Yukon Cowboy

by Debra Clopton

  “Bethany Marlow, you are a sight for sore eyes.” He grabbed her up in a hug.

  “Same to you, too, Royce.” She hugged him tight.

  “Me and Sue couldn’t believe it when we heard you were coming home,” he said, then softly into her ear. “It’s about time.” He gave her one last squeeze before stepping back. “Smells like you’ve got things cooking, Nate.”

  “We’re working on it. Bethany made the biscuits.”

  “Just like Sue taught me.”

  “You’ll need to come out to the ranch and see Sue. She can’t wait to see you.”

  “I will. I promise.”

  “Well, while y’all finish up here I’ll go get the horses out of the trailer. I brought Freckles, like you said, and he’s feeling frisky knowing he’s going on the trail.”

  Bethany laid a hand over her heart. “He’s still alive and well?”

  Royce gave a mock look of shock. “That horse is gonna outlive us all. There’s not another one around any better to put a child on, either.”

  “I know. Never was.” Bethany knew Cody would be safe on Freckles. He was the sweetest-tempered horse she’d ever been on. “Cody will be so excited.”

  “Good. Well, I’ll get to it. Talk to you in a bit, young lady.” He paused at the door, put his hands on his hips and grinned at her. “It is really great to have you home.”

  “Can I get on him?” Cody had been a ball of excitement ever since breakfast, when he looked out the window to find horses lined up and saddled.

  “Not yet,” his dad, Robert, told him once again.

  Robert was so patient with Cody, and it was easy to see that the two loved each other very much. Bethany found herself watching them and also Shelly. Shelly watched her husband and son, too, with an adoring look lighting her face. Then she stepped up and wrapped her arm around Robert’s waist and leaned her head against his shoulder. “You’re sure he’s going to be safe on the horse?”

  Nate was busy finishing up closing down the camp, so the question was directed to Bethany. She felt confident with answering it, since she was so familiar with Freckles. “You couldn’t ask for a better horse than Freckles. He knows the trails and has the temperament of a church mouse. I’ll also be riding beside him with a lead rope. And the trail is easy. Nate’s chosen a very safe trail around the lake. He’ll enjoy it.”

  “He’ll be fine,” Robert said.

  “And if he gets scared or uncomfortable, I’ll take him on the horse with me,” Bethany added. “I’ve done that on many tours.”

  “I can ride my own horse,” Cody said. “I ain’t afraid.”

  “Not afraid, don’t say ain’t,” Shelly corrected.

  “Yes, ma’am, but I ain’t afraid.”

  Within the next few minutes they got everyone situated. Nate rode in front, Ely and Lisa followed him, then Shelly. Robert and Bethany and Cody brought up the rear. Once again, Cody talked non-stop. Bethany had the most wonderful time. She told him about the bears he was so interested in, and how they didn’t come up and bother hikers too much unless food was left out. They talked about how to keep food away from them, and he was enthralled when he found out that they hung it on poles so that the bears couldn’t reach it.

  Bethany felt her heartstrings tug—she wanted children. Always had, but without a husband in sight that dream was hard to come by. Lately, it had been on her mind more and more. She’d even toyed a time or two with the idea of adopting on her own. But raising a child without a husband was—well, it was scary. And it just wasn’t how she’d envisioned her life. She’d want a family, the whole package. But she thought, smiling at Cody, if that wasn’t possible she just might have to think more seriously about her options.

  “I want to see a bear,” Cody said, after a while.

  Bethany could only chuckle. He was a broken record. She really hoped that before the trip was over Cody got to see his bear.

  There were many things about riding on horse back that Bethany enjoyed. One, simply the fact that she was riding again, and two, being on horseback kept Ely and Lisa a little separated. She had to admit that watching them snuggle and be so lovey-dovey was getting to her.

  Nate filled the silence with a lot of stories about the people who’d traversed the Chilkoot Trail. Even though they weren’t following the actual trail, he still gave some history on the many people who’d made the treacherous journey in the expectation of striking it rich in the gold fields of the Klondike. As many times as she’d heard Nate relate the information, she always loved hearing him share.

