Seven Brides for Seven Texans Romance Collection

by Amanda Barratt

  He nodded. “You’d best come stay at our place tonight.”

  “No, I can’t.”

  “Jane.” He fixed her with a stern look that said, “Be reasonable,” and put his hands on his hips. “You have no house. Where will you sleep?”

  “In the barn, I guess, or the cave.”

  “We’ve got room for you at the ranch. All of you.”

  She shook her head. “It’s not that I don’t appreciate the offer, but I should be here when Ben comes home. And Pa—” No, taking Pa to the Harts’ homey, comfortable ranch house would not be a good idea. Jane was sure Crockett’s father had nothing but disdain for hers. Most people who knew Boyd Haymaker pegged him as shiftless and lazy. And they were right. Since Ma had died, he’d gotten worse. Jane and Ben kept the place going, if the truth were told. Without their hard work, Pa would have starved to death—or wandered off to find an easier way to get his hands on some money. Jane figured she was doing Texas a favor by keeping her pa on the ranch.

  She hiked her chin up and met Crockett’s gaze. “We’ll be all right.”

  His eyes held hers for a long moment. “All right, then I’ll head on home. But I’ll be back later with some vittles and stuff. I warn you, your neighbors will want to help.”

  “I told you, we’ll be fine,” Jane said.

  “Don’t be stubborn. If nothing else, you’ll need help rounding up those pigs. Now, I’ll let you alone for a few hours, but I’m not going to let you starve. As my ma would have said, don’t deny your friends the blessing of helping you out.”

  She couldn’t argue with that. Wouldn’t it be sacrilegious or something? Besides, Crockett’s ma was the sweetest, smartest woman she’d ever known. He walked down the trail and unhitched his flashy paint horse from a tree. After swinging up into the saddle, he looked her way, raised his hat, and waved. Jane waved back, and he turned the horse and cantered away. She let out her pent-up breath and turned around. The black heap where the house had been was still putting off wisps of smoke.

  Chapter Two

  The sun was heading downward when Crockett drove the ranch wagon back into the Haymakers’ yard with two of his sisters-in-law on the seat with him. Another wagon sat before the barn. Jane, her brother, Ben, and two other men were poking about the rubble from the fire. Crockett recognized both men: The owner of the ranch beyond the Haymakers’ and one of his hired men.

  “How terrible,” Emma murmured beside him.

  “Yeah, they don’t have much left.”

  Jane looked up and walked slowly toward them. “Hey.”

  “How are you doing?” Crockett asked.

  She shrugged. “Ben came home a little while ago. He was pretty upset when he saw the mess. But Mr. Allen and Jerry were here, and they calmed him down some.”

  “Where’s your pa?” Crockett asked.

  “Yonder by the corral fence.”

  Crockett saw Boyd then, sitting on the ground, leaning back against the gate. His right arm was hitched up in a gray cloth—an attempt at a sling, he guessed.

  “Is he hurt?”

  “Some minor burns on his hands, and he says he hurt his arm bad.”

  Probably so bad he couldn’t help with the work, Crockett thought, but he didn’t say anything.

  “I don’t know if you’ve met these ladies.” He looked at his brothers’ wives. “This is Emma, who’s married to Hays now, and Annie, Travis’s wife. Ladies, this is Jane Haymaker.”

  “I remember Jane from school,” Annie said.

  Jane nodded. “Nice to see you.”

  “Hi, Jane,” Emma said with a sweet smile. “I think I’ve seen you at the church once or twice. My father is the pastor.”

  Jane’s face flushed. “We haven’t gotten to services much lately.”

  Annie smiled ruefully. “I’m awfully sorry about the fire. We’ve brought you a few things.”

  “That’s nice of you,” Jane said. She glanced toward the wagon bed, where they had packed blankets, food, and a few other items Crockett thought might be needed.

  Crockett climbed down and helped Emma and Annie. Emma was in a delicate condition, but of course nobody would talk about that. Still, he was extra careful making sure she reached the ground without mishap.

  “Crockett said you wouldn’t come stay at the house,” Emma ventured. “Are you sure—”

  “We’ll be fine,” Jane said. “But we appreciate what you’ve done.”

