Code of the Wolf (5 page)

“Let me know if anything changes,” Serenity said, and left the bunkhouse with Bonnie right behind her.

“What are we going to do?” Bonnie asked. “Helene can't ride in her condition, let alone work cattle. With only seven of us…”

“We will do whatever we have to,” Serenity said. “We have no choice.”

“We might hire a couple of boys from town, just for the branding.”

Serenity came to a sudden stop. “You know that isn't possible,” she said.

“We could lose dozens of calves to the Coles. You
know they'll steal any unbranded beef they can get their hands on.”

That was true, but it couldn't be helped. “We will do what we have to,” she repeated.

And the first thing to do was get rid of Constantine. She had a feeling he would be glad enough to leave as soon as he was capable of it. Of course, he didn't have his own mount, but Serenity would be more than happy to give him one just to get him away from Avalon.

And she prayed he was telling the truth about being a bounty hunter, which put him at least marginally on the right side of the law.

She and Bonnie parted ways, and she started toward the barn. The door swung open, creaking on its hinges, and Jacob Constantine walked out, wearing his filthy, torn trousers, his bandages and little else. He was scanning the yard with intense curiosity, and when his gaze settled on her, his gray eyes seemed to stare right into her soul.

C
ARIDAD CAME RUNNING
from the barn, guns in hand and a furious scowl on her face.

“Stop!” Cari shouted, pausing to aim at Constantine's naked back. “Stop, or I will kill you!”

Slowly the man raised his hands. Serenity was stunned at his condition. He was moving gingerly and with a slight limp, it was true, but he was on his feet when only yesterday he had barely been able to sit up.

“Cari,” she said calmly, “it's all right. Isn't it, Mr. Constantine?”

He lowered his hands with a slight wince of pain. “Yes, ma'am,” he said, never looking away from Serenity's face. “As you can see, I'm unarmed.”

Unarmed, except for a remarkable strength that had allowed him to recover from serious injuries in less than twenty-four hours, not to mention a body made for fighting. A body he seemed perfectly comfortable displaying in public.

Bonnie came up behind Serenity. “Well, I'll be damned,” she said.

Victoria came running out of her workshop and stopped suddenly when she saw Constantine.

Caridad holstered her pistols and stalked around him, scowling.

“I'm sorry,” she said to Serenity, practically seeth
ing with anger and embarrassment. “He…deceived me, the
cabrón.
”

“Did you, Mr. Constantine?” Serenity asked, forcing herself to take a few steps closer to him. “That is hardly a sign of good faith. Or do you want to get yourself shot?”

“Not so soon after the last time,” he said with a wry curl of his lips. The expression would have been disarming to most people. To most
women,
Serenity thought. It had the effect of transforming his face just as his earlier vulnerability had done, making it appear a little softer, good-natured, almost friendly.

“You seem well enough now,” she said.

“I'm getting better,” he said mildly. He glanced around the yard a second time, then up at the granite and limestone pinnacles of the Organ Mountains towering above the house to the west. “Mighty fine place you have here, Miss Campbell.” The gray eyes fixed on hers again. “It
is
‘Miss,' isn't it?”

“What business is that of yours?”

“Easy, now. I just wanted to know how I should speak to you.”

I'd rather you didn't speak to me at all,
Serenity thought. His condescension scraped at her already raw nerves. “‘Ma'am' is perfectly suitable,” she said.

He touched his forehead in a salute that might have been mocking if he hadn't looked so grave. “I don't believe I've met this lady,” he said, indicating Victoria with a slight nod.

“Our blacksmith, Miss Curtis,” Serenity said. “How soon do you think you'll be fit to ride, Mr. Constantine?”

He hesitated. He cocked his head as if listening to some internal voice.

“Tomorrow,” he said. “If you'll lend me a horse.” Caridad snorted, but he went on, unperturbed. “I'll be riding directly after Leroy and his men. They took my horse and stole my money, but I'll get them back. I'll repay you as soon as I can.”

His confidence had a strange effect on Serenity, filling her with envy, anger and admiration all at the same time. He was so sure of himself, when she so seldom was.

“You are assuming they aren't waiting to ambush you again,” she said.

“You haven't seen any sign that they're on your range, have you?”

“My riders haven't reported anything.”

“Then it's a safe bet they didn't come after me.”

“You are a stubborn man, Mr. Constantine.”

“I have to be, in my line of work,” he said.

