by Tess LeSue
Alex cleared her throat nervously.
“You don’t need to be shy around me, Alex.”
“I’m not—” Alex was cut off mid-sentence as Jane lunged forward and kissed her. It was an inexpert kiss, close-mouthed and clumsy, but full of enthusiasm. Alex was too shocked to move.
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” a lazy voice drawled.
Alex looked over to find Luke propped up on one elbow, regarding them with an amused grin. She shoved the girl away from her and wiped her mouth.
“You won’t tell Daddy, will you, Mr. Slater?” Jane asked desperately.
“That all depends,” Luke mused, and Alex could see the twinkle in his eye, “on whether Mr. Alexander here has been taking liberties with you.”
“Oh no, I kissed him!”
“Well, in that case, no.”
Oh, how Alex wanted to slap the stupid smile off his face. She glowered at him, but he wouldn’t stop grinning at her.
“Just mind you don’t go getting ideas, you hear, Alex? Miss O’Brien is a lady, after all.” Lady, my rear end, Alex thought sourly. The girl was shameless.
“Jane?” Ned O’Brien’s voice drifted through the morning air and Alex jumped. Jane squealed, leaped to her feet and dashed back to her wagon.
“You don’t waste any time, do you, runt?”
“I told you not to call me that.”
Luke laughed and stretched. “Is that coffee I smell? Get me a cup, would you?”
There he went, ordering her around again. She almost dropped the pot when he stood and began unbuttoning his shirt. In the apricot light his skin glowed. Her memory hadn’t done him justice at all. Her hand trembled as she poured the coffee and it splattered against the rim of the mug. Button by button, inch by inch, more of that smooth, hard body was revealed. She couldn’t look away.
He balled up the shirt and bent over his saddlebags. And there was a view . . . a wide range of taut and tensed muscle. Alex had to set the coffee cup down; she was splashing the stuff over her boots. This couldn’t be natural, the way she was feeling. Could it?
“Oh, Mr. Slater!” The feminine squeal startled them both. Victoria was standing there, hands bashfully held over her face, ostensibly shocked by his state of undress.
“Beg your pardon, Miss Alexander, I didn’t think you’d be up so early.” Luke rose in one smooth movement and pulled a fresh shirt on. Alex noticed he didn’t seem to be in any hurry about it. She also noticed the way Victoria was peering through her splayed fingers.
“Coffee’s ready.”
They both turned to look at Alex, as though they’d forgotten she was there, she thought crankily. Invisible Alex, everyone’s servant boy.
“I didn’t know you were back,” Victoria said breathlessly to Luke, lowering her hands as he fastened the final button. Alex didn’t miss the way Victoria ran her hands over her plain dress, surreptitiously neatening the folds of her skirt.
“Only just,” Luke told her, taking the coffee mug from Alex and passing it to Victoria. “I got into camp late last night.”
“I’m surprised I didn’t hear you.”
“I’m not, the way you snore,” Alex couldn’t stop herself from saying.
“I don’t snore,” Victoria said primly. “You must be thinking of Adam.”
“I certainly heard him.” Luke grinned. “He always so loud?”
“Always,” Victoria said, and she actually giggled. Alex turned away, disgusted.
“You forgot my coffee, runt.”
“No, I didn’t,” she objected, “you gave it to Vicky.” But she still filled another mug for him.
“I’m sorry about his manners,” she heard Victoria apologize in a low voice. “I’m afraid he’s had no guiding hand since Ma and Pa passed.”
Alex glared at her. No guiding hand, indeed.
“A boy needs a man around,” Luke remarked. “I sure had my work cut out for me with my brothers after our parents died.”
“I bet they were glad to have you,” Victoria said dreamily as she sank down on the blanket Luke had folded for her to sit on.
Alex gathered her sister wasn’t planning on helping with breakfast. She couldn’t resist kicking dust on her as she walked past on the way to the wagon. Victoria didn’t even notice, which made Alex feel even crankier.
