by Chloe Carley
Riley watched people as the meeting adjourned. The men began gathering in the middle of the sanctuary, while the women bustled the children out the door and into their various wagons. Riley felt Sara Jane come to stand beside her. She looked at her and spoke what was going through her mind. “I wish I knew how my brother conducted these thefts.”
“Now that everyone is on guard, any newcomers to town will be suspect and questioned. When your brother shows up, someone will find out.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“Me, too. Ready to go back to the ranch?” Sara Jane asked.
“Sure.”
“Come on, the guys can join us when they’re through here.” Sara Jane hooked her arm in Riley’s, and they headed for the wagon. Pearl was already standing beside the wagon with several other ladies, all of whom turned and gave Riley curious looks.
“Are you girls ready to go back to the ranch?”
“Yes, Ma. We are.”
“Good. Ladies, it was nice speaking to you. I must take my daughter and new friend home now.”
Riley watched as Pearl deftly climbed up into the wagon and adjusted her skirts around her legs as she took a seat on the buckboard.
“Sara Jane, if you’ll take the reins?” Pearl asked, sitting primly with her hands in her lap.
Riley shared a smile with Sara Jane, and a few minutes later they were headed back to the ranch. Back to the place Riley hoped she was going to be able to call home.
That’s all she’d really wanted, a place to call home and people to consider part of her family. She wouldn’t admit it aloud, but in some ways, she owed a debt of gratitude to Peter Young. Without his misbehavior, she wouldn’t have ended up in the river and would have never met Gideon.
Now, that was a subject that bore more thought. She kept replaying his words about liking her. She liked him too, if she was to be honest with herself. Maybe a little too much. She’d never had a beau before and it kind of seemed like the timing was all wrong to start right now.
She thought about that all the way back to the ranch. She didn’t have any more answers and she excused herself from the other women and took a short walk to the barn. She loved horses and she took solace in walking amongst the stalls and petting those that would let her.
“You guys wouldn’t have any answers, would you?”
“I hope you don’t expect those horses to answer you,” a familiar voice called to her from the door of the barn.
Riley turned to see Gideon standing there, looking tall and very handsome with the sunlight behind him. “I didn’t realize you guys were back.”
“Travelling by horseback is much faster.”
Riley nodded. “I know. I just didn’t think … are the men in town willing to help?”
“Most of them. The ones that aren’t have been advised to find someplace else to be, come Wednesday morning.”
“I’m glad they’re taking the threat seriously.”
“What were you doing in here all alone?” Gideon asked, walking toward her slowly.
“Talking to the horses.” Riley blushed.The horse at her back nudged her, displeased at being ignored. She spun around and giggled. “Sorry, I was petting you, wasn’t I?”
“That’s Thor. My ma names all of the foals around here. I saw Sara Jane in the yard, and she said you are thinking about staying?”
“I am.” She kicked her shoes in the hay strewn floor and looked up at him. “Is that okay with you?”
Gideon was only a foot away from her now and he slowly nodded, moving forward and raising one arm to lean against the stall behind her. He essentially had her caged in with his body on the right and the large stallion on the left. “That would be more than okay with me. Tell me something, Riley. Have you ever had a boyfriend or a beau?”
Riley looked up into his eyes, tipping her head almost all the way back because he was so much taller than she. She shook her head slowly from side to side. “I haven’t ever met a fella that I liked well enough. All of the boys my parents brought around expected me to be some simpering female who wanted to sit about and do nothing. My mother was determined to see me married off to a lawyer or some stuffy businessman. I would have hated that life, but she never really seemed to care. She wanted me to have the servants she never had. I just wanted to ride horses with my father and learn how to shoot accurately.”
“Sara Jane told me she took you and Ma out for some target practice yesterday. She said you’re pretty good with a rifle.”
“Not nearly as good as she is. Will you teach me to shoot from a holster like Sara Jane?”
Gideon made a noncommittal sound and asked, “Did your brother teach you?”
Riley shrugged one shoulder. “Some, but mostly it was my dad. I miss him.”
“I bet you do. When I was down in Texas, being able to talk to my parents was one of the things I missed most.”
