“But you have to be the one to tell him, Da. I don’t think he would take Sky from me. And it would be more proper if it were from both of us.”
Michael smiled. “I agree. I’ll tell him tomorrow.”
* * * *
That night, Michael watched Elizabeth get ready for bed and pulled her close when she crawled under the covers. “Cait came and talked to me tonight, a ghra. She wants me to give Night Sky to Gabe.”
Elizabeth pulled away and looked up at her husband. “But Sky is her horse, Michael. Why, she couldn’t wait to ride him….”
“I know, but she recognized what there is between the two of them. You saw it too, Elizabeth. Gabe has given so much of himself to that horse. Cait wants him to know that if he should leave someday, he can take Sky with him.”
“Is she going to tell him?”
“Now that is the interesting thing, Elizabeth,” said Michael with a grin. “She thinks it would be better for me to do it. ‘Proper’ was the word she used. What I’m wondering is how proper they have been together!”
“That may be the very reason she wants you to do it, Michael. She wouldn’t want him to feel an overwhelming sense of obligation to her, would she?”
* * * *
The next morning, Michael caught Gabe just before he was going to bring in the colts.
“Can I talk to you a minute, Gabe?”
Gabe closed the pasture gate and walked back to the corral fence. “What is it, Mr. Burke?”
“It is a wonder, what you’ve done with Sky,” began Michael.
“He’s been worth every minute of it, Mr. Burke. Miss Cait has herself a great horse.”
“Em, well, that is the tiling, Gabe. Cait and I have been talking and we both agree that Night Sky should be yours. After all, he already is in every way that counts.”
Gabe was stopped dead in his tracks. “You can’t do that, Mr. Burke. Why, Miss Cait loves that horse.”
“It was her idea, boyo. She wanted you to know that should you ever leave, Sky will go with you.”
“I never would have expected…” Gabe stammered. “I don’t know what to say, or how I can ever thank you.”
“You don’t need to. Ye’ve saved a good horse and ye’ve stayed on during a hard time. Of course, we all hope ye’ll be staying for a long time.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Mr. Burke, not until we see what Mackie has up his sleeve.”
“Well, Sky goes with you, Gabe, if ever you feel you have to leave.”
“I can’t thank you enough, Mr. Burke. I, uh, I do love that horse,” Gabe admitted.
“Sure and anyone could see that, boyo.”
Gabe went through the motions of training the colts and then it was time to saddle Sky for Caitlin’s ride. As he brushed the horse, he marveled again at the beauty of his markings and the intelligence in those white-rimmed eyes. “You look like a wild one, Sky, but I’ve never met a horse more willing to work with me,” he told the horse who flicked his ears back and forth as he listened to Gabe’s murmur.
* * * *
Cait was waiting by the fence when Gabe brought the horse out and he led Sky over and held him while she mounted. He was too embarrassed even to look at her, so he just said: “Today I think you can try him at a canter, Miss Cait.” He watched as she walked and trotted for fifteen minutes and then signaled her to bring him back to a walk.
“When you give him the signal to lope, go around the corral a few times and then we’ll try some figure eights.”
Riding Sky at a lope was like riding a rocking horse, thought Cait as they cantered around the corral. His gait was so smooth that her bottom never moved from the saddle. After a few circles, she neck-reined him through the figure eights, giving him the subtle signals to change leads that Gabe had taught her. It was as wonderful as she had dreamed it would be, riding her horse. Except he wasn’t her horse, she reminded herself.
“Good work, Miss Cait,” called Gabe when she brought him down to a walk. “Cool him down and then bring him into the barn.” Gabe turned his back and walked into the cool darkness of the barn. She had looked so natural on the horse. How could he take Sky from her? No matter how hard it was to refuse, he could not accept such a gift.
When Cait led Sky in, she saw Gabe sitting on a bale of hay, chewing a piece of straw. He got up and helped her with the saddle, saying gruffly, “After you’ve wiped him off, I’d like to talk to you about something, Miss Cait. I’ll be in the tack room.”
