Claire thoroughly enjoyed this conversation and the meal. Satisfied at last, she sat back and asked, “So why haven’t you started the horse ranch you want?”
Billy glanced at her. “That’s Brandy’s money. I will make my own.”
“Do you know anything about horses?” Ward asked her.
“Yes, I do. My family has had a horse farm for many years.”
“Maybe you and Billy are meant to be together, since you have the same interests and all,” Ward suggested and then smiled at the glare that Billy sent his way. He could remember Thunder looking at him in Exactly the same way.
Billy decided the subject needed to be changed quickly. “Have you heard from the MacTavishes? I always liked them. They sure made the journey nicer for my whole family.”
“Who are they?” Claire asked.
“A couple of Scots who traveled with us on the wagon train. As a matter of fact, they adopted my youngest sister, Amy, who was three years old. Amy loved Nettie MacTavish from the start, and we wanted her to grow up having two parents. It was too late for the rest of us, but she had a chance at a normal life.”
Ward leaned back in the chair and folded his hands across his belly. “I saw them the last time I was in Oregon. Of course, they wanted to know if I had found out where you folks had gone. To be truthful, I think they kind of adopted all you kids. They both have big hearts.”
Billy set his coffee mug down. “How are they doing?”
“I don’t think they particularly like Oregon. I’ll tell them where Brandy is and maybe they can travel down to see you folks. I think they would be a lot happier being around somebody they knew.”
“Gosh, we’d love to see them. I’ll be sure to tell Brandy when we get back home,” Billy said. He pushed his chair back and stood. “It was good seeing you, Ward. You will have to promise to come and see us when you’re finished with this wagon train.”
Ward stood, too. “I’ll do that. See you folks, then,” he said as he walked around the table. Glancing at Claire, he said, “It was mighty nice meeting you, ma’am. Look forward to seeing you when I visit in September.”
Claire rose from the table and gave Ward a smile. She really liked this man. “I hope I’ll be there,” she said, but the month of September held dread for her.
The next morning, Claire woke up feeling a little sad that Billy hadn’t come to her room last night, and then she scolded herself for such foolish thoughts.
They were not married.
They were not really anything. Claire sighed as she sat down to brush her hair. She couldn’t ask for more, but she wouldn’t lie to herself, either. She cared for Billy. She hadn’t intended to let her emotions get involved, but somehow she had.
She put the brush down and went to a small table. She pulled her pad of paper in front of her and started writing to Ann. Claire poured out every detail of what had happened between her and Billy so far, and then she ended the note with—What should I do next?
Claire sighed as she folded the letter. She felt much better sharing her feelings with her editor. Ann had always been there to give Claire advice and guide her.
A loud rap sounded on the door and drew Claire away from her thoughts. She knew it was time to leave. She went to the door and opened it. “Good morning.”
Billy looked refreshed from a good night’s sleep. “I trust you slept well in your nice soft bed?”
Claire gave him a slow smile as she stared longingly at him. “I preferred the night before.”
Billy reached out and softly touched the side of her face. “You shouldn’t look at me like that. You’re much too tempting.”
“Does that mean that you are going to kiss me good morning?”
“I’d love to, but we must get moving. Are you ready?”
“Yes,” she said, a little disgusted with herself. She swept by him. If he’d wanted to kiss her, then he would have. She most certainly wouldn’t ask again
When they reached the Overland office, she noticed that a stagecoach was there waiting for them. A man leaned against the stage, his foot propped against the sidewalk as he drank a cup of coffee. He had thick white hair and his whiskers were pepper-colored. He turned as they approached.
“It’s about gol-danged time,” the man said to Billy.
Billy laughed as he reached for the man’s hand. “What are you doing here?” he said, pumping the man’s arm up and down.
“Figured it was the only way to get you back on the job. You can’t seem to find your own way home,” he said with a grin. Then he looked at Claire. “Is this her?”
Billy nodded. “Yep. Claire Holladay, I’d like you to meet Rattlesnake Pete. He is one of your uncle’s drivers.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Claire said with a brief nod of her head.
“You’re a right pretty little thing,” Pete said as he grinned at her. “Are you ready to make the ride, little lady?”
“I guess so. I need to have somebody mail these letters for me, though,” she said and left them to give her letters to the gentleman behind the counter. After thanking him, she went back to the stage. “Are there other passengers?”
“Nope. You’ll have the whole place to yourself,” Rattlesnake said as he opened the door.
She glanced at Billy questioningly, before climbing into the stage. “Are you riding with me?”
“No, sweetheart. I’ll ride up top with Rattlesnake as shotgun. Remember? That’s my job.”
Claire had seated herself when she mumbled, “I thought I was your job.”
When she looked up, Billy was leaning into the stagecoach door. He gave her a smile guaranteed to make her toes curl, and then he said, Sweetheart, I’m not sure what you are anymore... but I wouldn’t say job.” He shut the door.
Claire stared at the closed door and whispered to herself, “Then what am I?”
Chapter Eighteen
A few days later, they were finally nearing Denver. Claire felt like she’d been through hell. She now knew she’d truly left civilization behind her when she’d gotten off the train.