  Crockett reached for a bundle of blankets. “We’ll do more than this. I’ll speak to Mr. Allen, since he’s here. I reckon we can get a bunch of neighbors to come help you rebuild.”

  “Oh, well…” Jane looked around with huge eyes. “We won’t be ready for a while.”

  “It will take you a while to get organized,” Annie agreed.

  Emma picked up a bundle from the back of the wagon. “We put in a few clothes, along with blankets and some food. I think the skirt Annie brought might fit you, and I put in a shawl and some other personal things.” She cast a quick glance at Crockett, and he felt his face heat.

  “I’ll see if Ben can give me a hand unloading.” He hurried to the site of the house.

  Ben turned to meet him. Ash covered his clothes and hands, and hair stuck to his sweaty face.

  “Crockett. Jane told me you helped her this morning. Thank you kindly.”

  “Glad I was able.” Crockett shook his head. “I wish I could have done more, Ben.”

  “Well, that’s just … how it is,” Ben said. “We ought to have known better than to leave Pa alone in the house for an hour with the stove going.”

  “Did he say how it got started?” Crockett shot a glance across the yard, but Boyd was still sitting against the fence post, and his eyes had slid shut.

  Ben sighed heavily. “Just that when he went to stir up the fire, it got away from him. Stuff happens to Pa.” He looked bleakly at Crockett.

  “Yeah. You get those pigs back yet?”

  Ben shook his head. “I caught Jane’s horse a little while ago. I turned her out after I took the saddle and bridle off. If we put her in the barn, she’ll just breathe smoke and ash all night. I hate even to keep her cooped up in the corral.”

  “She might be better off out away from the house,” Crockett agreed. “What about you folks? The invitation to stay at our place still stands.”

  “We’ll stay here, thank you.”

  “You’ll breathe smoke and ash, too.”

  Ben looked over his shoulder. “Jane thinks we ought to bed down up at the cave tonight. The air’s a lot better up there. She took some sacks and blankets from the barn up to sleep on.”

  “We brought you some bedding,” Crockett said. “Maybe I can drive the wagon closer, and the girls and I can unload that stuff for you?”

  “Sure. Or Jane could take it, if you want to look for the pigs.”

  “Be glad to.”

  Ben nodded. “Thanks. Them and two horses and a couple dozen steers is about all we’ve got.”

  “I’ll keep my eyes out while I’m looking for the pigs and let you know how the cattle are faring.”

  “’Preciate it. The girls can drive your wagon close to the foot of the trail to the cave. And you can take Jane’s horse to look for the pigs.” Ben turned back to the ruins and poked a mass of charcoal with his hoe.

  Crockett went to the corral and saddled Jane’s thin chestnut. Jerry, the cowboy from the Allens’ place, joined him. It took them most of an hour to locate the pigs and figure out how to run them back to the homestead. Once there, Jerry guarded the gaps in the broken fence while Crockett mended it so they wouldn’t get loose again. Of course, that was iffy with pigs. They were great at digging under fences, but he did his best.

  When they were done, he walked over to where Ben and Mr. Allen had lined up the few things they’d salvaged from the ashes of the house.

  “Find anything usable?” he asked.

  “A few things. Pieces of hardware mostly. I was saving nails, but Mr. Allen says
they won’t be good to use again.” Ben kicked at a charred tin.

  “Did the girls come back yet?” Crockett asked.

  “Nope.”

  “Maybe one of us ought to ride out there and see if they need help.”

  Mr. Allen had gone over to the well and had Jerry pour water over his filthy hands. He soaked his bandanna and mopped his face with it.

  “Ben, you reckon you’ll be all right tonight?”

  “Yes, sir,” Ben said. “We appreciate you coming over to help, you and Jerry.” He nodded to the cowboy.

  “I know you’d do the same if it was us.” Mr. Allen straightened and put his hands to his lower back. “Bad business. You let us know when you need a hand putting up a new house. It won’t take long to throw up a cabin the size of what you had.”

  “Thanks.”

  Ben said no more but watched them go to Mr. Allen’s wagon and pull out.

  “Come on,” Ben said to Crockett. He walked to the corral and put a bridle on his dark bay gelding and swung aboard with no saddle.

  “Pa, we’re going to bring Janie and the Hart ladies in.”

