Without even stopping, Wade leaped from his horse and ran to the pair. “How is he?”
“Cold.” Joe grimaced, stepping aside for Wade.
He crouched down and touched the boy. He lay unconscious beneath a huge oak, his body an icy fortress. The skin over his pronounced cheekbones was deathly white and his lips a bluish purple. Quickly checking his pulse and receiving a faint beat, Wade snatched the boy into his arms and carried him over to his horse. The ride back to town was by far the longest he could ever recall. He held on tight to the boy who lay against his chest as he rode Sty at speeds that otherwise could bring serious harm to the animal in such a wooded area.
When he broke through the clearing that led to the village, Prescott was on his horse and headed in their direction. “Good God. What happened? Is he alive?”
“Barely.”
“Come, bring him to Elizabeth. We can warm him by the fire and get him something strong to eat.” Wade was grateful for Prescott’s offer.
The woman was only too happy to assist and scurried around Wade and the boy like a concerned mother. Somehow, Wade knew the kid would like that. As he placed him in a chair in front of the fireplace, the boy moaned and Wade felt a flood of relief. Elizabeth pulled two blankets from a storage box and wrapped the boy up warmly. He stirred and slowly started to open his eyes.
“I’ll go and fetch him a mug of hot coffee.” Elizabeth hurried away and Wade looked down at the boy. He found him staring back at him. Something flashed across his young face aging him in that brief moment, before looking away.
“Hey, you gave us one hell of a fright. Thought we lost you.” He tried to smile, but found the corners of his mouth were far too heavy.
Elizabeth returned with a steaming mug and held it out to the boy’s lips. One small shaking hand slipped out of the blanket and held the mug as he took a sip. “I’ve heated up some leftovers and some warm soup. How does that sound?”
The boy vaguely nodded.
Elizabeth took his hand and studied the fingers. “You’ve nearly frozen your fingers off. What in tarnation could possibly send you into the woods without a coat or shoes when temperatures are below zero?”
His eyes briefly shifted to Wade. Elizabeth looked over at him. She was by far too astute, not having missed the boy’s swift glance. But she was too much of a lady to comment. Instead, she said, “Why don’t you leave the boy here for a while? Let him have something to eat and get warmed up. You can come and fetch him before you leave.”
He didn’t like the idea but realized his presence wasn’t welcome. Whatever had upset the boy, was no doubt related back to Wade somehow. He nodded and got to his feet. Staring down at the boy, he felt he ought to say something. He just wasn’t sure what. Turning on his heel, he left him sitting by the fire.
* * *
Anna watched him leave. She had an overwhelming urge to cry. But tears were nowhere to be found. Inside she felt empty. Numb. A coldness had settled over her heart and the feeling was frightening. She wondered if she would ever feel joy and happiness in her life again. Or was she destined to live a life of suffering.
“Are you feeling strong enough to eat?” The friendly woman looming over her offered a bright smile.
Anna recognized her as being Prescott’s love interest, Elizabeth. She gave a nod and was grateful when the woman brought a plate of her wonderful cooking. She didn’t even mind when the woman took the seat across from her. So much better was her company than those at the saloon.
A shiver had her drawing the blanket closer before surveying her surroundings. They were unfamiliar and it took a few minutes after she awoke to recall what had happened. The moment she looked into Wade’s eyes, however, and the whole revolting memory of the night before came flooding back. She squeezed her lids shut in an attempt to shut out the sight of the naked saloon woman standing over Wade on his bed.
Her throat squeezed inward and she urged the tears to come once more. To no avail. She had wanted to cry or scream, but found neither solace. Instead she had done the only thing left to her and that was to run. Her pain had consumed her entirely and it was without thought or concern that she entered the dark forest. It didn’t take long however for the realization that she was lost to break through her consumed grief.