  His very own ancestor, at the age of nineteen, had made nearly ten trips across the pass, carrying the supplies required to last him a year. He didn’t strike it rich, but he managed to sift enough gold from his stake to come back to Treasure Creek and buy the land that Nate ranched today.

  It was a neat story, and all the time she was dating Nate she’d known that he would never leave Treasure Creek. The land was in his blood. How she’d thought they would have a life together back then, when she’d known she was leaving, was still a mystery to her. But Nate had solved that problem for her.

  They stopped for lunch on a knoll overlooking a beautiful valley. The forty-something temperature didn’t seem to bother anyone.

  “So you’ve been leading these tours since you were in high school?” Robert asked Nate, as they sat around a small campfire that Nate had started.

  “Yeah, I started it when Ben opened the company and needed guides. I had lived here most of my life and loved ranching, but I was looking for a little adventure.” He smiled, and Bethany’s heart did a lunging dive.

  “Alaska looks like the place for adventure,” Ely said. “We really enjoyed our cruise. I was teasing Lisa and told her I was going to get a job and move here.”

  “I told him it’s pretty, but I don’t want to be here in the really cold weather.”

  Nate looked at Bethany. “You get used to it.”

  She couldn’t help adding. “You actually miss the different seasons when you leave.”

  Nate’s brows dipped in the shadow of his Stetson.

  “That surprises me,” he said. “I thought you couldn’t wait to get to warmer weather.”

  She shrugged. “Sometimes it takes leaving to realize what you miss.” She really wished she hadn’t said that, but it was the truth. He could take it as he wanted.

  “When are we gonna ride horses again?” Cody asked, busy eating a protein bar. He’d turned his back on the group and was sitting so he could watch the horses. He was enthralled with animals.

  “We’re about to hop back on them as soon as we clean up camp,” Nate said. “Do you want to help me put out the fire?”

  Cody sprang up from the log. “Sure I do.”

  Everyone laughed and stood up. Bethany was more than glad to have the distraction. She hadn’t known what to think about Nate’s comments. Had he thought she didn’t like it here in Alaska? Had she given him that impression? Probably, since she’d only ever talked about getting away and traveling. He had every reason to be totally confused by her.

  She had been wanting him and her career and children. She was still confused even now.

  Within minutes, they were all mounting their horses again. Nate seemed distant once more, as if what she’d said had affected him. The tension between them was like hot-and-cold water. There was just no getting around that they were having trouble being around each other. It was like walking on eggshells.

  There was so much she wanted to say to him and so many questions she wanted answered, and yet she couldn’t ask. It was embarrassing. With each passing minute, she knew she wanted answers. Needed answers.

  Deserved answers.

  Several times along the trail that afternoon, Nate signaled for Bethany to take the lead, and he detoured into the woods.

  There were no signs along the trail connected to anything on the map. But he still felt that the last cabin on the trail was his best bet. The cabins had been maintained over the year
s by different people. Some had been redone by the tour company, but they remained basically historic properties. Given that everyone knew there was supposed to be a secret tunnel in one cabin, it only made sense that this could be what his grandfather Chester thought he’d found. And maybe Mack Tanner had actually found it. Who knew? This cabin near the cliff might have a tunnel leading to it from the crevice to the cabin. He was going to climb down and explore it.

  He tried to concentrate on the landscape, but his mind had focused on Bethany. She’d insinuated that she missed Treasure Creek. Had she gone away and realized this was where she should be? His heart felt as if an iron stake had just been shot through it. How was he going to live near her every day if she stayed? All this time, he’d been making it by thinking she would be leaving. But what if she stayed?

  When she walked into the kitchen that morning, she’d taken his breath away. She was everything he’d ever wanted. He loved the way her eyes lit when she spoke. Loved the way her dark hair swung when she walked toward him.

