“And Maddie? What about her?”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Lane. My answer is still the same.”
CHAPTER FORTY
Alone at her campsite, Nell absorbed the absolute beauty of the velvety black sky that stretched as far as her eye could see. She took a deep breath and let the chilly night air fill her lungs. Life was good. Once they had this herd corralled and readied for breaking, it would be even better. So many good-looking animals.
Nell tossed another branch overtop her crackling fire and watched the sparks dance into the darkness. Dog was stretched out on the ground, his nose between his paws and his side to the flames. She smiled at how his brows rose and fell as he watched her.
How are Charlie and the boys making out? After scouting the trail, they’d been pleased with the natural obstacles of the landscape that could help direct the horses on the course they wanted them to go. In the few instances where the logical choice would be to go otherwise, they’d stopped and gathered brush and, with the hammer and nails Charlie had thought to bring from the packhorse, they’d constructed barriers. Superficial, but the horses wouldn’t know that. They’d see resistance, and turn the other way. Because of the time spent doing that, darkness had fallen by the time Charlie had dropped her off.
“You sure you don’t mind staying alone?” he’d asked, standing so close that not thinking about their kiss in the kitchen was impossible. “I can easily stay. I’ll just get up a bit earlier and walk the five miles back. Won’t take a thing out of the black. I want to, Nell.” He’d run his hand down her arm and stopped at the elbow, the touch intimate.
Well, she was having none of it and sent him on his way. She’d spent nights out alone tending the cattle. This wasn’t any different. You sure about that, Nell? This was ridiculous. That rider, the stranger, was long gone. If he were still around, they would have seen traces of him, or run into him face-to-face. She liked the night. It had always been her friend.
She closed her eyes and concentrated on happy thoughts. Seth, his attempt to bake her a birthday cake going very badly wrong. Seth bringing in a small pine tree on Christmas morning and helping with the decorations. Seth, best man at her and Ben’s wedding, smiling ear-to-ear. He’d always been there for her. What would his life have been without her around? Would he have found a woman and married?
That was a disturbing thought. Had she held him back from a life of his own? A wife? Children? Uncomfortable now, Nell stood and meandered out to where Coyote was hobbled a few feet from her camp. Dog got up and followed. She rested her forehead against Coyote’s shoulder, letting her troubled thoughts ease away.
The horse took an awkward step, then lowered his muzzle back to the ground to continue cropping the grass. A pang of guilt for the foot-long leather strap of the hobbles pricked her heart. I’m sorry, she thought. She slung her arm over his back and ran her hands over his silky coat, loving the feel of it under her fingertips. Relief filled her when a shadowy impression eased through her veins like honey, telling her he didn’t mind the hobbles. He was anticipating running with the wild horses.
Nell almost gasped at the desire radiating from him. Dog, who’d buddied up close, let go a lonesome whine, then pushed his nose into her hand, as if not wanting to be left out. Nell fought back the hot prickle of tears behind her eyes and rubbed her cheek against Coyote’s side as she contemplated setting him free when the roundup was completed. She loved him, didn’t want to part ways. He reached around and nudged her with his muzzle. Her heart slowed down. Seemed he didn’t want that, either, and was content where he was. That’s when she picked up a crunching sound in the grass beyond the light of her fire. Dog spun around and advanced a few feet and then stopped, his right paw tight to his chest as he pointed. Her gaze cut to the campfire, and her gun sitting on her blanket.
Was it too late? Too late to make a grab for it—and maybe get shot?
“Nell?” More steps in the grass. “Nell? Don’t go and blow my head off.”
Charlie? Dog bounded out to greet him. “What in Sam Hill are you doing here? I told you I was able and willing to stay out by myself. What do you have in that head of yours? Straw for brains?”
“Just settle down. When we started this venture, no one ever said anything about splitting up. That was my idea and I feel responsible—for you. Seth would have my tail in a corn husker if something happened to his sister under my watch.”
