Bound for Eden
Page 6
“She ain’t paid me at all yet. And she won’t if you’ve frightened her to death.”
“You swear you ain’t seen her sister?”
“No,” Luke snapped, reaching the end of his patience. “Now if you’ll excuse me, the lady needs some attention.”
“You might want to tell her to keep out of sight,” Silas snarled at his back as he left. “My brother will do more’n scare her if he knows she’s here.”
* * *
• • •
BY THE TIME Luke reached Ralph Taylor’s place the girl was coming to.
“Where’s your room?” he asked gently. When she told him he took her straight upstairs and lowered her carefully to the bed.
“How are you feeling, Miss Alexander?”
Victoria thought she must be dreaming. Men didn’t look at her that way. They looked at Alex like that all the time, all soft and tender on the surface, with something hungry underneath. But now here was this man—this chiseled, square-jawed Adonis—looking at her, plain old Victoria Sparrow, with such concern. He’d carried her in his arms as though she’d weighed as little as a feather. And now they were alone and she was helpless on the bed before him. Victoria felt her stomach clench, and not from fear.
“What’s going on here?”
Never had her sister been less welcome.
Alex and Adam tumbled through the door. Alex looked suspicious as she took in Luke and Victoria’s positions on the bed. Her expression blackened with rage. “You weren’t at the square,” she accused. “I was worried, so we came looking. And good thing we did, because look what we found.”
“Nothing inappropriate,” Luke said to soothe the runt. “She fainted and I thought the bed would be the best place for her. I don’t have much experience with swooning ladies.”
The runt snorted in disbelief and turned a dubious look on his sister. “You fainted?”
“It was the heat,” Victoria lied. Luke gave her a startled look, but she ignored him.
“Why don’t you run down and get some fresh water for your sister, runt?” Luke suggested. “She looks like she could use a cool cloth on her forehead.”
“I can help,” Adam said.
“Yes, you can,” Luke agreed. “You can pump the water for Alex.”
Alex didn’t look like she was going to budge. Victoria made a slight whimpering noise and slumped back against the bed.
“Can’t you see how pale she is?” Luke scolded. “Go get that water.”
Alex felt well and truly dismissed. She snatched up the water pitcher and stomped downstairs. They were up to no good, she just knew it.
As soon as the door closed behind them, Victoria sat up, wringing her hands. “I only lied so I wouldn’t worry them,” she said nervously. “Did Silas see Alex? Were his brothers there?” She was as white as milk and shivering like a leaf in an autumn gale.
“He was asking about your sister,” Luke told her gently. He pulled the blanket up to cover her, noticing how she flinched at the mention of her sister. “Don’t fret. I told him the truth.”
“The truth?” Her eyes were as big as saucers.
“That your sister ain’t with you.” He looked around the hotel room but there was no obvious sign of a hidden sister.
“No.” Victoria’s voice cracked. “My sister has gone east. We parted ways in St. Louis.” She cleared her throat. “She abandoned us. She wasn’t our blood sister anyway, just a stray Ma and Pa took in when her parents died.”
“What did he want with her?”
“What did he want with you?”
“I ran into a spot of trouble with them over cards last night.” Luke frowned. The poor girl was in serious distress at the thought of those vultures. “He said to keep you out of sight of his brother.”
“Gideon.” Victoria shuddered.
“Why is that?”
“He wants my sister,” Victoria told him miserably. “He’d hurt us to get to her.”
Luke fell silent. “Would it help if I get word to them that your sister left you?”
Victoria nodded. Then gave a despairing shrug. Then the tears began to fall.
Luke was a sucker for tears. “I’ll see if we can leave a bit sooner than I’d planned,” he said, rubbing her back.
“What about Alex . . .”
“Alex is a boy,” Luke said firmly, “and I’m guessing you’re his legal guardian. So, in my book, it’s you that gets to decide which wagon train you join.”
