Mary Connealy

by Montana Marriages Trilogy

  Buck shoved his hat back and smiled. “They grow ’em tough in Montana, I’d say. Women as well as men. You should have seen that little spitfire giving Wade all he could handle.”

  Roy’s face had now turned an alarming shade of pink, and he was staring straight at the ground as if his feet fascinated him. Every once in a while he’d take a quick glance up at Lindsay then go right back to inspecting his boots.

  “Can we hire on, Pa?” He pulled off his well-worn hat and finger-combed his overly long, dark blond hair as if suddenly worried about his appearance.

  Lindsay walked to her horse to rub it down.

  Roy trailed a good twenty feet behind, not speaking to her and not listening to his father’s answer.

  Silas’s eyes narrowed as he watched Roy. He clenched his hands between his splayed knees until his knuckles turned white and considered rescinding the offer of work. He looked back at Buck and made sure the man saw his displeasure.

  Buck looked from his son to Silas. He leaned forward and said low, “I’ll see to the boy. Don’t worry none about him. He’s a good ‘un. Just young.”

  “I know what goes on in a young man’s mind.” Silas frowned. “It’s not that I don’t understand. But it’s different when you’re a man with pretty little girls like mine, Buck. Real different. I won’t put up with a single wrong word from your boy.”

  Buck nodded. “I’ll be right beside you if he steps out of line.” Then he grinned. “But the day will come when you’re gonna have to let the fellers near your girls.”

  Silas couldn’t manage a smile, but he did nod.

  “Your oldest is marryin’ age, I’d say,” Buck added. “And the next, well, I’ve known gals hitched that young, too.”

  Silas’s stomach did a dive that almost brought him up off the ground. He didn’t respond, but he wanted to grab Lindsay and drag her back home and lock her in the house. He stared hard at Roy. “It’s not that I won’t let ’em near. I will when the time comes a few years from now, but I’ll be near, too. Standing close at hand with my shotgun.”

  Then Silas thought of the way Hank Tool acted when he caught Lulamae in the barn. Hank had set the whole thing up with Lulamae, not just allowing her to be treated in such a way but most likely instructing the poor dumb cluck to behave so. Silas was suddenly furious with Hank Tool for being so cavalier with his daughter, and only the distance of four states kept Silas from hunting the man down and thrashing him.

  Buck laughed. “A man after my own heart. If you’re still interested, we’d appreciate the work.”

  Silas leaned forward and offered the man his hand. “You’re hired.”

  Buck leaned across the campfire and shook Silas’s hand. Shorty nodded from where he sat, leaning lazily against a tree trunk. “I think we’d be willing to take the job just to eat at your campfire.”

  “Well, you’ll do that and earn thirty a month, too. Although the job’s only got two weeks left.”

  “Done,” Buck said. “It’s a pretty country, but it’s a hard route you’re takin’. God made most of the land stand on end instead of lyin’ flat like a decent piece of land had oughta.”

  Silas nodded with a wry smile. “You’ve just come over the trail. You know what the last few days have been like. We’ve got one blazed-faced steer who spends all his time trying to go home.”

  “We rode through some of the herd. It’s a good-looking bunch you got. Fat and sassy. They’ve been well tended. A lot of steers are mighty gaunt by the time they’ve been on the trail a few weeks. You must know ranching.”

  Careful not to crack a smile, he said deliberately to goad Belle, “Thanks. I put a lot of care into fattening them for market. I’m really pleased with the way they’ve stood up. We’ve driven them hard. We had one spell …”

  Silas sat ignoring his obedient little Belle and taking all the credit for her hard work. He imagined her going for his throat and somehow ending up with her arms around his neck. It took all his will to pay attention to cow talk about the hills behind and the hills ahead.

  Belle handed Buck and Shorty plates of food with a kind word and a demure smile then turned back to the fire and returned quickly with food for Silas. He thought she slapped it a little hard in his lap, but she didn’t dump it on his head, so he silently thanked the Lord for looking out for him and ate his meal.

