by Merry Farmer
“Not as much as you think,” she said.
Travis shrugged. “You’re here talking to me, not him. That says something.”
She opened her mouth to argue, but this time it was Travis’s turn to cut her off.
“I’m more than happy to help Luke do whatever he wants to do, but he needs to have the confidence to come to me and ask. Understand?”
Unfortunately, Eden did. “Yes,” she grumbled. She couldn’t leave it at that. “The least you could do is give him the opportunity to come forward and show his confidence.”
She squared her shoulders, looking Travis straight in the eye to show him she wasn’t intimidated by him contradicting her. Travis held her gaze for longer than was strictly proper. Then he nodded—a nod full of respect. That was something, at least.
“I’ll do my part if he does his,” he said.
Eden nodded to him one last time, then turned to search for her horse. Several yards away, across the abandoned camp and the dust that had been kicked up by the herd as it started to move, Luke sat atop his mount, watching her with a scowl. Eden peeked over her shoulder at Travis as he too mounted up. Lord help her, but if that was jealousy in Luke’s eyes she’d have to knock some sense into him.
Then again, it might not have been the best idea to talk to his boss without checking with him first.
“Yee-ah! Get a move on there! Cody, watch out for the runners on your right,” Luke called across the rumbling herd as they walked around a particularly treacherous turn at the bottom of a low hill.
“Huh? Oh, right,” Cody called back. He nudged his horse to chase after the potential strays.
Luke ground his teeth at the way Cody had been so slow to respond. He’d been grinding his teeth since that morning when he saw Eden talking to Travis. The two of them had stood a little too close, spoken far too intensely over something. It was bad enough that his foray into leadership wasn’t going so well, but to have his wife whispering away with another man, a stronger, bolder man? She’d been awful nice to Travis when he came to the Hen House the other day, no matter why she said she’d done that.
He swallowed the sour taste at the back of his throat. Women sure did have a way of turning your world topsy-turvy. If Eden had been Mrs. Piedmont or Lucy Faraday or Corva Haskell or any other woman from town chatting with Travis, he wouldn’t have given it a second thought. But Eden was his wife, and whether he liked it or not, seeing her talking to another man made him grumble like a bear. That wasn’t a quality a leader should have either.
“Whoa, whoa, keep up back there,” Travis shouted from point position as they cleared the curve and led the herd on to the next plain.
Luke twisted to check over his shoulder. Eden was riding drag with Billy and Mike, and doing as fine a job as the men. That much brought a reluctant smile to his parched lips. He was proud of her, proud of her strength, her smarts, and the fact that she hadn’t complained once since they’d hit the trail. Granted, he was sure the past she hadn’t yet told him about was the reason she was so tough, and he couldn’t decide if he wanted to know everything about it or nothing at all, but he was still proud.
Which looped him back around to the conversation she’d had with Travis.
Luke let out a frustrated sigh. A woman as intrepid as Eden should be with a man who had grit, who possessed a steel backbone and iron balls. Was he that man? Was he man enough for her? He thought back to their wedding night. It had been his first time with a woman, and he figured he’d done a good enough job, judging by the sounds Eden had made. But a niggling thought at the back of his mind figured she’d had as much to do with that as he did. Hell, he hadn’t known the first thing about what he was doing, but she did.
She did.
He winced and rubbed his face and eyes to push away the headache that was forming. What if Eden decided she’d rather have a man who knew what he was doing in bed, in life, in everything? What if she ended up wanting Travis instead of him?
“You look like you’re about to puke, sweetheart.”
Her voice right behind him jolted Luke so hard he nearly slipped out of his saddle.
“Whoa there.” she chuckled. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I didn’t think I would startle you either.”
“I was thinking,” he admitted, fighting not to feel sheepish over his thoughts. They were legitimate thoughts, possible concerns. He didn’t have to feel guilty about thinking them.
Then why was he being so defensive with himself?
