by Norah Hess
Willow lost no time in eating breakfast. She had to get away from Jules's presence; she felt as if his hot eyes were stripping the clothes oft? her body. She finished her bacon and eggs while Jules and her mother were only halfway through theirs. "I'll be back as soon as I get dressed." She looked at Rooster.
Disappointment was in the eyes of the three left sitting at the table when she hurried out of the room.
Ten minutes later she was back in the kitchen wearing her usual work clothes. She dropped a kiss on her mother's cheek and, ignoring Jules, said, "Let's go, Rooster."
"I've been thinkin' on how you've been catchin' them little jackasses," Rooster said as they took off at a brisk canter. "Catchin' a half-dozen a day, we'll need months to gather a herd big enough to interest that company. You said they would want at least a hundred to make it profitable for them to come out here."
"I've thought about that." Willow slowed her mount down to a walk. "Have you thought of another way to take them?"
"Maybe. It's worth a try at least. I think that if we take all hands out to scour around, we could round up the little devils and herd them into a deep coulee that has only one openin'. We could have a fence we've knocked together waiting to close them in. We might be able to catch thirty or forty head a day. In a week's time you might have captured enough to interest that buyer in Colorado."
"I think that's a great idea, Rooster." Eagerness to get started danced in Willow's eyes. "Shall we go back and get the men?"
"Not today." Rooster laughed at her excitement. "First we've got to find a coulee deep enough so they can't climb out. Then we have to make the fence and get it out to the place we've chosen. It will take us all day to do that. "We'll start the drive tomorrow."
Jules left his aunt's ranch shortly after Willow and Rooster rode off As he saddled his black stallion, he swore he would never come here again. Although he knew he could stir passion in Willow, she had made it clear that she wasn't going to allow him to do it.
"Hell, I don't have to hunger after her," he muttered. "And I'll see to it that I don't. There are plenty of women eager to share their beds with me for an hour or so when nature demands it. And none of them will expect me to marry them."
Jules had ridden about a mile when up ahead he saw a rider coming toward him. He could tell from the small figure sitting astride the horse that it was a woman. "When the sun sparked fire from red hair, he knew who she was. Thelma Grosman. The woman the sodbuster spent his weekends with.
"Good morning, Thelma." Jules nodded at the redhead when they stopped abreast of each other. "Did you want to see me about something?"
"I wasn't lookin' for you, Asher," Thelma answered coolly. "I was lookin' for that housekeeper of yours."
"Do you mean Nina?"
"No I don't mean that slut and you know it. I'm talkin' about the one that took her place."
Jules's eyes grew hard. "If you're referring to Willow Ames, she's no slut and I advise you not to call her that again."
"Why not? That's what she is. First she sleeps with you and now she's sleepin' with my man."
Jules leaned forward in the saddle and pinned Thelma with eyes that shimmered with rage as he ground out, "If you're talking about Thad Wilson, Willow would never sleep with a woman-chaser like him."
"What are you talkin' about? Thad is no woman-chaser."
"Hah! He's slept with half the women in a thirty-mile radius of Coyote. You're the only one who doesn't know it. But if you wait a half hour and then ride out to my aunt's ranch, you'll know it, too, when you walk into the cookhouse and catch your man plowing the female cook there."
Jules could see the uncertainty building in Thelma's eyes and hoped that she would take him up on his suggestion. He lowered his lids to hide the satisfaction that had came into his eyes. She was going to do it.
Thelma lifted the reins and said with her chin in the air, "You're lyin', and to prove it, I'll do as you say. And when I find out that you made it all up, I'll send my paw after you. He'll beat the hell out of you."
Jules watched the irate woman ride away, his brow furrowed. What if the farmer didn't keep his usual assignation with Corrie Mae? He didn't relish a fistfight with Thelma's brutish father.
Chapter Twenty-One
When Willow and Rooster rode up to the barn, they gave each other a startled look at the loud ruckus coming from the cookhouse. The sound of angry female screeching and yelling rang out on the morning air. And above it all was a man's baritone trying to calm the combatants. They both thought of Ruth as they slid out of their saddles and rushed toward the angry din. Maybe Otto had come to take his wife away.
