Drake slid in beside her and gathered her into his arms. “Now, honey,” he said as he nuzzled her neck. “How ‘bout us keeping each other busy a while?”
***
Fiona sat in the rocker by the fireplace and looked at the room she’d been given. Though not ornate as the hotel room in Memphis, it was far nicer to her way of thinking. An elegant room, yet cozy enough a body could relax. Giving a lie to her thoughts, she leaned back in her chair and gave in to worry.
Here she was hundreds of miles from anyone she knew. Had she been a fool to come? What if there were no jobs available? Apprehension gnawed at her. That nice Miss Sarah would never turn her out on the streets, but she couldn’t live with the Kincaids for any length of time. After all, she had her pride.
The situation at home had become intolerable and couldn’t be allowed to continue. She couldn’t keep avoiding her son-in-law or having Betsie feel forced to defend her. With any luck, Fiona could find a place soon. She only hoped it wasn’t taking in laundry or something equally hard and low paying. Rocking gently, she resigned herself to hard work and loneliness.
She hoped she hadn’t spoken out of turn when she mentioned Miss Sarah and Mr. Barton traveled as fiancés. How was she to know Mrs. Kincaid didn’t know? Fiona’s hurried explanation that it was for appearance’s sake and nothing improper occurred did little to wipe the worry from Mrs. Kincaid’s eyes.
Mr. Barton—oh, why couldn’t she remember to call him Nate as he requested?—was a charmer. What a bold boy he was, though, and not to be trusted with an innocent lady like Miss Sarah. In Mrs. Kincaid’s place, Fiona would worry about his intentions.
How complicated young people were. Perhaps being past courting age had compensations. Still, she couldn’t help feeling life had passed her by since her Finn’s death. At least she’d had twenty years with him. Hard as some of those years were, she’d always known she was loved and cherished. What more could a woman want? Exhaling another sigh, she rose to write a letter to Betsie.
Chapter Eight
Sarah slid into her seat beside Nate at the breakfast table and spread her napkin on her lap. She’d been up a large part of the night with Cindy and could have used a few more hours sleep. Wasting part of her first day home, though, was not on her schedule.
In contrast, Nate looked alert and handsome in his white shirt and the cream paisley vest she admired. His brown and gold mane slicked away from his face and brushed the top of his collar in back. Those tawny golden eyes of his sparkled with what she hoped was pleasure when he saw her.
“Is Cindy gonna be okay now?” Luke asked.
Before she could answer, Fiona added her question from across the table.
“Ah, poor wee thing. Is the lass resting well now?”
“Yes, she’s much better,” Sarah said as she spooned scrambled eggs onto her plate.
“What?” Nate asked, alarm evident in his eyes. He stopped cutting his slice of ham to ask, “Is something wrong with the little princess?”
His obvious concern somehow lightened Sarah’s fatigue. He really does care, she thought.
She smiled to reassure everyone. “The cold, the excitement, and all the moving about yesterday caused her a slight relapse. Pearl’s given her a nice tea and syrup for the cough.”
“Shouldn’t we send for the doctor?” Nate asked, then looked at his host. “I assume there’s a doctor in town, isn’t there?”
Drake stopped buttering the biscuit he held. “Dr. Percival, but there’s no need to bother him. You’ll soon learn my wife is far better at treating illness than most doctors.”
“She learned very young from a woman in Tennessee,” Storm added. “Ever since then she picks up more treatments talking to other healers and reading whatever she finds. She can help any ailment. Cures most.”
“My question meant no disrespect to her abilities,” Nate said. “Perhaps if you’d seen the child when we first found her, you’d understand my alarm. I’d not like to see Cindy, or anyone else, that ill again.” He looked as if he wanted to add more, but said nothing else.
Joe and Luke, apparently sensing the tension between the adults, watched the exchange with eyes wide. The other children at the table also watched with unusual quiet.
Taking pity on Nate, Sarah said, “Cindy’s already breathing easier and hardly coughs at all. She’ll probably be able to play in her room with Luke and Joe and her cousins tomorrow.”
Joe nudged Luke, and Luke asked, “Can we go play now?”