  Crockett had forgotten all about the old man. He had mounted Jane’s horse again, and he swiveled around to look for Boyd. He sat in the same place he had nearly two hours ago, and he lifted a languid hand in response to Ben’s comment.

  “Is he all right?” Crockett asked Ben in a low voice.

  “He’ll be fine.” Ben took off at a trot, and Crockett followed him out the trail toward the hills. The sun was low, casting long shadows. Ben turned to look at him, and he brought his horse up alongside the bay.

  “Pa wanted to stay up at the cave, but I wouldn’t let him. I said even if he couldn’t help, he could come down and watch other people pick over the mess he made.”

  “It was an accident,” Crockett said.

  Ben shook his head, frowning. “Accident. My pa breeds ’em.”

  They rode less than a mile to where Jane had parked his wagon, at the bottom of a path winding up the hillside. Jane, Emma, and Annie were sitting in the grass nearby.

  “Well, hi, gentlemen,” Emma called.

  “Howdy.” Ben eyed the empty wagon bed. “Guess you got it all unloaded.”

  “That was hard work, lugging all that stuff up the hill,” Crockett said.

  “It was,” Annie admitted, “but we did it. And now we’re taking a little breather before we head back.”

  Crockett hoped they hadn’t let Emma make the trip too many times. Her baby wasn’t due for a few more months, but still…

  Emma stood and brushed off her skirt. “We should have taken you up on your offer, Crockett. I had no idea how far we’d have to carry that stuff.”

  “Anything left to tote?” Crockett asked.

  “Nope,” Annie said.

  Jane stood. “Did you find the pigs?”

  Crockett smiled. “We did. It took Jerry and me a while to figure out how to herd ’em, though. They’re snug in the pen now.”

  “He fixed the fence,” Ben added.

  “Thank you.”

  Crockett nodded. “You all sure you want to stay out here?”

  “The barn isn’t fit to sleep in,” Ben said.

  Crockett knew he was right. The so-called barn was a sorry sight. It was more of a large, rickety shed than a barn. When he’d run inside to find something to fight the fire with, he’d found the dirt floor knee-deep in manure and old straw. One corner had been cleared and held a couple of barrels and a few worn tools. Any animal forced to sleep in there would be miserable.

  “Yeah, the air’s lots better out here,” he said.

  He let Jane take her saddle horse and drove the wagon back to the barnyard with Emma and Annie. The two young women didn’t say much on the way back. They were tired, and Crockett figured they didn’t want to voice their reservations in Jane’s hearing. But he’d probably get an earful about the cave on the way back to the 7 Heart.

  When they returned to the site of the fire, Crockett climbed down and took Jane’s horse from her. He led it toward the corral, and to his surprise, Jane followed him.

  “I wondered if I could get a little advice from you.”

  He stopped walking and looked down into her solemn green eyes.

  “Don’t know if I’m the best one to give advice, but I’ll listen.”

  She looked over her shoulder. Annie and Emma had stayed in the wagon, and Ben was already letting his horse into the corral.

  “I found something in the cave,” she said.

  Crockett studied her drawn face. This had to be serious. His first thought was a dead body, but Emma or Annie surely would have mentioned that.

  “I didn’t tell the others.”

  “All right. What was it?”

  “Money.”

  Crockett blinked. He hadn’t expected that.

  “A lot of money,” Jane added. “It was way in the back, in a little niche in the wall. I thought maybe the spot was big enough for me to spread my bedroll in, and I’d have some privacy from Pa and Ben.”

  “Makes sense,” Crockett said.

  “There was a pile of rocks and sticks. I had a torch, and I started cleaning them out.”

  “Carefully, I hope.”

  She nodded. “Didn’t want to come eye to eye with a snake. But I found an old tin box underneath. I opened it, and there was money inside. Annie and Emma were out in the big part of the cave, arranging the foodstuffs, and I decided not to tell them.” She reached into the pocket of her cotton shirt and brought out a bill, folded up small in eighths, and handed it to Crockett. “There’s a bunch of these.”

  He turned so no one else would see what he was doing and unfolded it carefully. The twenty-dollar bill looked funny. “First Bank of Louisiana,” he read off the top. “This isn’t federal money. It’s an old Louisiana bank bill.”