A hunter, probably little better than those he hunted.

Let him go after them,
she thought.
It's no business of mine if he gets himself killed
.

“Do you mind if I sit down, ma'am?” he asked with that same incongruous courtesy.

“You are free to return to the barn,” she said coldly.

“I'd like a little fresh air, if it's all the same to you.”

It wasn't the same. But Serenity could see that his face had gone a little pale, and there was a sheen of perspiration on his forehead.

She jerked her head in the direction of the house. “You must be hungry,” she said. “Changying would want you fed.”

“You are going to let him into the house?” Caridad demanded.

That wry, amused expression crossed Constantine's face again. “I would appreciate it, Miss Campbell,” he said.

“There's fresh bread and soup in the kitchen,” Bonnie offered.

“Obliged, Miss Maguire,” he said, inclining his head. Serenity could have sworn that Bonnie blushed—and there wasn't much in the world that could make her blush.

Could it be that she admired Constantine? Perhaps even found him attractive?

“I hope Miss Liu and Miss Saunders are well?” he asked.

Serenity had no intention of telling the man just how unwell Frances was.

“They're busy,” she said, and looked Constantine up and down with the deliberate detachment of a buyer assessing the merits of a beef bound for the stockyards. “Your clothes are ruined, and we have nothing here that will fit you.”

“I'm sure Helene can sew something up for him,” Bonnie said.

“Mr. Constantine is leaving tomorrow,” Serenity reminded her.

“But we can't send him out like this!”

She was right, as much as it pained Serenity to admit it. “Mrs. Tompkins will take your measurements when you go inside,” she said to Constantine. She thought of asking him to put on his boots, but there wasn't much point, when Helene would only want them off again.

Helene hadn't been to the barn to see Constantine. What would she make of him, considering how badly her fiance and family had treated her?

“You're very kind, ma'am,” Constantine said, holding her gaze.

“Imprudente,”
Caridad muttered. “Kindness will get you killed.”

Serenity pretended she hadn't heard. Not waiting to see if he would follow, she returned to the house.

Constantine caught up with her.

“Most of your hands are out on the range?” he asked, falling into step beside her.

She kept her pace steady in spite of his uncomfortable nearness, and her uneasy awareness of his physique and masculine scent. Was he trying to find out how many women lived at Avalon?

“Everyone is occupied with chores,” she said. “Including watching for those outlaws of yours.”

He didn't take any visible offense at her tart reply. He glanced up at the sun rising over the vast Tularosa Valley. “You must be about ready to start branding,” he said.

“Yes,” she said shortly, as they stepped up onto the porch.

Nothing more passed between them until they had gone into the kitchen, where Helene was sitting at the table mending the hem of a well-worn skirt. She bolted from her seat when she saw Constantine. He stopped where he was, tucking his hands behind his back. Serenity moved closer to the other woman.

“Mrs. Tompkins,” she said, “this is Jacob Constantine. Mr. Constantine, Mrs. Tompkins.”

“Ma'am,” Constantine said. His eyes barely flickered down to Helene's distended belly. “Pleased to meet you.”

Helene sank back down into her chair. “Good morning, Mr. Constantine,” she murmured, regaining her composure.

“Bonnie tells me there's soup and bread,” Serenity said, as if everything were perfectly normal.

“I'll get it.”

Before Serenity could stop her, Helene began to rise, lost her balance and tilted sideways. Constantine was there in an instant, supporting her arm.

“You should rest, ma'am,” he said. “You've got someone else to think of now.”

Helene stared up into his face with something like wonder. For a moment Serenity saw what the other woman did: simple kindness and concern.

“Th-thank you,” Helene whispered. “I think I will lie down for a while.”

With an unreadable glance at Serenity, she waddled out of the dining room.

“I will thank you not to offer advice to my friends,” Serenity said stiffly.

He leaned against the wall, muscles bunching and relaxing as he folded his arms across his chest. “Seems the Missus hasn't been getting very good advice so far.”

Heat washed into Serenity's face. “You know nothing about us and our ways,” she said. “You think of women as weak vessels suitable only for…for—” She broke off and began again. “Helene…Mrs. Tompkins is far stronger than she looks. Too much bed rest will do her no good at all.”

His eyes were so clear, so knowing, but they did not mock. “You're right,” he said. “I know nothing about you and your ways. Why don't you tell me how a place like this came to be and how it manages to keep going?”

