camp to wait for his men. If he had his way, they’d ride straight through to the ranch, but it wasn’t an option. They needed to feed and water the horses and rest, but it would only take a third of the time to return to the ranch. It would be the longest day and a half of his life, though. He kept hearing Richardson’s words over and over in his head. You are a tough negotiator, and hopefully an equally challenging wife.
He barked at the men to load up and move out. The faster he arrived home, the faster he could round up the cattle, brand them, and deliver them in time to get paid. And most importantly, the faster he’d get Elizabeth off his land.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Elizabeth thought she’d fall from her horse. They’d ridden so hard, and even with her own saddle, she still felt the rawness on her skin. Jeb had avoided her all the way, placing men between them and taking first shift to keep an eye out for the bandits. When they reached the edge of Clayton Ranch land, she thought she’d cry.
They drove in with Mary standing and waving on the porch. “Food’s ready. Get the horses settled and we’ll eat.”
Jeb passed his horse off to Samuel and headed for the house without a word. He marched up the steps and disappeared.
Elizabeth shook her head, still unable to decipher why Jeb was angry with her.
“Go ahead. I’ll tend to your horse,” Samuel offered. “How’s your breathing?”
“I’m fine, Samuel. Thanks.”
He took her reins and guided her horse toward the rest of the men, but Elizabeth followed him. “I think you should talk to him.”
Teddy and the rest of the men nodded their agreement.
“I wish I knew what he was so mad about,” she said.
Samuel cleared his throat. “I think he likes you.”
Elizabeth laughed. “No, I don’t think that’s the problem.”
Teddy rested a hand on her shoulder. “It is, and he thinks you’re going to run off and marry that Colonel. He heard you outside his tent. I told him that don’t sound like you, but he said he heard it with his own ears.”
“Oh.” A sting glazed her skin. She bowed her head and studied the dirt on her hands. “That’s why Jeb said that. He must’ve heard us at the colonel’s tent.
“Say it isn’t true,” Samuel pleaded.
Elizabeth didn’t know what to say. What were her options? If Jeb wanted her gone, she had no say about staying.
“He may not know it yet, but that man is falling in love with you,” Teddy said. “I seen it in his eyes. Men get all turned upside down over a good woman, and you’re the best.” He squeezed her shoulder in an awkward attempt at a fatherly moment.
She patted his hand but didn’t say anything. She didn’t know what to say, but she had to settle on something by the time she reached the house. A heaviness covered her chest, as if to steal her breath from her. She left the men near the barn and shuffled toward the house, stalling to think of the right words. Mary stood inside the door as Jeb shoveled some meat and potatoes into his mouth.
There would be no reasoning with him. He’d made up his mind, but she had to try. “Listen, you only think you heard something, but it isn’t true. I didn’t agree to marry Nate. I was trying to make a deal, so this ranch would flourish like you wanted. I did it for you.”
Jeb dropped his fork with a clank. “You sold yourself to save this ranch? That’s what you’re telling me?”
Fury raises her fists and propels her toward him. “You take that back. I’d never sell myself to any man. Actually, he offered me a comfortable life in which he didn’t demand me to be a baby factory.”
“So you don’t want kids. Fine, go marry him, but don’t say you did it for the ranch.”
Elizabeth clutched her hair tight at her scalp and stomped her foot. “You ar
e an impossible man! I didn’t tell him I would marry him. I told him I’d think about it.”
“Then I’ll let you get to thinking.” Jeb abandoned his plate and headed for the door, but she sidestepped to block his path.
“You listen to me and believe what I’m saying. There are only two reasons I entertained the conversation. One was to make sure you were given that contract, because I knew it meant everything to you.”
He glowered down at her with dark eyes and a snarl. “I had it handled.”
“That’s right, because you don’t need anyone to help ever. You’re always in control. Well, I’ve got news for you, everyone needs help from time to time.”
