Foxfire Bride

by Maggie Osborne

  Someone like me. It pained him to hear her say that. She was smart, capable, self-sufficient. Beautiful, fearless, and honorable.

  Long after Fox and the others were asleep, Tanner sat in the darkness, smoking beneath a canopy of stars. He thought about his father, awaiting rescue in the mountains above Denver. Thought about the unfinished mine design he'd left in Carson City. Mostly he thought about Fox.

  It was going to be damned difficult to leave her when they reached Denver.

  In the morning, they found eleven of the missing coins before Tanner decided it was more important to move on than to waste another hour searching for forty dollars. First, they had to wait for Peaches to mount his mule. Rebecca didn't take well to a saddle and threw him off twice.

  Frowning, Fox watched Peaches push to his feet and straighten slowly. "Are you all right, old man?"

  He grimaced and rubbed his hip. "I'm feeling my age."

  Considering all he'd been through in the last couple of days, Fox didn't doubt it. Once he was finally mounted and it appeared Rebecca wouldn't buck him off again, Peaches looked around for the rest of the mules.

  "Jubal is leading your string today," Fox informed him. "I want you to take it easy." Peaches closed his eyes and nodded, and Fox's level of concern shot up a few notches. Today would be long, but thankfully, if she remembered correctly, the terrain was relatively level.

  A wall of rock rose directly in front of them. Fox knew from hard experience that the Schell Creek Range was not passable. They would have to head south around it, climbing again in altitude. After a long hard examination of Peaches's color, not good, and his posture, slumped, she urged her mustang to the front and headed out, leading one of the mule strings.

  The stopover had been costly. Peaches had taken a beating in the water, they had lost a horse and all the tents, a goodly amount of their food staples, some utensils, and clothing. And two gold coins.

  Fox's back still ached and she wondered how many more times she could stand hours of bending and searching for the damned coins. As many times as she had to, she finally decided, her expression grim.

  By noon the steady climb in altitude had carried them above the sagebrush and into an area of tall limestone formations that interested Tanner but no one else. Everyone bolted their midday food without conversation, tired and feeling the need to make up time.

  That night they camped in a high meadow circled by rough granite peaks. "Go sit down," Fox ordered when she saw the lines in Peaches's face and his tight lips. "I'll unpack the mules and find what we need to make supper." Peaches nodded gratefully and sat, resting his bones against a tree trunk.

  "It's cold again," Hanratty commented after a simple meal of biscuits and elk steaks. "Feels like it could snow."

  "Are we close to a place where we can replace the tents?" Jubal Brown asked Fox.

  "There's a settlement on the far edge of the desert that might have what we need." She couldn't say for certain. In this part of the country settlements might thrive, or they could vanish in less than six months. "If we put in some long days, we should get there in about a week."

  "I think I'll call it a day," Peaches said, rising from the ground with difficulty. "I'm stiff as a poker," he added, aware they all watched. "And coughing like a coyote. Nothing to worry over, just an aggravation."

  Fox started to point out that the sun was still above the horizon, but bit her tongue. "Like you always told me, sleep is the best healer." Peaches rolled into his blankets and turned his face away from the fire. "I'm worried," Fox said in a low voice. The rattle in his chest wasn't going away nor were the coughing spells.

  Abruptly, Tanner stood and gave her a long glance before he walked toward a grouping of pines. After a minute, feeling a rush of color in her cheeks, Fox followed. They stopped by the trees, in full view of the campfire. She noticed that Hanratty and Brown pretended not to watch.

  Tanner handed her a cigar. "Mr. Hernandez needs bed rest."

  "There's no place to get it." The thought drove her half mad.

  "The second best choice would be to find a meadow with water and stay for a week." When she started to speak, he held up a hand. "But we can't do that."

  "I know," she said in frustration and kicked her boot against the ground.

  "I'm getting concerned about the time."

  "We're almost into Mormon Territory. We'll pick up some time on the flat. But I know what you're saying," she added. "And Peaches would be the first to agree that we can't afford a week out of the schedule."