Looking up into his shining black eyes, Victoria knew exactly which wagon train they were joining. Luke Slater’s. Even if he was headed to the ends of the earth.
8
ALEX DIDN’T RECOGNIZE her anymore. Her plain and mousy sister was blossoming into a pretty young woman. She walked around pink-cheeked and glowing, smiling witlessly at all and sundry. It was infuriating.
And it was that man’s fault.
“What do you think you are doing?” she hissed at Victoria in Cavil’s Mercantile, where Victoria was in the process of buying a length of lovely yellow calico.
“I’m going to make a new dress,” Victoria said blithely. “Luke says there’s a dance on Saturday night, to farewell the wagon trains leaving, which includes us.”
“Oh, he does, now, does he? And how are you planning to pay for this new dress?”
There was a glint of gold in Victoria’s gloved hand.
“That money is supposed to get us set up in Oregon!”
“One new dress won’t hurt.”
Alex sputtered helplessly as Victoria sailed up to the counter with the bolt of yellow cloth firmly in hand. She was outraged in so many ways. Firstly, because it really was a waste of money. When on earth would Victoria need a new yellow dress on the trip west? When she was fording rivers, or helping to dig out the wheels of their bogged wagon?
And secondly, Alex had to admit, she was outraged because she didn’t see why Victoria should have a new dress when she was walking around in Adam’s cast-offs, her face buried beneath a revolting mask of dust and dirt. It just wasn’t fair.
Being a boy certainly wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, she thought sulkily as they walked back to Taylor’s. Here she was lugging sacks of grain, while Victoria sailed along with only the scrap of calico weighing her down. Then she had to head out into the blazing heat of the day to look over a bunch of smelly animals, while Victoria got to sit in the cool of the hotel sewing her pretty new dress.
“Come on, Adam,” Alex snapped, “we’d best leave her to it. Try not to give yourself a callus while we’re gone.”
“I’ve never been to a dance,” Adam said as they headed downstairs.
“Sure you have,” Alex disagreed half-heartedly, still stewing. She was secretly picturing herself in the yellow calico.
“I don’t think so.” He frowned, straining to remember a dance.
“In old Dyson’s barn, remember?”
“With the cows?” The memory dawned visibly on his face.
“They put the cows outside for the dance.”
“But it smelled like cows.”
“And chickens,” Alex agreed. And there’d been no one to dance with but Pa, Adam and the old men. Except for the Gradys, of course, who always turned up half-drunk and belligerent. Silas would make a beeline for her, Alex remembered distastefully, recalling the way he’d slicked his hair back and worn his best suit (the one that was tight across the shoulders and shiny on the knees) in order to impress her. Why couldn’t he ever take no for an answer?
He’d hover over her all night, until she gave in and danced one dance with him. And then he always held her too close and trod on her feet. More often than not the evening would end with him proposing to her—again—and getting red-faced and angry when she refused him. It got so that Alex stopped attending the dances in Dyson’s barn, just to avoid
the unpleasantness of it all.
“I don’t like chickens,” Adam said now, “they have nasty feet.”
Alex laughed.
“I swear you seem a different age every time I see you,” a voice drawled from behind them, and there he was again, the bane of her existence, the man who’d turned her sister into a spendthrift.
Luke was staring at her with a calculating look and Alex’s heart stopped.
“Just how old are you anyway?”
“Old enough,” she said shortly.
He snorted. “Yeah? Well, you laugh like a girl.”
“Alex says I laugh like a donkey,” Adam told him proudly.
“I can’t say I’ve ever heard a donkey laugh,” Luke replied.
“They sound like this.” Adam demonstrated.
Alex caught Luke’s eye and couldn’t help but laugh. She caught herself and tried to turn her giggle into something more masculine, but all she managed to do was choke, and the next thing she knew he was pounding her on the back. And none too gently either.
“Where are you two going?” he asked as he pounded. Alex was sure she was going to have bruises by the time he was done.
