The thought of marriage by itself was unexpected and shocking, but even more unsettling was the discovery that Lucas Barrow’s was the first name to pop into her mind. And it didn’t take her more than a couple of seconds to realize that next to him, every person she had met since she left home faded into insignificance. Yet the idea of marrying a man like Lucas, much less Lucas himself, was ridiculous. Their backgrounds were so different and they were so unalike it would be absurd to even consider it, not that she was actually considering it, it was just a thought that occurred to her, and a stupid one at that, so she immediately dismissed it.
But Carrie was dismayed to find she couldn’t dismiss thoughts of Lucas that easily, and she was forced to abandon her bed and start getting dressed before she could get her mind off the strange, enigmatic wrangler. And to think she hadn’t even known what a wrangler was yesterday morning; now here she was less than twenty-four hours later mooning over one just like an adolescent schoolgirl. Well, she wasn’t mooning exactly, really, she wasn’t mooning at all, it was just that the man had been so helpful, even if he did have a poor opinion of women, and there was a sense of mystery about him she found fascinating. One of the men on the stage had told her that people in the West came from many different backgrounds, that they were not always what they seemed, and that they had their own reasons for keeping what they knew to themselves. She was not supposed to be curious, but she couldn’t help wondering about Lucas.
She slipped out of bed, wrapped her robe around her, stepped into her slippers, and idly moved about the room, ending up at the window, where she drew back the curtain so she could look out. It was still dark outside, but the sky had become a gray vault above the peaks in the distance. In a few moments the sun would burst over the distant mountains and flood the sky with its cold, clear light. She wondered if Lucas lived in a snug cabin or if he camped out. She had been told that men of the West almost always slept out, partly because they were used to it and partly because it was a lot less trouble, but it took almost no time for her to decide that any amount of trouble was preferable to sleeping outside, especially during the winter or when it rained. And that didn’t include other considerations like wild animals and marauding Indians! What kind of man would prefer the outdoors and all its dangers to the comfortable safety of a house? Could such a man ever be brought to live inside, eat at a table, and take regular baths? Carrie realized this was just one more thing she had never taken into consideration, and she wondered how much more she would have to learn before she could begin to feel comfortable in her new home.
Carrie suddenly was aware of movement across the hall and she turned away from the window. She must have sat thinking about Lucas for half an hour if the sun was any measure. She’d better get dressed and down to the station or Katie was going to be there ahead of her. And after yesterday’s problems, that would be inexcusable.
They met in the hall.
“Morning,” Carrie said with a bright smile. “I wasn’t sure you’d be up yet. I was woolgathering, or I’d have been gone and not have waked you.”
“I’ve had to be up with the sun for so long, it’s gotten in the way of a habit,” Katie said with an ironic smile. “Now that there’s no need to be stirring so early, I can’t break it.”
“You don’t have to go up to the station.”
“I’m coming up to help start the fires and grind the coffee beans,” Katie informed her. “Besides, I like company, and I’m sick of staying in this cabin with no one but me own self to talk to.” It was only a short walk from the cabin to the station, but there was frost on the ground and they wrapped up securely.
“I’ve been thinking,” Carrie began. “I’d like to offer you a job cooking for me. You’re as good as I am, maybe better, and I need someone who is here all the time, someone I can depend on to get food on the table if I have to deal with some crisis.”
“It’s an idea I like, ma’am, but what’ll I do when me Brian comes?”
Carrie swallowed hard then plunged ahead. “I was thinking that maybe you weren’t so sure you wanted to marry Brian, at least not yet.”
“Now what would make you say a thing like that?” Katie asked, her expression not giving anything away.
“I’m not sure, I guess it was just an impression I got. Anyway, you said you hadn’t seen him in years, and you were never more than friends. I thought if you had a job you wouldn’t have to get married right away, you could take your time, get to know him a little better, and make sure. I’m not trying to talk you out of marrying him, you understand, but I was in something of the same position myself, only I didn’t have time to consider or even look around to see if there was someone I liked better.” There was an awkward silence which Katie did not break. “I know it may be presumptuous, but I need someone to help me, and for the time being at least, you have nowhere to go.” Still Katie didn’t answer. “Anyway it’s an idea. I apologize if I’ve said something I shouldn’t.”
“No need, ma’am. You’re a woman, and ye understand a woman’s plight in ways a man never would. I guess I just never thought much about it. There’s never much choice when you come to marry back home, but I can already tell it’s different here. I don’t rightly know what I mean to do, but I do know there’s a sight more men than women. Even a horse of a girl like meself won’t have to settle for the first man to show his face.”
At least she shouldn’t, thought Carrie, remembering she had done exactly that.
“There’s not a particle of use pretending I haven’t been worried what’s keeping Brian and that’s naturally set me to wondering—a body can’t be in one place for nearly a week with nothing to do and not start to think a bit about things—and I would like to work for you. Even if I fall crazy in love with Brian when I see him, and I can’t see why I would do that unless he’s changed more than a body has any right to hope, it won’t do him a particle of harm to wait a little, at least as long as he made me wait. I’ll take your job, ma’am, and I’ll start to pack right after we clear off the breakfast dishes.”
