Much Ado About Mavericks (25 page)

“Daddy sent this letter for you,” she said as she handed it to him.  “Don’t bother reading it--he just outlines the conditions of your senior partnership.”

“And?”

“You’ll get it as soon as we’re married.  Not a minute sooner.”

Ben removed his hat and rubbed his temple.  So Creighton Morris was using the senior partnership as bait for a husband for Patience.  Well, it was damn good bait.  As senior partner in Morris & Graves, he’d be part owner of one of the top five firms in
Boston
--something he’d worked years to achieve.

“So your father sent you?”

“You could say that.”

Not all that long ago, he wouldn’t have given a second thought to exchanging vows with the boss’s daughter in trade for a senior partnership.  Now he wondered why he ever thought that was a good idea.

“Be ready to leave.”

Hopping to her feet, Patience beamed as she politely kissed him on the cheek.  “You won’t regret it, Ben.  You’ve made me such a happy woman!”

“We’re not engaged.  I haven’t proposed and you know it.”

“But we’re as good as!”

He left her standing on the porch holding the letter.  Despite her remarks, he hadn’t made a commitment.  In fact, the more he thought about it, the hotter he got.  He’d worked his tail off at Morris & Graves, spending twelve and fourteen hours a day, six days a week for the last eight years.
  His dedication and hard work should have been more than enough to earn the partnership.

As angry as he was at Creighton Morris, he had to admit that he’d learned more about Patience in the last twenty-four hours than he had in the several years he’d known her.  And what he learned hadn’t been good.
  Had she been so condescending in
Boston
?  He’d never paid that much attention.

He returned to the corral just as the drawing ended and the murmuring began.  Reginald stared at him as he made his way to Whip.

“Here’s your number, son.”  Whip slapped Ben on the shoulder.  “Good luck.”

Ben looked at the paper.  Number one.  The widowmaker. 

He took a deep breath and smiled.  That contentious black stallion couldn’t hold a candle to his own anger.  It would be a good match.

“Hey, old chap!”  Reginald clapped him on the shoulder.  “You didn’t make out so well in the draw, I hear.”

“You heard wrong.  I drew the horse I wanted.”  Ben shoved the paper in his vest pocket and went to check the cinch on his saddle. 

Reginald followed him like a fly.  “I know it’s not sporting to bow out, but Father would be highly annoyed if your departure was delayed due to a broken head.”

“Stuff it, Reg.”

Sucking in his breath, Reginald ventured, “You’ve been talking with my sister, haven’t you?”

“
Good guess
.”

Reginald winced.  “That explains your mood.  I had to put up with that all the way from
Boston
.”  He slapped Ben on the back
and left. 

Ben ran his hands over the leather, looking for cracks.  He had plenty of time--six men would ride before him, then Crazy Jim and, finally, Jake.  She rode the longest time in the first round, so she’d ride last in the money round. 

He scanned the cowhands standing around the corral, and finally found her in the ladies’ section talking to his mother, who was patting her on the arm.  Suzanne stood to the side, hand on her hips.  She must be riled about something--probably Patience’s monopoly of the mirror.

Just as he reached them, he saw Patience marching triumphantly toward the women. 
Coward
, he told himself, as he looked for an escape route.

“Ready to ride, Jake?” he asked casually, as if Napoleon weren’t descending upon them.

She nodded, then Suzanne said, “Uh oh, here comes the witch.”

“Suzanne!” Mabel reprimanded, “you mustn’t speak of others that way.”

“Even if it’s true?”

“Especially then.”

“Good afternoon, ladies,” Patience warbled.  Ben thought he’d be sick right there.  She leaned against him in a way more familiar than proper and batted her eyelashes at him.  “Are you ready to leave, dear?”

He backed away from her, for all the good it did--she merely followed.  “No, I’m riding in the money round.”

“You know I disapprove.”

“
You know I disapprove
,” Jake repeated sarcastically, while tilting her head and batting her eyelashes.