She had tried for hours to gather her bearings and find her way out of the woods. However, after that most of her memory was vague. She could remember being cold. Very cold. Colder than she had ever been in her life. Sleep had beckoned and Anna recalled how the sudden welcoming of the dark embrace felt and would lead her away from all the hurt she felt to the core of her heart. The next thing she knew, she awoke in Elizabeth’s parlor.
“So, how do you enjoy the Circle H?”
Anna nodded before filling her fork with food.
“The Haddock brothers are quite the pair. Not too many gentleman like themselves in this area.” Anna chewed her food, but watched the woman. “Raised by an English gentleman and his wife.”
She listened.
“The Haddock’s are the wealthiest and most prestigious family in the area. They own most all the land around here.” Elizabeth told her and from what Prescott had already recounted of his family’s history, didn’t surprise Anna. “Did you know they are the sons of an Earl?”
Anna’s hand froze midway in the process of delivering food to her mouth.
“That mountain is named after him.” She gestured out the window toward Mount Louis. “Louis Haddock came here as a young and eager Englishman, and like every other prospector wanted to buy all the land he could get his hands on. He fell in love with the area and eventually was able to buy all the surrounding land. Including the mountain. He obtained the legal ownership slip and named it after himself.”
A sinking feeling of horror drained from her face. Anna couldn’t believe of all the places for her to end up, she had landed on that man’s property. Admittedly, she knew nothing of him except that what her parents had told her.
When Anna was still in her mother’s belly, her parents had traveled west from the banks of the Red River. Gold in the mountains had lured them along with two hundred other pilgrims. Her parents planned on striking it rich. Along with a great number of other prospectors when word spread of gold being discovered along the banks of the Cariboo Trail.
The journey, however, took far longer and proved more difficult than they had ever imagined. Hardships along the way had forced them to sell or trade everything they owned and provisions had completely run out when their journey finally ended for them on the property owned by the Earl of Lorden.
Of course, at the time, the drifters had no idea the land was privately owned. When discovered, disagreements erupted between the Earl and the drifters until finally the Earl had begun proceedings to have the peasants evicted. But before anything could be resolved, he met with an untimely death. The travelers fled to the sanctuary of the mountain where they built homes and began their own community. Nothing ever came of the eviction threat and so they believed it had died along with the Earl.
Anna blinked and realized Elizabeth was still speaking.
“As a matter-of-fact, many young females here would be happy to call either one of those men their own. In particular Wade, being the oldest. With the death of his father, he became the sole heir of all his land as well as Mount Louis.”
Anna felt a heaviness in her chest. Wade was not her savior, but the enemy. His father had wanted her people off that mountain twenty-four years earlier and now, finally, he had his wish.
“Not to mention all the property and assets in England. He became a wealthy young man at the age of twenty. Not to mention an aristocrat.”
An aristocrat? Her confusion must have been evident for Elizabeth clarified. “Wade Haddock is actually the Earl of Lorden.”
Anna looked away. This couldn’t be real. A fleeting thought crossed her mind that maybe she and Elizabeth were thinking of two separate men. Prescott, possibly, but Wade? He was a big burly cowboy,
not a member of royalty.
“However, I’ve always been keen on Prescott, but he was a married man,” she said. “My own husband passed away early on and left me this here restaurant.”
For some reason, she thought of Wade’s Marion from the saloon and she felt herself grow hot with anger. She was glad Prescott’s woman truly loved him. Someone as kind and moral as Prescott deserved happiness. Wade, she thought, deserved to burn in hell.
“I reckon Wade won’t ever make that trip down to the altar. It hasn’t lured him yet, and I daresay it probably won’t anytime in the near future. So, if someone were to think they would make a fine Countess of Lorden, they would be sadly mistaken.”
Anna’s eyes shot up and found the woman studying her closely. She suddenly felt very uncomfortable. Was she sending a hidden message? If so, had she guessed Anna’s true identity?
The woman smiled and got to her feet. “I’m afraid I’ve talked too long. I must open the restaurant, but feel free to stay as long as you need.”