“Good.” Eden nodded, thankfully oblivious to the riot going on inside his head. “I like a man who thinks.”
“Do you like a man who takes charge and is respected by his peers too?” he grumbled before he could stop himself.
Eden hissed out a heavy sigh, shaking her head. “Don’t go counting your chickens before you look hard enough to realize they’re ducks.”
The metaphor was so strange that Luke laughed in spite of himself. The fact that Eden could make him laugh when he was wallowing in self-consciousness only made him want her more.
A real man, a man worthy of Eden, would speak out and not sit on the burrs of his doubts.
“What were you talking to Travis about?” he asked, working not to look jealous and stupid.
To his surprise, Eden blushed. “I might have gone and chewed him out for not giving you more responsibility.”
Luke’s brow flew up. “You chewed out Travis? Over me?
“Now, before you get all upset at me for taking things into my own hands,” she rushed to defend herself, nudging her horse to ride right up next to his, “I just want to let you know that I only did it because I think you deserve more credit. I should have let you take the lead, though. I’m sorry.”
Luke was so flabbergasted—by her honesty and by her gumption—that he stared at her in silence as they rode on. The herd was already spreading out across the plain to munch on the parched grass. Travis signaled from the front for them all to stop for lunch, and Luke waved back. He wheeled his horse around to check on the tail end of the herd. Mike raised his shoulders in question, and Luke gestured for him to follow the direction of the herd so they could camp for a few hours.
It was several minutes before he had a chance to react to Eden’s statement as the two of them walked their horses to the stream where Lawson was setting up lunch.
“You know.” He began slowly so that he could sort out the jumble of his thoughts. “I can think of maybe three people who have ever gone out of their way to defend me in my life.”
“Really?” Eden seemed genuinely surprised beside him.
Luke nodded. “My ma—my real ma, before she died—Josephine, and my big sister, Libby.” He smiled as he thought of all three of them and turned to Eden. “I always thought it was funny how the only people who ever saw something in me were women.”
Eden’s answering smile was so soft and feminine—almost as if she had tears in her eyes—that it tightened his throat.
“It’s because women are smarter than men,” she said, leaning closer.
“You know, Mrs. Chance, I think you might be right.” He winked at her, hoping she would take it to mean that he had no hard feelings about her talking to Travis. Why the hell had he thought she would take a shine to Travis in the first place?
Because he wanted her so much that the very idea of her turning to someone else was almost more painful than he could bear.
He sucked in a breath. Whoa. No wonder love was compared to Cupid firing an arrow. It hit you that fast and stuck that hard.
They reached the edge of the quickly thrown-together camp. Luke hid his sudden burst of feeling by dismounting. Getting skewered by Cupid’s arrow was one thing, but if Eden didn’t feel the same about him, it would be more of a wound than a wonder.
He busied himself getting Marshall settled and helping Eden with her horse. Only when he had gathered his calm enough to look strong and commanding did he whisper to her, “I appreciate your help, Eden. I really do. I only hope I
can live up to your expectations.”
She stepped closer, lifted to her toes, and kissed his lips. “You will,” she said and patted his cheek before stepping away to help Lawson with lunch.
Cody and Billy hooted and made kissing sounds at him. “Want us to rope off an area so the two of you can be alone?” Cody laughed.
“We could clear out the back of the wagon for a while,” Billy added. “Just don’t go rocking hard enough to break the wheels.”
They snorted with laughter. A few of the others reluctantly joined in. Eden frowned.
“That’s enough of that.” Travis stepped in, his voice commanding. “Show some respect.”
Cody and Billy’s teasing expressions faltered. They glanced to Luke, as if expecting him to go along with his teasing, to open himself up to being the butt of jokes.
Luke settled into an easy stance, tipping his hat back and grinning like he knew something they didn’t. “I might have to take you up on that offer.” He winked across to Eden, who grinned and blushed and shook her head. Cody and Billy continued to gape, so of course Luke leaned closer to them and said, “Jealous, boys?”