By the time Cait had finished with Sky, Gabe had soaped her saddle and moved on to the bridles. When she came in, he gestured for her to sit down and said: “Your father talked to me this morning, Miss Cait. About Sky.”
“Oh….” Cait felt foolishly tongue-tied.
“He told me you want to give me your horse.”
“Sky has really become your horse, Gabe,” she said quietly.
“I can’t take him from you, Miss Cait. For one thing, there is a connection between the two of you that will only get stronger once you’re the only one riding him. For another, he’s a valuable animal.” Gabe hesitated, “But I am touched by your sweet, generous heart,” he added softly. He moved closer and reaching his hand out, smoothed back her hair. Cait could feel a lovely liquid warmth radiate through her, but when she lifted her face for a kiss, Gabe only traced her lips with his finger.
“You see, I can’t take such a gift after stealing your kisses,” he told her.
“I want you to have Sky, Gabe,” Cait said, her voice trembling. “Please let me give him to you.”
“All right,” Gabe replied slowly and reluctantly. “But I want you to be riding him too. And if you ever change your mind….”
“I won’t.”
“Then I will just say thank you, Miss Cait. Now I’d best finish off my work here,” he said, turning away.
Cait whispered a good-bye and left, wanting only to go back and admit to him that she feared he hadn’t only taken her kisses but her heart.
Chapter Thirty-three
“Chavez?”
“Si, Señor Mackie.” Juan was sitting outside the bunkhouse after supper when Mackie approached.
“Walk down to the west pasture with me.”
The moon lit the path in front of them.
“How is Miss Sadie Hart, Chavez?”
“She is well, señor,” replied Juan, deliberately misinterpreting Mackie’s question.
“I mean, how is your ‘courting’ going? Have you had her yet?”
Juan was surprised at the sudden fierce anger that arose with Mackie’s crudeness. “I do not like to talk of the señorita in that way,” he said softly but firmly.
“You’re not going soft on me, are you, Chavez?”
“Let us just say that the señorita and I have become very friendly. Friendly enough so that her brother is furious, which is what you want, no?”
“I want Gabriel Hart dead, is what I want, so he can’t protect Michael Burke when he rides in here to protest your involvement with Miss Sadie.”
Juan wasn’t really surprised. After all, he had known the whole purpose of his visits to Sadie were to work up her brother. And Mackie wasn’t suggesting something he hadn’t done before: pushing someone to his limit so that killing him became self-defense. But he hadn’t wanted to think about it, he realized a distaste for the task and the man who ordered him filled his mouth.
“You can take him, can’t you, Chavez?” asked Mackie.
“Si, señor. I have no doubts about that.”
“Good.” They had reached the barbed wire fence that demarcated the west pasture from the corrals. “See that, Chavez,” said Mackie, waving his arm at the cows and calves gathered by the water trough. “I have only five hundred head on the Bar M. I will never be a force in this territory until I can run more. I need Burke’s land and I am going to get it,” he added fiercely. “If you do your job well, you will be highly rewarded, Juan, you know that.”
“So you’ve always said, Señor Mackie.”
&n
bsp; “You’ve got to push Gabriel Hart into a fight. Burke won’t get any help from the sheriff, of course, so he’ll come after me directly. And when he does, I’ll be ready for him. I think Michael Burke will be shot down as he threatens the safety of my wife and home. Once he’s dead, Mrs. Burke will sell, I’m sure of that. And the important thing is it will have been them who break the peace we’ve all worked so hard for in this valley, won’t it? You will be the innocent suitor of Hart’s sister, forced to defend himself. And when Burke comes after you here, well, I can’t let him threaten me or my wife, can I?”
“Of course not, señor. But are you so sure Burke will take you on without Hart to back him up? Surely he wouldn’t be so reckless?”
“Oh, I think if you do your job right, Juan, we’ll see him here within hours of Hart’s death.”