On the first day out, Rattlesnake received word that Indians were attacking anything that moved, so he and Billy made the decision to ride straight through, stopping only to change horses and take care of necessities such as eating.
Claire had started the trip content in the luxurious coach, which she learned belonged to her uncle. And it was nice. The seats were blue velvet, and the cushions were quite comfortable. At least, they had been at the beginning of the trip. They had grown uncomfortable by the second day. The windows had leather curtains that she could pull when the dust became too much, and there were lamplights on both sides of the stage to light at night.
Everything seemed perfect when they began the journey. Claire occupied herself by writing in her journal about the people she’d met and the towns she’d seen. It had seemed a pleasant enough way to pass through the countryside.
They stopped every fifty miles to change horses. The stations were all the same: a one-story hewn cedar log house with one to four rooms. A muslin curtain separated the kitchen from the dining area.
By the time they reached a station, Claire was so glad to get out and stretch her legs that she didn’t much care that the stations were plain. However, she was going to mention to her uncle that the places needed to be spruced up.
The meals that each station served were always the same: bacon, eggs, biscuits, and coffee.
She had a hard time comprehending the fact that there were no towns beyond Independence, Missouri. The land was wide open, and she now saw why they called this country the Wild West
On one particularly bad day, when it was dusty and hot, and she longed to escape the coach, which she now thought of as a prison, she began to cough. When she reached for her medicine, she found the bottle was completely empty. She had thought she had a few drops left, but as she turned the bottle up nothing came out. She had to endure her coughing spell until she fainted.
When Cl
aire came to she found herself on the stage’s floor, feeling extremely sore from all the bouncing around. She climbed back onto her seat and dusted herself off. She was very glad that Billy hadn’t seen her disgrace herself. Now she was anxious to reach Denver and her medicine.
On the second day out, they were attacked by a small band of Indians. When she heard the gunfire, she stuck her head out the window to see what was going on. She caught a glimpse of Billy, climbing on top of the stage with his rifle, but she wanted to see what was going on so she leaned out farther.
She turned her head and saw four half-clothed men on dappled ponies galloping behind them. Their faces were adorned with paint of different colors and they looked very fierce. They carried lances decorated with colored ribbons and feathers. An arrow flew at her and stuck into the door.
Billy shouted for her to get inside. As the stage picked up speed, she was bounced around like a sack of potatoes, but she did what she could to hold on.
When the stage finally slowed to a normal pace, she assumed that the danger had passed, and they would stop the stage to check on her, but she was mistaken.
Finally the stage did stop at a way station to water the horses. But before she had a chance to tell Billy that she was all right he began to lecture her on the foolhardiness of sticking her head out the window when there was gunfire.
It was probably the most he’d spoken to her in two damn days. She wanted to scream that no, she wasn’t all right. She was tired and bruised from the wild chase and very irritable. All she wanted, at the moment, was to sleep in a bed.
But the I-told-you-so look in Billy’s eyes made her determined she wouldn’t complain even if her life depended on it So she drew in a deep breath and merely said. Tm fine, thank you.”
Once they reached the Colorado territory, the landscape began to change, and the air changed too. It was easier for Claire to breathe.
Now as the stage barreled down the streets of
Denver, her sleep-deprived body leaned against the side of the stage. She gazed wearily out the window.
Main Street was wide and dirty just like everything out here, Claire thought. Denver was bigger than the other towns they had been through. It appeared a little more civilized, but it was still a far cry from New York City.
There were covered wagons pulled by oxen and buckboards pulled by horses. Some lumbered down the street while others were tied in front of buildings. There were several in front of the Rocky Mountain Emporium. They rolled past Capital Bank and several restaurants before reaching a two-story building where the stage finally pulled to a stop. A huge sign overhead indicated that they had reached the offices of US Overland Dispatch.
Thank God, they had finally arrived! Claire sent up a small prayer. She didn’t wait for someone to open the door for her and to exit in a lady-like manner, as she should. After all, she hadn’t had a bath in a week, so she didn’t feel much like a lady as she came bursting out of the stage and right into Rattlesnake.
“Whoa, little lady,” he said as he settled Claire back on her feet. “Welcome to Denver. I hope yer going to like our right nice town.” He hooked his thumbs under his red suspenders and rocked back on his heels. “I told you I’d get you here safely.”
Claire was tired and irritable to say the least, so the idea of being polite and nodding never entered her mind. “What you didn’t tell me was I would be held prisoner in that—” she said pointing to the stage, “that uncomfortable box.”
Rattlesnake didn’t look the least bit offended. He spat out a wad of something dark and disgusting, then grinned at her. “Billy,” Pete yelled. “I think we got us an unhappy customer, and yer in charge of complaints.”
Billy jumped down from the stage with a leather mail pouch thrown over his shoulder. He ambled over and came to a halt in front of Claire. She looked madder than a wet hen, and her appearance was so disheveled that Billy couldn’t help smiling. She was covered in alkali-dust, her hair had escaped its pins and was hanging in limp strands around her face, and her clothes were rumpled and dirty. Yep, disheveled was a good word to describe her. Then he looked closer and noticed a bruise on her forehead. He frowned.