“Is that the only reason? Seth doing you bodily harm?”
He shook his head. “You know better.” His tone sent a ripple of awareness slipping down her back.
She glared, struggling to hold on to her anger. “Where’s the black?”
“Just off in the trees. I’ll go get him.”
Nell watched him and Dog go, then reappear shortly after that. “I guess telling you to cut out now won’t do a bit of good. Did you ever leave or have you been waiting in the trees watching me? As for you, Dog, some protector you are.”
“Ease up. I didn’t watch you from cover—just waited a little while before I showed my hand. As for Dog, he knows my scent. He came to visit me a time or two.” Charlie chuckled.
She stomped over to her campsite. “Well, get your mount turned out so he can graze and come set up your bedroll. I know there’s no way to talk you out of this.” Coyote’s head came up as Charlie led the black out to where the paint was hobbled.
She rattled the pot over her fire and scraped a few more beans onto her already dirty plate. “There’s some grub left. Not much, though.”
“Thanks. I also have mine.” He came into camp, tossed his bedroll across the fire from her, and set his saddle nearby. He opened his saddlebag and pulled out his portion of the jerky they’d doled out when they’d split up, the last of some dried fruit, another can of beans. “It’s gonna be good to get back and eat some real food. I was thinking about trying out the Silky Hen for supper and the fried chicken I keep hearing about.” He ate a strip of his jerky. “What I wouldn’t give for some right now. How about you?”
Does he think a little idle conversation will smooth things over? Well, his scheme wasn’t going to work. Staying the night here put more strain on the black with the extra miles the gelding would have to travel in the morning, albeit at a walk.
She took a breath, and let it out, thinking about what these horses would do for the ranch. A means to hire more help. Then Seth could get well and maybe, just maybe, take a little time to court a wife. That brought a small smile to her lips as she imagined him gaining weight from being pampered and loved. But that only lasted a second. Her and Charlie’s bickering from the past few days popped into her mind and her smile fizzled. Maybe Seth was better off staying a bachelor.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Coyote’s deep nicker rousted Charlie out of his sleep. He pulled his blanket up over his shoulder and snuggled deeper into his thick leather coat, shivering from the cold. Opening one eye, he glanced at the stars in search of the moon. It wasn’t much past two. Still several hours to rest.
“Mm,” Nell moaned in her sleep. “Seth . . .”
Charlie opened his eyes. He lifted his head and looked across the amber coals of the campfire to make sure she was all right. Last night, still gruff as all get-out, she’d wrapped up in her blanket and turned her back to him without a good-night.
She rolled to her back. “Get back . . .”
The sob at the end of her last word had him up and at her side in three strides. “Nell,” he said. “Wake up. You’re dreaming.” She seemed so small and vulnerable in her blankets. Not knowing what to do exactly, he took her shoulder, shaking gently. “Nell?”
With a gasp, she bolted into his waiting arms and buried her face against his chest.
“Nell,” he whispered against her hair. “You’re all right. I’m right here. It’s me, Charlie. Wake up.”
“Charlie,” she said shakily. “I finally remembered my pa. Seth has never spoken of him. Would never tell me anything about our father even if I asked.
The memory was awful.”
She wrested in a few deep breaths, then calmed in his arms. “Seth took me away from him to keep me safe. I was little, and I guess I pushed those memories to the back of my mind. After our ma died, we ran away. I assumed that they both had died, but that’s not true. We snuck away the night after Pa buried her.”
Charlie laid her back on her bed and retrieved his own blankets from across the burned-out campfire, laying them next to hers. He pulled her close and she rested her head on his chest.
“Do you want me to build a fire for some light?” He gently smoothed her hair down her back and she snuggled in closer.
The shake of her head was almost imperceptible. “I just want to lie here with you . . .”
The horses snorted at something and moved around, probably unsettled by Nell’s distress.
“Sometimes talking helps.”
