Rose (22 page)

Now if he only had command of one of the Texas forts…

George didn’t complete the thought. The lead steer emerged from the brush. Digging his heels into his mount’s side, George let out a blood curdling Rebel yell and directed a fusillade of bullets just over the heads of the oncoming longhorns. It was followed immediately by a similar outburst from four other points in the brush. The point riders were swept out of their saddles before they had time to unholster their guns.

Staring wild-eyed at the onrushing men, the lead steer threw up his head, gave out a bellow of fear, and turned on the longhorns immediately behind him. In seconds the whole herd was racing back down the trail and toward their familiar feeding grounds.

Knowing the other bandits had to run with the herd or be trampled, George and his men followed behind, filling the night with enough yells and gunshots to keep the herd running at full speed for twenty or thirty miles.

Rose had never had anything to do with a stampede, and she didn’t know how to interpret the succession of sounds: first
the eerie silence, next an awe-inspiring eruption of sound followed by the thunder of thousands of feet, then the gradual return of silence.

She didn’t ask Silas what was happening. She didn’t want to know. She only wanted George at her side and those bandits as far away as possible. She didn’t even want to think of what it would be like if they attacked the ranch.

She concentrated on the things she needed to do when they reached home. As uninspiring as that was, it was better than wondering if she would ever see George again.

The sound of hoofbeats in the distance caused the muscles in her stomach to relax.

“That’ll be my husband,” she said.

“How do you know it’s not the bandits?” Silas asked.

“George would never let them find us,” Rose replied.

Even though she didn’t know anything about war and battle tactics, she knew George would make sure she was safe. He had already turned his life upside down doing just that.

She saw him the moment he broke cover. His face was wreathed in a broad grin. He looked happier and more relaxed than she could remember ever seeing him. She realized his happiness came from having commanded his men in a successful battle action, and her heart sank.

It must have been just like being in the army again.

Rose didn’t realize until now how much she had come to depend on George’s not returning to uniform. But if it made him this happy…

“That’s one herd I doubt will reach Mexico,” George said when he rode up. It only took a few moments for him to exchange his seat on Silas’s horse for one on the wagon next to Rose. “Maybe they’ll catch a few of those bandits along with the cattle.”

“Did anybody get hurt?” Rose asked.

“Nobody on our side,” George answered. Rose listened without comment as he gave Silas a brief rundown of the encounter.

“I wish I’d been with you,” Silas said.

“I wish you could, too,” George replied. “I haven’t felt this good in a long time. It’s a shame we can’t get a company together and drive them out of Texas altogether.”

“I’m sure the governor would be agreeable,” Salty said. “After tonight, a command like that would be yours for the asking.”

Rose felt something wither inside. She had slipped another notch in George’s heart. After tonight his determination to return to the army would be stronger still.

“No. It was fun,” George said, “but a married man has more important things to do than chasing bandits and outlaws for a living.” He put his arm around Rose. “If not, he shouldn’t have gotten married.”

All over her body, Rose could feel the knots of tension, the tight balls of fear, ease and fade away. George wouldn’t leave her. He didn’t want to leave her.

She had been right to marry him.

George was surprised at how glad he was to be back on his own land, to recognize familiar landmarks, even to see a well-remembered, mean-tempered steer or cow. Everything was so different from Virginia he had never even thought of trying to like Texas. He was stunned to find he now thought of it as home.

Did he owe this new feeling to Rose and to his marriage?

It was impossible to tell, but nothing had remained the same since the day he entered the Bon Ton. He expected it would continue to change. That excited him, but he was worried about the effect it would have on the boys.

He didn’t know how he was going to tell them about Rose. It would have been awkward enough without Jeff. With him, it was nearly impossible. They had almost reached the house. If he waited much longer, they’d see for themselves.

Salty and the four men he had hired to help with the roundup, Silas Pickett, Ted Cooper, Ben Preyer, and Alex Pendleton, had
gone off to look for the twins. George and Rose continued on to the house by themselves.

“Nervous?” he asked her.

“A little. You?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s Jeff, isn’t it?”

He nodded.

“What are you going to tell him?”

