“We’ll camp here.” Belle looked at Sarah, and they smiled at each other.
“This is a beautiful place, Ma.” Sarah looked around almost reverently.
A tumbling stream poured out of a fissure in one of the snowcapped mountain peaks that stood like sentinels around the valley. The creek cut across the lowest spot in the valley and spilled down a ledge and out of sight.
“Look up there.” Belle pointed overhead. “A bald eagle.” It screamed as it soared around the cliff sides, catching updrafts and diving for what looked like pure joy.
A herd of bighorn sheep spotted them and leaped up the mountainside so gracefully that they might have been flying. Grass grew belly deep to her horse, and the woods didn’t encroach onto the grass except in a few places, where they formed islands of shade around the babbling creek.
“I’d never part with my ranch. But this is as close as I’ve ever been tempted. I believe that if I’d seen this mountain valley first, I might have picked it for myself.” She rode her horse around until she found a sheltered spot up against the mountain that would cut the icy, north wind and reflect the heat of their fire back to them when the night grew cold. She did the first stages of her setup for camp, started a rising of bread, hobbled her pack animals, and turned them loose. Then she and Sarah started back up the trail, finding Silas.
“I want to push farther tonight.”
“There’s no need, Belle.” Silas had that gruff, bossy tone she was starting to love. “We’ll be in Helena in just a couple of days.” “I found good grass.”
Silas looked at the lowering sun and the ample grass along the trail where they now stood. “Belle …”
She smiled and rode her horse right over to him, thinking of a few times he’d persuaded her to do his bidding with a well-timed kiss. She decided to try that for herself. “Please, Silas. I’ve already set the camp up. It’ll be hard work to go all that way and tear things down.”
She leaned forward, caught the front of his shirt in a fist, and pulled him toward her. He came along so willingly she knew she had him.
By the time she was done kissing him, she’d’ve probably, judging by the stunned look on his face, been able to convince him to drive the herd all the way into Helena without stopping.
God forgive me, I’m wheedling just like a woman.
Belle was half horrified at herself, half elated to know she possessed such a skill. Manipulative, too, as if Silas was saving her work by driving himself into the night.
“We can go farther if it’ll make things easier for you.” Silas had a heavy-lidded look in his eyes and a strange, satisfied smile on his face.
But Belle was pleased, too. She wondered if she looked just like him.
There was still a bit of dusk left when the thousand head of cattle waded into the grass. She looked at Silas, and he smiled. It was a sweet moment, an intimate moment, shared by the two of them alone. Well, alone except for four children, three drovers, and one thousand cattle.
But sweet.
CHAPTER 16
I wonder if it’s been claimed,” Silas muttered.
Belle heard him and had a flash of worry. Was he thinking of leaving her? He’d been adamant to Sarah that morning about not getting married. Maybe he’d finish the drive, stake a claim, and come straight back here to live forever.
“Great location,” Buck said. “A short ride to the territorial capital.”
“But still wilderness,” Shorty said, as if wilderness was the same word as heaven.
Belle noticed that Roy didn’t join in the talk. He was sitting on his horse, alongside Lindsay, as he’d taken to doing all the time. They were apart from the group, talking quietly.
Belle marveled at her daughter’s shy smiles and easy conversation with the boy. Belle knew Silas kept an eye on the two youngsters. She’d suggested it, and the serious look in Silas’s eyes as he agreed wholeheartedly helped Belle put her concerns in Silas’s capable hands.
Silas hadn’t let the men go out riding herd with the girls for the first few days, but Belle could see that he’d eased his watchfulness after a bit, and Belle allowed it because she trusted Silas’s judgment.
Lindsay and Roy put up their horses. Belle was busy bending over her coffeepot, and when she straightened, she noticed the two were gone. Curious and uncomfortable with their budding friendship, Belle headed into the wooded area near where their horses stood grazing. She wandered without a direction for a time. Then she rounded a thicket and came upon Roy kissing Lindsay.
“Roy! Lindsay!” Belle cried.
The two of them jumped apart.