  Frowning, Tanner gazed back at the fire, "The settlement you mentioned could we leave Mr. Hernandez there to recuperate?"

  "Leave Peaches behind?" Her chest tightened sharply and she ground the cigar out beneath her heel. "I can't do that, Tanner."

  For a lengthy moment neither of them spoke. "Let's wait till we reach the settlement. Then, if Mr. Hernandez isn't feeling stronger, we can ask him what he wants to do."

  It was a fair compromise, but Fox didn't like it. She nodded with reluctance. And then released a long slow breath as Tanner's fingertips stroked her cheek.

  "There's something I need to say."

  His skin took on a bronze cast in the flare of sunset, and his craggy features had softened. "Yes?" Fox asked, wetting her lips.

  "I'd like to be with you every night." The rough pad of his thumb brushed across her lips. "I want you to understand that. I also want you to know that I respect you too much to be with you in conditions less than complete privacy."

  She glanced again toward the fire and noticed Hanratty looking in their direction. Frowning, she nodded.

  "I agree." But she felt a twinge of heavy disappointment because she knew there weren't many opportunities ahead for the privacy they wanted.

  "In the meantime" Taking her hand, Tanner led her behind a thick-based pine and took her into his arms with a smile. "I don't see any harm in a quick kiss."

  Thank heaven. She couldn't look at him or think about him without remembering the lantern light on his naked skin, without feeling a shiver of excitement when she recalled the wonder of exploding beneath him.

  She lifted her mouth and experienced a deep weakness when his lips came down hard on hers. A flame kindled in the pit of her stomach and she wanted to lie with him again, longed to press herself along the strong length of his body.

  Wrapping her arms around his waist, she laid her head on his chest and closed her eyes. "Tanner?" she whispered. "What we did last night I liked it." Never had she expected to make such an admission. "The things you did well, I never knew about all that." And she had never imagined a man could display enough control to make the evening last as he had with all the finger and toe kissing and the undressing. "Did we eat the apricot tarts? I can't remember."

  His low laugh sounded near her ear. "I don't think so."

  Rising on tiptoe, she kissed him with enough desire in her mouth and touch that she knew he felt it. "I sure hope we find some more willows soon," she murmured.

  They continued east on the flanks of Wheeler Peak, winding among the twisted trunks of sharp-needled bristlecones. Fox had read that bristlecones could live hundreds of years and mentioned the fact to Hanratty, who led Peaches's string of mules today.

  "Is that so." Not a flicker of interest enlivened his tight expression. "We ain't seen any Indians for a week."

  So he'd noticed that the Indians kept their distance but were out there. "We're in Shoshone territory. The Shoshones won't bother us unless provoked."

  "That's what they say about all Indians, and maybe sometimes it's even true."

  Fox glanced at him. They had all lost weight on this journey and the loss showed on Hanratty's long face, drawing in his cheeks. Ordinarily Fox didn't notice, but he'd shaved this morning.

  "How much desert are we going to have to cross?"

  "We'll start seeing cactus as we come off altitude." Fox shrugged. "We've got some hot dusty days ahead. Why?"

  "Just making conversation." He cl
eared his throat and watched a rabbit bolt through the tree trunks. "You know this thing with Tanner ain't going to end well for you."

  Fox's head jerked up. "I don't recall asking for your opinion."

  "I'm thinking about the ride back to Carson. Figured I'd go back with you and Mr. Hernandez. But you're going to be about as cheerful as a man whose been gut shot."

  "I'm not going back to Carson City," she snapped and rode ahead. But the more she thought about his comment, the angrier she became.

  After they stopped for the night and she'd seen to Peaches, she told Jubal to make supper. Then she pointed at Hanratty. "I want to talk to you."

  Today's trek had taken them lower, back into the sagebrush, and Fox led him toward a large clump. When Hanratty caught up, she whirled and bounced her fist off his chest.

  "What I do in my private time is none of your business!" She pushed her face up close to his so he could see the ice in her eyes. "But just in case you have the mistaken idea that it is, the end of this liaison with Tanner was decided before the liaison ever began. I know how things stand, and I'm agreed to it. That's the last comment I'm going to make, so don't go pushing into my affairs in the future."

