Indigo Blue (24 page)

Because her tone was unmistakably cool, Jake frowned and replied, “You’re more than welcome.”

Father O’Grady reached up to touch Jake’s shoulder. “’Tis never easy for a mother the first few days after a child marries,” he whispered. “After all these years, she woke up this mornin’ to discover ye’ve stepped into her shoes and that from now on ye’ll be makin’ all the decisions. Be patient, hm?”

“Decisions?” Jake turned a questioning gaze on the priest. “I have no intention of usurping her place in Indigo’s life.”

“No. Of course ye don’t.” Father O’Grady gave him a comforting pat. “She’s just sensitive. All mothers are, right in the beginning. In a wee bit of time, she’ll settle down and accept ye. Trust me to know. I’ve witnessed a few marriages.”

Still troubled by Loretta’s cool attitude, Jake turned his attention to Indigo. “Are you ready?”

She pushed up from the table. “Yes. It didn’t take me as long as usual to get the animals fed.”

Father O’Grady patted Jake’s arm again and gave him a broad grin. “Did ye do any considerin’ last night about convertin’ to the faith? Since I’m already over this way, I’ll be stayin’ a few days to tend me flock. It’d make me a very happy man to begin yer instruction while I’m here.”

Distracted by the question and amused by the priest’s perseverance, Jake chuckled. “To be honest, Father, the last thing on my mind last night was religion.”

The priest glanced toward the ceiling. “I suppose I asked for that.”

Indigo returned from the kitchen just then. Jake took her by the arm and steered her toward the door. “I’ll get back to you when I’ve made a decision, Father. That’s a promise.”

Once outside on the porch, Jake noticed Indigo’s high color and realized she must have overheard his off-color comment to Father. Her wide blue eyes met his, then darted away. He nearly groaned. From her expression, he didn’t think he had accomplished what he’d set out to by kissing her this morning.

“Well, are you ready for a long day?” he asked with deliberate lightness.

“Yes.”

He couldn’t help but notice that her voice rang with hopeless resignation.

 

When Jake and Indigo reached the mine and went their separate ways, Jake’s first encounter was with Denver Tompkins, who smirked, cast a lewd look in Indigo’s direction, and said, “When we play, we have to pay. I guess you learned that lesson the hard way.”

Jake stiffened. “I take it you refer to my marriage?”

“Hell, everybody in town knew what was up when you came riding in with Father O’Grady. The only surprise was that Wolf let you wait so long to do right by her.” He lifted an eyebrow. “It’s double trouble when you get caught messing with a squaw. How much did her pappy get you for? A horse and a couple of blankets?” He pursed his lips and whistled. “What a bargain, huh? She’s a pretty piece of baggage, that one.”

Jake froze with the shovel blade buried in the gravel. His first impulse was to beat the man to a bloody pulp and then fire him. Three things forestalled him from doing that, the most important that he didn’t want to humiliate Indigo. Secondly, if rumors were already circulating, pulverizing Tompkins would only add kindling to the fire. His third reason, though less immediate, was just as compelling. Of all the miners, he trusted Tompkins the least. Until he knew who had engineered the cave-ins, he wanted the man underfoot to keep an eye on him.

When Jake took so long to reply, Tompkins chuckled. “Not
two
horses? You really did get fleeced, didn’t you?” He gave a conspiratorial wink. “If you’re smart, you can triple your investment in a week. A squaw’ll do anything her man tells her, including bein’ nice to his friends.”

Jake slowly straightened. For just an instant, blind rage seized him, and he imagined how satisfying it would feel to have his hands around Tompkins’s throat. His body had already tensed to leap when his reason returned. He didn’t want Indigo to get wind of this. If he started a brawl, she most certainly would.

Counting on the surrounding noise created by the mining operation to muffle his reply, Jake said, “You’ve got two seconds to retract that suggestion and apologize.”

Tompkins took a step back. “Look, Mr. Rand. Maybe being a stranger to these parts, you haven’t been around Injuns much and don’t understand their ways. We do, and on occasion we joke about it.” Tompkins lifted his hands in a shrug. “No one means any harm. Can’t you take a little ribbing? Everybody knows you had to marry her and that her pappy, bein’ Injun, probably made you buy her. That’s how they do things.”