Anna nodded, then watched the woman leave. She felt suddenly very weary and prayed if the woman suspected anything she wouldn’t say a word to Prescott. Prescott was all types of a gentleman. But a silent one.
* * *
The day had brought milder temperatures and the sun attempted many times to break through heavy clouds. The cattle moved ahead of the wranglers who herded them through the steep decline of the Durand Pass. They looked in fine form and were behaving with little disturbance. By late afternoon, they reached the northern gathering pastures and broke early for camp. Anna could hear Wade tell Joe it would give the horses a well-deserved rest as the rocky declines in that part of the territory were quite hard on their hoofs.
Anna had a different mind-set. She wanted to get back to the ranch as soon as possible. There was an odious shadow hovering over the mountain and a sense of doom filling her heart. She had always loved this country and its majestic mountains so close to heaven. However, there was a semblance of evil connected to the mountain that Anna feared would always exist. The night before, when she had run into the woods, she recalled wanting to go home. But it was not the village in the mountain that had come to mind. It was the Circle H.
They had reached the campsite and the men had finished herding the cattle into the holding pen and were dismounting from their horses. Anna watched as they took their places around the campfire. Her eyes shifted in Chuck Rhodes direction. He was watching her. She felt a chill of apprehension run its icy finger down her spine. She looked away and saw Wade lay out his bedroll. In his arms that first night she had felt safe and warm. But the scene in the upstairs room in the saloon left a coldness in her heart that Anna wasn’t entirely sure would ever leave.
She looked toward Joe and remembered how Chuck Rhodes feared the man. No doubt she would be safe from the old man next to the lead hand, however, she wasn’t certain how safe she would be if the inconceivable happened and Joe discovered her sex. She bit her lip and looked around at the other wranglers. The same fear kept her from laying her bedroll next to theirs. Her eyes fell upon Prescott and with a sense of relief she slipped into the spot next to him.
He looked at her with surprise and Anna thought he might have exchanged glances with Wade. However, in true Prescott form, he began talking to her in his usual joyful self.
“Should be a good sleep tonight. Not nearly as cold as the last two evenings.”
Anna truly hoped so, though she had eventually warmed up there was still a coldness in her bones she feared was permanent.
“I daresay, it will snow soon. It is beautiful in the valley in the winter. The land is crisp and white and very still. Nothing stirs during the dead of winter. Kathleen calls it a winter wonderland and in particular loves coming home for Christmas. She could be mistaken for a Christmas angel. Her kind heart and generosity are boundless. There never was a sweeter spirit.”
She laid out her bedroll while she listened to Prescott. His words were creating a warmth around her cold heart. Without even having met the woman, Anna took a liking to her.
“And no more a pretty filly,” Joe offered from his corner of the camp. “If only I were a gentleman.”
“You still couldn’t get your hands on her,” Wade remarked and received a few chuckles from the ranch hands.
“Hell, if that girl hadn’t gone to England, you would have had her stay on with you at the ranch for the rest of her life.”
Wade didn’t hesitate. “She would never had been happy here. It takes a certain person to live a life in these rugged elements. Even if the land weren’t so harsh, it’s far too isolated for her liking. She loves the convenience of the city.”
“It takes a rare woman to endure this lifestyle,” Prescott agreed.
“That type of woman does not exist.” Wade stated matter-of-fact.
Many of the ranch hands nodded their heads in agreement and Anna was struck by an unexpected sense of sadness for them. For a group of men who spoke so openly about their trysts with members of the opposite sex, they truly knew nothing about females. They were doomed to live a life of loneliness, occasionally filling the void with salacious intervals. Wade included.
Anna settled into her bedroll and sat back to watch the men in the camp. Joe prepared the fire as usual while Neil and Frank sat across a log for a game of cards. Most of the men took the early stop to lay back and rest. Chuck Rhodes had slipped out of camp and was nowhere to be found. Her lids felt heavy, but she knew she would lie awake most of the night. As she probably would for the rest of her life.