  Roy was helping Lindsay rub down Emma’s bay. He was working energetically on the off side of the horse, occasionally glancing over the animal’s back at Lindsay. It occurred to Silas grudgingly that a young man who tried to impress a young lady by working hard by her side wasn’t a bad sort. He also made a mental note to keep his shotgun at hand while he slept.

  Silas went out to ride the circuit with all three men. He wasn’t about to leave a single one of them alone with his girls. He did remember, as his thoughts ranged over how he’d defend his women, that his women could probably outrope, outride, and outshoot most of the men in Montana. It made him smile with pride to think of it.

  The four men rousted strays out of the thickening brush that grew up the mountainside. They got the cattle settled in for the night, and Shorty trailed the mountain lion off a few miles into the hills and came back to report it seemed to have been on its way out of the country.

  When the sun set, the night had more than the normal bite of cold, and white began sifting down out of the sky. Silas knew the heavier snow wouldn’t be long in coming. He thought for the first time that if he rode back to Belle’s ranch with her, and as a gentleman he would have to escort her home, he might accidentally get himself snowed in with the Tanners for the winter. The idea made Silas feel so good inside it scared him right down to his boots.

  Belle and the two older girls went out after supper to stand first watch.

  “I don’t rightly know when I’ve let a woman ride herd while I warmed my toes by a fireside,” Buck said with a furrowed brow. “It don’t seem right.”

  Silas could have taken that as an insult, but he knew exactly what Buck meant. “The Lord hasn’t seen fit to give me a son yet.” And the thought of having a son with Belle made him so restless he could barely continue the conversation. Clearing his throat, he said, “I need the help, and the women are top hands with a horse. My Emma can hold her own with any man, and that includes me, and they love it. All of them would rather sit a horse than sew a dress. I don’t know if that’s the proper way to raise a girl, but we’re all to ourselves most of the time, and we just go our own way. When a man comes along for the girls, well, he’ll take ’em as they are or he won’t get near ’em. If there’s any changin’ to be done, he’ll be doin’ it.”

  Shorty leaned back against his bedroll, using his saddle as a pillow. He tilted his trail-worn Stetson over his eyes. “I’ll take second watch with Roy. I’d like to get a little sleep before then if you two are done yammerin’.”

  Buck settled back, too. “You’d better stay in and keep watch over the girls, Silas. We’ll take this first night.”

  Silas said cordial-like, “Appreciate it, Buck. I sleep light, so I’ll ride out time to time.” It was the barest of warnings, but Buck grunted his approval as he rested his head on his saddle and pulled his blanket over himself in the flicker of the campfire. No one would respect a man who didn’t watch over his daughters and his herd with equal vigilance.

  Silas settled into his own bedroll, thinking of the soft snow and the winter closing in and how much he enjoyed the idea of Belle giving him a son…or another daughter. Yes, he’d be contented with a girl all right.

  Then he did his best to turn his thoughts to something else before it became impossible to sleep. He wasn’t all that successful. In fact, he was as bothered as a man could be and almost went out to ride, since he wasn’t sleeping anyway. But he couldn’t leave.

  Shorty woke Roy, and the two of them left the camp quietly. Silas heard them go and lay awake until Belle, Lindsay, and Emma all came riding in. The snow had stopped, and the night was sharply cold but not bitter.
The women went straight to caring for their horses.

  Silas pushed aside his blanket, stood, and walked over to Belle. He rested his hand on her elbow. “Let’s step away from the campfire for a second.”

  Belle nodded and followed him as the girls worked their horses. Silas stayed where the sleeping girls and Lindsay and Emma working with their mounts were in their line of sight.

  Silas whispered, “I just wanted to remind you that you have to show me a bit of affection from time to time to keep this idea in these men’s heads that we’re married.”

  “What?” Belle’s shocked question rang out clearly enough to be heard down the whole mountainside.

  Silas squeezed her elbow. “Shh. What else? A wife gives her husband a kiss now and then. You’ll do it, too!”