  Hanratty bit off the end of a cigar and spit it on the ground. "Tanner seems like one of us, but he ain't, Fox. And you eating like he does, and saying all the pretty-pleases and thank-yous ain't going to make you into one of his kind."

  Embarrassment scalded her throat. She had hoped Tanner had noticed the improvement in her meal manners, but she hadn't given a thought to Hanratty and Brown or what they might make of the changes.

  "It doesn't hurt a person to improve herself," she said in a flat voice.

  "I don't know why, but I like you. I don't fancy the idea of you being the scratch for a rich man's temporary itch." Hanratty examined the end of his cigar, then walked away.

  "What was that about?" Tanner asked when they took a walk after supper.

  "Hanratty wants to join up with me and Peaches for the return trip." There was a lot she wasn't telling Tanner and didn't intend to. Realizing it didn't improve her mood.

  Glumly, Fox scanned the landscape. There wasn't an inch of privacy to be had. The branches of the bristlecones were spaced far enough apart that she could have thrown a cat through them. There wasn't a hiding place even for a kiss. Damn it.

  Hoping the men weren't watching, she let her hand brush against Tanner's. "I think we'll spend a day and a half at the settlement if it's still there," she said, considering. "We need to buy some things. Maybe they have a doctor for Peaches."

  "Can we afford the time?"

  "I think so."

  "Would that settlement have a hotel?" Tanner asked, gazing at her mouth.

  Her heart rolled in her chest and she swallowed hard. "They didn't the last time I was through but maybe they do now."

  Talking to Hanratty had reminded her why she'd been so interested in this job in the first place. She had a goal. Tearing her thoughts from Tanner's mouth and the memory of his skilled hands, she plucked a sprig of sage and twirled it under her nose.

  "If we can't, you know, I guess we'll have to just talk." She drew a long breath. "I expect you'll see your boss while you're in Denver"

  Tanner raised an eyebrow. "I hope to. Are you going to tell me again that Hobbs Jennings is a thieving bastard?"

  "What kind of place is the J M and M office? Do you have a desk there?"

  "I'm not the only mining engineer employed by the company. There are facilities provided when any of us are in town. Are you really interested in this?"

  "So the building is large?"

  "Not especially." Bending, he tried to see her expression.

  "I suppose Jennings's office is plenty large."

  "He owns the company."

  "I guess that means he's surrounded by bodyguards."

  "Just a secretary." Placing his hands on her shoulders, he turned her to face him. "What did you tell Hanratty? Will he join you for the return to Carson City?"

  "I might hang around Denver." Tanner wouldn't understand the stupid joke she'd just made. She gave her head a shake. "Whatever I do, Hanratty won't be part of it."

  "Whatever you do?" He sounded puzzled. "I assumed you'd head back."

  "Now who's making assumptions? But don't you worry. I know the rules, and I won't be a problem for you."

  Instantly he pulled back. "I never thought for a moment that you would be."

  Reaching deep, Fox dredged up a smile as if she'd been teasing. Then, as the conversation had become uncomfortable she turned back toward camp. She didn't lie, but sometimes it was difficult to wiggle around the truth.

  That night she lay in her bedroll staring at the cold stars and a shimmery half-moon, thinking about Hobbs Jennings. She hadn't imagined it would be possible to hate him more than she had for most of her life. But meeting Tanner made her hate Jennings so much that acid chewed at her throat and stomach. If Hobbs Jennings hadn't cheated her, she could have been the same kind as Tanner, and things might have ended differently between them.

  Near dawn she tried to console herself with the knowledge that she'd learned some important information tonight. Hobbs Jennings didn't surround himself with bodyguards. Fox didn't need to fear that she'd be shot before she had a chance to kill him.

  The wind blew for days, bitter at night and hot during the long dry afternoons. Sand sifted through clothing and bedrolls and into coffee and food. They crossed dry creek beds and rationed water. The two hilly ranges they crossed were sparsely vegetated and home to lean hungry coyotes that howled at night and kept the horses and mules in a state of agitation. Hanratty and Brown made sport out of shooting rattlesnakes and stringing the rattles around their necks as trophies.