Sarah nodded. “Wear a coat if you go outside.”
“Come on, we’ll show you our fort,” Robbie said. He and Evan took off at a gallop with Luke and Joe close behind.
Drake finished his biscuit and pushed back in his chair. “Say, Barton, you have anything special planned while you wait for your associates?
“Nothing in particular.” Nate put down his fork and looked at Drake. “Something I can do for you?”
Sarah saw Drake and Pearl exchange looks and wondered at their conspiracy. Storm watched expectantly, as if waiting for an event. What was going on here?
Storm asked, “Do you ride?”
Nate shifted in his chair and looked from Storm to Drake as if wondering what they expected. “Yes. Not as well as you I’m sure, but I’ve ridden horses most of my life.”
“Worst of the cold’s over here. We’re starting to bunch our herd for the spring roundup. All the hands are needed on the range,” Drake said. “Wonder if I could recruit your help?”
“Drake,” Sarah protested, surprised at the depth of her anger toward her brother-in-law. “Nate’s a city man. He’s not used to working on horseback the way you and Storm are. Surely you aren’t asking that of him?”
Beside her, Nate placed a hand on her arm and said softly, “It’s all right, Sarah.” Then, he answered Drake, “Be happy to help if you need me.”
“Great,” Drake said. “You can probably fit into Storm’s clothes, unless you brought some work pants with you.” Drake said the word work as if to imply it was foreign to his guest.
Nate ignored the insult and looked at Storm as if gauging his size. “Appreciate the loan. Only brought business suits with me.”
Storm pushed away from the table and stood up. “I’ll get a shirt and pants and put them in your room.” He looked out the dining room window. “Better get a jacket, too,” he said and left the room.
Sarah fumed. Setting Nate up to help on the ranch made no sense. She didn’t know who started it, but Pearl, Drake and Storm were all in on it. Drake always started an early gather at this time of year to count and brand the new calves, but there was no shortage of ranch hands to help with the job. In fact, Drake usually had extra cowpunchers at the ranch because he hated to turn away anyone looking for honest work. She intended to get to the bottom of this, and she planned to do it soon.
***
Nate choked down his anger as he pulled on the brown denim pants borrowed from Storm. He stuffed the blue chambray shirt into his waistband and reached for the bandana. If Kincaid’s help wasn’t needed to cinch the railroad deal, he would have told Mr. High-and-Mighty Kincaid exactly what he could do with his ranch...and several other things including body parts.
What could Nate do but agree, with Luke and Joe sitting there watching him? Why it mattered what they thought of him he couldn’t say. Damn, he’d never had anyone look up to him before. And not for what he could do for them or give them, but just for being himself. He couldn’t fail to measure up in their eyes.
And Sarah. He exhaled and admitted it mattered what she thought, too. Oh, he still intended to get what was his from her. Maybe even sample Miss Sweetness-And-Light’s charms in the bargain. All the same, he didn’t want to lessen himself in her opinion now, though his mind refused to sort out the reasons.
If Mr. High-And-Mighty Kincaid thought he could drive Nate Barton away with hard work, he had another thought coming. Let him pull all his tricks. By damn, he’d be surprised. Nate had a few trick
s of his own waiting and he planned to make the Kincaids pay extra for every hour he worked here. With that to carry him through the day, he clamped on his hat, jerked on the coat Storm left for him, and stomped from the room.
***
Sarah checked on Cindy once more, then found Pearl in the herb room. Pearl pulverized dried leaves for one of her medicines. Normally Sarah loved the blend of scents in this room. Today, she hardly noticed.
“What is going on?” Sarah asked, arms akimbo. “Why did Drake trick Nate into helping on the ranch?”
Pearl looked up but kept stirring the pestle into the mortar. “You heard him. He said he needs help with the roundup.”
“In a pig’s eye he does,” Sarah stamped her foot as she spoke. “Don’t think for a minute I missed that look you and Drake exchanged at breakfast. Storm’s in on it, too, isn’t he?”