* * * *
He’d carried out orders like this before, so why was he all of a sudden questioning himself, thought Chavez as he lay on his bunk unable to sleep. Mackie was no worse than others he’d worked for. He wouldn’t really have Hart’s death on his conscience, because he would make sure it was self-defense. And he’d never had much of a conscience to begin with. So why all of a sudden was he worried about burdening it? He could make sure he was out of the way when Burke rode in. Mackie had plenty of men to take him down. Let Mackie shoot Michael Burke himself, damn it. Let him do his own dirty work for a change. It was Sadie, of course. It hadn’t been hard to follow those orders, She was an attractive woman and an unusual one, willing to trust her own judgment of him and look at him through her own eyes, not those of others. She had seen him not the hired gun, not El Lobo. And now he was going to betray that trust and she would realize that who she thought she saw wasn’t really there. For who was Juan Chavez anyway but the creation of all the men who had ruled his life since the day he was sold to the Romeros. Juan Chavez had no mind of his own and certainly no heart.
Whoever he had been before, that seven-year-old boy who came back in flashes of memory, might have grown up differently had he somehow been rescued from his fate. But then, he wouldn’t have survived more than a year had Juan Chavez not taken his place.
It was too late to change now. He’d go calling on Sadie Hart. He’d make sure her brother fought him. He’d kill Gabe and turn his back on Sadie. But he wouldn’t take any of Mackie’s damn reward. He’d just ride the hell out of this damned valley when it was all over.
* * * *
Sadie and Gabe had reached an uneasy truce, and aside from commonplaces, hadn’t done much talking after Juan’s last visit. He hadn’t told her directly of Cait’s gift, nor whether he’d approached Cait again. And, tell the truth, Sadie, she told herself one morning, you don’t care. Let her brother take care of his own problems. Why should I try to help him understand himself or Cait if he won’t try to understand me!
All the same, she was glad that Gabe was out riding fence when Juan Chavez rode up a few days after their buggy ride.
“Buenos tardes, señorita.”
“Buenos tardes, Señor Chavez. No buggy today?” she said with a teasing smile.
“I thought you might like to go for a ride this afternoon instead.”
“I would love it. Just let me go in and change.”
Juan dismounted and sat down on the porch steps. To his right was Mrs. Burke’s flower garden, in front of him, the corral. It was a small but well-taken-care-of ranching operation that Burke had here and every time he saw it he was impressed. There was a palpable difference between the Burkes’ small enterprise and Mackie’s spread and it was the feeling that the Burkes had created something out of their care for each other and the land.
Sadie was down in a few minutes and they walked over to the corral together where Snowflake was tied. “Mrs. Burke said I could take the mare,” said Sadie. “She was ridden this morning, but only for a short while.” Sadie started to lift the saddle from the corral fence and Juan intervened. “I will do it for you, señorita.”
They rode out and turned east toward the mountains. Sadie wondered if they were headed up into the foothills. Did Juan want her again? And more importantly, did she want to give herself? That first time had seemed inevitable and uncontrollable. But was it wise to risk heartbreak, and even more important, a child, with a man she hardly knew?
Evidently he was more interested in riding than kissing, however, for they didn’t turn off south toward the mountains but kept on going. There was no easy chatter as there would be with Cait or Gabe. Not that she’d expected it with him. But aside from the joy of a few gallops, the ride was an uncomfortable one and Sadie was almost glad when they turned back to the ranch.
“When will you be going back to Texas, Miss Sadie?” Juan asked, finally breaking their silence. Sadie wondered if this was his prelude to saying goodbye to her.
“Oh, most likely pretty soon, before the weather changes.”
“You’ll turn into a school teacher again?”
“In January. That will give me enough time to rescue the house from whatever disaster it has suffered since I’ve been gone. My brothers are not exactly expert housekeepers,” she added with a grin.
“I am sure the Burkes will miss you.”
“I will miss them,” said Sadie. But will you miss me? she wondered, hurt more than she would have thought possible by his casual discussion of her departure.
When they reached the ranch, Chavez noticed that Gabe’s paint was tied in front of the house. Good, Hart was back, he thought. After he unsaddled Snowflake and released her into the corral, he turned to Sadie. “I am thirsty, querida, but I am not comfortable where I am not welcome. Is there an outside pump?”