She looked into his eyes and watched him lift a finger and lightly trace her hairline. She’d removed her bonnet as soon as they’d gotten away from the town and laughed when Sara Jane and even Pearl had followed suit. She liked feeling the wind blow through her hair and had taken out the braid as they rode along, letting the breeze separate her long red tresses.
“Your hair is so smooth,” Gideon murmured. He had a lock of her hair between his fingers and he slid them over it, watching as his fingers traveled down to the very tips where it curled slightly. He searched her eyes once more and pushed away from the stable wall. “I need to finish up my chores.”
“I should probably get inside and help your ma with supper. I’m sure she isn’t wanting help from Sara Jane.” Riley said the words, but she couldn’t seem to make her feet move. There was a building tension in the barn that had nothing to do with the animals and everything to do with the man standing so close to her. She could feel the warmth coming off his chest and had a brief memory of being held in his arms while he comforted her after the snake incident. She had a longing to feel his arms wrapped around her once more, but no idea of how to make that happen without appearing too forward and asking.
While Gideon might not mind or think poorly of her for expressing her curiosity about her feelings for him when he was near, she couldn’t risk him forming a bad opinion of her.
While she might not care what others thought about her, she most definitely cared about Gideon’s opinion. Each time she spent time alone with him, she felt like there was an invisible string drawing them closer and closer together.
At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before there was nothing between them but these feelings, and she didn’t quite know what to do with yet.
Gideon’s soft chuckle reminded her they were discussing her going back inside to help with supper. He smiled softly and agreed with her previous assessment of his sister’s domestic abilities. “That’s probably an accurate statement. About the only time Sara Jane helps with supper is if she’s just carrying it to the table.”
“She hates being in the kitchen, but if she ever hopes to find a beau, she’s going to have to learn how to cook some things.”
“Maybe you can teach her a few things?”
“Maybe.” Riley steeled her spine and forced her feet to move. “I’ll see you later?” wasn’t supposed to have come out as a question, but a statement.
“You bet you will.” Gideon stepped back. “One day soon I’m not going to walk away and we’re going to explore this.” He gave her a wink before he sauntered out of the barn the same way he’d arrived. She followed him, but much slower. She did need to get inside and help with supper, but whatever was happening between her and Gideon deserved some contemplating.
We’re going to explore this.
She was thinking about extending her walk, but then she spied Pearl standing at the kitchen door, obviously looking for her. Riley lifted a hand and started in that direction. Pearl waved and went back inside.
Riley pushed her thoughts aside for the moment. Any soul searching or figuring things out would h
ave to wait until the chores were finished up and supper was on the table.
It might be Sunday and God’s day, but for ranchers and farmers, there was no such thing as a day off. Chores and animals wouldn’t wait, and neither would hungry ranch hands.
Several hours later, Riley was once again alone. She walked to the first corral and stood there, petting a horse which had joined her, while she looked off into the distance.
Gideon had sat next to her during supper, and more than once Riley had caught one or both of his parents watching the pair of them.
She’d tried not to blush, but as she was helping Pearl clean up the supper dishes, the older woman had dropped many hints that she and her husband wouldn’t object to a relationship starting up between their son and her.
Riley was a bit confused by this revelation. She was a nobody. An orphan with no home, no money, and essentially no family that she would feel good about claiming as her own. She was so different from Gideon and his family; she just couldn’t see how they would think her a good match for either of their offspring.
Gideon had told her he wanted her to stick around. Pearl and James had expressed their wish that she would consider the Lazy L ranch her new home. Even Sara Jane had been thrilled with her arrival and was hoping she would stay. Shawn had been noncommittal, but Riley figured that had more to do with his animosity toward his brother than it did her.
She surveyed the mountains in the distance and the pastures and fields before her. This place had an amazing complexity of texture and color.
She knew the area between the ranch and town was mostly desert, with a few mesas rising up here and there, and then forested mountains in the distance. Yet, here on the ranch, the fields were lush and green with plenty of life-giving water to keep them that way.
The horse nudged her hand, and she began stroking its neck once more. “You just want attention,” she chided the animal.
God, am I being like this horse? Just wanting any attention and possibly misreading things? These feelings I have for Gideon … I’ve never felt this way about a man that wasn’t part of my family. I like being near him, but I don’t want to mistake gratitude for something it’s not.