“Sarah, you’re overreacting to a simple request.” Pearl’s calm voice failed to soothe Sarah’s anger, but Pearl continued, “After all, starting Monday you’ll be busy again with your school. Nate would be bored all day out here away from town.”
“Maybe so, but he’s not used to ranch work and you know it. He’s a businessman.”
Pearl met Sarah’s glare. “Ranching is a business.”
“You know very well what I mean. Ranching is a hard business and Drake’s good at it. But it’s not Nate’s business.”
“And what is Nate’s business?” Pearl asked.
“He’s...he does, well, something about, um, investments.”
“You don’t know?”
Sarah fought the clutch of fear in her throat. She sat down on a ladder-back chair. “I don’t know, do I? I...I mean, he never said, not exactly.”
“What did he say?” Pearl asked.
Taking a deep breath and exhaling it, Sarah thought back. “At first, on the boat, he mainly said things about the weather, the trip. You know, the sort of chatty, impersonal things you say to strangers in a situation like that.”
Sarah bit her lip a few seconds. “He did sort of keep himself between me and that odious Mr. Welborn. Did you know Mr. Welborn wanted me to let him into my cabin at night?”
“He never? Why the horrid man.” Pearl put the pestle down and gave her full attention to her sister.
Sarah nodded. Talking about it unearthed the sting of his words. “He said terrible things about Mama, and how the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Then he threatened to tell the captain I sought him out and made indecent proposals to him if I didn’t agree to his.”
“What did you say?”
“Well, frightened as I was, the things he said about Mama made me mad as a hornet. I told him off, then jabbed him in the ribs to make him let go of me. For added measure, I stomped on his foot and gave him a hard kick in the shin.”
Pearl laughed. “He deserved worse.”
“He was still cursing when I went into the salon. Not long after that Nate came in and spoke to Mrs. Welborn and me for the first time on the trip. That’s when Nate started escorting me to and from my cabin, always staying between me and Mr. Welborn.”
A staggering thought occurred to her and she looked at Pearl. “You don’t suppose he overheard that awful little man threaten me? That he was protecting me?”
“Could be. He seems to think highly of you.” Pearl stepped near and put her hand on Sarah’s shoulder. “But, Sarah, it doesn’t answer the question of what he was doing there--or here. Or what he does for a living, does it?”
“No, I guess it doesn’t,” Sarah admitted, though it hurt her to do so. She couldn’t explain her loyalty to him. He had helped her when she needed him, been kind to her. In truth, she’d known him less than two weeks.
“Shouldn’t you ask him?” Pearl asked.
“I...Well, I sort of did. He said he couldn’t tell anyone until his associates arrived. Said it was confidential and he couldn’t betray a trust.” Sarah worried over her lack of information about the man she’d invited to her home. Her sister’s home.
She leaped up and paced the small room. All her anger evaporated and she felt like crying. Even though she’d dreamed of him making his home in Kincaid Springs, what did she know about Nate? She’d pictured him with an office in town, guiding investments for important people. He must have an office elsewhere he’d return to soon.
Face it, it’s not just an office you want him to have here. You want him to make his home with you.
Maybe all that pretending they were engaged started her fanciful thoughts. No, she admitted, she’d been attracted to him before that, even on the boat, even when she thought he was following her. She wondered how she could be suspicious of a man and captivated by him at the same time. If it weren’t for the children, though, she would never have acted on that fascination. Would she?
***
The dust at the back of the herd choked him, the smell disgusted him, and the work might very well kill him. Worse, he hated the look on Drake’s face, as if any minute he expected Nate to call it quits. Nate wanted to do exactly that, but he clenched his jaw and kept riding. He’d rot in hell before any cowpuncher forced him to give up.
Storm rode near and asked, “Everything all right?”
Nate nodded. “Fine.”
Hell, he’d never told a bigger lie. The truth was he was so sore he could hardly sit in the saddle and he feared he’d be unable to walk once he tried to dismount. On top of that, he’d choked down enough dirt to raise potatoes. He refused to give up. Damned if he wouldn’t fall down dead before he admitted he couldn’t match endurance with a bunch of cow pushers.
“Want to come with me?” Storm asked.