Carrie had been mulling over in her mind what she thought would be a reasonable wage, but Katie’s words drove all thoughts of wages out of her head.
“Pack? Why? Where are you going?”
“To move into the station, of course. You’re expecting Mr. Simpson tomorrow, or maybe the day after, and I’d be forever underfoot in a small place like that.”
“Oh, that’s what you meant. You scared me for a minute.” Katie gave her a strange look, and Carrie realized that once again she had forgotten everyone still thought she was married. “I mean, you don’t have to move out now, not until he comes. I would be rather lonely by myself. Besides,” she added quickly when Katie’s expression didn’t return completely to normal, “the rooms at the station are a mess. We’ll have to scrub them from top to bottom before you could move into one of them. I doubt the beds can be used again.”
“No doubt we’ll have to boil the sheets and hang the mattresses on the line for a good airing,” Katie said, relaxing into her normal cheerful, unquestioning attitude.
“About your salary …” Carrie began.
“Don’t ye be talking about money just yet. As long as I have a place to sleep and something to eat, I’m content. We can talk about me salary when you’re more settled in.”
The station was cold and empty, but it was clean and orderly and within minutes they had a fire going and water on for coffee.
“Everything is pretty well started,” Carrie said a little while later. “Do you think you can carry on by yourself from here?”
“For certain I can. Fixing breakfast won’t be any trouble. Something worrying you?”
“No, but I have to make sure the team is ready when the stage comes in. That’s one reason I was so anxious to have you help me. I forgot the change of horses yesterday, and I don’t dare forget it again.”
“Won’t Mr. Barrow be doing that for you?”
“I don’t know where Mr. Barrow
is or what he means to do. In any case, he’s made it plain I can’t depend on him. Until I can find myself a stock tender, I’m going to have to fork out the teams myself.”
“Do you know how?”
“If you mean do I know how to harness a team, yes I do. If you mean have I ever done it for a stage before, no, but it can’t be too different. Anyway, I’ve got time to figure it out.”
I’ll show that Lucas Barrow I can do without his help, she said to herself as she hurried to the barn. I may not be able to break a wild mustang, but I can harness a team. She could hardly wait to see his face when she had the horses ready before the stage arrived. The thought that he might be sleeping at his cabin and not see her caused her spirits to plunge momentarily, but almost immediately she realized he would be around somewhere. Men like him never let any opportunity pass to display their supposed superiority to women. What was so difficult about harnessing a team? All you had to do was harness each horse before you brought it out of its stall. Children regularly harnessed horses to wagons, plows, and even carriages. Surely she could manage a stagecoach.
But Carrie was in for a shock. There was only one horse in the barn, and one look told her it was an animal of scope and breeding, obviously chosen by someone familiar with horses who could afford to pay for what he wanted. It had to be Lucas’s horse, but how could a wrangler afford such an animal? Carrie admitted she had no idea what kind of horses one could find running wild, but she knew enough to know this horse had Morgan blood and he had never been wild.
Wondering about Lucas’s horse isn’t going to get the team hitched, Carrie scolded herself, and she headed toward the doors at the back of the barn. She was nonplussed to discover that the horses were all held in a corral and there were many more than four. Which four should she choose and how was she going to get a bridle on them? One look at the wild-eyed mustang eyeing her with open distrust told her they weren’t going to stand still while she walked up and invited them to put their heads into a collar.
Unknown to Carrie, Lucas had preferred to be close at hand rather than sleep at his cabin; he had spent the night in the barn, and at this very minute he was looking down at her from the loft. He had intended to hitch up the team himself, but when he heard someone enter the barn, he had remained where he was, preferring to see who it was. When he recognized Carrie, he waited to see what she would do. Those horses couldn’t be caught without a lasso, and he doubted Carrie knew how to use a rope. He watched as Carrie went up to the corral and stood for a time studying the horses, lb his surprise, she entered the corral without a halter. As he expected, none of the horses would allow her to come close, but Carrie continued to move among them, and it took Lucas only a minute to realize she was making the horses move about so she could pick out the ones she intended to use in the team. Intrigued, he sat down on the hay, waiting to see what she would do next.
After a few minutes Carrie left the corral and disappeared around the side of the barn. In a moment, she reappeared dragging a bale of hay. She stood it on end near the opening of the corral and went for another. Soon she had a line of bales on one side leading from the corral to the barn. The light of understanding gleamed in Lucas’s eye as he figured out what she was doing. In a little while, she had set up a second row of bales and she had a chute from the corral to the barn. Carrie went inside, filled four troughs with oats, then returned to the corral. She took down the top bar and pulled back the second bar until she had a small opening. Then moving carefully among the horses, she cut out one of her choice and herded it toward the chute. When it was directly opposite the opening to the chute, Carrie threw up her arms and yelled at the same time. The nervous horse darted through the opening and into the barn.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Lucas thought to himself, a reluctant smile of admiration transforming his face. “That woman may be a tenderfoot, but she’s got a head on her shoulders.” It wasn’t long before Carrie had chosen her team, and it included only one horse Lucas would not have chosen himself.