Several seconds went by in silence and he thought maybe she’d fallen back asleep. “I wish I could remember my mother,” she said wistfully. “Or had a picture of her. It’s hard going through life not knowing where you came from or the sound of your mama’s voice.”
He nodded. “Maybe this is just the first of more memories to come.”
“I don’t want to know about Pa. In my dream he was chasing Seth with a switch.” She quivered and he stroked her back. “I was hidden away somewhere small and dark. Seth told me not to come out until he came for me. I had a tiny peephole and watched Seth dart away, and Pa take off after him.”
She started to cry again and all Charlie knew how to do was hold her and whisper that she was all right, that he wouldn’t leave her, that she was safe with him.
She took a deep breath and let it out. “Sometimes dreaming about a family of my own is all I ever do.” Her voice was small, her hand gentle as it slowly traced circles on his chest.
He understood that all too well. Imagining Maddie happy and content, with a mother to love her. Would they ever be settled again? “I had a wife once,” he said through a tight jaw. “And even more. We were a happy family, scraping out a living on not much more than love and a prayer. When Annie was taken from me, I didn’t think I could go on. Didn’t think I’d ever recover. It was like somebody opened me up with a knife and cut out my heart.” He swallowed down a lump of grief. “A man is meant to have family around him, though, and I want that again. More children to hold in my lap and watch grow.”
He kept his gaze on the stars when she lifted her head to look up into his face. At that moment he realized he’d been wrong about Nell. Even as young as she was, she was the strongest, bravest women he’d ever met. Tenacious. Loyal to a fault. The way she guarded Seth was heartwarming. She might not hold womanly things in high esteem, but that wasn’t everything. She had an abundance of love just waiting to be shared. She would make an excellent mother for any child.
“Try to get some sleep,” he said into her hair. “Tomorrow’s going to be long and dangerous. You need to be alert. Close your eyes and dream about the land in the spring and how everything turns a soft, velvety green.”
He felt her nod as he gazed at the Big Dipper still bright in the sky.
Her hand moved higher on his chest. “This feels nice,” she whispered.
“You want to roll over so you can see the stars? It’s a mighty fine show tonight, if I do say so myself. I’m always amazed how they glitter like water splashing down a creek bed of rocks in the sun.”
She shook her head and hung on more firmly. “That’s quite poetic, Charlie Rose.”
Dog scooted closer and dropped his head onto Charlie’s midsection. Charlie reached down and scratched the animal’s head. “This is turning into a party.”
“He scared me, Charlie. I’m not too proud anymore to say it.” Her voice was soft and vulnerable.
“Your father?”
She shook her head again. “No. There was another stranger who came out to the ranch. The week before you showed up. I couldn’t put my finger on why he seemed so evil, just a feeling I had inside, like when I can tell what the horses are feeling. All I wanted was for him to ride away. Leave and never come back. Guess it’s me thinking about him that’s brought back these memories of my pa. That’s the only thing that makes any sense.”
“Are you talking about the rider on the hill?” Charlie about stopped breathing. The week before he’d arrived? What was she talking about?
“No. A stranger in the ranch yard. Seth was still gone with the army horses and you hadn’t arrived yet.”
Fear gripped his insides. Tracking him, ahead of him—the stranger on the ridge, the footprints near the river. If whoever it was had been after him, wouldn’t they have made a move by now? Or was Galante biding his time for some reason? Would he make a move on Maddie if he couldn’t get to Charlie? He wanted to jump on his horse and beat his way back to Logan Meadows right now in the dark. But he couldn’t. This job had to be done. “Try to forget about him now. He’s long gone.” I hope. “We’ll get our job finished tomorrow, then figure out who’s been watching you out at the ranch, and why.”
Nell sat up on her elbow and looked down into his face. Through the darkness he could barely make out the curve of her cheek. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “I can hear it in your voice. There’s something you’re not telling me.”
“Sh, now,” he said. “It’s time for sleep. All the rest can wait.”
