Roz Denny Fox

by Precious Gifts

  “Hayley…” Jake’s tentative voice battered her ringing ears. The bouts were always followed by cold sweats. She clung to a sapling, waiting for the waves to pass. And pass they always did.

  Jake stripped off the neck scarf he wore to protect his face from the dust kicked up by plodding steers. He ran to the spring, wet the material thoroughly and, though his knees weren’t steady, bulldozed his way to Hayley’s side. “Here,” he said gruffly. “Let me wipe your face. Do you have a cup out there? I’ll get you some water.”

  “Go away,” she said weakly. “I’m fine.”

  “Yeah, you sound fine. Just great. How long has this been going on?”

  She pressed her face into the cool fabric of his bandanna, willing him to leave her to her misery. Even in the darkness afforded her by the trees, Hayley felt his concern. From what little she knew of Jake, she doubted he’d walk off and abandon her in this condition. But maybe she could shake him with a lie.

  “I have an aversion to being grabbed and kissed,” she said, trying to sound angry and disgusted, instead of merely weak. “That’s why I’m sick. I’m sure it’s not a reaction you’re used to getting, since you probably have your choice of women in this valley. Collect your horse and ride out. Forget me, Jake.”

  His brows shot up. Not for one minute did he buy into this claim that kissing her made her sick. However, a lot had happened in the past few minutes and he saw the need to give them both some space. “I reckon we can set aside this contest of wills while I deal with the business at hand. Make yourself comfortable in your remaining chair while I turn on the water.”

  Sometimes Hayley could will the bouts of nausea away. She tried now, taking deep breaths as she patted the damp cloth to her face and neck. “There,” she breathed. “All better.” That was an out-and-out fib, she thought as she led the way out of the thicket on wobbly legs. The booklet said it was rare for vomiting to stretch beyond three months. On the other hand, at the end of each discussion of possible side effects were exceptions to the rule. Hayley figured she was exception number four. Four being her unlucky number. After all, she’d married Joe Ryan on the fourth day of the fourth month. A double whammy if ever she’d encountered one. And exception number four in the booklet said a few women experienced nausea and vomiting for all nine months of their pregnancy.

  Falling into step with her, Jake slid a supporting arm around her thickening waistline.

  If she hadn’t felt so rocky, she’d have never allowed his help. “Really, these spells pass quickly,” she said in a matter-of-fact voice. “It’s common for some pregnant women to suffer vomiting for their whole pregnancy. Stress adds to the frequency.”

  “Mm,” he said noncommittally. He saw her firmly seated before he left to open the valves. “I’ll bet you those women live within a ten-minute drive of their doctors,” he muttered.

  Starting to shrug, Hayley looked guilty, instead. But she wasn’t going to let him draw her into an argument over something that wasn’t his business. She clamped down on her tongue just in time. The minute he was out of sight, she got up and put on the kettle to heat water for tea. Peppermint generally calmed her stomach.

  Jake hadn’t missed the stubborn light that flicked on inside Hayley’s eyes. And it made him worry that he wouldn’t be able to persuade her to leave the Blue Cameo’s site. Well, first things first. Going out into the desert with Charcoal, he rounded up her family of strays. He spoke to them in fluent Spanish and quickly determined they weren’t part of a larger illegal ring. Best of all, the men possessed work permits. He made them understand that he lived on the Triple C, and that if the two men in the unit knew cows, they were hired for roundup.

  He led them back to the campfire, and they resumed their meal with many expressions of gratitude. Then Jake gave them directions and told them about another migrant family living in the valley who would give the wife and kids temporary shelter.

  Hayley thanked him quietly and fervently.

  Only later, after he’d collected and washed the dishes left by her visitors and he’d again broached the subject of towing her trailer to the Triple C, did Jake accept that her refusal didn’t mean maybe. She had every intention of remaining right in this spot. “Look, you can’t stay here,” he said, stomping angrily around the fire for about the hundredth time in the past hour.

  If she hadn’t been so weary of going over the same ground, Hayley might have smiled at his seriousness. Setting aside her now-cold cup of peppermint tea, she formed her fingers into a tent in front of her chin. “You warn me not to take in strays. Yet it’s precisely what you’d be asking your family to do. Not only wouldn’t they appreciate you dragging home a pregnant stranger, Jacob, it doesn’t sound to me as if the Triple C is all that much closer to town. Anyway, it’s irrelevant. I’m not going.”