They arrived at the cookhouse just as a female body came flying through the door, landing hard on her rump. Corrie Mae followed, her face distorted in fury. She clutched her robe together at her throat; plainly it was the only garment she wore. Blood stained a large spot on her left upper arm. While Willow and Rooster stared dumbfounded, Thad came rushing outside.
As he helped the woman to her feet, Rooster recognized Thelma Grosman and demanded, "What in the hell is going on here?"
When neither Thad nor the shaken Thelma answered, Corrie Mae, her eyes snapping, spoke up. "This bitch shot me and I knocked her through the door."
"Why did she shoot you? She must have had a reason."
"You're damn right I had a reason," Thelma screeched. "I walked in on them going at it in that slut's quarters. She lured Thad in there and coaxed him into bed with her. I wish I had killed the bitch, and I will if she ever tries her wiles on him again."
"You stupid bitch." Corrie Mae took a threatening step toward Thelma. "Thad and I have been wrinkling the sheets together for over five years. Not once did I ever have to coax him into my bed. Just look at him. You can see the truth of my words on his face."
As everyone looked at the farmer, including several hands who had rushed up, guilt was plain on his face. He knew that everyone there, except for Willow, was aware of his sleeping around. He also knew that if asked, they would all confirm the cook's charges.
Consequently, avoiding everyone's eyes, especially Willow's, he urged, "Come on, Thelma, let's go home. We'll have a long talk."
"You can bet we'll talk," Thelma snapped, jerking her arm free. "And my paw will be in on it too." When the wagon rolled away, with Thelma sitting stiffly beside Thad, her horse tied to the tailgate, Willow and Rooster walked into the cookhouse. Corrie Mae sat with her elbows on the table, her fingers pressed to her temples.
"Corrie Mae, let me look at your arm," Willow said gently. "Maybe you should see the doctor."
"I'm pretty sure it's only a flesh wound." Corrie Mae lifted her head and slowly slipped her arm out of the robe's sleeve. "The crazy bitch is a rotten shot."
"Didn't she turn any of her wrath on Thad?" Rooster asked as Willow carefully examined the wound.
"Hell, no. You heard her. It was all my fault. I took advantage of her poor Thad."
"I think she'll sing a different song from now on," Rooster said. "Today she learned that her Thad boy isn't as innocent as he lets on. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes when her father gets hold of him."
"I think you're right about this being a flesh wound, Corrie Mae," Willow said. "I'll clean it out, bathe it and put salve and a bandage on it. I think you'll be fine then."
"I'm glad it's my left arm," Corrie Mae said as Willow brought a basin of water to the table. "At least I can continue to cook for the men."
"If I were you, I wouldn't do anything else for the men for a few days," Rooster said wryly.
As he went through the door, Corrie Mae laughingly threw a biscuit at his head.
"I'm sorry you had to hear about me and Thad," Corrie Mae said as Willow finished bandaging her arm. "He's not worthy of you, Willow."
"Don't worry about it, Corrie Mae." Willow picked up the basin and dashed the water outside. "I didn't have any romantic notions about him. To tell you the truth, I found him very boring, and I'm glad this happened. I don
't have to think up an excuse to tell him to stop hanging around."
"I'm glad to hear that. I was beginning to feel guilty about going to bed with him."
Willow made no response to Corrie Mae's statement, but she wondered if her cook felt guilty about going to bed with Jules.
Why should she? she thought. She probably didn't know about her short-lived romance with him.
Willow said, "Well, I guess I'll see you at supper time. Rooster and I have some work to do at the barn."
She found Rooster on the veranda soothing Ruth's upset nerves. "Wasn't it awful, Willow, that young woman shooting Corrie Mae? I didn't know Thad had another girlfriend, but I was having second thoughts about him courting you."
"You were, Ma? How come?"