Adam was up when she emerged from behind the canvas flap with a hunk of bread and a pan of bacon. He was trying to elbow the mules away from the pail of water so that Delilah could get to it. “Come on, now, Sue, be nice,” he was saying patiently, “and boys, you know the rule: ladies first.”
“Breakfast, Adam.”
He gave her an absent wave, but didn’t look up from the animals. Alex sighed. She’d have to make up a bacon sandwich for him to eat later. When she got back to the fire Sebastian was up and whisking a pan of eggs. “Want some?” he asked, as he yawned and scratched his stubble. “It’s the last of the eggs, at least until Kearney.”
“Sure. You want some bacon?”
“Sure.”
They stood companionably by the crackling fire as the bacon spat and sizzled and the bread fried in the melting fat, and watched Victoria falling over herself to keep Luke’s attention.
“Don’t your sister cook?” Sebastian asked.
“She cooks.”
Sebastian looked pointedly at the spatula in Alex’s hand and she flushed.
“You give them an inch and they’ll take a mile,” Sebastian warned.
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
One by one the others crawled from their wagons and took their places at the campfire. After they’d finished eating, Alex dumped the dirty dishes unceremoniously in front of Victoria. “I’m going to hitch the mules to the wagon. Unless you’d rather?” She didn’t wait for an answer.
“Hold up, runt.”
Alex couldn’t believe it when Luke tossed one of his saddlebags over her shoulder. Her knees almost buckled under the weight. “I’m not a packhorse,” she snapped.
“You sure woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” he remarked as they headed for the animals.
“I don’t have a bed,” she said sourly. “I have a flour sack and a horse blanket.”
He laughed. “Don’t tell me, with all your gold, that you didn’t think to buy bedding?”
“We bought bedding,” Alex said stiffly. “Adam’s got his own and I’m supposed to share with Victoria.”
“Supposed to?”
“She hogs the quilt.”
Luke laughed again.
“You’re awfully happy, considering you came back empty-handed.” She was gratified to see a shadow momentarily darken his face, but then he was grinning again, and that awfully alluring dimple flashed at her.
“Give me time, runt.” He whistled and Delilah gave a whicker and trotted over to him. Adam followed. And the mules followed him.
Here came one of the most hated parts of her day. Alex dropped the saddlebag with a thump and regarded the mules balefully. She’d found it was best to deal with the ringleaders first, and that meant Cranky Bob and Crusty Bill.
“Right,” she said, addressing them directly, and placing her hands on her hips, “what’s it going to be today? Are we going to do it the hard way or the easy way?”
The mules eyed her. Then Bob tossed his head and gave a honking heehaw.
“That’s what I thought,” Alex said grimly, rolling her sleeves up.
“Let me just give them the sugar, Alex,” Adam pleaded.
“No way.” Alex shook her head vehemently. “We did that yesterday and that son of a one-legged goat kicked me. I told you”—she shook her fist at Bob—“I told you there’d be no sweet-talking you anymore. You let me harness you or . . . or . . .” Alex fished around for a suitable threat. “Or I’ll take a switch to you.”
/> “Alex, you wouldn’t.”
“I warned them, Adam.”
“They’ll be good today. Won’t you, Bob? Bill? Frank? Sue?” Adam turned his pleading eyes on the mules.
Luke shook his head. He’d never met such greenhorns.
When Bill snapped his teeth at Alex she lost her temper and headed for the nearest shrub, to cut herself a switch. Adam followed, still pleading.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” Luke told Delilah, scratching her ears before heading for the Alexanders’ wagon. While Adam pleaded with Alex, Luke calmly harnessed the mules. He was astonished by the runt’s reaction when the kid returned, brandishing his crude switch.
Alex gaped, speechless at the way the mules had followed Luke without protest. “You are the most impossible creatures!” The switch whistled through the air as she threw up her hands.
“What are you talking about?” Luke said. “They were as placid as can be.”