“That you’re my wife.”

“And?”

“The
and
will be up to him.”

A shriek erupted out of the brush along the trail. It was so sudden and unexpected that both horses sidled nervously. George wasn’t the least bit surprised when Zac exploded from the brush.

“You’re back,” he shouted at Rose, completely ignoring his brother. He climbed up on the wagon and hugged Rose until her bonnet was knocked askew and her hair was in danger of coming down.

“You brought her back!” he exclaimed, turning to George. “I didn’t think you would.” The shining happiness in Zac’s eyes more than compensated for anything Jeff might say. Zac’s world was back on its axis.

“Why did you come back?” Zac asked after he’d settled himself on the wagon between Rose and George.

“Rose and I got married,” George said. “And a wife is supposed to go home with her husband.”

George waited for Zac to say something. His reaction would probably be a barometer for the others.’

“Can I have your bed?” Zac asked, excitement springing up in his eyes.

George’s shout of laughter snapped the bands of tension which had been gathering for the last hour at the base of his skull. He had spent all this time worrying how his brothers would react, and all Zac cared about was getting a larger bed.

“We’ll have to see.”

“That means no. You can’t fool me.”

“It means you caught me by surprise. I haven’t had time to think about it. One of the other boys may need it. If so, you could have his bed.”

“Little kids never get anything,” Zac complained. “I’m going to run away to New Orleans.”

“I hope you won’t,” Rose said. “Who would help me with dinner?”

“Not Tyler. He’ll light out the minute he sets eyes on you.”

“Did Tyler stay home with you?”

“Yeah, and he’s been a son-of-a-bitch the whole time.”

“I think I hear Monty’s influence here,” George said, giving Zac a stern look. “You’re not to use such language again.”

“Tyler does.”

“I’ll have a word with Tyler
and
Monty. No six-year-old should be cussing.”

“I’ll soon be seven,” Zac informed his brother. “Will I be old enough to cuss then?”

Rose nearly overset George’s gravity by giggling shamelessly.

“Not at seven, eight, or twelve.”

“Damn,” Zac said, then looked up at his brother, conscience-stricken. “I didn’t mean it,” he pleaded. “It just slipped out.”

“That’s what frightens me. I think it’s time I sent Monty on a long trip.”

“Send Jeff. I like Monty.”

That ingenuous remark had a sobering effect on George. He grew even more unhappy when he saw the expression on Tyler’s face when he emerged from the house just after they pulled up in the yard. Tyler had a bowl in his arm and was mixing something.

“What’s she doing back?” he demanded.

“We got married,” George said.

Tyler gaped at Rose for a full second, his hand arrested in
the act of stirring. Then he cast the bowl to the ground and ran off around the corner of the house.

“Tyler was making stuffing,” Zac said, looking at the discarded bowl. “It doesn’t look like stuffing to me.”

“I seem to be forever apologizing for my brothers,” George said.

But Rose seemed to take Tyler’s disappearance in stride. “He’ll be back in time for supper.” She picked up the bowl, inspected its contents, then turned them out for the chickens.

“I’d better get started on dinner. The twins will be home before long. I’ll let you bring in the luggage. Zac, I need eggs and firewood. I’m sure you haven’t gotten either for Tyler. I require them right away.”

Both brothers snapped to, Zac with a good deal more alacrity than George. Zac only had to gather the eggs, split some wood, and pour out the milk. George had to plan what he was going to say to his brothers.

In the end, he didn’t have to say anything. Salty had already broken the news.

Monty rode his horse practically to the steps, leapt down, burst into the kitchen, and grabbed Rose in a bear hug. Without giving her time to drop the spoon she was using to stir a pot of beans, he picked her up, whirled her around, and gave her a big kiss on the lips.

“Thank God George came to his senses. Now I can eat again.”

“Don’t you ever think of anything but your stomach?” Rose asked, laughing.

“Yeah,” Monty replied, flashing the grin that Rose knew would someday destroy more than one woman’s peace of mind, “but I sort of got the feeling you were off-limits. Besides, you haven’t had to eat what Tyler’s been dishing up the last few days. I swear he’s trying to poison us for liking your cooking better than his.”