She nodded and snuggled back onto his chest. A hush fell back over the campsite and her breathing evened out. Everything was quiet, except the thudding of Charlie’s heart.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Nell sat loose and comfortable in her saddle even though her stomach clenched with excitement. Some thirty feet from the trail, behind a stand of trees, she drew in a deep, steadying breath and tried to calm her nerves. What she wouldn’t give right now for a strong, hot cup of coffee. All she’d had since rising was a handful of beef jerky.
She went over in her mind all that needed to be checked before taking on an endeavor of such magnitude, knowing full well her cinch was tight, Coyote’s hooves divested of even the smallest grit, her supple, split-leather reins knotted, just in case she were to lose one. Her bandanna was tied around her neck in case the dust got bad and she needed to cover her nose. Swallowing down an egg-sized ball of disquiet, she clenched the stock whip that was neatly curled and held in her right gloved hand against her thigh. Her heart beat triple time.
Charlie and the herd should be here any moment.
He’d departed camp around five, saying he should be passing her pickup point around seven or eight. That gave him time to go at an easy pace back to the herd, get around behind the horses, and then start them off. The five miles at a gallop wouldn’t take long. “Don’t get antsy,” he’d told them all yesterday. “We don’t know what problems I might encounter. I’ll get there when I get there and not a minute before. Just be ready.”
Nell’s thoughts circled around to the subject she’d been trying to avoid by staying busy. Charlie. And lying in his arms most of the night. He’d been so tender. He must have been a devoted husband, judging by the way he’d treated her. Just his tone had the power to chase away her fears and calm her racing heart. When he’d finally told her about his wife, he’d even said more that she hadn’t picked up on in her drowsy state. That he wanted more children. That meant he must have had a child, or children, who had perished in the wagon accident. Poor Charlie. A surge of compassion pressed her heart. That fact must have been just too hard for him to share with Seth.
Where did they go from here? Anywhere? He’d alluded to wanting a family again—to mend his broken heart. Brenna had that family built in and ready to go. Was that the thing that kept attracting him to her side? But if that were so and he didn’t feel anything for Nell, how could he possibly hold her so gently all night long? Anger threatened to spoil her mood. She’d not speculate things she didn’t have the answer for. She cherished last night. And if she read him correctly, trusted the sense she felt from h
im, he had, as well. That was good enough for her.
Dog whined, unhappy she insisted he stay put by her side. He sat at attention beside Coyote’s hip, watching up the trail as if he knew exactly what she was anticipating. Coyote’s ears flicked forward, then back. He seemed calm and collected. She’d know when the herd was close because he’d be hard to hold.
She closed her eyes and visualized the section of trail along which she had to drive the horses. For the most part the ground was level, with an easy downhill slant. But toward the end, where Jake would be waiting, there was a section of land that years ago had given way to a small slide. They’d have to go over and down a good twenty feet, and at a very steep angle. She’d taken Coyote over it several times yesterday to give him confidence when the time came, but the obstacle would be different going at a full run. Now she just needed to bolster her own resolve.
All would be fine. She’d been riding as far back as she could remember. She’d just sit tight and let Coyote do the work.
Dog leaped to his feet and barked. Coyote’s head snapped up and his body quivered with excitement.
Thundering hooves announced their arrival. Nell reached down and steadied Coyote with her hand to his withers.
The first horse galloped around the bend.
With a blaring neigh, Coyote reared, but she held him steady, talking softly but keeping a firm hold on his mouth. He tossed his head and she spun him in a circle. “Whoa, now,” she said deeply. “Whoa, Coyote. Your time’s coming, boy. Just hold on. Let some of them pass.”
The pounding of hooves to earth was almost deafening. Nell searched for Charlie amid the galloping horses but with everything happening so fast, that was next to impossible. Horses raced by. It was all she could do to keep her horse from grabbing the bit and joining them. Dog was gone. She hoped he had sense enough to stay out from under the mass of horses or he’d be killed.
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