To everyone’s surprise, neither Cody nor Billy had a ready comeback. There was a first time for everything.
“Well, we all know who the smart one here is,” Mason added as he took a bowl from Lawson and served himself cold beans from a pot. “I bet we’re all wishing we had sent off for brides ourselves.”
Lawson laughed at the comment and started around the camp, handing out tin bowls to everyone. Cody and Billy not only kept silent, they edged around Luke with the averted looks and hangdog expressions that men only wore when they worried they’d gone too far and offended someone they shouldn’t.
Luke grinned. Hope filled his chest as he helped himself to a lunch of cold beans and cornbread. If he wasn’t mistaken, he’d just taken the first small step to being a real leader.
“Good job,” Eden whispered as she sat next to him on the ground beside the chuck wagon.
“You think so?” He leaned into her, bumping his shoulder against hers.
“Yep.” She nudged him back.
Luke couldn’t remember the last time he’d been happier. Things were looking up.
Lunch was unusually quiet, almost as if the boys didn’t know what to say if they didn’t have Luke to tease. It wasn’t until Mason suddenly frowned and squinted back the way they’d come that the mood shifted.
“Who’s that?” he asked.
They all turned to look back at the hill they’d just come around. It was a couple hundred yards away, but a lone figure on horseback stood out against the western sky. Luke squinted, trying to see far enough to tell if he recognized the rider.
“Must be a scout from a local ranch,” Travis said.
“I didn’t think there were any ranches out this far,” Luke said.
“Could be an Indian?” Lawson ventured.
“No.” Travis shook his head. “He’s not dressed right.”
“You can tell from this far away?” Cody asked.
“I bet it’s one of Bonneville’s men following us,” Mrs. Piedmont’s man, Oscar, said.
The others hummed in agreement, standing and setting aside their lunch to glare at the lone rider.
“Bonneville,” Luke growled. He balled his hands into fists, ready for another fight.
But no, a leader didn’t lead his men into pointless altercations.
“What do you want to bet Bonneville is sending his men out to sabotage the drive?” Lawson grumbled.
Travis sighed. “I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“As if sabotaging dealings with Dashiell wasn’t bad enough,” Mason grumbled.
Something shiny flashed near the rider’s head. “What’s that?” Billy asked.
They all shifted, shielding their eyes to look harder. The flash appeared again, then disappeared as the lone rider lowered his arms. Luke scratched his head as some of the other boys shrugged and returned to their lunch.
“Bonneville can eat my dust,” Billy muttered.
“It’s a spyglass.”
Eden spoke so quietly that no one but Luke paid her any mind.
“A what?” he asked.
When he turned back to face his wife, his heart dropped to his feet. She’d gone as pale as a sheet and held her bowl of beans as though they would make her sick. Her stance had changed too, and now she sat half curled up in a ball, as if she could fold up and disappear.
Luke jerked back to stare at the hilltop, but the rider was gone. Something hard and primal rose up in his gut. He squatted by Eden’s side, setting his bowl aside.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” He closed his hands around her arms, caught between wanting to hold her close and needing to chase after whatever had frightened her—and she was frightened—and destroy it.
“It’s a spyglass,” she repeated, voice shaking, eyes round with dread. “He always carries that damn spyglass.”
Chapter Eight
Three times in the next day and a half, Luke checked for burrs in his saddle. The itching, stabbing sensation that something was very wrong refused to leave him, even after Eden brushed away her comment about the spyglass, busied herself cleaning up lunch, and pretended nothing was out of the ordinary. The others hadn’t noticed her discomfort or heard her comment, but it wouldn’t leave Luke. Of course there were no burrs in his saddle, but he would have preferred that answer to the dangerous tension that floated all around him.
“Ho! Ho, there, Luke!”