  He remembered morning hugs and kisses when they’d been on tours together. They’d had as much trouble saying good night as Ely and Lisa were having, except they had to be more professional about it, since they were leading the tours. It was tolerable because they’d planned to get married that summer, and the dynamics of their time together would have changed. They’d have been husband and wife and he would have been able to love her and hold her all he wanted.

  He was following a trail that ran parallel to the trail Bethany was on with the group, and the sunlight was filtering in through the dense trees. Every once in a while the sound of the groups’ laughter would drift to him, and he wondered what they were laughing at. Probably something Bethany had said. She was a funny person—or she had been. Maybe when he wasn’t around she still was.

  The tension between them was so tight that they were both having trouble functioning. Pausing his horse in a beam of sunlight, he stared up at Heaven again. It seemed he’d been looking for God’s guidance more in the last couple of days than he had in years. His anger at God was still there. But he hadn’t let that anger eat him alive. He had to come to terms with it, and he’d settled on indifference. God had been indifferent to him, and so he’d been indifferent to God. But now there was that small voice inside of him saying that maybe this time God might hear him. That this time God might decide to throw him a lifeline. Only, what could that lifeline be? He couldn’t have children. There was no medical way that he could.

  He’d had multiple second opinions on his condition, but the results were all the same. He couldn’t father children. And Bethany had said once that she wasn’t comfortable with adoption. That being the case, there was nothing for them.

  Hanging his head, Nate found himself praying. It felt odd, rusty, as he asked God to hear him. It felt like he shouldn’t ask, because he had been away so long…but he asked anyway. “Maybe You have a plan I don’t know about,” he said. “Maybe bringing Bethany home is part of that plan and it involves me.” He paused, the words sticking in his throat. “And maybe nothing about her involves me, and I have to get used to that all over again. But whatever the plan is, Lord, I pray that You give me some kind of closure. I can’t do this on my own. I’ve been trying, but one look at her and I know I’m going to mess everything up if I don’t find a way to hold my feelings inside. I can’t have her look at me with pity in those beautiful green eyes of hers. I’m asking You to give me strength, Lord.”

  Just as he opened his eyes a scream pierced the quiet.

  Chapter Seven

  Every horrible scenario Nate could think of flashed through his mind as he sent Clyde, his horse, racing through the trees toward Bethany and the group. His heart thundered in his chest, drowning out the thunder of Clyde’s hooves.

  He leaned low as Clyde ducked under limbs and hurdled fallen trunks with the expertise of a horse well adapted to his surroundings. Nate almost ran into a black bear as it stormed across his path, heading deep into the woods. Obviously, there had been an encounter of some sort. He hoped the scream he’d heard had simply been from fright at seeing the bear up close, and nothing more serious. He made it to the trail, and Clyde followed it over a ridge. Just over the top, he brought the big bay to a skidding halt. The group had all dismounted and Bethany was kneeling over Lisa.

  Nate threw himself from the saddle before Clyde stopped. “What happened?”

  “It was a bear! A real, live bear,” Cody exclaimed. “It stood up and scared Lisa’s horse. She fell right off.”

  Bethany was beside her, examining Lisa’s foot, while Ely held her hand.

  “I’m fine,” Lisa said. “Really.”

  Bethany looked at Nate as he knelt down beside her. “She seems fine. She said she didn’t land hard. The ground is pretty soft right here. But I want to be sure before I let her up.”

  “Yeah,” Ely said. “Me, too.”

  Nate held the young woman’s chin in his hand and checked her pupils. “Your eyes look fine. You didn’t hit your head?”

  “No. I just slid off like I was going down a slide. I screamed from fright, not pain.”

  Nate grinned at the look of embarrassment in her expression. “You look fine to me. And don’t be embarrassed. I saw your bear hightailing it back toward Canada. I think you scared him just as much as he scared you.”

  She laughed. “Probably so, with the scream. But really, I’ve never seen a bear that close. He just reared up out of nowhere.”

  “I was terrified, too, if that helps,” Shelly said, leaning down to give her a hug. “I hate to say it, but Cody saw his bear at your expense. Are you sure you don’t hurt anywhere?”