“Behind the barn, Juan.”
“Bueno,” he said, looking at her with such intensity that she grew hot all over. When he took her hand in his, she followed without thinking.
They each took a few swallows from the ladle, and then, without any preliminaries, he grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her against the barn. She was both frightened and thrilled by the hard grasp of his hands, and when he let go, she was almost disappointed. But then he ran both his hands through her hair, cradling her head and tilting it back. When his mouth came down on hers, it was in a bruising kiss, one that took her breath away.
When he finally pulled away, she looked up at him pleadingly, as though for an explanation.
“Oh, mi corazon,” he whispered, drawing his finger down her cheek. He did love her, she thought, and in an instant realized that he indeed had her heart. “Oh, Juan,” she said softly.
“It is so cruel that you are leaving, querida.” He was fumbling with the buttons of her blouse and he gave a satisfied sigh when his hand was finally able to feel her breast. “Your heart is beating like a frightened bird’s,” he whispered. “Don’t worry, querida,” he said, as he started to unfasten her skirt.
“Juan, we can’t, not here,” she whispered, wanting him terribly but hurt at the same time that he was thinking about taking her up against the barn. Her skirt fell and she stood there in her drawers and he rubbed against her, letting her feel his hardness.
“Juan, no,” she said a little louder as his hand slipped down her drawers, exploring her moistness. “Someone might come.”
“Yes, I think so,” he said with a smile, as he continued to stroke her.
There was something driven about it all, and instead of being able to relax, Sadie pushed him away, saying again, “No, Juan, not here.” Then she gasped with horror, not pleasure as she saw Gabe coming around the back of the barn.
Her brother stopped dead and then ran forward, hauling Juan off of Sadie. “Take your filthy hands off my sister, Chavez!”
Sadie’s hands were shaking as she tried to button her blouse. Dear God, here she was standing in her drawers. “Gabe,” she protested weakly.
“I’ll talk to you later, Sarah Ellen.” Gabe looked coldly at her and then lowered his eyes to the ground where her skirt was laying around her feet. She bent over and pulle
d it up, fastening it as quickly as she could. “Gabe, it isn’t what you think,” she protested as he pushed against Juan’s chest, sending him stumbling to his knees.
“Get up, you dirty little murderer. I’m going to kill you for trying to rape my sister so I want you standing.”
Chavez got up and moved back, right hand crooked, ready to draw. Sadie wanted to scream, but she felt she was in one of those nightmares where you try to cry and no sound comes out. She started toward her brother, but he just pushed her back and moved out to face Chavez, his left hand hovering.
It happened so quickly that afterward, Sadie wondered if she’d even seen their hands move. Gabe was standing there, blood dripping down his arm, his gun fallen out of paralyzed fingers. She was afraid to look at Juan, but when she turned, there he was, standing there unhurt, staring down at the smoking barrel of his gun as though he’d never seen it before.
Gabe leaned down as though he was going to pick up his gun and Juan said coldly, “Don’t even think about it, señor.”
Sadie gave him an agonized glance, but Chavez’s eyes were now the opaque green of El Lobo’s. “Adios, querida,” he said softly and walked by them without a backward look.
Gabe had sunk to the ground and Sadie realized that he was losing blood fast. “I’ll be right back, Gabe,” she said and she ran into the barn to grab a linen sack off the shelf in the tack room, which she tore into strips. Gabe had gotten himself up on the bench and Sadie sat herself next to him, tying the strips around his upper arm to stop the bleeding. Thank God, it did not seem to be a severed artery, she thought. Once the bleeding had finally slowed, she pulled off his shirt and wetting it at the pump, began to clean off the blood.
“Oh, Gabe, I am so sorry, but why did you force him to draw?”
Gabe, who had been leaning back against the barn, eyes closed, sat up and looked at her. “You got it wrong, Sadie. Any man who came upon his sister backed up against the side of a barn would have done the same thing. Chavez was counting on that,” he continued bitterly. “Now can’t you see that he’s been using you?”
Journey of the Heart Page 28