  Frustrated by her logic, Jake raked a hand through his hair. “I’ll admit this is a busy period for us. Right now is when my mother and Eden replenish their stock—you know, for their shop. Mom’s a potter and Eden makes jewelry. And it’s roundup, which keeps Dillon and me hopping. But you’d have access to phones at the ranch. A telephone could make all the difference if something went wrong.”

  Jake carefully avoided making any comment about his family welcoming her. He thought they would. Or rather, he thought that, given time, he could talk them into it—although he suspected his mother might object to his taking a more-than-neighborly interest in a pregnant woman.

  Be that as it may, he couldn’t tolerate the thought that Hayley might be risking her safety and her baby’s if she stayed here. Her stubbornness exasperated him beyond belief. “Look,” he shouted, pushing his face close to hers, “I don’t have time for this. I have to get back to help with the herd.”

  “Then go. Who’s stopping you?” Hayley bolted upright, clenching her fists. “I survived without a man before. I certainly don’t need one calling the shots now.”

  Jake let his anger drain. “This isn’t about me ordering you around because you’re a woman and I’m a man.”

  “No? Then what is it about?”

  Jake’s thoughts and feelings were so jumbled he couldn’t honestly answer her. In a lot of ways he barely knew her—as his family kept telling him. He certainly didn’t know her well enough to stake any claim. Yet he felt in his soul this was about more than principle. More than the chivalrous values his parents had instilled in him. He hesitated and finally stuttered, “It’s because I’m worried about you. I can’t completely explain it. The baby, I guess. And I admit that what you said earlier is true—I’d never have questioned Ben’s decision to stay out here alone.”

  For a minute there Hayley thought Jake was going to blurt out something more personal. Her breath had even stalled in her throat as he wrestled with his words. In that teetering moment she realized she’d have capitulated and followed him like a pitiful puppy if he’d offered so much as a token reason suggesting that she might, in any way, be special to him.

  The moment passed for both of them. Jake felt flushed and ineffective.

  Hayley’s resolve doubled right before his eyes. She built a bulwark of strength around her. Nevertheless, he made one last stab. “I’ll leave Charcoal with you. If you need me for any reason, tell him to find me.”

  “That’s very kind,” Hayley said in a brittle voice. “But I can’t…won’t accept. He’s a cow dog. He deserves to do what he’s trained for. Besides, what if he wandered off or got hurt? No. You take him.”

  As Jake tightened the girth on his saddle and prepared to mount, he searched for reasons to stick around longer. Clearly, though, Hayley was anxious for him to go. “You’re sure…” he began once his knees gripped the leather.

  “I’m positive.” Hayley plastered a confident smile on her lips. It remained in place until he was gone and there was no way the occluding darkness would allow him to see it slip.

  Jake rode slowly and methodically away from the clearing. Away from Hayley. Many times he hauled on the reins and
stopped. Half of those times he turned Mojave and almost went back. He did send Charcoal in his stead, continuing on his way to rejoin Dillon only after he’d verified from a vantage point on the ridge that Hayley had emerged from her trailer and discovered the dog. Though not as satisfactory as having Hayley parked at the ranch, he guessed it’d do until he found a way to change her mind.

  “YO, LITTLE BROTHER.” Dillon rode out to meet Jacob ahead of the meandering herd. “What’s happening up at the spring? Is she going dry?”

  Jake reined in sharply.

  Dillon snapped his fingers in Jake’s face. “Earth to Jacob. Did that woman chase you off with a shotgun again?”

  Jake finally sorted through his brother’s barrage of questions. “I released the water. It ran a couple of hours. Should have filled the ditch.”

  “Made a thin stream of red mud, is all. Half the herd went without a taste. We’ve pushed them hard since yesterday. Their tongues are hanging out. If they don’t get more water by morning, we could be in trouble.”

  “I didn’t follow the ditch back to the stream. It must be blocked somewhere.” Jake shifted in his saddle, making the leather creak. “I suppose I’d better ride back and find the problem area. I sent two men to see you. Did they get here?”