Alex looked back and forth between the mules and Luke. She flushed. Luke was looking at her like she was a mad person. If only he could see the teeth marks and bruises patchworked on her flesh!
“Adam, maybe you should harness them in the future,” Luke suggested dryly, gathering his saddlebags and whistling for Delilah.
Alex turned back to the mules. The four of them were regarding her, their furry ears cocked at jaunty angles. “I know what you’re doing,” she warned them. “And I won’t stand for it, you hear? I demand a little respect.”
Bill bared his teeth at her, looking for all the world like he was grinning.
She threw the switch at him.
19
“WHERE IS HE going?” Victoria demanded, as they watched Luke kick Delilah into a gallop. “He just got here!”
Alex had a fair idea where he was going, and her blood ran cold. The hunt ain’t over yet. Those had been his words. She swallowed hard. So, if Luke was here, that meant the Gradys were nearby. She resolved to burn every last bond tonight, even if she had to sit up all night to do it.
But for the moment she had to put the Gradys out of her mind and concentrate on the task at hand. The last vivid streaks of dawn color still hung in the east as Sebastian’s “Ha!” rang through the cool morning air. Creaking and rattling, the line of wagons began to move. Alex tightened the reins around her fists and braced herself for the jolt as the wagon lurched forward. Victoria hung on for dear life, still frightened by the precariousness of the high seat and the juddering of the wagon on the rough terrain. They fell in behind the O’Brien wagon, and Alex could hear Mal Crawford applying the whip to his oxen behind them. She was glad to be safely in the middle of the train, but she didn’t appreciate the thick dust. She thought Sebastian had the best position, out there in front, in the clear air. After an hour or so, she’d drop back a little and let the space between them and the O’Brien wagon grow, so that she could breathe again.
The days were hellishly monotonous: hour after hour of shuddering along, watching the rear ends of the mules, feeling the reins cut into her hands. After a few hours, her shoulders would be sore from the driving, and her back would ache from the jolting, and her mind would be numb from the boredom. Victoria usually surrendered her seat by mid-morning and crawled into the shade of the wagon, where she stretched out on her quilt and tried to read a book. Then Adam would clamber up beside Alex, where he’d occupy himself talking to the mules.
Today, on edge about the Gradys, Alex decided to distract herself by teaching Adam to drive the wagon. He’d been begging her since they’d left and she figured it would give them both something to do.
“Hold on tight, mind,” Alex warned.
Adam was glowing with excitement. He sat ramrod straight and held his arms stiffly out in front of him. Alex couldn’t help smiling as she watched him. “You’re doing a great job.”
“Really?”
“Really truly.”
She flexed her fingers and tried to relax a little. Now that she wasn’t the wagoner, she noticed Jane O’Brien in the wagon ahead. The girl had her arms resting on the back of their wagon and was watching Alex avidly.
Alex pulled her hat down lower so that the shadow obscured her face. She felt hunted. She wished she could climb into the back with Victoria and hide. Or better still, head off on her own, like Luke.
Luke. Just the thought of him filled her with that unsettling, shivery sensation.
“When do you think he’ll be back?” As though reading her thoughts, Victoria leaned in between Adam and Alex. “Don’t you think it’s odd the way he just lit out like that, without a word?”
Alex grunted.
“Do you think he has a sweetheart?” Victoria mused.
“I think a man like him has too many sweethearts,” Alex remarked dryly.
“What makes you say that?”
“He practically has to beat them off with a stick.”
Victoria stiffened. “I haven’t seen any women around him.”
“What about those whores back in town?”
“Oh, whores,” Victoria said dismissively. “They’re not sweethearts.”
“When we bought the wagon, Archie said something about a girl back in Oregon.” The words tasted like sawdust in Alex’s mouth. Did Luke have a sweetheart back home? What was she like? Alex would bet anything that she was a real lady, and beautiful. She certainly wouldn’t be running around wearing overalls and oversized boots. She probably had long, glossy hair and dainty manners. She wouldn’t be the type of girl to argue with mules. Or to let a man seduce her out of her virginity without so much as a by-your-leave.