Being very careful not to upset the animals, Carrie moved into the stall with each horse, petting and talking to them as she slipped the halters over their heads. The horses didn’t like the halter and tossed their heads obstinately, but they wanted the oats and they were too familiar with the halter to object for very long. Once all four horses were haltered and hitched to their stalls, Carrie searched for and found the harnesses. She laid them out on the floor until she was sure she had every piece she needed. Once she started, she wouldn’t be able to leave the horses to look for some forgotten strap.
It wasn’t easy for one person to harness four horses into a team, but Carrie had the good sense to find nose bags, which she filled with more oats, and the horses, restless and half-wild as they were, stood relatively still as she put them in the harness. Lucas didn’t get too close for fear Carrie might see him, but as far as he could tell she hadn’t made any mistakes. He’d check behind her before the stage left the yard, but he had to admit he’d never been so impressed with a woman. He sure hoped her husband turned out to be worthy of her.
A few minutes before Carrie heard the yell of the stage driver heralding his arrival, she stepped back to look at her work. The team stood quietly in the confines of the barn contentedly munching their oats, completely harnessed and ready to go.
“That ought to show that strutting Prometheus,” she said with a brilliant smile of satisfaction, then she hurriedly left the barn and returned to the station. A brief stop at a mirror to fix her hair, a brisk shaking of her skirts to get rid of the dust and a few pieces of straw, and then she was standing on the porch to welcome her guests, calm and in control, when the stage pulled into the yard.
“You’re right on time,” she told the driver, one she didn’t know. The food is still hot, so hurry in before it gets cold.”
“Where’s my team?” Jerry Blake asked.
“It’ll be ready when you’re through eating.” Everyone settled down to the table except for two men.
“Never have more than coffee in the morning,” one said. “I’d rather stretch my legs.”
“I think I’ll take a walk too,” the second man said almost as soon as the door closed behind his friend.
“Don’t wander too far,” Jerry warned him, talking with his mouth full of flapjacks. “We’ll be back on the road as soon as I change horses.”
“You won’t get through that plate of food in less than fifteen minutes,” the passenger joked, pointing to the food mounded in front of Jerry. The man just grinned and dug in again.
“I guess I’d better be seeing to the horses,” Jerry said as he got to his feet later, “but I want to tell you this sure beats anything Baca Riggins ever served up. I hope you and that young lady don’t plan to go away anytime soon. A man could get used to this kind of food.”
“There’ll be something just as good every time you come through from now on,” Carrie promised him.
“You wait until the passengers hear about you. They’ll probably start riding the stage just to get a decent meal every now and men.”
“I appreciate your compliments, Mr. Blake, but don’t you think you ought to be getting back on the road?”
“You’re right, ma’am. If you’ll just tell your tender to rustle up that team, I’ll be on my way.”
“I’m the tender for the time being,” Carrie calmly announced, “and the team is already rustled up.” Two of the passengers stopped eating at that remark. “Just follow me,” Carrie said and led the way to the barn.
Lucas had climbed down and inspected the harnesses in Carrie’s absence, but he was back in the loft waiting when Carrie opened the barn door and Jerry Blake got an eyeful of the team standing there, quiet as you please, fully harnessed, all munching complacently from their nose bags. His jaw started to sag and it didn’t get any better when Carrie calmly removed the nose bags and led the team from the barn toward the waiting stage.
“If you’ll unhitch those horses, Mr. Blake, I’ll
back the team into place.” Jerry was a little slow off the mark, but his jaw closed with a snap and he ran to get the horses unhitched from the stage before Carrie got there. “Just tie them to that rail over there,” she directed. “I’ll unharness them after you’re gone.” Jerry did as he was told, and Carrie was just backing the team into place when a shotgun went off practically in their ears. Carrie had chosen the wild-eyed mustang as one of the leaders. Until the gunshot, he had responded calmly to the whole procedure. But before the sound of the blast had finished echoing through the hills, he rolled his eyes back in their sockets, threw up his head, and started to buck in the harness. Carrie hung on to his bridle with grim determination and would probably have gotten him under control had there not been two more quick blasts from the unseen guns. That was too much for the nervous team. In unison, they started down the road at a run.
Jerry Blake had his hands full with the used-up team. Only their exhaustion kept them from breaking loose and following the others, but he looked up in time to see Carrie still holding on to the harness of the dun mustang. She wasn’t going to let go!
Chapter 5
Jerry dropped the reins he was holding and made a dive for Carrie’s team, but they were already past him. “Let ‘em go!” he shouted, horror of what could happen any second raising the hair on the back of his neck. “They’ll kill you!” But Carrie couldn’t hear him, and he stood rooted to the spot, watching helplessly as the team reached the road and turned toward the narrow mountain pass at a full gallop.
Lucas had come down from the loft and was watching Carrie from his favorite spot under the tree when the sound of the first gunshot brought him to his feet. He started toward her, but when he heard the two additional shots and saw the horses bolt, he instinctively headed through the trees at a dead run, racing toward the road at an angle he hoped would enable him to intercept the runaway team.
Colorado Bride Page 6