Cowboys 08 - Luke (10 page)

"American servants would."

"I didn't think you had servants in this country." "We do, but we don't think of it as a profession, just being temporarily down on your luck."

"What's wrong with being a servant? It's a respectable calling."

"Maybe in your eyes, but enough people hated being subservient that they took the risk of coming to America to seek a better life."

"So they could hire servants of their own." He surprised her by laughing.

"Probably. American women like being independent, but they don't like to cook and clean if they can get someone else to do it for them."

"What do you mean independent?"

"They like controlling their own property, owning their own businesses. A few have become doctors and lawyers. And women in Wyoming will soon have the right to vote."

Everything else he said was overshadowed by one statement. "Do you mean American women can have control of their own money?"

"Of course. No woman wants to work all day just to hand her money over to some man."

"What about my money?"

"In this country you'd have control of it."

"Then I could marry who I wanted."

"As long as he wanted to marry you. It works both ways over here."

She'd never thought of anyone not wanting to marry a rich woman. She'd never met a man like that.

"It's time to get back to the coach," Luke said. "I want to make at least fifteen miles today."

Valeria started to tremble. Did Luke mean to carry her to the coach? She turned away from the river. She was certain the color had drained from her face. She didn't want him to know he had such a strong effect on her. She felt helpless enough already.

"I hope Zeke doesn't mean to terrify Elvira again," she said.

"Zeke and Hawk will treat her fine as long as she acts like she's got a little gumption. It's hard on a man to know a woman is petrified to be near him just because he's not the same color or race as she is."

"We've heard terrible stories about Indians."

"They're probably true. But they aren't half as terrible as stories I could tell you about what we did to them."

"Your country is very different from what Elvira and I are used to. I imagine we're going to do many things you don't like. I can assure you that you've done quite a few we neither like nor understand."

"Like carrying you from the coach?"

He'd cornered her. "That's one."

"You don't want me to carry you back?"

"It's very ungentlemanly of you to force me to answer that question. You know I can't pass through that brush on my own. But to ask you to carry me would sink me beneath reproach."

"Not in this country. Any woman who can get a man to carry her anywhere is likely to be greatly admired."

"Not by other women."

"Especially by other women."

Valeria gave up. If Americans were as Luke said, she'd never understand them.

"Hawk has come for Elvira," Luke said. "I can't wait to see how she acts when she sees him."

"You're cruel."

"You can't blame me. My parents didn't have any normal feelings to give me."

Valeria didn't know or care about the shortcomings of Luke's parents, but she did care about Elvira. "Are you a little cooler?" she asked when she reached her maid's side.

"How can she be?" Otto asked. "It's hot even under these trees."

"Not as hot as in the coach," Hans said. "I do feel a little better," Elvira said.

"Good, but I'm afraid it's time to go back. One of Luke's brothers is already here to carry you back." Elvira's hand gripped Valeria's arm with conclusive strength when she saw Hawk approaching.

"Luke said he likes Hawk the best of all his brothers."

Luke, of course, hadn't said any such thing. "He said he's kind and sweet tempered."

"He doesn't look like it," Elvira whispered.

"That's just the way Indians look. Both Hawk and Zeke are ordinary people. I want you to treat them just as you would Hans or Otto."

Elvira didn't shrink from Hawk, but she looked doubtful.

"Thank you for taking her back to the coach," Valeria said to Hawk. "Maybe there won't be so much brush the next time and we won't have to impose on you."

"I don't mind," Hawk said.

"Stand up, Elvira," Valeria said. "He can't pick you up if you're sitting down."

Casting an apprehensive look over her shoulder, Elvira stood. Hawk picked her up.

"You easy to carry," he said.

Valeria imagined that with arms as big as a horse's foreleg, he could pick up a woman two or three times as heavy as Elvira.

"That was well done," Luke said from behind her. "We may be used to a tradition of service in my country, but the people who serve us become our friends, even part of the family."

"Sounds like you're overdoing it a bit, but I won't complain if Elvira doesn't."

It didn't matter what she did; the infuriating man managed to find a way to criticize her. "You ready to go back?"

"No, but I take it you're ready to leave." "Not giving an inch, are you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do. You're royalty. You couldn't possibly be wrong."

"According to you, everything I do is wrong."

"Not everything."

"You're too generous."

"No I'm not. I think your class should have been done away with years ago. I don't see any reason for kings and princesses. Or dukes."

"Then you ought to be pleased they got rid of us."

"But you managed to keep your money."

"We deserve something for all the work we've done over the centuries."

"You mean stealing money from your countrymen and getting them killed in useless wars so you could stuff your pockets with more gold?"

"Not every ruler steals money or starts useless wars. Many men in my family died to protect our country."

"Not as many as the peasants."

"Of course not. You can't have everybody running the country."

"Of course you can. That's what we do here. Every man has a vote. In that way, we all have a hand in deciding what the government does."

She wanted to argue with him, but he kept cutting the ground out from under her, producing another piece of information she didn't know about.