“Might as well,” Nate said and prayed Storm meant going in to town for supplies. “If it’s all right with Drake.”
“Yeah. Vincente saw some beeves down in a draw. Give you a break from the dust.”
Anything had to be better than where he was now.
“Sounds good. I’ll follow you.” Anywhere away from here, he thought. Hell would be a treat after this.
Hours later, Nate amended his earlier opinion. Dragging a cow out of a mudhole was worse than the dust. Through it all, Storm treated him as an equal partner, never giving a hint of his thoughts. Nate figured he was a pretty useless ranch hand and gave Storm extra points for his tolerance.
Nate wondered about Storm. He must be a half-breed. Taller than most Indians, he had their dark coloring—except for startling purple-blue eyes like his sisters’
Nate had shucked out of his borrowed coat to work in the protection of the draw. Early on he had lost his footing on the slippery ooze, which left him covered with mud and cow manure.
“Whew, I think I’ll stay upwind of you. You’ll look forward to a bath tonight,” Storm said.
“A real bath?” he asked, hope supporting him.
“Zed Isaacs figured a way to store water for our new bath rooms. Boiler to heat the water broke yesterday. Less Zed got it working better during the day, won’t be a hot bath tonight.”
“Sarah told the kids about the bath room but figured anybody as dirty as I am would have to take a dip in the river or the horse trough.”
“Little cool for outdoor bathing,” Storm said. “Maria’s going to be plenty mad about those clothes, though.” He looked down the draw and narrowed his eyes.
Nate followed his gaze, but saw nothing moving but a roadrunner scurrying across the sand from a mesquite tree to a clump of brush.
“Cow in trouble,” Storm called as he rode off.
Nate let out a groan and followed.
Later as he released a calf, it ran smack dab into him instead of toward its mother. Backing away from the frightened animal, he tripped on a tree root and fell flat out on his back. He landed with a wham and slammed the needles of a huge prickly pear cactus across his right shoulder.
Storm helped him up and said, “I guess that’s enough for one day. Let’s go in for supper.”
Nate almost wept with gratitude.
&nbs
p; Riding into the ranch complex they met Drake and half a dozen of the ranch hands. Nate beat off as much of the caked and dried mire as he could, then stuck his head and arms under the trough pump. He slicked his hair back with his hands and flicked the water away.
Storm and Drake walked as sprightly as if they had just gotten up from the breakfast table. Nate staggered behind. The older children ran to meet them. Drake scooped up Robbie under one arm and Evan under the other. Storm picked up Katie and twirled her around. Damn, where did they get the energy?
“Hey, you’re back. Rope any cows?” Luke called as he and Joe ran up. Their welcoming smiles soothed a few aches away.
He shook his head. “Not me, boys. But my horse and I pulled some out of the mud after Storm roped them.”
When Joe pulled on Nate’s sleeve, then pinched his own nose, Nate was so startled his knees almost buckled. He inwardly rejoiced. Joe had touched him for the first time, reached out without fear and touched him.
Nate made no mention of it but said, “I know, I smell bad. Cows are a nasty lot.”
And that was the kindest thing he could say about the creatures. He hoped they had steak tonight. He'd really enjoy getting back at those cows by eating part of one.
But it was good to have the boys run up to meet him as he came back. He’d never had anyone that glad to see him return before. Nice to know he’d been missed. It almost made all his aches seem worthwhile.
“Hey, know what?” Luke asked. “Robbie and Evan have this great fort down by the river. They let us play in it all day. There’s lots of other boys living here on this ranch and they played with us.”
“That’s great. What do you play in a fort?” He put a hand on the shoulder of each boy. Joe didn’t pull away. At least the day wasn’t a total waste. This place must be good for wounded boys. Maybe it wouldn’t be too hard on lost souls like him.
Joe made shooting motions with his hands, then pretended to shoot an arrow.
“Ah, and who were the Indians and who were the soldiers?” Nate asked.
“We took turns. After that we were all Texas Rangers rounding up the Comancheros,” Luke said, then he looked at the others. He whispered, “What are Comancheros?”
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