“What happened to your head?” he demanded.
“I hit it on the floor of the coach while you were evading wild Indians!” she snapped. “But I could just as well have died in there, and neither of you would have noticed.”
“Rattlesnake, I told you not to take that hard turn,” Billy snapped. “That must have been when Claire hit her head.”
Rattlesnake gawked at Billy as if he were loco. “Well now, I didn’t have time to ask those Indians to get out of the way. Not that they would have, mind you. And I figured the little lady would like to keep her scalp, so a little discomfort didn’t seem to matter none.”
Claire reached up and touched her hair. “Keep my hair?”
“Yep, the Injuns would have liked to have your scalp.”
Billy noticed that they had started drawing a crowd with their arguing, and he didn’t want everybody to think that passengers usually arrived in the condition of the three of them.
“Let’s go inside,” Billy said as he reached for Claire’s elbow.
“Billy West!”
Billy turned to see who had called him. He’d just turned back when Mandy threw herself into his arms. He couldn’t do anything else but release Claire and put his arms around his former girlfriend. This was just what he needed right now.
Claire looked at the young, blonde woman who was draped around Billy’s neck, kissing him. She noticed that he wasn’t kissing this woman like a sister, so Claire figured it must be the fiancée that he’d mentioned.
Disgusted, she walked past both of them and into the building. Evidently the woman didn’t know that they were not engaged. Or perhaps, Billy had lied to her. Well she didn’t care. It was none of her business.
She approached the counter just as a sensation of intense sickness and desolation swept over her. She bit down on her lower lip. She would not embarrass herself by crying over something that had never belonged to her. But she had to say something to the man behind the counter who was staring at her in an odd way.
“Can I help you?”
“Where is Mr. Holladay’s office?”
“It’s upstairs, miss.”
"Thank you,” Claire said. She turned and headed for the stairs. She passed a mirror on her way and came to understand why the man had looked at her so strangely. She could do nothing but roll her eyes. Her appearance left little to be desired, and that was an understatement She looked like something an animal had dragged in.
“You can’t go up there,” the little man said as he started out from behind his counter. “Mr. Holladay don’t see nobody unless they are announced first.”
Claire didn’t bother to stop as she climbed the first flight of steps. “I’ll announce myself.”
“It’s all right, Fred,” Billy said as he marched into the building and started up after Claire. “The lady is with me.”
That's what he thinks, Claire fumed to herself. He was with her! And he would do well to remember that.
When Billy reached her, she informed him, “You didn’t have to come.”
“I was hired to deliver you to your uncle, and I intend to do so and finish my job,” he teased.
Claire wasn’t in a teasing mood.
Once they were in the upstairs hallway, she turned on him. “I realize now that I’m nothing more than a job to you. No matter what you say. Go back to your lady friend. I’m sure she wants your company more than I do.” She swung around to walk away.
“Wait,” Billy said, reaching out and grabbing her arm. He then pushed her against the wall.
“Wait for what?” she whispered, not wanting her uncle to overhear them arguing.
“I was teasing,” Billy said, then he let out a long, deep sigh. “We’ve been through this before.” He placed his hands on the wall on either side of her head as he leaned closer. “I don’t d
eny that you were a job, but that was in the beginning. Somewhere along the way you have became more than just a job,” he said huskily as he leaned closer. “I’m not sure what you are to me, Claire, but I’d like to find out.”
He tried to place a soft kiss on her lips, but she held out her hand and stopped him. It had been days since he’d shown her any kind of attention.
“I’m not going to kiss you anymore, Billy West”
“And why is that?” he asked with a lopsided grin.
“Because every time I kiss you, you turn into a grumpy old bear. Therefore, I conclude that you don’t enjoy kissing me as much as I do you.”
“What a stupid notion,” Billy grumbled as he leaned a little closer. “Claire Holladay, you’d drive a man to drink. First, I do enjoy kissing you. Almost too much. You’re a distraction to me—one I don’t need,” he told her. At the same time, his actions betrayed his words as he pressed a kiss on her forehead, and then another on her cheek. “But if you don’t want me to kiss you....” He left the thought unfinished, then kissed her other cheek.
Claire felt as though her bones had melted. “What about that other woman?”
“She means nothing to me. Mandy started the rumors that we were engaged, so she’ll have to tell everyone that she lied.”
Claire touched the side of Billy’s face. His whiskers tickled her fingers. I don’t want to love you, she told herself, but I already do. She wrapped her arms around his neck, stood up on her toes and kissed Billy with all the emotion she had tried to hold back.
Just about the time he responded, the door to her uncle’s office swung open.
“It’s about damned time,” Ben Holladay’s voice boomed from his office, causing Claire to flinch and pull guiltily back from Billy.
Claire started toward her uncle. “Hello, Uncle Ben.”
“What did they do?” Ben asked her with an odd look on his face. “Drag you behind the carriage?”
“It feels like it,” Claire admitted as she hugged her uncle.
Ben frowned. “I thought that Billy would have taken better care of you.” Then Ben glared at Billy. “Can’t you see how fragile she is?”
Until September Page 22