“Put my wife down,” George said, a slight edge perceptible
in his voice. “You’re allowed a kiss, but that hug is more than brotherly.”

Monty still held Rose in his arms, her feet dangling off the floor, her chest smashed against his. The old wicked gleam flared in Monty’s eyes, and Rose feared for a moment he would bait his brother. She was prepared to ladle beans over him if necessary, but Monty smiled good-naturedly and set her down.

“I won’t cause trouble, even though it’s mighty tempting with George looking as serious as a Mormon.”

Hen stepped forward, shoving his brother aside. “I’m glad you’re back. I never thought George would make such a sensible marriage.” He gave Rose a restrained peck on the cheek.

“You can give her a real kiss,” Monty said, goading his twin. “George won’t mind.”

Hen stepped back from Rose, flashing his twin an angry glare as he did so.

“Thank you so much for your welcome,” Rose said. She felt her stomach flutter uncomfortably. “I appreciate it very much.”

“Not as much as we appreciate—”

“Monty, if you mention my cooking one more time, I swear I won’t fix dinner. A woman likes it when a man enjoys her food, but she likes to think she’s appreciated a little because of herself.”

“When I think of you, I just naturally think of food.”

Disgust was written all over Hen’s face. He hit his brother on the shoulder so hard Monty almost lost his balance. “What she’s saying, you dumb cluck, is she’d like to think you’d want her here even if she couldn’t cook a lick.”

Monty hit him back. “I’m not a dumb cluck, even if I don’t know pretty things to say to a woman.”

“You’ll know when the time comes,” Rose said when the two boys started hitting each other in earnest, “but if you get into a fight in my kitchen, you’ll go to bed hungry.”

“I suggest you wash up and cool down,” George said. “And put on something clean. I want tonight to be a little festive.”

“It won’t be if Tyler and Jeff come,” Zac said.

Hen scooped up his little brother, held him over his head, and threatened to boil him in the wash pot before dinnertime.

Zac screamed with delight.

“Leave it to Zac to go straight to the nub of the issue,” George said.

“Three of your brothers like me,” Rose said. “A lot of wives start with less.”

“Maybe—”

“Tyler will come around. He’s just mad at me for driving him out of the kitchen. As for Jeff, well, I’m not sure he really dislikes me either. But you can’t do anything about it, so stop worrying.”

“I wouldn’t if it were just myself.”

“Well, don’t because of me,” Rose said, standing on her toes to give him a quick kiss. “I survived the good ladies of Austin. After that, I should hardly even notice Jeff.”

But she did. They all did.

Everyone came to dinner, including Salty and the new hands. Jeff didn’t speak to anyone. He didn’t look at George. He seldom even looked up from his plate. He never once turned his gaze toward Rose.

At first nobody spoke much. They were all taken up with the serious business of eating. After subsisting on Tyler’s cooking, and their own when they couldn’t stomach Tyler’s any longer, they were anxious to make up for lost time. Probably everyone except Rose and George ate too much. As they sat back to let their food settle, the conversation turned to the coming roundup.

“The other boys ought to be here in a day or two,” Salty said. “How long it’ll take us to be ready for the drive will depend on how big a herd you want to take.”

“Silas has already showed us how to build a corral and chute for the branding,” Monty told George. “That ought to cut the time in half.”

“And make it easier on us,” Hen said. “It’s no picnic throwing a five-year-old steer bigger than your horse.”

“While we have the hands to help us, I want to go through the herd and cut all the bulls we don’t intend to keep,” George said. “We can brand anything you missed and cull what we want to sell at the same time.”

“That will probably take an extra month,” Silas said.

“I want to count the herd, too,” George said. “If bandits were to run off a bunch tonight, we wouldn’t know how many we lost.”

“We lose more to the McClendons taking one here and there than we do to bandits,” Monty said. “I’d like to run every one of them out of the state.”

Jeff’s head snapped up.

“Don’t say a word,” George said to his brother. “I won’t have us arguing among ourselves. Understand?”

Everyone knew this wasn’t a request. Even Jeff.