Tightening his grip on the shovel, Jake said, “The bride price a man pays for an Indian wife isn’t a purchase any more than the dowry a white girl takes into marriage is a bribe. If you weren’t so damned ignorant, you’d know that.”

A smug expression swept across Tompkins’s face. “So you
did
pay.”

Jake realized his defensiveness had cemented the man’s suspicions. “I didn’t say that,” he replied.

“You don’t have to,” Tompkins said with a laugh. “The truth’s written all over your face. God, that’s rich. A shotgun wedding, and you had to pay to be the groom. With you being new to these parts, I would have loved to see your face.”

Mind racing, Jake tried to think of a way to repair the damage he had just done. With a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, he looked into Tompkins’s eyes and knew he couldn’t. The more he tried to mend this situation, the worse it would probably get.

If anyone so much as hinted to Indigo that her husband had paid a bride price, she’d be bound to think he had mentioned it. After seeing the look in her eyes last night when she discovered money was changing hands, Jake didn’t figure he would have a snowball’s chance in hell of convincing her he hadn’t. He could only hope she never heard about this. If luck went against him, however, he wanted to make damn sure she could at least take pride in the gossip.

Curiosity gleamed in the blond’s eyes. “How much did he get out of you?”

Jake had the horrible feeling he was sinking in quick-sand and cast around for Indigo to make sure she was out of earshot. “A small fortune, and I happily paid every cent. Another thing, just to get the story straight. There was no shotgun wedding. Any man with eyes knows that. The instant I met her, I knew I wanted to marry her, and when I finally worked up the courage to propose, she honored me by accepting. That’s the God’s truth, and I’ll kill you or any other man who says different.”

The blond held up his hands. “Hey, I’d be the first to admit she’s a fine swatch of calico, or should I say buckskin.”

“The finest.” Jake strove to keep his voice even. “Don’t ever make the mistake of referring to her as a squaw again. Not in my presence or in hers. There’s not a female in this town, white or Indian, more chaste or God-fearing than that girl, and any man who doesn’t have the decency to take off his hat to her will answer to me. Have I made myself clear?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m glad to know we understand each other,” Jake said silkily. “That goes for every rock-buster up here, so spread the word. And fair warning, Tompkins. If I hear one derogatory word about my marriage, I’ll know it started with you.” He jabbed a thumb in Indigo’s direction. “If that girl sheds so much as a tear because of filthy talk, I’ll take it out of your hide.”

Tompkins looked uneasy. “It’s not too smart to make threats about killing people. Someone might think you mean it.”

“What makes you think I don’t?”

“I have no control over what other people say. I’ll tell it the way you want, but I doubt it’ll change anyone’s thinking.”

With that, Tompkins struck off down the slope. Feeling helpless, Jake stood there and gazed after him.

“I reckon you’ll do,” a deep, gravelly voice commented from behind him.

Jake jerked around to see Shorty stepping out from behind a nearby wagon. “I’ll do for what?”

As Shorty ambled closer, he scratched his earlobe, and then leaned sideways to spit tobacco juice. “As a husband for our little missy. At least you stood up for her.” He drew up next to Jake and glanced at Tompkins’s retreating back. “It’s more than that no-good little pecker brain would have done. Half of what he said was envy talkin’. He wanted her for hisself. Offered her pappy three hundert dollars once.”

Jake squinted against the sun. “What did Hunter say?”

Shorty hooked his thumbs under his overall straps. “Nothin’. He ain’t much for jawin’ when he’s thinkin’ murder. He just give him one of them looks of his—the kind that makes yer scalp crawl.” He spat again. “For her sake, I’m right glad it was you she got stranded in the woods with and not Tompkins.”

At best, that was a sparing compliment, and since the old man’s manner didn’t seem all that friendly, Jake wasn’t certain how to reply. He ventured a hesitant, “Thank you. Do you always make it a habit to hide behind wagons and eavesdrop, Shorty?”

“When it comes to our little missy and her happiness, I ain’t righteous. I been watchin’ Denver flap his lip all mornin’. I figgered it’d tell me a lot about you if I could hear what ya said when he flapped to you. I knew he’d make tracks to needle ya the minute ya got here. All I had to do was stick close and wait.” Shorty graced him with a narrow-eyed glare. “When I first saw you, I was afeard you had your eye on her. I guess I wasn’t far wrong.”