"And if we don't like what they do, we can throw them out and vote for somebody else," Luke added.

"Do you like the people who run the government? Are they the ones you voted for?"

"I don't vote."

"Why not?" Here he was lecturing her on the advantages of the American system and he didn't believe in it enough to participate himself.

"I move around too much."

She was certain that wasn't the real reason, but she didn't get a chance to ask what it was. Without warning, he scooped her up and started toward the coach.

"Come on," he called to Otto. "We've lost too much time already."

Hans had already run ahead to hold the coach door for Elvira.

Otto got to his feet reluctantly, muttering irritably. "I don't know why we can't stay here longer."

"The longer we stay here, the longer before we reach Rudolf's ranch," Luke said. "And the longer we're on the road, the more likely someone will attack us."

"I'm sure there's no one after us," Otto said, tottering after Luke, still wiping his forehead with his handkerchief.

"I'm not talking about anybody from your country," Luke said. "We have plenty of people right here who would be only too happy to relieve you of your horses, not to mention all the silver and other valuables you've got packed in those coaches. Then there are the men who haven't seen a woman in weeks, maybe months. They'd be only too happy to take Valeria and Elvira."

Valeria's blood ran cold. She didn't know much about America, but European men had been stealing women for centuries, always for the same reason. She looked around at the barren waste that stretched for miles north and south along the river. There was nothing to impede her view, no concealment for anyone wanting to attack them.

"Then I'm glad you chose this route," she said to Luke. "Why?"

"No one can attack without our seeing them from a long way off."

"There could be ten Indians between us and the coach, and you wouldn't see them until they attacked."

Valeria looked around her. Except for one tall cactus, she didn't see anything that could hide a man. "Where can they hide?"

"An Apache can be in full view and you won't see him."

"I don't believe you."

"Hundreds of soldiers used to feel that way. Most of them are dead now. The Apache have fought over this land for hundreds of years. They know it better than your uncle knows your country."

Valeria wanted to argue, but they'd reached the coach. Luke set her feet on the bottom step, then helped her inside.

"I'd keep the curtains open in spite of the dust," he advised. "It's going to get hotter."

Valeria couldn't see how that was possible.

"When do we eat?" Otto asked.

"Not until we stop tonight."

"But I always have lunch," Otto protested.

"You can have any meal you want as long as you bring your food with you," Luke said as he slammed the coach door shut. "Move out!" he called to the driver.

Otto opened his mouth to protest, but Valeria heard a whip crack and the coach lurched forward.

"He has to stop," Otto said, consulting his watch as the coach bumped over the rocky trail. "It'll soon be one o'clock. I always eat at one."

"You should have eaten more breakfast," Hans said, his tone unsympathetic.

"I don't eat breakfast," Otto informed him as though it were some sign of superiority.

"You've got enough fat around your waist to hold you until dinner," Hans said.

Valeria usually ignored their sniping, but she couldn't stand the prospect of being shut up in the intolerable heat listening to them going back and forth at each other.

"There's no point in arguing over it," Valeria said. "We're at Mr. Attmore's mercy until we reach Rudolf's ranch. We'll all have to eat more at breakfast."

"And bring your own canteen of water," Hans said, glaring at Otto.

"Aren't you hungry?" Otto asked Valeria.

"A little, but I can wait until evening. I'll have an even better appetite for dinner."

Chapter Seven

Luke sat just outside the ring of light. He'd never led a trip like this, if you could call what he was doing leading. He might as well have been a bird they were following for all the influence he had over their behavior.

He and his men had eaten more than an hour ago, but Valeria's chef had yet to set the first course on the table. Luke was familiar with European customs, but he'd never expected to see anybody hold court in the desert.

They had dressed for dinner!

They had tumbled out of that sweltering coach, waited impatiently while their servants set up the two enormous tents they'd brought and unloaded several trunks. Then they'd disappeared inside. Even when he saw the men begin setting up a table, he didn't suspect the full insanity of what they meant to do. He figured that out when he went to Valeria's tent to ask if she'd like to eat with the drivers. Elvira had informed him Valeria was dressing and would sit down to dinner at eight-thirty.

About a quarter past eight all four emerged from their tents, Hans and Otto in white tie and swallowtail coats, Valeria and Elvira in gowns. They sipped wine while they waited for dinner. Luke had thought Valeria had more sense than to try to maintain European pomp in the desert. He changed his mind when the servants lighted candles and everyone sat down. The chef and his helpers served the first course with all the ceremony Valeria could have expected at home.

"What the hell are they doing?" Zeke asked. "Having dinner," Luke replied.

"I can see that. I'm talking about the rest of it." "They changed for dinner."

"Before, I thought they were crazy. Now I know it." "Isabelle changes for dinner."

"Not on a cattle drive."

Luke remembered the early cattle drives to New Mexico. He used to complain about the heat, dirt, hard work, and the fact that Jake never paid them more than token wages. He swore he'd never work for less than top wages and never sweat doing it. Well, he got his top wages, but he was still sweating.