Am I being silly and overthinking things? I feel guilty for wasting so much energy on this when there is a town to save. I need to keep my focus there. I need Your help to do so.
She heard Sara Jane calling her name and turned to head back toward the house. Something her father used to say came to mind and she smiled fondly at the memory.
“Don’t worry today about tomorrow, it will take care of itself. Instead, concentrate on making each and every second of today the best it can be. Smile. Laugh. Cry if the situation needs tears. Be kind and generous. But above all, remember that God is with you and will never leave you. Even when it feels like you’re all alone, He is there by your side. Never doubt that.
When things get tough, ask Him for help and He will always answer you in some way, shape, or form. You just have to be willing to look and listen.”
Riley was ready. She was already looking, and she’d been listening. She would continue to do so, with the hope that someday soon these emotions and feelings she was developing for Gideon would make sense.
Chapter 15
The same afternoon …
Roy and his gang of outlaws had finally arrived in Rio Arriba, and just in time. The stagecoach was coming in three days and with their late arrival they hadn’t done any surveillance.
They were staying in an abandoned adobe and timber house a few miles from the town. Their horses were currently hidden inside an adobe courtyard attached to the house and shielded by a stick roof. Roy had personally searched, but with no water available, they couldn’t stay here for long.
“Boss, I’m headed into town to see how many people we’re going to have to deal with Wednesday,” Ollie stated.
“Keep a low profile. With the army accompanying that stagecoach as far as Santa Fe, there might be more men waiting in town for its arrival.”
“Will do.”
Roy watched Ollie ride off and then gave the signal, calling the others together. “We need a new place to hole up. One with water and more space. You two go check and see what you can find. Come back here and tell the rest of us as soon as you find something.”
Roy waited until the rest of the gang had dispersed, and then he stood in the doorway of the small adobe house, looking toward the town and feeling anxious to have this last job over.
Since Riley had shown up in El Paso, he’d been feeling guilty and had lost all appetite for being ruthless. He hadn’t told Ollie yet, but he wouldn’t be making a run for the border. He was going to clean himself up and head back home to Missouri.
He’d promised Riley he was going to do so, and he really hoped he would be able to keep this promise.
He kept watch for quite a while, hoping Ollie wasn’t drawing attention to himself. The man normally had no trouble blending in, but nothing had gone right since Roy’s sister has shown up. They should have been in Rio Arriba more than five days ago, but they’d had to take the long way around because the army was actively hunting them in northern Texas.
They’d also stumbled across a wagon train, slowly making its way north. Some of the men had wanted to rob it, but Roy had forbidden them to even show themselves.
He had one goal in mind and that was the money for the bank. He wasn’t positive how much money was being sent, but enough so that he and the others would never have to work again if they didn’t choose to.
He settled down with his knife and a fresh piece of wood to await Ollie’s return. It was well after dark before he heard a horse’s hoof beats coming toward the small adobe house.
The others had already moved to a new location, but Roy had volunteered to stay and wait for Ollie’s return. He sat in the dark, whittling wood, his gun across his knees, just in case this wasn’t his second in command returning.
“Tseena?” Ollie’s whisper echoed through the dark night.
“I’m here. Did anyone notice you in town?” Roy asked.
Ollie stepped onto the porch and Roy lit the oil lamp on the floor at his feet.
“No. But it was kind of strange. They had church service as normal, and then it looked like they had some sort of town meeting afterwards.”
“Probably all talking about how big their town’s going to get after the bank and railroad get established here. Guess we’re going to have to disappoint them,” Roy said with a sneer.
“Yeah. Lots of women and children, but most of them appear to live outside the town.”
“Why do you say that?” Roy asked.
“Most of ‘em got in wagons and left after the meeting adjourned. Their menfolk left shortly after on horseback. Only a few dozen people went to houses or buildings in the town.”
With his newfound distaste for being ruthless, Roy found he was also dreading the inevitable deaths that would occur when they robbed the stagecoach.
He’d thought about trying to do so before it ever reached the town, but the trail it was going to take from Santa Fe was through a narrow wash with high walls on either side. There was no good vantage point from the top, and to attack the stagecoach inside the narrow canyon would be suicide at best.