“We’re buying horses,” Adam said excitedly.
“Not horses, mules,” Alex corrected. “To pull the wagon.”
“I wouldn’t get mules if I were you,” Luke cautioned. “They’re more likely to be stolen. Ox is what you need. Cheaper, and useful for farming when you get to Oregon.”
“And I suppose you know a man who can sell us an ox?” Alex said dryly.
“You’ll need at least two.” He grinned. “I can take you there after the auction.”
“Auction?”
“I’m off to buy a horse.”
“A horse?” Adam’s ears pricked up and before Alex knew what was happening they were front and center at a horse auction.
“Slater!” A fat man with a sparkling white mustache bellowed, crossing the crowd to greet Luke. “I sure am glad you made it!”
“I just happened to be up this way and thought I’d stop by,” Luke said coolly.
The fat man guffawed. “I just bet you did. I just bet you’re only here for a look-see.” He took out a cheroot, neatly snipped the end off and lit up. Billows of blue smoke puffed from beneath the pristine mustache. He looked a bit like a steam train, Alex thought.
Luke smiled implacably at Jackson. The old goat must have invited every horse trader and breeder in the surrounding states to see the stallion. It wasn’t often that such prime horseflesh was available in these parts.
“I’d hate to see you miss out after you’ve come all this way,” Jackson said cheerily. “But you know, he’s worth it. Don’t let a few extra dollars put you off; that horse’ll make you your money back, no doubt about it.”
Luke kept his smile steady. He wasn’t about to let Jackson know how much he wanted the stallion. That horse was going to be the making of him. With Jackson’s stallion he could settle down for good, and win Amelia to boot.
“What’s so special about this horse?” Alex asked as they watched Jackson steam away, heading off to whisper into the ear of another hopeful buyer.
“Wait till you see him. He’s an Arab.” Luke was stone-faced.
She realized with a shock that he must be nervous. She looked at him curiously, noting the tightness around his full lips and the way he was cracking his knuckles. As she watched she saw his eyes narrow.
He swore. “They’re the last thing I need right now.”
Alex followed his gaze and her heart stopped. Across the yard the Gradys were elbowing their way through the crowd. Silas, Travis and Bert were a walking wall of muscle, but it was their weedy little brother who made her break out in a cold sweat. She heard the phantom echo of his maniacal laughter as her home crackled and burned.
She suppressed an urge to run. If she ran, they’d notice her for sure. Instead she tugged her hat lower and slouched, trying to look as boyish and un-Alexandra-ish as possible. She shoved Adam behind Luke. When he protested she pinched him into submission. “The Gradys,” she hissed at him. “Remember what we said about hiding?” There was such a crush of bodies around them that Adam was well hidden, even though he was in plain sight.
Luckily, they were all the way across the fenced yard, and Jackson chose that moment to call for the stallion. All eyes, including those of the Gradys, went to the magnificent gray being led into the yard.
The minute Alex saw him she knew what all the fuss was about. He was young and glossy, with an elegantly arched neck and a high tail. Alex had never seen an animal like him. He was a prince: high-stepping and regal. She could feel Luke tense beside her and she heard Adam take a breath.
“Ain’t he a beauty?” Jackson declared proudly. “Purebred, with the papers to prove it.”
“Glory,” Alex breathed, “a horse like that must cost a fortune.”
Luke gave her a swift dark look, but refused to comment.
Alex had never been to an auction before and was surprised by the terseness of it. No one smiled. Every bid was made in a low, clipped voice or silently, with a wave of a finger. She couldn’t make head or tail of who was bidding. “Was that you?” she whispered to Luke. “Was that last bid yours?” He ignored her and she swiveled her head, trying to catch sight of wagging fingers. “Did he say one hundred dollars?” she gasped. “One hundred dollars!”