"He was spending too much time with Corrie Mae… in her quarters."
"How do you know that?"
"Sometimes when I'd go for a walk and pass by the cookhouse, I could hear them laughing and carrying on."
"And you didn't tell me, Ma?"
"Oh, I was going to." Ruth blushed. "Just as soon as I could find the right words. That woman Thelma didn't have any trouble saying them, did she?"
"No, she didn't." Rooster laughed. "She laid it right on the line."
"We're going to leave you now, Ma. Rooster and I have some work to do."
Willow and Rooster found the two cowhands and three teenagers discussing the fight between the two women. When Willow took Jimmy and Sammy into the barn to help her look for hammers and nails, Rooster discovered what was really troubling the two cowhands and Brian. Would Corrie Mae be able to frolic with them in bed that night?
"What do you think, Rooster?" Brian asked. "You saw her wound."
"Well," Rooster answered after a moment of sham serious thought, "does Corrie Mae use her left arm much when the two of you are going at it?"
"No," The three male voices answered at once.
"Then I think it will be business as usual," Rooster said, amusement in his eyes.
The three realized then that Rooster had been having fun at their expense and jumped on him, good naturedly pummeling his back and shoulders.
"Enough, enough." Rooster laughingly backed away. "Right now we've got to build a fence."
"A fence for what?" Brian asked.
"Come along and I'll tell you."
The rest of the day was spent in putting a sturdy fence together from discarded strips of lumber Rooster found stacked behind the barn.
It was nearing dusk as Willow sat her quarter horse and gazed down at the little burros milling around in the closed-off coulee. Rooster's idea had worked wonderfully well, she thought. Yesterday she and the men had corraled forty-eight burros, and today they had chased forty-three more into the deep gully. Added to the ones she and Brian had captured, she had over a hundred head ready for sale. All she had to do now was write a letter to that company in Colorado.
A pleased smile wreathed her face as she turned her mount homeward. "When the buyer arrived, she would receive enough money from him to put aside a little nest egg for her and her mother.
The only thing she and the men had to do until then was to haul hay and water to the little animals. But right now she was hungry and weary from the day's hard work. She couldn't wait to eat supper and go to bed.
The dim lights of Coyote shone up ahead, and Jules lightly touched his spurs to the stallion. He was ready for the company of his rowdy friends. Logan had disappeared again, and he was tired of playing cards with the ranch hands. They didn't seem to like his company anyhow.
As the horse galloped toward the one-street town, Jules fell to wondering if Thelma had found Corrie Mae and the farmer in bed together. As usual, the sodbuster had showed up at the ranch yesterday, his wagon full of fall vegetables. His face had looked a little bruised, and there was a faint purplish shadow under his right eye. His usual smiling face had changed to one of sullenness. And for the first time, he had company. Thelma's father, Hiram, rode with him, a scowl on his rough-hewn face. In Aunt Jess's opinion, he was a watchdog, there to keep an eye on Wilson.
When Jules rode into town, he dismissed the farmer from his mind as he dismounted and tied his horse to the hitching post in front of the saloon. But when he joined his friends lined up at the bar, he was forced to think of the farmer again. Everyone in the room was talking about a fight between Thelma and Corrie Mae. Jules felt bad that Corrie Mae had been wounded. He had thought there would be a catfight between the two women, but it hadn't entered his mind that jealous Thelma would actually pull a gun on the cook.
"And the best part," someone said with a chuckle, "was when Thelma sent her old man after old randy Thad. Hiram beat the livin' hell out of him, and he now rides along with the farmer when he makes his rounds. Like it or not, Thad has to keep his britches buttoned up."
Jules fell to wondering how Willow had been affected by the disclosure of what Thad Wilson was really like. Had she been disappointed that once again she had picked the wrong man to pin her hopes on?
The thought struck him that maybe she had really cared for the handsome young man. If that was the case, perhaps she would forgive him for sleeping with her cook practically under her nose.