He seemed to know every single thing to say that would make her angry. “Because it's run by women? You wonder how we can do work usually done by men?”

A lock of dark hair fell across his eyes, and he pushed it aside. “It had occurred to me,” he said.

Oh, the arrogance. So completely typical. “This ranch has been operating for three years,” she said. “We have fifteen hundred head of cattle. And we own this land outright.”

“We?”

“All of us together.”

“That is impressive, ma'am,” he said softly. “Especially in this rugged country. How did you come to be here without any men?”

“We have our reasons.”

“They must be pretty strong ones.”

She had had enough. “Do you know who keeps the farms and ranches of the West from sinking into barbarity and filth? Who brings learning and civilization to the cattle towns? Who does the washing and cooking and raising of children, and all the other things most men would never—”

Constantine raised a hand. “You've made your point, ma'am. But everything you've said is about women working in the home, where they are protected.” Protected? As
she
had been? “And you, a complete
stranger, are so deeply concerned for our welfare,” she said.

“Any decent man would be.”

“Are you offering to be our ‘protector,' Mr. Constantine?”

His lids dropped over his eyes, and a muscle jumped in his cheek. Serenity turned her back on him, took a bowl from the cupboard, ladled soup from the cast-iron pot on the stove, and set the bowl down hard on the table. She returned to the worktable, uncovered the bread, sawed off a chunk and tossed it on a plate. She plunked it down beside the soup, along with a spoon.

Constantine continued to stand. After a moment she realized that he was expecting her to sit first. She wanted to storm out, but that would be giving in. And she would
not
give in.

She took the chair farthest from him and sat very still, staring at the table while he ate.

“My compliments to the cook, ma'am,” he said. His voice sounded almost hollow. Had she actually said something that had shaken his seemingly unflappable calm?

What kind of man was he, really? It had been a very long time since she'd bothered to consider what “type” any man was. They had all become the same to her, and she never attempted to look beyond her assumptions. She didn't even want to try.

Why, then, did she look at
this
man and feel that somehow she had been wrong in her first judgment of him?

“I would like to ask
you
a question, Mr. Constan
tine,” she said. “How does a man come to be a bounty hunter?”

His face became a perfect blank. “Most do it for the money,” he said.

“But not you?”

“I reckon my reasons are my own, just like yours.”

“And do you consider yourself to work on the right side of the law?”

Every one of his muscles seemed to contract at once, and he set the spoon down with exaggerated care. “Yes, Miss Campbell,” he said, matching her ice for ice. “I do. If you'll pardon me, I'll be going back to the barn.”

She had offended him. Truly offended him. And she felt no satisfaction at all.

“Wait,” she said. “Helene didn't take your measurements.”

“It isn't necessary,” he said brusquely, heading for the door.

“Bonnie won't be happy if I let you leave tomorrow half-dressed.”

He hesitated, looking back at her, searching her face. Her heart turned over. She knew where the sewing things were; she'd done plenty of mending herself. It would only take a moment to get the measuring tape.

But to touch him, to lay the tape over the firm breadth of his back and shoulders, to feel his warm skin under her fingertips…

“I'll ask Bonnie to do it,” she said, darting past him and out the door.

Bonnie was carrying a pail of fresh milk toward the house when Serenity met her.

“What's wrong?” Bonnie asked, setting the pail on the ground. “What did he do?”

“Nothing,” Serenity said, releasing her breath. “Helene is resting. Can you take Constantine's measurements?”

The redhead grinned. “It will be my pleasure.”

“You find him…attractive, don't you?”

“What woman wouldn't?”

It was not as appalling a question as it sounded. Bonnie knew very little about Serenity's past except that she had had some trouble with men. Everyone at Avalon had, at one time or another. But Bonnie's own troubles and former profession hadn't crushed her spirit or her ability to be drawn to the opposite sex. Even to a complete stranger.

Serenity couldn't imagine what it would be like to be as strong as Bonnie.

The older woman lost her smile. “I'm sorry,” she said. “That was a stupid thing for me to say.” She looked at Serenity more carefully. “He said something to upset you, didn't he?”

“Don't be silly.”

But Bonnie continued to peer into her face, searching for the answers Serenity had never been able to give her. “You're upset about the branding. I suggested we hire a few boys from town—” She held up her hands before Serenity could protest. “I know. But in fact we have someone right here who could help.”