  “Yes. I took ’em on. And Dad showed up an hour ago. He says the doctor cleared him to help us finish roundup. You know he’ll overdo it if he takes it into his head to beat the arroyos for strays. And I need a break. So Dad and I will check the route to the spring. We’ll meet up with you at Lark’s Meadow tomorrow.”

  “Sure.” Jake stripped off the high-powered binoculars that hung around his neck. “I doubt you’ll have to ride all the way into Mrs. Ryan’s camp to find the blockage.” He paused. “There are several places where you’ll overlook her camp. Would you mind making sure she’s all right?”

  Dillon gave his brother the once-over out of lazy-lidded eyes.

  Jake tightened his jaw. “Just do it, all right? A woman’s got no business digging rock. It’s plain damn foolish for her to be out there doing it alone—as I told her.”

  “I take it she didn’t appreciate your opinion. Guess I haven’t taught you anything about handling women, eh, Jake? You gotta sweet-talk ’em. You can’t just throw out orders.”

  Jake snorted. He recalled vividly the feel of kissing Hayley. He’d always thought kissing worked better than sweet talk, and he’d never needed Dillon’s instructions when it came to dealing with women.

  Wade Cooper rode up on a brown-and-white pinto gelding. His appearance effectively put an end to Dillon’s teasing. Talk turned to water, or the lack thereof. “Boys, we need full control of that spring,” Wade fumed. “I’ll bet Ben’s grandkid hasn’t found a nickel’s worth of assayable ore. You were there, Jake. Did she show any signs of capitulating?”

  Jake shook his head. Personally, knowing her condition, he figured she’d have to stop sooner than later. He kept her secret, though. She’d seemed so desperate to stay in spite of being pregnant. And he’d seen her boxes of rocks. She hadn’t sat idle. If there was something valuable in that claim, Jake wanted Hayley to find it. He shook himself out of a stupor to hear his father talking again.

  “John Westin’s pressing the co-op to use their collective muscle to commandeer that plot. I’d feel a whole lot better if he’d shut up.”

  Dillon leaned an arm across his saddle horn. “Me, too. Westin’s been growing too fast. Eden heard rumors in town that he’s overgrazed his fields. He’s leased to the maximum on government range.”

  “Yeah,” Wade put in. “Yesterday I heard even more disturbing news. Link Thompson said John bought Ginalyn the old Naylor spread out on Cougar Flats. He’s leased from there to the Arivaca junction in her name. Link said if anyone thinks Ginalyn’s going to be out there punching cows, he has some swampland to sell them.”

  Dillon swore. “The only water for Cougar Flats would have to come from our spring.”

  “Except,” Wade pointed out, “it isn’t ours.”

  “Ain’t that the truth,” Dillon said. “Hey, Jacob. Where’s Charcoal?” he asked suddenly, shading his eyes to gaze around.

  “I, uh…” Jake stuttered. “I left him with Hayley.” When Wade lifted a brow, Jake explained again about the illegals Hayley had fed.

  “I hope you don’t mind if we mosey on into her camp and pick up your dog,” Wade said. “The object here is to get her to abandon that mine, not facilitate her stay.”

  “I do mind,” Jake growled. His comment drew surprised glances from both Dillon and Wade. “Hayley’s determined to work that claim, even though it’s not safe.”

  Dillon laughed as Wade continued looking troubled. “Come on, Dad. I think it’s high time we took a gander at this woman who’s got the valley’s most eligible bachelor dancing at the end of a short rope.”

  “I’m not dancing on anybody’s rope!” Jake shouted. “Mom used to send pickles and bread to Ben,” he said more quietly. “Tell me how this is any big-deal different?”

  Grinning lecherously, Dillon appeared ready to try. Wade called a halt by glowering at both his sons. “Jake, take the herd on to the Triple C. Dillon and I will ride ahead and set up the grain feeders and the branding pens when we finish inspecting the stream. I figure we’ll all be too busy over the next week or so to worry about acting neighborly.”