Suzanne snorted and even Mabel smiled.  A big belly laugh rolled inside Ben, aching to get out, but he held a somber expression. 

Patience whirled on Jake.  “You’re nothing but an ignorant . . . an ignorant . . . man pretender.  That’s what you are.  You pretend to be a man.  But you’re not.  And you can’t have Benjamin!”

“Now, ladies,” Mabel interjected, but neither of them paid her a bit of attention.

Eyes narrowing, Jake growled, “Listen here, whore.  I ain’t pretending to be a damned thing.  I don’t flit around in red dresses with my bosom hanging out.  And I don’t want
Benjamin
.  You just play your little girly games and get the hell out of my sight.”

Both of them glared at each other.  Ben thought if it went much longer, Patience would get a kink in her neck.  Then, out of nowhere, Patience slapped Jake on the cheek.

Jake caught her arm and bent it behind her back. 

“Ow!  Let go of me.”

Ben stepped forward and separated them.  “Let’s go ride, Jake.”

“Good idea.”

As they walked away, Patience yelled, “But Benjamin, I want
you to take me home
.”

Ben kept walking.

*   *   *   *   *

“The money round horses are sure putting up a good show,” Whip commented.  “Most of the cowhands haven’t stayed on over half a minute.”

“Fred did good,” Jake replied.  “A little more’n three minutes.  That’ll be hard to beat.”

“Ben’ll have it tough.”  Whip cocked his head toward Ben, who was attempting to saddle the black stallion.  “He done drawed the rankest mustang in the herd.”

Jake had her doubts.  “Think he’ll do it?

“He just might,” the old man said.  “At least, he might if he can cinch that damn saddle on.”

Jake noticed the pride in the Whip’s voice.  He must enjoy watching the man who used to be a scrawny kid show ‘em a thing or two.  Sorta like she felt about her own strays.  She’d be proud if Homer and Teddy turned out to be as fine a man as Ben.  Hell, Henry, too.

“He’s gonna do it,” Henry said as she wormed herself between them and the fence.  “He can do anything.”

Jake patted her head.  “So can you, if you try hard.”

Finally, Ben pulled the cinch tight and tucked the strap through the loop.  The stallion quivered every muscle ready to explode, as Ben gingerly mounted the beast.

Jake held her breath and worried her lower lip.  He nodded.  Crip and Slim ran for the fences as all hell broke loose.  The horse snorted and grunted as he bucked high and hard.  Ben pulled leather something fierce, his knuckles white, his jaw set, absorbing every punishing blow with his body. 

“One minute,” Slim called.

The cowhands cheered and waved their hats.  She winced when the mustang whirled and Ben’s head snapped to the side, but he rode on, leaning back and kicking the snot-blowing black into a frenzy. 

“Buck, you sonovabitch!” he yelled.

“Two minutes!”

Every single soul kept their gazes glued on Ben, urging him on.  She couldn’t remember a wilder ride.  “Hang on,
Boston
!” she yelled.

The horse bucked harder, working up a lather, grunting in anger.  The
n
he leapt over the fence, nearly knocking a couple of cowhands over, sunfished, and dumped Ben in a heap.

“Two minutes and fifty-nine seconds!”

“Again?” several shouted.

But Jake watched Ben’s still form, her heart in her throat.  He lay flat on his face and hadn’t moved a muscle since he wrecked.  She ran to him, dropped to her knees and rolled him over.

“
Boston
, you hurt?”

He grabbed her and pulled her on top of him.  “Just . . .” he wheezed, “ . . .ready for another ride.”

*   *   *   *   *

Patience paced across the
Lawrence
’s parlor, grumbling.  Reginald and Whip had gone to Henderson Flats to retrieve her trunks, although the old man had complained that she’d be gone by tomorrow, anyway.  But she still intended to make Benjamin her husband before she left, and one way or another that was just what she’d do.