It occurred to her as she observed the ranch hands that her future looked unclear. She couldn’t go on forever charade as a boy. However, there wasn’t too many options available to young females and she certainly wouldn’t succumb to the level of the saloon ladies. The question was, where did she go from the ranch? Though the thought seemed frightening, it was also inevitable. She would eventually have to leave.
She was distracted from her thoughts when Joe announced dinner was ready. With her bowl in her hand, she stared down at the goo and wondered how he could call it dinner. Not wanting to insult, she allowed Joe to scoop a good portion into her bowl before scurrying off to her bedroll. The revolting stuff tasted far worse than it looked and Anna had to force every spoonful down.
The sun had long set and the men were beginning to turn in for the night. Wade, Joe and Prescott did the same. Anxiety started to creep up her neck. She looked for Chuck Rhodes yet again, but found him nowhere. He had come for his meal then disappeared in the area of the animals. Anna only prayed he would stay there.
At the least, she was grateful the evening was not nearly as cold as the last two nights. If she had not been laced with apprehension she probably would have fallen into a comfortable sleep; as it was she found herself still awake hours later, staring up at the branches overhanging the camp. The only sound was the crackling of the fire as it slowly dwindled.
Next to her, Prescott’s chest rose up and down in a heavy sleep. She looked around the camp and noticed all the other men fast asleep as well. Instinctively, her eyes sought out Wade. He too slept propped against a downed tree with his hat perched low over his face.
Sighing, her gaze drifted up into the night sky and the half-moon just visible above the tree tops, and willed it away. The sooner the sun rose the sooner they would be back on the road.
A twig cracked and caught her attention. Her eyes shot in the direction which it came. Chuck Rhodes stood just outside the camp and was looking straight at her. Fear swelled in her gut. She held her breath and waited. Shuffling he made his way toward her, stepping cautiously between wranglers. Anna’s hand snuck out from beneath her blanket and touched Prescott’s arm.
And received no response.
The old man kept approaching and panic set in setting Anna’s heart rate at soaring speeds. She reached out and touched Prescott’s arm once more but still nothing. He slept undisturbed.
“What are you after, Chuck?” Wa
de’s booming voice broke the still night and stopped Chuck Rhodes in his tracks.
* * *
Wade had been keeping a watchful eye on the boy all day. In health, he looked far better. Elizabeth’s home cooking and hospitality had done him good. But there was definitely something wrong with the boy. Since he returned to fetch him for the ride back to the ranch, he had avoided all eye contact. However, Wade didn’t need to see into his brown depths to know something wasn’t right. He just wasn’t sure what it was.
Admittedly, he was hurt when the boy chose to lay his bedroll next to Prescott. Wade knew it had been a deliberate rejection. He just wasn’t clear on what grounds. Had he truly insulted the boy’s sense of morals? Possibly, but with or without the boy’s knowledge he kept an extra watchful eye on him. He wasn’t entirely certain the kid wouldn’t attempt another foolish stunt as he did last night. May even attempt to return to the village in the mountain.
Wade yawned as he had several times, but found sleep avoided him. Instead, he watched as the boy tossed and turned next to Prescott. When Chuck Rhodes made an unexpected appearance in the campsite, he wondered if the old man did this often. Wait till everyone was asleep before coming to warm himself by the fire. That was until he realized the fire was not his destination.
“What are you after, Chuck?”
The old man had reached within a foot of the boy, but stopped suddenly at Wade’s words. He looked flustered at being caught and turned around abruptly and scurried back into the woods toward the animals.
Wade frowned and glanced at his brother’s slumbering form, and then at the boy. It was too dark to see if either were awake, but from what he could see Prescott was laying on his side breathing heavily in sleep. The boy lay perfectly still and was more than likely fast asleep as well. What would old Chuck Rhodes want with Prescott? Or, even stranger, with the boy?
On the Mountain Page 11