  “I might be a little sore tomorrow, but really, everyone, I’m fine.”

  Robert was studying her as hard as Nate. “She was lucky, from what I saw.”

  “Yeah, ’cause it was a giant bear,” Cody said, spinning around, staring out into the woods. “It’s a wonder it didn’t try to eat her.”

  As usual, his comment made everyone laugh. “Why y’all laughing,” he asked indignantly. “It could’a ate her in two bites.”

  Nate had heard enough. He took her arm. “If you’re game, let’s get you up. Ely, you ready?”

  Ely nodded and took her other arm. “If Lisa is I am. She’s a tough cookie,” he said, grinning at her. She blinked doe eyes at him, as if he’d just told her she was the most beautiful woman in all the world. Nate met Bethany’s concerned gaze and felt his heart squeeze. “We’ll just watch her closely at camp tonight.”

  Bethany nodded and touched his biceps. “Okay,” she said, but he could see in her eyes, and the way she squeezed his arm, that she’d been shaken and was hiding it from the group.

  He and Ely got Lisa standing and she chuckled. “See? I’m as good as it gets. No broken bones or anything. I’m even going to get back on that horse and dare that bear to come back and try to knock me off again. It’s not happening.”

  Nate grinned. “You’re tougher than you look.”

  Ely hugged her. “What’d I tell you? That’s my girl.”

  Nate went to get her horse. He motioned for Bethany to come with him. He wanted to make sure the horse wasn’t still spooked, and he wanted to make sure Bethany was okay.

  He took the reins of Starlight, the horse Lisa had been riding, and led the mare down the path away from everyone. Bethany walked beside him silently, as if she knew what he was doing. They’d walked about thirty feet, when the trail bent to the right around the woods. “Are you alright?” he asked, halting.

  She looked pale. “That scared me. She slid right off Starlight. Nate, that horse was so scared by that bear, it reared so high it almost toppled backwards. That’s why she didn’t hit hard, Starlight’s rear was so close to the ground Lisa didn’t have far to drop. She just didn’t realize that her horse almost fell on top of her. All I could think about was her being hurt really bad—” her voice broke.

  “It’s okay,” Nate said, draping his ar
m about Bethany’s shoulders before he thought better of what he was doing. It was just as natural a thing for him to do as breathing—pulling the woman he loved close to comfort her when she was distressed. She stepped close instantly, her forehead resting in the crook of his neck. She felt so wonderful in his arms, so perfect.

  “You looked like you had it under control when I came up on you,” he managed, breathing in the scent of her, while fighting his emotions. He closed his eyes, feeling weaker in that moment than he’d felt in years. He never thought he’d be holding Bethany again. It was a very dangerous thing for him. When her arms went around him and she leaned her head back their eyes met and he couldn’t think straight. He swallowed hard, his heart pounded—and he almost dipped his lips to hers before coming to his senses. Gently, he let her go and stepped back. “We need to get going,” he said. “If you’re okay.”

  “I’m fine. Great,” she said. “Thanks for the support.”

  He nodded, knowing she knew what he’d been thinking. It was a wonder she hadn’t slapped him for it.

  “You go ahead. I’ll bring the horse in a minute.”

  “Sure,” she said, walking away as she spoke. Feeling like a jerk, he watched her go. He shouldn’t have crossed that line. He shouldn’t have touched her.

  Letting Amy rope him into this reunion on the trail had been the worst mistake he’d made in years.

  He’d almost kissed her! And worse, she would have let him. Bethany was so humiliated she couldn’t stand it. If he hadn’t chosen to abort the idea, she would have been lip-locked with the man.

  Embarrassed, she’d spent the rest of the after noon trying hard to conceal the convoluted emotions racing through her. Nate had pulled her into his arms and she’d gone willingly. Like a moth to a flame. It was pathetic!

  They’d stopped now, to let the guys fish and also to give Lisa some time out of the saddle. Bethany and Shelly had opted to sit with her on a blanket and watch.