Mary Connealy (57 page)

When Sarah took the baby from Belle’s carrier and bounced her, Roy got up from the fire and went to stand by the womenfolk as if he were being drawn in by a magnet.

“Don’t mind the boy,” Buck said quietly. “He’s never seen a baby before. Not up close. Maybe an Indian baby a time or two from a distance. I had a spread on the Musselshell in the foothills of the Rockies for a while, but we got driven out by the Sioux seven years ago when the boy was ten. Found my wife and two older daughters massacred and my home burned. My cattle driven off, too, all while the young’un and I were riding the range. Didn’t have the belly for startin’ over without my woman to make a home of it. We’ve been driftin’ ever since. Shorty was working for me when it happened, and now we ride the trail together. It’s been mostly line shacks and frontier towns for my son. We’ve lived a far piece away from folks out here. That baby…well…Roy wouldn’t be any more fascinated if a leprechaun came sliding down a rainbow with a pot of gold.”

Silas nodded, but he made sure he knew where Roy was every minute.

Lindsay and Emma rode up about the time Belle was stirring the beef stew for the last time.

Roy’s blue eyes lit up, and he quit looking at the baby.

“I found lion tracks back a ways, Pa.” Emma dismounted and began stripping the leather from her horse.

Something big and strong grew in Silas’s heart at the sound of Emma calling him “Pa.”

“I trailed him a spell, but I never caught sight of him.” Emma’s knowing eyes took in the men, their horses, their guns, and the look in her ma’s eyes all in one sweeping glance. She must have liked what she saw, because she kept talking and working. “The tracks look a couple of days old, but this is probably his range.”

“I’ll take the next look around.” Silas noticed Roy edging close to Lindsay as she began working with her mount. “Lion meat would surely add something to our kettle.”

Belle said with a meek voice Silas had never heard her use before, “Silas, there’s plenty of stew and biscuits for these folks if it’s all right with you.”

That big, strong feeling Emma had awakened was nothing compared to how powerful it was to hear Belle, however much she wanted to kill him, pretending to be a submissive wife. He knew enough to enjoy it while he had the chance. “My Belle’s a rare cook.” He didn’t really know that for a fact since Sarah had done most of the cooking, but the girl had to learn it from somewhere, so it stood to reason.

“We’ve been eating hardtack and jerked beef, with a venison steak thrown in once in a while. I can’t remember what a warm meal served by a woman tastes like,” Buck said. “We’d be proud to have a meal with you.”

Silas heard the respect and honest appreciation in Buck’s voice and, with some misgivings based on the way Roy was looking at Lindsay, asked, “Are you boys looking for work? We’ve got another two weeks on this drive into Helena. I left it too late because I couldn’t find hands. Now we’re trying to drive on our own, and though my womenfolk are good, handy girls, all of ’em, we could surely use the help.”

Shorty nodded. “Reckon I can go that way as soon as another. How many hands have you got riding herd?”

Silas was surprised Wade hadn’t told them. His respect for the unknown man rose for not telling strangers about the nearly allfemale crew. He also decided the reaction he got from these men would decide the near future. “This is the lot of us. My girls and I are taking this herd alone.”

Shorty’s eyes narrowed.

Buck leaned forward. “Just the womenfolk and you? And you’ve moved them through these mountain trails?”

Silas didn’t answer. Buck knew full well that was a fact, because he’d just come down the trail, and no one could miss that a thousand head of cattle had passed that way.

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.”