Lindsay tried to say something, but her face went crimson and she brushed her hands over her skirt and hair. Finally, to get her hands to stop fidgeting, she clenched them in front of her.
“I reckon I owe you an apology, Miz Harden. I just…Lindsay and me…we were only …” Roy’s voice faded to nothing, and he lifted his hat and pulled it forward on his head until it shaded his eyes.
“Roy, you go back to camp right now,” Belle ordered.
“Miz Harden, please don’t take none of this out on Lindsay.” He laid his hand on Belle’s daughter’s shoulder, and Belle wished for her skillet. “She’s a fine girl and I wouldn’t shame her. Nothin’ happened. We were talking and …”
“Roy!” Belle cut him off and crossed her arms. “I’ll leave your father to talk with you. Right now I’d like a word with my daughter. Alone!”
Roy looked at Lindsay, who glanced at him then looked back at the ground. Roy started to the camp. He had to walk past Belle to get there. When he was only a few feet in front of Belle, he stopped and pushed his hat back. “Lindsay and me…I know we’re young, ma’am, but we have decided we’re gonna get hitched.”
He’d have done less harm if he’d punched Belle right in the stomach. “No you are not. Now go!”
She jabbed her finger behind her.
He didn’t budge.
“I’ll say my piece first. If you’re mad, then yell at me, not Lindsay. She’s a good girl, and I haven’t behaved in a dishonorable way to her.” Roy looked Belle square in the eye.
Although he was young, Belle was reluctantly impressed with his desire to take whatever anger Belle might have upon himself to protect Lindsay.
“We’re getting married in Helena tomorrow if we get into town early enough.”
“You are not!” Belle interrupted.
Roy kept talking as if she hadn’t spoken. “If not tomorrow, then the next day. I haven’t talked to my pa yet, but if he’s agreeable, the two of us will stake claims, along with Shorty, that would cover this whole valley. Pa and I talked about the claims some, but I didn’t say a thing about Lindsay because I hadn’t spoken to her yet. But now Lindsay has said she’ll marry me. We’ll set up our own spread here if the valley isn’t claimed. If not here, then somewhere else close by. We’ve ridden through some likely spots.”
Belle’s heart pounded harder with every word. Roy was determined and Belle was terrified.
“I had just convinced her to say yes when you came upon us. That kiss is the first and the last one she’ll get from me before we’re married. I love Lindsay, ma’am, and I respect her too much to dishonor her.”
Belle’s mind unwillingly skittered to the way Silas and she had kissed. Without intention to marry. That had been dishonor. As their lies about being married had been. Roy’s behavior was better than Belle’s.
“I’ll always see to her safety and happiness above my own. I promise you that.”
Roy stared at Belle for a moment longer, and Belle saw clearly that he wished she’d say something so they’d have her blessing…or at least her permission, however grudgingly given. Belle just couldn’t do it. At last he nodded his head firmly and walked on past her without further comment.
Belle turned to Lindsay who was still fixated on the ground. Belle chided, “Lindsay.”
Lindsay looked up from the ground then stared past Belle’s shoulder. Belle co
uld tell the minute Roy disappeared from sight, because Lindsay suddenly had a huge grin on her face, and with a few running steps, she crossed the distance between them and threw her arms around Belle’s neck. “Oh, Ma, I never knew how it could be. I know now why you keep marrying the low-down varmints.” Lindsay laughed then pulled back to arm’s length to look at Belle. “Only Roy isn’t no varmint. He’s a good ‘un. He is, isn’t he?” Lindsay asked fiercely. “He will treat me right and work hard. I’m as old as you were when you got married. And I think his pa will stay with us, so it won’t be the two of us alone in the world like it was with you and my pa.”
“Lindsay, you’re only fifteen—” Belle began somberly.
“I’m sixteen in a few months, Ma,” Lindsay interjected. “You were fifteen when you married my pa. And now you have Silas.” Lindsay’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I haven’t told Roy about him not bein’ my real pa, and I won’t until after you and Pa are married. Roy won’t mind, but I don’t want I should embarrass you none, what with all your kissing and such.”