“You don’t need help,” he accused, closing the last bit of space between them. “You have everything handled, right? Instead of talking to me about the cattle deal, you decided to go into a man’s tent in the dead of night to negotiate. You’re lucky the only offer he made was to be your husband. There was no one there to defend your honor. No chaperone to protect you.”
“You don’t care about my honor, you’re mad that I went behind your back. Listen to me, sometimes men are too stubborn to reach a deal because they must be stronger, and bolder than the other man. I used a softer approach, and it worked.”
“It worked all right. We have twenty-eight days to deliver or we’re done.”
“At least you have a chance. That’s more than you had before I spoke to him.”
“Right, and the second reason?” Jeb said with a dismissive wave. “What?”
“You said there were two reasons. What was the second?” Jeb studied his fingernails, as if her words didn’t require his undivided attention.
“Because I need to survive, and you want to kick me out of here. Where am I supposed to go in a world of men? All you want from us is babies and food.”
“So, you did think you would marry him. I knew you lied. Once a liar, always a liar.”
She stomped her foot and let out a frustrated, muffled scream. “Liar? I’ve never lied to you, but you’re too stubborn to see that. Not all of us are like the women your father knew. Not all of us will laugh at you and demoralize you for your money. I didn’t lie, I negotiated.”
“Some negotiator you are. You think you’re worth that much?”
A chill settled deep into her bones, and the anger faded, replaced by grief. Grief at the realization that he would never see her as anything but a lying, cheating woman. “I’m worth a lot more than you could ever offer me,” she said in a cold tone.
Jeb lifted his chin and looked over her head. “Then why are you still here?”
It was like her red hair caught fire and her scalp burned with hatred. She slapped him as hard as she could across that smug face and marched outside. Temper flaring, she ran out to the fields to be with the cows. They were better company than men.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The sting on his cheek didn’t last as long as the ache in his gut.
“Well, aren’t you the fool,” Ma said before clearing his plate from the table.
He whirled on her. “You forget she lied to me, and then the moment I started to trust her, she lied to me again.”
“She didn’t lie to you, she negotiated.”
Jeb paced the floor to the stairs, then turned and paced back, unable to let go of an energy that made him want to jump from his skin. “Negotiated my deal behind my back using her feminine ways. That’s exactly what women did to Pa.”
“Your pa was a drunkard who allowed himself to be fooled. He believed what he wanted to believe,” Ma said with a hint of pain in her voice.
“Doesn’t matter, the women still used the ways they have to convince him. That’s exactly what Elizabeth did to Colonel Richardson. She used her way to make a deal. She’s exactly the type of woman I don’t want in my life. A liar, a manipulator. I will not be like Pa.”
Ma let out a loud sigh. “She did it for you, because she cares about you. The women who manipulated your pa were saloon girls who didn’t care about him.” She sank to the bench and settled her hands in her lap. “Yes, women use their feminine gifts to get what they want at times. Did you ever stop and think why we have to do that?”
“No.” He shot her a sideways glance but kept pacing.
“Because we have no rights. We can’t vote, we can’t have jobs, we can’t own land. If a man is in control of everything, how do we get what we need in life? Men use muscles, brains, and respect to earn wages and own homes. Woman have one tool they can access in their life, and it can save a woman from many things, including an unhappy marriage. You don’t think that I knew what your father was doing?”
Jeb stopped dead in his tracks.
“Every time he left to find a drink and a woman meant he wasn’t around me and he couldn’t harm you. I didn’t tell him he could go because he demanded it. I would smile and cook him food because it kept him thinking he was in control. A man who doesn’t feel in control is like a rabid animal with fists.”
Jeb sucked in a gut-punching breath. “I…I always thought those women stole him from us.”
Ma removed her apron and set it on the table, then took his hands in hers, tugging him down to sit by her side. “No, son. I gave him to them.”
The room tilted, and his head throbbed with too many words bombarding him at once. “But I remember those women. They’d say anything to get what they wanted.”
She gripped his hands tighter. “Honey, they were prostitutes. They were paid to say whatever a man wanted to hear, and to take whatever they could to survive. Elizabeth isn’t a prostitute. She used her gifts to help you.”