  “Silas,” she began sternly, but at least she wasn’t yelling, “I am not—”

  Silas shut her up by kissing her, and when she melted against him, it occurred to Silas that this was the most fun he’d ever had in his life. It was the plain honest truth that he was a happy man when he was tormenting Belle Tanner. He eased his lips away from her and said with his mouth a bare inch from her ear, “I’ll sleep with the men.”

  Belle shuddered and Silas breathed softly against her ear again to see if she’d repeat the telltale movement. She did.

  “Silas,” Belle said with reluctant protest, “what about the girls? They can’t see us behaving in a way that’s not proper. They’ll think—”

  “I already told them what we had to do. They understand.” Silas leaned closer again and murmured, “Now think, darlin’, the yarn I spun these boys is the only one we could have told. When it gets down to it, me being along on this drive with you is about as improper as anything can be.”

  “No, it’s not. The girls are better chaperones than a fire-and-brimstone preacher backed by a convent full of nuns.”

  Silas grinned. “That is the honest truth. But I’m here as your husband while these men are with us. We have to make do as best we can.”

  “But it’s all a lie, Silas. I’ll spend my night praying for forgiveness for this nonsense. All you had to do was be honest.”

  He kissed her again because it seemed to quiet her down. “Now I’ve been calling you my woman and the girls my girls. I’ve been real careful not to say the word wife and daughters.”

  “You told the girls to call you Pa. Don’t try and pretend that’s not a lie.”

  He was holding a smart woman in his arms. He found it suited him. “Well, I’ve already asked for forgiveness, and I feel like God understands. Which means you’re more stubborn than God, and why am I not surprised?”

  Belle jerked her arm out of his grip, but Silas caught it and reeled her back in for one last kiss. When she’d calmed clear down to being limp in his arms, he pulled back just enough to whisper in her pretty ear, “I think we’ve been over here long enough.” He said it all scoldinglike, as if Belle was keeping him over here just because she wanted a few minutes of privacy to smooch. “Now you go on back to camp and behave yourself.”

  Silas pressed his bristly cheek to her smooth one and slid his arms snug around her waist. “We have to do this, darlin’.” He nodded, his face nudging her chin up and down. “It’s to protect you and the girls. You can see that, can’t you?” He kept nodding, kept her close, marveled at the woman smell of her.

  Finally, she nodded, too.

  Pulling back, he thought her eyes looked a bit dazed, and she flickered a glance at his lips that made Silas step back before he had to do any more explaining to the girls. He took her hand and led her back to the campfire where she’d sleep well away from him.

  He felt a niggling of guilt for not being honest with the new hired hands, and he especially worried about letting the girls call him Pa. Was he teaching the girls sinful lessons? He opened his eyes to see snowflakes drifting down again.

  Silas asked God to help him figure out his feelings for Belle and how they matched up with his feelings for women in general.

  This being a father business is complicated, Lord. I don’t know how You’ve managed it for all these years. I’d appreciate some guidance.

  A breeze moved over him, and the wind carried a whisper that he knew he imagined. It whispered something like, “If you married her, none of this would be a lie.”

  That whisper cracked like a bullwhip in the air and jolted Silas wide awake. He lay there, watching it snow for two hours, his prayers mixed up with remembering the scent of Belle’s hair.

  When he finally drifted off, he woke up every few minutes all night long. And it had nothing to do with being suspicious of the new cowhands.

  CHAPTER 14

  The little minx barely left a trail. And Wade considered himself a fair hand with tracking.

  Since he’d left his father’s ranch, he’d spent long weeks living off the land in these very mountains. He felt close to God up here. The big sky felt wide enough to hold heaven, and the mountains would make a grand footstool as God watched over His children. Finding he could survive with the strength of his own hands gave him hope that he was a worthy man. It tore down all the mountains of self-contempt his father heaped on him with constant criticism and hard fists. This land made him believe in his own worth.

  So Wade didn’t expect to have trouble keeping track of Glowing Sun.

  But he did.

  She was easy to follow for the first day. The only trail she could take was the one they’d been on.