Belle was struck speechless by the way Lindsay so casually mentioned the…the play acting she and Silas had been doing. Silas had said he’d talked to her, but what had he really said?
“I wouldn’t want to leave you with no help,” Lindsay went on. “But with Pa around, you’ll be okay. Aren’t you happy for me, Ma? I love Roy so!” Lindsay wrapped her arms around Belle’s neck again and almost strangled her with her enthusiasm. She seemed oblivious to Belle’s dismay. She was walking on a cloud and couldn’t believe anyone could be less than thrilled.
Well, Belle was a whole lot less. “You’re too young to get married.”
Lindsay laughed. “I’m young, I know. So’s Roy. But we’re old enough to start a life together. Roy will be tellin’ his pa right now.” Lindsay turned toward the camp, grabbed Belle’s hand in hers, and towed her along. “I want to go stand by his side when Roy tells him, like Roy stood by me.”
Belle couldn’t think what to say. Hoping and praying Buck or Silas would talk some sense into the young couple, she went along.
They got to camp in time to see Buck shaking Roy’s hand and laughing. Silas was standing beside the father and son, looking very serious.
Belle met his eyes as soon as she saw him and knew he was of the same opinion she was. She went straight to his side, and as soon as Buck’s hearty congratulations were finished, Silas said bluntly, “Belle and I think Roy is a good boy, Buck. But how can he marry Lindsay when he doesn’t have so much as a roof over his head?” Silas’s curt announcement brought the festive mood to an abrupt halt.
“Now we…we might agree to Roy courting Lindsay, but we want him to have a start for the two of them before there’s any wedding.
“I have an idea that might work,” Silas continued. “Why doesn’t Roy come on home with us? He’s too young to stake a claim to any land, but he could court Lindsay proper, get to know her this winter. Buck, you and Shorty can stake a claim. In the spring, Roy can come and help you start a herd. When he’s twenty-one and old enough to claim some land, he and Lindsay can get married.”
“I do the work of a man right now,” Roy objected. “Age is just a number you write on paper. I’ll stake my claim now and prove up on it by the time I’m twenty-one. That’s five years from now. We’re not waiting that long. We’re not waiting another week!”
“Well, son”—Silas tilted his hand low over his eyes—“maybe you don’t need to wait five years to marry, but you could wait Say…two years. Lindsay’s only fifteen. She’s not—”
“Ma was fifteen when she got married,” Lindsay interrupted. “I’ll be sixteen in a couple of months. And Roy is going to be a lot better for me than—”
“Lindsay!” Silas cut off Lindsay’s yelling and threw her a warning look. Lindsay covered her mouth before she blurted out something about Belle having a different husband than Silas all those long years ago.
Then a gleam appeared in Lindsay’s eyes that made Belle nervous. “And how old were you, Pa? You and Ma are about the same age. Ma was fifteen and you were…sixteen if I remember. Same age as Roy. And you had nothing or the next thing to it. Didn’t you say, Ma, that Grandpa Tanner gave you two hundred dollars and the two of you set out and crossed practically the whole country? Ran fifty cattle across most of the Rockies because you’d heard of the gold strike in Helena and heard they were hungry for beef and paying prime dollar for it?”
Belle felt Silas clutch her hand tightly. She said, “We did start out that way, Lindsay. That’s why we know it’s hard. I’d like something better for you.”
Buck added his voice to the mess. “The boy and I talked about claiming that high valley. The two of us’ll do it, and Shorty will throw in and get himself another one hundred and sixty acres right next to it. We’ve been riding the grub line long enough. We can have a roof over our heads by snowfall, and I can make it tight and comfortable. I’ve got enough money to buy a few head of cattle to start up a herd, and with all of us working together, we’ll be okay. Now, I know they’re young. But folks marry young out here. My Caroline and I were settled young, and I think that’s the best way to do it. Having Lindsay with us, well, that would make starting a home something worth doing. Silas, I’d help Roy take care of your girl. You have my word on it.”
“Maybe in the spring we can—”
“I don’t want to wait until spring…Pa,” Lindsay said with clenched fists.