“Ask him,” Victoria said suddenly.
“What?”
“Ask him for me if he has a sweetheart back home.”
Alex turned around to examine her sister for signs of heatstroke. But Victoria didn’t look even the slightest bit flushed. Her brown eyes were clear and utterly earnest.
“I can’t do that!”
“Why not? He thinks you’re a boy. Surely men talk about that kind of thing. Besides, you can always say that you’re curious because of the O’Brien girl. Maybe you’re wondering how to behave with a sweetheart?”
“Are you mad?”
“You’re a boy, Alex.”
“No, Victoria, I’m a girl. A girl wearing a hell of a lot of dirt and her brother’s clothes.”
“Please, Alex. For me?” Victoria widened her eyes and pouted.
Alex turned her back on her sister. She ran a hand over her flattened chest, as though to reassure herself that she really was still a girl underneath the disguise. She had the awful feeling that one of these days she’d wake up and she actually would be a boy. And no one would ever know that she’d once been the prettiest girl at the dances in Dyson’s barn.
She heard Victoria sigh softly as she rested her chin on her palm. “What do you think he’s doing right now?”
* * *
• • •
RIGHT NOW, LUKE was watching the Gradys follow the Missouri north. He was guessing they’d follow it to where it met the Platte River, and then they’d turn off to follow the tributary westward to Fort Kearney. Which suited Luke just fine. The wagon train had stopped keeping to the river a day or so ago, and was heading overland to Kearney. They’d be long gone before the Gradys got there. Luke was hoping to avoid a showdown until Fort Laramie. If everything went to plan, they could leave the Gradys in the lockup at Laramie, where they could kick their heels until it was time for their appointment with the hangman.
Satisfied, he and Delilah left them to it.
By the time he caught up with the wagons it was late afternoon and the sunlight was falling low and golden over the scrubby flats. He stopped to chat with each driver as he made his way up the train toward the chuck wagon. He wished the wagon wasn’t stuffed to bursting with supplies—what he really wanted was to stretch out and t
ake a nap. But this early in the journey there was no room; even Sebastian was spending his nights under the wagon instead of in it.
“Those mules behaving themselves?” Luke teased the runt as Delilah drew level with the Alexanders’ wagon. The kid was alone on the bench. Luke peered into the wagon and saw Victoria and Adam sleeping in the back.
Alex sighed. “Don’t take their side. You really should see my rear.” She blushed, suddenly aware of what she’d said. “I mean, it’s black and blue,” she stammered. “Every time I get close they take a bite out of me.”
“Maybe you ought to feed them more often.”
“Yeah,” Alex said disconsolately, refusing to see the humor in the situation.
Luke took in the wilted shoulders and the pinched face. He flicked Delilah’s reins over the buckboard and swung himself over to the wagon. “Delilah needs a break,” he explained when the kid looked startled, “and so do you.”
Alex let him take the reins, too surprised to protest. She was very conscious of the bulk of him beside her on the bench, and the way his solid thigh pressed against hers.
“I shouldn’t be tired,” she said eventually. “Adam drove for an hour or so this morning.”
“Everyone else shares the driving between at least two people. Why don’t you hand over to Victoria sometimes and take a break?”
Alex wrinkled her nose. “Victoria? Drive the mules?”
“She’ll never do it if you don’t let her try.”
Alex couldn’t argue with the logic of that.
They rode in silence for a while. Alex tingled every time his leg brushed hers. Which it did every time the wagon jolted. “The Gradys are out there, aren’t they?” she said softly. “That’s where you went, isn’t it?”
“Let me worry about the Gradys, runt.”
She frowned at him. “They’re my problem too. I think I have a right to know.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“I never said you wouldn’t, I just want to know if they’re out there.” Alex gestured at the surrounding plains. “I mean, here.”