“Why would she do that?”
“I think you know, son.”
He yanked his hands away and paced back to the stairs. The saloon girls’ taunts and laughter from his childhood echoed in his head, the women hanging all over his pa and stealing his money, flashed like a revolving door that he couldn’t escape. “She still lied to me when she arrived. I can’t trust a woman who lies.”
“Then you can’t trust me.”
He faced his mother with a headshake and narrowed brows. “Why are you trying to cover for her? We have each other, we don’t need anyone else.”
“You won’t have me much longer.” Ma removed a piece of paper from her pocket, and his breath caught like a fishhook to his lungs.
He rushed to her side and looked down at her, analyzing her gaze. “You dying?”
“No. Getting married.”
He collapsed onto the bench at the table. “What?”
Ma laughed. “Yep, it appears I was able to get rid of the past easier than you. I decided to let love into my heart again, and it feels amazing. I only hope you can do it someday.”
“Who?” He struggled to find a man that his ma would’ve had time to get to know and fall in love with all unnoticed. Why would she ever want to marry again?
“Mister Krause. We will be married in a few weeks. I’ll be moving into his home.”
“That shack?”
Ma slammed the piece of paper onto the table by his arms. “Just remember where you came from. He’s not near as poor as we were. He’s a good man, and if you’d ever give up a precious moment of your time to meet a neighbor, you might know that.” She removed her hand and headed for the door. “After you read that, I hope you go find Elizabeth and grovel for her forgiveness. I only hope she makes you grovel long and hard before she accepts you.” Ma bolted from the room in a wave of skirts. Was that a new dress? Had she started fixing her hair different? When did all this happen.
He was nauseous from all the craziness his ma had spouted at him. How long had she even known Krause? What kind of man was he?
Jeb opened the piece of paper and read the note. His head throbbed with a pulse-pounding pressure. “No, this isn’t true.”
He marched outside to face his mother. “What is this? Did you make this up to have me fall prey to Elizabeth’s ways?”
“No. You may hate me forever, bu
t I didn’t know if you should marry that girl. I thought you might be like your pa and fall prey to some woman I didn’t know anything about, so I kept the letter when it arrived so that I could see what kind of woman she was. I had no idea she’d be as perfect as she is. It was my fault, my suspicions that I carried throughout these years, that I imprinted onto you. Frederick showed me that relationships can be about sharing and trust. It’s my fault about the lie when you met Elizabeth, but the ordeal with the colonel? That’s all on you. You best go find that woman before she heads out to New York thinking her only option is to accept that proposal.”
Jeb scanned the area, not sure what he wanted or where he should go. Elizabeth had roped him and branded him at some point. If he didn’t do something, he’d wander a lonely pasture forever. That was what he wanted though, right? there was no room in his life for such nonsense as feelings, not if he wanted to be successful.
He paced. Glanced at his mother, then at his feet. Had she really found love again? The way she smiled, held her head a little higher, was that all because of this Krause fella?
Samuel came racing in on horseback, and Jeb knew instantly there was something wrong. Jeb ran up to him as he pulled to a stop.
“What’s wrong? Is it Elizabeth? Did she leave?”
Samuel dismounted, removed his hat and eyed ma before turning back to him. “No, it’s the cattle. They’re dying.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
With the sun shining in the sky, and with the promise of the hundred dollars she’d earned, Elizabeth knew it was time to let go of the dream of Clayton Ranch. She placed her carpetbag on the bench and opened her arms to say goodbye to Mary.
“You don’t have to go,” Mary pleaded. “Give him a chance. He just needs more time.”
“No. I’m not staying here any longer,” Elizabeth said flatly. She’d been waiting two days for Jeb to speak with her, but each day, he left before sunrise and didn’t return until late in the night.
Mary straightened Elizabeth’s bonnet and held her at arm’s length with a pleading gaze. “Then you’re going to marry Colonel Richardson.”