Jake wondered where this was heading. “No, I guess not.”

“After overhearin’ what I just did, I reckon I don’t need to say this, but I’m gonna anyways. You’d best treat her good. If’n ya don’t, we’ll take ya to task, and don’t think we won’t. Just because her pa’s flat on his back and all her other menfolk is gone, don’t think there ain’t nobody to take up for her.”

Though Jake didn’t feel particularly intimidated, he made a gallant attempt to appear so and bit back a smile. “Who’s we?”

Shorty straightened his arthritic shoulders. “Me, Stringbean, and Stretch. Harm one hair on her head, and you’ll answer to all three of us. And don’t ya forgit it.”

Striving to keep his expression carefully blank, Jake replied, “I won’t.”

“See that ya don’t.” The bulbous end of Shorty’s nose turned red. “I s’pose you’ll give me the boot now, first chance ya git. But somebody had to say it. It ain’t right, a little mite like her, with nobody to take up fer her.”

Jake could no longer hide his grin. “I agree. Rest assured, though. I’ll take good care of her. From here on in, you don’t need to worry.”

Shorty nodded. “From what I heard you sayin’ to Tompkins, I reckon I don’t.” He met Jake’s gaze. “Just watch yer back. He’s a sneaky little bastard, and his neck’s been swole for better than a year over that girl. He’ll be lippin’ off to ever’body he sees now, mark my words. He won’t be happy ’til he’s got her in tears.”

That was Jake’s worst fear. He studied Shorty for a moment, decided he could trust the man, then cleared his throat. “If he flaps about that bride price, it’s going to break her heart. Me being white, she didn’t like the idea a damned bit, and I can’t blame her. I’m worried that she’ll think I was bragging. Or worse yet, complaining. I didn’t think of it as a purchase, but that’s what she’ll believe if word gets back to her.”

“Send her to me.” A twinkle crept into Shorty’s eyes. “Sometimes, atwixt right and wrong, there’s a blessin’. In this case, it’s my ears. I’ll tell her what was said, just the way it was spoke.” He offered Jake his hand. “Ya handled it right fine, to my way of thinkin’.”

Relief washed over Jake. He clasped Shorty’s outstretched palm. “I appreciate the offer, and I might take you up on it. I’m afraid she won’t believe a damned word I say.”

Shorty’s gaze held Jake’s. “She was present the day Tompkins offered her pappy that three hundert. He walked right up, bold as brass, and tried to buy her. Try that on for size and see how it makes you feel.” With that, Shorty hiked up his overall strap and strode off down the hill.

With a thoughtful frown and a shake of his head, Jake resumed his work, loading the pile of gravel near the arrastra into a wheelbarrow and taking it, one load at a time, to the sluice.

At noon break, he went in search of Indigo and found her helping to man a rockerbox, which was as exhausting a chore as it was backbreaking. Using all his self-control, he managed to swallow any objection. If he meant to restrict her from every job at the mine, he might as well send her home.

When she saw Jake coming, she spoke to her partner and abandoned her work. There was a question in her eyes as she walked down the slope. Forcing his gaze from the feminine swing of her hips to the narrow set of her shoulders, Jake remembered how fragile her ribs had felt beneath his palm last night. Then he recalled how soft and warm her little fanny had felt in his cupped palm this morning. She was his wife, dammit. He could buy her anything she needed, yet here she was, slaving in a two-bit mine. A fierce wave of protectiveness washed through him.

Lifting his gaze to hers, Jake set his jaw, determined not to say anything. He doubted Indigo would care a whit about all the things his money could buy her. His fancy home in Portland would no doubt impress her, but not favorably. To her, all the riches in the world were right here, and he couldn’t in good conscience rob her of them. His one consolation was that she seemed more like herself now than she had since the wedding last night. She moved with confidence, and her gaze met his without faltering.

Indigo had little difficulty interpreting the look in Jake’s eyes, and for at least the hundredth time that morning, she was filled with apprehension. There was no question what he had been thinking when he said, “About your going to the mine.” He had come just that close to saying she had to stay home.

They sat together beneath an oak tree to eat the lunch she had packed. While she forced herself to nibble a piece of dried apple, she gazed at nothing and tried to imagine what her life would be like if Jake forbade her to come here. She knew he wasn’t alone in feeling a wife’s place was at home.