She’d told Reginald to bring a preacher back--she didn’t care what denomination as long as they were married in the eyes of God and the territory. 

And as soon as they were, she’d get rid of that peculiar woman who dressed and acted like a man.  Patience didn’t trust her one whit.  Especially around Benjamin, who seemed smitten by her earthiness.  How disgusting!

Mabel came in and took off her shawl.  “Make yourself comfortable, Patience.  The men will be back in an hour or so.”

“It doesn’t take that long to get to Henderson Flats and back.”

Mabel hung her shawl on a hook in the hall.  “It does if you stop by the Silver Sage.”

Patience shuddered, remembering the shady bartender’s impression of her.  She only hoped Reginald didn’t drink himself into a stupor as he was wont to do.  “I should have gone with them.”

“No need for that,” she called from the kitchen.  “Are you tired?”

Tired of this uncivilized country and its detestable, ignoble inhabitants? Yes
.  “No, I’m fine.” 

She wanted to ask Mabel where Benjamin was, but didn’t think his mother an ally.  “Benjamin asked me to marry him today.  We’re planning to wed this evening.”

There was a long pause.  “Congratulations.”

She didn’t seem appropriately enthusiastic.  Didn’t she realize that Patience traveled at the highest levels of society?  That through her, Benjamin would achieve fame and fortune?  “I hope he comes to the house soon.  He mustn’t be late for the wedding.”

Mabel entered the living room with a tray of coffee and cookies.  Patience much preferred tea, but held her tongue.  The middle-aged woman still looked clean and pressed after spending the entire day out in the dust and sun.  “He and Jake are tracking that stallion he rode in the money round.  It’s still wearing the saddle and bridle.”

“That’s nice of him.”

Mabel stared at her for a moment.  “It’s his property and responsibility.”  She poured coffee for both of them.  “Cream or sugar?”

*   *   *   *   *

Ben’s head had ached like hell, but he wouldn’t have missed
Jake’s
ride for the world.  She showed them all how it’s done
—
another four-minute ride and she walked away no worse for the wear than if she’d taken a stroll in the Boston Common.  The strays had run and hugged her from all sides.

His headache nearly gone, the smooth cadence of the big bay lulled him into a semblance of peacefulness.  They’d trailed the stallion for several miles already, but still, he was nowhere to be found.

“We’d better catch that critter soon.  It’ll be dark in an hour, and we have to get up before dawn.”  She cast a sideways glance at him.  “Anyway, I do.”

“I’ll be there.”

“Your fancy lady don’t think so.  She told Suzanne that the two of you’re getting hitched tonight.  Which there ain’t much of left.”

“I’m sending her home on tomorrow’s stage.  She agreed.”

“Sure ‘nough.  Except she thinks you’ll be on that stage with her.  Told Suzanne that.”

Ben groaned. 
When he associated with Patience in
Boston
, he’d
never realized what a nuisance
she
was.  He’d escorted her to the balls and soirees, had a picnic or two with her, and stolen a few kisses.  But she’d always been sweet and accommodating.  Until now.

At that moment, he made his decision.  He couldn’t live the rest of his life with a woman who mistook his mother for a servant or who thought his ranching roots were too lowly for
Boston
.  She’d throw it in his face at every opportunity.  Was a senior partnership worth it?  Maybe there was another way.

“Jake, I’m not going to marry her.  Not now, not ever.”

“Best you be careful then.”  She reined her mount to a stop.  “Lookee there,” she whispered as she pointed to a little gully to the left.  She uncoiled her rope.  “You circle around and drive him this way.  I’ll catch him.”

Turned out, that was the easy part, finding him, that is.  He didn’t want to be caught
and he sure didn’t want to be roped
.  Damn near tore Jake right out of her saddle before she dallied.  The stallion reared and yanked on the rope.
  Her blue roan strained to keep the rope taut, not an easy task since the stallion circled and reared.