Belle heard the threat in Lindsay’s voice, but she wasn’t going to let her daughter threaten her into doing something Belle thought was wrong, no matter how much disgrace she brought down on her own head. Silas squeezed her hand again before Belle could angrily confess their lies. She looked sideways at him.
“Folks do settle young out here, Belle.” Silas looked over at Lindsay and said with open longing, “I don’t want to let her go. I wanted to spend more time with our girl. I’m not ready to give her up. But however much we don’t like it, Roy’s a good boy, and Buck and Shorty will be there to take care of her.”
Lindsay’s eyes filled with tears as Silas spoke. She took two uncertain steps then ran the short distance between them and threw her arms around Silas’s neck. “I don’t want to leave you either, Pa. I love you.”
Lindsay cried into Silas’s neck, and he hugged her tight. Then Lindsay let go of Silas and turned to cling to Belle.
“I love you, Ma. I don’t want you to be unhappy, but my heart is telling me to go with him. You know I do the work of an adult woman. I have for years. I am an adult woman. And adult women get married. What I feel for Roy—it’s so strong and good, I don’t want to let him go, not even for the winter.”
Belle looked over Lindsay’s shoulder to meet Silas’s eyes.
Silas seemed to have made up his mind for both of them.
Belle felt a scream gathering deep in her belly.
Wade shoved Glowing Sun behind him as he whirled around.
It was one of the men who’d held her captive. With a shotgun out and level and cocked.
A distressed moan came from Glowing Sun.
Wade didn’t move his hand toward his gun. This man had the draw on him, and not even a fast draw—which Wade wasn’t—could beat a pointed shotgun.
You wouldn’t be able to pull the trigger anyway, coward.
An inner voice reminded Wade he was a weakling. He’d been no different before he turned his life over to God, but the cowardice had tormented him back then because his measure of a man was whether he had the guts to kill. Now Wade found comfort in knowing he didn’t have a killer instinct. He’d shoved away the knowledge of his yellow belly and mostly forgotten it.
Until now.
Now, when his ability to pull the trigger might be the difference between life and death, not for himself, but for the woman he’d just realized he loved—that taunting voice came back and reminded him he had no guts.
“Move away from the girl.” The man stayed across the small clearing, well ou
t of reach but not so far he could miss with a shotgun.
“We’re going back to her village.” Trying to talk sense to the man, Wade saw the viciousness in the gunman’s eyes.
“I’ve given her the choice whether to live with her Flathead family or not, and she’s chosen them.” Wade knew he intended to try harder to convince her. If he’d kissed her, held her, spoken of love and marriage, would she stay in his world? If she wanted him to, would he join hers? If her tribe would allow it, Wade knew he’d go with Glowing Sun.
“That ain’t no choice. She’s wild. She don’t have the sense to pick right. She’s going with me. I want her, and she’ll be mine.” The greedy, hungry eyes told Wade that this man wasn’t interested in rescuing Glowing Sun at all. He had terrible plans for her.
Something hardened inside of Wade…pushed out the taunting voice and brought his courage forward in a way he’d never felt. He could do it. To save Glowing Sun from the dreadful fate this man had in mind, he could pull the trigger.
Dear God, help me protect her. Help me save her.
Wade knew he would die for this. This man would get his gun fired first. But Wade would take that lead shot and still get his own gun into play. He’d give his life to protect this beautiful woman.
“Please, just go.” Wade had to try reason again. “I won’t let you take her.”
Cruelty leeched through the man’s laughter.
Wade flexed his fingers, close to his holster, but not close enough. The man raised his gun.
Wade slapped leather. A shot rang out before Wade could get his hand on his gun.
So intent on rescuing Glowing Sun, Wade fought through the expected impact. He pulled his gun and leveled it—to see the man drop to his knees.
Stunned, suddenly aware that no bullet had struck him, Wade watched the man fall, and as he dropped, Wade saw a man behind him holding a smoking pistol. The saddle partner who’d helped capture Glowing Sun to begin with.
The man slipped his six-gun into his holster and raised his hands. “Don’t shoot.”
Mary Connealy Page 45