At Travis’s call, Luke snapped out of his prickly thoughts. Jumped was more like it. His heart raced as he twisted in his saddle to find Travis. Off to the right flank, a single cow was drifting to the side, but Eden was there to guide it back in line. He hadn’t noticed the cow making a break for it. He hadn’t noticed anything.
“Yeah?” he called across to Travis, barely able to be heard above the noise of the cattle.
From point position, Travis glanced back at him with a frown. He held back until Luke rode up around the herd’s right flank. Along the way, he sent Eden a look that was as steady and reassuring as he could manage. He would protect her from whoever that was on the hill. He would keep her safe, make her happy.
“What do you want, boss?” he asked Travis as Marshall fell into step with Travis’s mount.
“I want you to get your head out of the clouds,” Travis got right to it. His frown lightened to deeper concern. “You haven’t had your head on straight since we saw Bonneville’s man on the hill yesterday.”
Luke opened his mouth to say he doubted that had been Bonneville’s man, but closed it just as quickly. He didn’t know who the man was and wouldn’t until Eden opened up to him.
Travis went on. “Look, I know that saloon fight was a crossroads of sorts for you. I admire the changes you’ve been trying to make. But if we get into a tussle with Bonneville’s idiots out here on the drive, it won’t be a fool’s fight, like at The Silver Dollar. You’ll be defending the herd. No one is going to think less of you for that.”
Luke turned about three shades of red—from embarrassment to anger—at Travis’s speech. Travis was a friend and was trying to show support, but he still didn’t think much of him. He could argue the point, but that would only draw Eden into things, and she was upset enough already.
“Yep,” he answered, his jaw set, his eyes trained straight forward to the curve of the river they were approaching. It was all the answer he could give.
Travis studied him in silence. Luke knew the man to be smart enough to catch on to all the unspoken stuff that was going on, but he wasn’t going to be the one to speak first. Finally, after a long, awkward silence, Travis nodded and let out a breath. “We’ll reach that river in about twenty minutes. The herd has to ford it. I want you to lead while they do.”
Surprise bumped Luke straight out of the gristmill of his thoughts. “Me?”
Travis quirked to a grin. “That’s why you’re here, aren’t
you? To lead?”
Thank God above for Eden. Maybe her little chit-chat with Travis had done some good after all. “Hell yes.” He smiled, the first smile that felt natural in two days.
“All right.” Travis faced forward, nodding chin-first at the line of the river. “I’m pretty sure this is Dyson’s Run. It’s a little narrower down this way. Ride on ahead to see how deep it is and where would be the best place for the herd to cross.”
“Yes, sir.” Luke nodded, then tapped Marshall to send him running ahead of the group. It felt good to gallop, to feel the wind in his face, his muscles working in tandem with his horse. It felt good to have a specific purpose and a task ahead of him that was more than worrying and wondering. He could do this.
The river was more of a stream as far out on the plains as they were. Luke rode right into it, slowing Marshall enough to test the riverbed, looking for submerged obstacles, depth, and speed of the water. Every lesson he’d learned about cattle and the wilderness in the past ten years and more came back to him, like well-oiled cogs in a machine. He remembered crossing rivers as an adolescent on the Oregon Trail. Sometimes they’d had rafts to take them across, but for smaller streams like this, they’d waded through. He remembered the advice Pete had given him with a confident smile.
As he galloped back to Travis and the herd, his mind was full of calculations and a sense of purpose. Travis rode out ahead of the herd to meet him. Luke pulled Marshall to a stop and waited, scanning the dusty cloud of the herd for Eden. She still rode on the right flank, but judging by the stoop of her shoulders and the angle of her hat brim, she wasn’t paying any more attention than he had been.
“What does it look like?” Travis asked.
“I think we can—” Luke stopped cold. Before he could turn back to Travis, his eyes caught something far in back of the herd—a flash of light. He stood in his stirrups, squinting to see if he could make it out.
“What?” Travis turned his horse to look where Luke was looking.
“I thought I saw a flash of light,” he said. “Like the one we saw yesterday.”