  After a week of miserable conditions, they camped near a salty playa that signaled Fox to turn north.

  "We're a day's ride from the settlement," she announced wearily. Peaches had made a soupy stew out of the last of the elk. They all agreed the stew would have been tastier if it hadn't been laced with sandy grit. The biscuits were so sandy and hard on the teeth that only people too hungry to complain could eat them.

  "Good." Peaches rubbed at the dust emphasizing the lines on his face. "Tell me there's a bathhouse there or a river nearby."

  "The settlement's close to the Sevier River. But they should have a bathhouse." Fox flipped back her braid and watched with dull eyes as dust and sand showered across her shoulder. The men's hair was so dusty it appeared they had all gone a matted gray.

  "Will reaching the settlement get us out of this fricking desert?" Jubal asked, making a face after a swallow of gritty coffee.

  Fox nodded, aware that Tanner watched her. "The worst of it is behind us." The sand inside her clothing made her itch. They all scratched as if they had fleas. "Peaches? How are you feeling?"

  "Stop asking every ten minutes."

  The annoyed reply would have reassured her except he moved slowly and the damn cough persisted. For years Fox had teased by calling him an old man, but since his experience in the water, Peaches had genuinely looked old, and that scared her.

  "Fox decided we'll stay two nights at the settlement," Tanner said, his gaze on her. "We can all use the rest."

  So could the animals, who hadn't had their fill of food or water in days. And they needed to buy a horse for Peaches, and tents and provisions.

  Shifting toward Hanratty and Brown, Tanner reminded them of his orders. "We have two guns in camp at all times." Hard eyes settled on Jubal Brown.

  "If you say you'll be gone for an hour and you don't return by then, don't bother to come back."

  Jubal gave him a long sulky stare.

  Leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, Hanratty gazed at the pile of dirty tin supper dishes. "If I never see another tumbleweed, it will be too soon."

  Fox lacked the energy to scrub out the dishes, but it was her turn. God knew they had plenty of sand for the scouring. The damned stuff stuck to the sun lotion on h
er face, and she didn't care. Then she remembered Tanner and wiped her forehead and cheeks with her sleeve. When she looked at him, he managed a tired smile, then he collected the dishes and set to cleaning them. She offered a weak protest then let him wave it aside.

  He was such a good man.

  * * *

  CHAPTER 14

  The hand-painted sign read: No Name, population 186.

  Cattle could survive on the ranches spreading out from a small ramshackle town, but the grass was meager, growing in coarse tufts between thick sage. The small farms on the outskirts impressed Tanner as brave efforts displaying near unbelievable optimism. The farmers had cleared the sage from small patches that had begun to show green, but there wasn't enough growth to determine what crops were hoped for.

  Still, he recognized the appeal of high mountain scenery and the shallow river that trickled past the edge of No Name. Aspen and narrow leaf cotton-woods offered shade, and wild roses trailed across backyards and fences.

  At first glance the town seemed deserted, then he became aware of shouting and yelling. Fox led their party up the dirt street, following the sound of the commotion.

  They arrived at a dirt field just outside of town where a stand had been erected for spectators. A long table displayed the remains of a covered-dish picnic. A group of men stood near an area set aside as a bar, drinking and pointing and yelling at the field. Kids and dogs chased each other around the spectator stand and down the sides of the field.

  Reining up, Tanner pushed back his hat and studied the damnest baseball game he'd ever seen.

  The cowboy at the plate was drunk and roaring obscenities at the pitcher who was one of the most amazing women Tanner had ever observed.

  She was a tiny thing, barely five feet tall, but there was nothing small about the fire in her flashing dark eyes, or the confidence with which she held the baseball and considered the cowboy. Tanner had an immediate impression that she could send the baseball streaking across the plate at exactly the spot where she wanted it to be. He suspected this woman could do any damned thing she set her mind to.