Luke’s face was even stonier than before. He looked kind of frightening, Alex had to admit. There wasn’t a trace of humor on the lean planes of his handsome face.
“One twenty to Slater,” Jackson called, immediately following with “One twenty-five to Mr. Jessop.”
Alex saw a muscle jump in Luke’s jaw. By the time the price had doubled his finger had stopped wagging and the muscle had stopped jumping. His jaw was set in a hard, angry line.
“Another five to the stranger,” Jackson called with a nod. Alex followed his gaze and gasped when she saw Gideon Grady, grinning like a cat with the cream. Every time someone bid, Gideon upped them by five dollars. Where did he get the money? she thought with dismay. For that matter, where had he gotten the money she’d stolen from him? She hadn’t even taken all of it—she’d only managed to grab one bag before Ma Grady came at her. It made no sense, swamp trash like the Gradys having a stash of gold like that. Not to mention the jewelry. And then there were the papers she’d found secreted in the lining of the bag . . .
She shivered, remembering the look on Ma Grady’s mean old face. They were no good, the lot of them, and she couldn’t wait until she could forget about them and their gold.
“And another five!”
The sound of Jackson’s voice startled Alex back to the present. Across the yard she could see Travis slapping his younger brother on the back and grinning.
“Aren’t you going to bid again?” she hissed at Luke. She couldn’t bear the thought of Gideon getting that magnificent animal. Gideon’s animals had a habit of winding up lame, or blind, or just plain dead.
“Too rich for my blood,” Luke said gruffly, and she could hear the disappointment heavy in his husky voice.
“Going once to the stranger,” Jackson called, letting the silence hang, before he called out again.
Alex shifted restlessly, scanning the crowd to see if anyone would bid.
“Going twice to the stranger . . . ?”
Gideon spat a stream of tobacco juice through a self-satisfied smirk, and her stomach twisted. She’d be damned if she’d let that little weasel win the horse.
“Another ten,” she called out, her voice clear and strong and, to her ears at least, entirely feminine.
Every head in the yard turned her way. She pulled her hat lower over her eyes.
“And five!” Gideon sounded a little sour.
Was he close to his limit? Alex wondered hopefully.
/> “Fifteen more!” she bid, deepening her voice, and tucking her chin under to ensure that her face was completely hidden by the brim of her hat.
“And five.” Gideon sounded real surly now.
“Twenty!”
“What are you doing?” Luke’s voice demanded, close to her ear. “You can’t have that kind of money.”
“And five.”
She heard the cold rage in Gideon’s voice and she knew she had him.
“Fifty!” she hollered, her voice breaking.
A hubbub broke out. The horse must have set some kind of record with a price like that!
“Going once to the lad by Slater . . .”
“This ain’t a game,” Luke warned her, taking her arm in his hard grip. She shook him off.
“Going twice . . . ?” Jackson looked inquiringly at Gideon.
Gideon narrowed his eyes as he stared across the yard. He spat a stream of tobacco juice and then sneered, turning to leave. His brothers trailed him. Alex took a deep shaky breath as they left the yard.
“Sold, to the lad!” Jackson mopped at his brow, feeling quite overwhelmed by the profit he’d just made.
“What are you, crazy?” Luke demanded.
“You said he was a good horse,” Alex said weakly, suddenly feeling the enormity of what she’d done. Had she really just spent nearly all of their money on a horse?
“Is that our horse now, Alex?” Adam asked excitedly.
Alex couldn’t bring herself to answer. “I think I need to sit down.” She looked around for the nearest seat. There weren’t any. Her knees were trembling and she was a little worried she might faint.
“My boy!” Jackson declared, approaching them with his arms wide, and his smile wider. “May I say you got quite a bargain today.”
Luke snorted.
“That horse there is a one-in-a-million animal.”
Alex looked over at the stallion, which was being led toward her. She swallowed hard. What on earth was she going to tell Victoria?
“I have the papers here, if you have the money . . . ?”