Jules didn't like that idea, and when one of the saloon women pushed in beside him, he dropped an arm across her shoulder. "I haven't seen you lately, Jules." The whore's painted face smiled up at him. ""What have you been doing with yourself?"
""Working hard, chasing wild horses."
"Then you need some relaxation. Do you want to come to my room and have a little fun for a change?"
Rosy wasn't bad looking, Jules thought, and he had spent time in her bed on numerous occasions before Willow came into his life. He debated going to her room. Maybe Rosy would push Willow out of his mind for a while.
But when no excitement grabbed him at the thought, and there was no stirring in his loins, he knew he wouldn't be able to perform. Damn, he thought, he sure was besotted with the long-legged Willow.
Disgusted with himself, he said, "Some other time, Rosy. I'm dead beat tonight." He tossed some coins on the bar, said good night to his friends and left the saloon.
When Jules came to the fork that led to his aunt's house, he turned onto it. It was still early in the evening, and he felt like tormenting Willow for a while. Besides, Aunt Jess would be happy to hear some news of her little friend.
As he rode past the cookhouse on his way to the ranch house, it was dark inside. He was thinking that Corrie Mae had retired early because of her arm, but then he heard the rhythmic squeak of bedsprings.
I should have known that a gun shot wound in the arm wouldn't keep Corrie Mae from her favorite pastime, he thought with a grin.
He wondered which of the men was being entertained. Hoot or Denny, he decided. Brain, being the youngest, would have to wait until the others were finished.
The kid would have waited anyhow. He was smart. By now he had figured out that if he was the last, there wouldn't be anybody waiting for him to finish.
He could make the headboard pop against the wall all night if his strength held out.
Dismounting and letting the reins hang, Jules stepped up to the kitchen door, rapped once and then went inside. Rooster and Ruth looked up from their card game and smiled a greeting.
"What brings you here, Boss?" Rooster asked as he finished dealing the cards.
"I was in Coyote, and on my way home I decided to stop in and see how everyone was doing."
"We're all fine, Jules," Ruth answered in her soft voice. "Rooster and Willow have been working hard to catch the little burros."
"How's that coming along?" Jules looked at Rooster, who was studying the cards he had dealt himself.
"We have over a hundred head waiting for the buyer from Colorado. Willow wrote the man a letter before she went to bed tonight. He'll probably send some men after the animals next week sometime."
Jules's spirits dropped. He wouldn't be seeing Willow tonight. And though he was g
lad that she had been successful in capturing the burros, at the same time he was disappointed. She would never return to him at this rate. Although it had been a small herd she had sent to market, she had managed to fatten them up and to receive top price for them. Now, on top of that she had over a hundred head of burros to sell.
She didn't need him… for anything. That knowledge left a sour taste in his mouth. He asked himself if he should go home and decided that he would. Willow would only give him the cold-shoulder tomorrow morning if he stayed, and that would get his back up.
Chapter Twenty-Two
More than a week had passed since Willow had sent off her letter to the buyer in Colorado, and she was growing nervous because she'd had no response. To pass the time she made countless, needless trips to the barn.
"Stop worrying, Willow," Rooster said when he caught her staring down the rutted road toward town. "Those men will show up."
"But what if they don't? What if the owner of the silver mine has changed his mind about wanting the burros? What will we do with the little animals then—turn them loose after all our hard work capturing them? And that's not mentioning the chore of hauling feed and water to them."
"I repeat, Willow, the men will come. If not today, then tomorrow. Just be patient a little longer."
Patient, Willow thought sourly as Rooster walked away. She had been patient waiting for Jules to set a wedding date. Nothing had come of her patience. Was she to go through life waiting for something good to happen to her?
She even waited for something bad to happen. She waited in fear and dread that some day her father and Buck Axel would discover where she and her mother were hiding and that they would try again to take them back to New Mexico. That would be hell on earth.
"How much longer are you goin' to put off goin' for that daughter of yours?" Buck Axel demanded as he rode up to Otto. "You know where she's hidin'. Are you still afraid of that rancher?"