  “Do you think it’s worth anything?”

  “I dunno.” He frowned at it. “Any idea how it got there?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t want to say anything in front of Pa. Or Ben, either, until I know more. Listen, your brother Chisholm’s a Texas Ranger. Could you ask him about it?”

  “I guess I could. He might have some ideas.”

  She touched his hand. “You take it, then. I’ll keep the rest hidden, and if you find out anything, you can let me know.” Her wistful smile reminded him that he liked Jane. A lot.

  “All right,” he said. Ben was approaching, and Crockett tucked the bill into his pocket.

  “Anything wrong?” Ben asked.

  “No, I was just talking to Jane about what you folks will be needing,” Crockett said. Which was true, in a way. Right now, Jane needed advice.

  “Thanks a lot for what you’ve done,” Ben said.

  “Think nothing of it. And I’ll talk to some other people about doing a house-raising for you. See if you can start getting things together.” He nodded at Jane and walked to the wagon. As he drove the team out of the yard, he knew that he would do everything he could to make sure Jane came out of this all right.

  Chapter Three

  Over the next few days, several neighbors came by. The men helped Ben and Jane slowly clear away the debris from the house. The women brought food and offered Jane clothing. The Hart wives even brought Jane an extra pair of trousers that fit her. They took away the Haymakers’ sooty shirts and pants to wash and offered repeatedly to let them stay at their ranch. Jane and Ben always refused.

  In private, Ben told her, “I wouldn’t mind going over there once. Couldn’t we go for dinner one night? I’d like to see all the books they have.”

  “Crockett brought you three to borrow. How many do you need?” Jane wouldn’t look at him as she worked on their supper. She placed beans, chunks of beef, and several root vegetables the neighbors had brought into the kettle Mrs. Allen had insisted on giving her.

  Ben watched and sighed. “I don’t know. Hays said they have dozens of books. Like a library, only in their house. I’d ju
st like to see ’em, is all.”

  Jane wondered if the Bible said anything about coveting your neighbor’s books. She couldn’t find out now, because Ma’s old Bible had burnt up. She couldn’t be cross at Ben, though. He had worked like an ox, cleaning up their place and chopping wood and hauling logs. He had planned to work for other ranchers all week, building up credit so they’d help him later on. Instead, he was slaving away at home, trying to retrieve what he could from the fire and preparing to build a new house, something he knew nothing about.

  “I wish we had a proper bed for you,” she said. “It’s awful hard to sleep good in the cave.”

  Ben shrugged. “It’s what we’ve got.”

  “I wish Pa would help the others when they come.” Jane scooped a dipper full of water out of the bucket on the ground beside her open fire.

  “You wish a lot of things,” Ben said. “And that’s one that won’t happen.”

  “He’s not hurt that bad. And his burns are healing.” Jane sent her brother a challenging glance and stirred the stew.

  Travis Hart, the brother who was a doctor, had ridden out the morning after the fire and looked over Pa’s wounds. He had put a dressing on Pa’s left hand and asked him a lot of questions about his eating habits and his breathing and if his chest ever hurt. Then he’d told Jane he guessed her pa was in as good shape as could be expected.

  She wasn’t sure what he meant by that. Maybe he meant that Pa was a drinking man, and drinking men were sick a lot. She glanced sharply at Ben.

  “Has Pa asked for any liquor?”

  “He asked the doc if he had any whiskey along, and the doc said no. He’s probably asked some of the ranchmen, too, but so far as I know, none of them has brought him any.”

  “I hope they won’t.” Jane’s face felt hot, whether from the cook fire or her thoughts. It would be too embarrassing to tell the neighbors outright not to give her pa any strong drink. She’d found a couple of jugs and a whiskey bottle in the cave when they first decided to sleep up there. Mercifully, they were all empty, and she’d been able to get rid of them before the Hart gals came to visit and help her arrange things in the cave.

  She’d left the money she found where it was hidden. If Pa knew it was there, she figured he wouldn’t miss the one bill she had given to Crockett. That seemed the most likely explanation to her—after all, Pa had used that cave to stash his jugs. Crockett had told her today when he’d come by to help Ben haul logs to the sawmill that his brother Chisholm was away. He was the one who was a Ranger. That was all right, Jane thought. She could wait.