  He pushed his horse and hoped to close the gap between them. But once he was through the toughest passages, there were choices. Scared he’d choose wrong, Wade studied the ground often until he assured himself he was still on Glowing Sun’s trail.

  Buck had given him detailed directions to the Flathead camp, and Wade considered several times just riding straight for it as the second day stretched to three, then four. He could go to her village, stay back from it but remain watchful, and wait for Glowing Sun. All he needed was to see her arrive safely.

  His common sense told him the woman was well equipped to survive in these rugged mountains.

  But if he was so sure she’d be fine, then he might as well go throw in with Belle’s cattle drive and be done with the wild-goose chase. His reason for following after Glowing Sun was to protect her. Abandoning her trail didn’t figure in.

  He swung to the ground, checking what looked like the pad of a moccasin on a stretch of damp forest soil, when his horse reared with a wild squeal and jerked the reins out of his hands. Wade made a dive for the suddenly frantic animal and managed to swing himself up onto the buckskin. Even with Wade’s hand pulling hard on the reins, the horse ran nearly a hundred yards back in the direction they’d just come. Only then did Wade manage to halt his gelding. Snorting and wheeling, the horse must have been far enough from whatever upset him because, though he fidgeted, he let Wade take charge and hold him nearly in place.

  “Wade!” A woman’s voice. Glowing Sun.

  Wade turned, trying to locate her.

  The horse stopped and perked its ears forward.

  A snarling grizzly lumbered out of a clump of quaking aspens near where Wade had stood just seconds ago.

  His horse whinnied and backed away.

  Wade patted the horse on the neck to show his thanks. As the bear charged forward a dozen feet, baring its teeth, Wade pulled his rifle from its sling on his saddle and snapped a shell in place.

  The bear skidded to a stop. The wily animal had obviously seen and heard a gun before.

  “Wade! Help!” She spoke English. Granted, it was only two words, but he’d taught her those words. He didn’t look away from the roaring brute, but the direction of her voice told him Glowing Sun was in the upper branches of a tree just behind the bear. “Hang on. I’ll…save you.” Wade knew it was foolish, but he felt himself grow taller when he shouted the words. His shoulders squared, his chin lifted. Pathetic as it was, he had to grin as he sighted down the length of his rifle.

  Sor
ry, Lord. I know I’ve got a problem with rescuing women. Most of ’em don’t need rescuing one whit. But just maybe this one does.

  The grizzly shook its head as if forbidding Wade to take a shot.

  Wade waited. If the old grizz didn’t want a fight, it’d have to turn tail and run.

  With a furious roar…that’s just what it did. The bear, nearly as tall in the shoulders as Wade’s horse, whirled and vanished into the thickly wooded mountainside.

  Wade wasn’t about to go after the old monster, but he’d gotten to know Glowing Sun well enough in their time together that he reckoned if he waited too long she’d climb down from the treetops and run. Trusting his mount, Wade waited until his horse settled down before he approached.

  She wasn’t in the copse of aspens. He moved on into the forest, watching the treetops, until he saw her peeking out between the thinning leaves. Looking disgruntled, she sat on a branch so high she should have had a nosebleed. The tree, an oak, magnificent in its fall dressing of red leaves, nearly concealed her, but enough leaves had fallen that he could catch a glimpse.

  The claw marks told their story. The grizzly had followed her up a long way, forcing her into the slender upper branches. She clung there now, hanging on to the trunk so far up that the tree bent under her weight.

  When she saw him she gasped in relief. He saw her release the trunk then frantically grab it back. Even as far up as she was, Wade could see that terror had her in its grip.

  “Just take one step at a time.” He could see her whole body trembling.

  “P–please. H–help.” Her voice shook and Wade heard the tears making her voice waver. “W–Wade, help me!”

  Wade didn’t think the tree would hold both of them up that high, but the vulnerability in her usually strong voice forced his hand. Grimly determined to get her before she fell, he tied his horse to the tree, said a quick prayer that the grizzly had quit the country, and began climbing.

  The ancient oak was as easy to scale as a staircase. It had limbs low to the ground. Probably why Glowing Sun had chosen it to escape the bear.