  His statement severed any further conversation about Hayley Ryan. Jake recognized his father’s method of manipulation. As far back as Jake could remember, his dad had piled on the chores to keep his two sons walking the straight-and-narrow path he’d decided they ought to take. Never before had Jake felt the resentment he experienced now in watching Wade ride off, complacent that his edict would be obeyed.

  Jake’s anger flared. He was no longer a boy. He didn’t appreciate his father’s heavy-handed tactics. He’d choose what women to date. And he’d fit them into his work schedule. Not them, her. Hayley Ryan. If he wanted to see her badly enough to give up his sleep time, he would go ahead and do it.

  But Jake hadn’t allowed for his father’s breakneck pace. The first twelve days of September passed in a blur of hard work before he found time to do more than stare at the dusty horizon, wondering how Hayley was doing. On the thirteenth day, after the whole weary crew packed the last beef into the cattle train headed for market, Wade gave everyone two days off before starting the entire process again on the south range.

  Jake, who’d ridden into Tubac with Dillon that morning, saw a woman on the street whose hair color reminded him of Hayley. He was struck by an acute need to visit her. “Hey, Dillon. I’ve got better things to do than hang out in town. If you’re going to stick around and bug your wife, I’ll take the truck home and let you snag a ride with her.”

  “What do you have to do that’s so all-fired important?”

  Jake grinned disarmingly. “Catch up on my sleep. Dad’s a slavedriver. I liked it better when the doc made him stay off a horse.”

  “I hear you.” Mistakenly Jake assumed Dillon had bought his story. He dismissed that notion when Dillon punched his arm and said, “When you drop my pickup at the house, go on inside. There’s a package of soup bones on the second shelf of the fridge. Charcoal will be right happy to get one.”

  Jake swung around, his guilty gaze colliding with Dillon’s mischievous grin.

  “You never could lie, little brother. Frankly, the Ryan woman didn’t strike me as anything to write home about.”

  Jake bristled, then rotated his shoulders and sighed. “I can’t explain the attraction myself, Dillon. It won’t do me any good to try defending it to you.”

  Dillon pulled up next to the curb outside Eden’s jewelry store. He left the pickup running as he climbed out. “It’s only fair to tell you that your lady ran Dad and me off at shotgun point. Dad was apoplectic all the way home. He’s definitely going to need time before he greets your friend with open arms.”

  “What made Hayley go for her gun? Never mind.” Jake sl
id under the wheel and released the parking brake. “I want to hear her version first.” He slammed the door on whatever Dillon had to say.

  HAYLEY BENT HIS EAR plenty when he rode into her camp and interrupted her as she washed screen-bottomed trays filled with some blue-streaked stone.

  “I don’t need you bringing me bribes, Jacob Cooper. Much as I liked having Charcoal here for company, you can take him home, too. Tell your father and brother I have discovered something worthwhile.” She gestured at an array of oddly lustrous rocks.

  “Doesn’t look like precious metal to me,” Jake said, going on one knee to examine the collection more closely. “What is it? And why should it make any difference to my dad and Dillon?”

  “Ha!” She loomed over him, hands on her hips. “As if you didn’t know they stormed in here the day after you left and gave me an ultimatum. They said if I didn’t discover something of value in two weeks, they’d file a petition with the state recorder’s office to have my claim revoked. Well, I’ve found an opal deposit!”

  Jake didn’t hear her at first. He was furious to think that a man of his father’s gentle nature would bully any woman, let alone one so obviously pregnant. For Hayley was no longer able to hide her condition in the folds of her loose jumper. The roundness of her stomach was quite prominent now.

  “I guess you’re speechless, huh?” she demanded. “On second thought,” she said, wagging a finger in his face, “I’d rather you didn’t spread the news around town. I don’t want a stampede of gem-hunters crowding me.”

  “Gem-hunters?” Jake shifted his eyes from her stomach to stare blankly at her flushed face.

  “Honestly! Haven’t you heard a word I said?” she asked as he rose to his feet. Too happy not to share her joy with somebody, Hayley flung her arms around Jake’s neck. “I hit a vein of opal! I’m not sure of the grade, but I’ve positively identified my find. A lower grade only means the difference between my baby and me surviving and being comfortably rich.” Her delighted laughter was muffled against Jake’s chest as she tightened her arms and buried her face in his shirtfront.