Swept Away (7 page)

Luke sat in a wooden chair beside Ruthy and stretched out his legs toward the fire. Ruthy got the feeling he’d take a nap if he had one minute of silence.

Luke hadn’t felt this safe for a long time. Years. Before the war, and that was a long time ago. And now he was starting another war. He had no business feeling relaxed. Especially when loyal friends might end up dead because they were backing him.

He hadn’t asked for help. He’d just made the mistake of
talking about it with Dare when he’d wandered through Indiana, idle, rootless, missing home something fierce. He’d stayed long enough that a letter arrived with news of Callie. Pa had also enclosed the deed to the ranch.

Dare had written the others to come and help—before he’d told Luke he was doing it.

And while Luke rode out to Denver to talk with his sister and make sure she was all right, his friends had begun to filter in to Broken Wheel, or nearby, quietly, no mention of a connection to Luke Stone.

Dare had told Luke to watch for a general-delivery letter when he passed through a town near Broken Wheel. Neither of them were even sure what towns were in the area, so Dare would have to wait until he got to Texas to find out. Dare would send a general-delivery letter to John C. Riker, Dare’s father, containing any information necessary. It couldn’t have Luke’s name on it in case word got to Greer that Dare was in contact with Luke.

Luke’s friends were strong men ready to back a fellow Regulator, just as they had at Andersonville. Even Jonas, a man of God, also a man of justice. He might only fight with words, but Jonas’s words carried power and truth. He was a solid man to have on your side.

Luke prayed his troubles could be solved without Jonas being dragged into a gunfight. Luke didn’t want to have to shoot anyone either, and he’d worked hard to try and prevent that. He was white lightning with a pistol, deadly accurate with a Winchester, and the commanding officers had found that out and made sure he always had good weapons and plenty of bullets. He’d done his share of killing in the war. That killing had given him nightmares and left him with ugly memories that tormented him. That
torment had fed the trouble between him and Pa until Luke had to leave the ranch. But Pa was dead now and the S Bar S Ranch stolen, his sister driven from their home. It couldn’t be allowed to stand, not in the United States of America. Not in the land Luke had fought to preserve.

A twist in his gut that was pure guilt reminded Luke he’d abandoned his family. A lot of this disaster would have been prevented if Luke had stayed home. Or maybe Luke would be dead now, too.

Maybe if he’d stayed, his sister would have trusted in Luke’s protection and, instead of running, she’d have been killed.

Every time Luke got to thinking about how staying would have made things different, juggling all the
what if
s, he thought of good endings and bad, more ups and downs than the bluffs surrounding the Stone ranch. It was maddening and a waste of time since he couldn’t change what he’d done, but that didn’t stop his mind from circling and circling around his regrets.

“Let’s get a few details straight.” Vince spoke and it shut down the fretting going on in Luke’s head. “Jonas already knows what we’re planning. I’ve got the papers all in order that deny Greer’s ownership of the ranch. I’ve already filed them with a judge.”

“Here in town?” Rosie asked.

Luke thought it was nice of her to care enough to pay attention. The woman had to be worn clean out.

Dare stopped pacing. “One of the Regulators is a circuit judge for this area, Leonard Bird. Another, Big John Conroy, is a Texas Ranger and he’s heading this way. We’ve got the law on our side.” Dare went back to pacing.

“The Rangers will help, but they’re not the law in Broken
Wheel,” Vince said. “Greer’s got the local sheriff on his side. We’ll get no help from there. Greer owns the land in a circle all around Broken Wheel so there aren’t other ranchers left to stand up to him. And most of the townsfolk are afraid of him. He’s driven away those that won’t knuckle under to his way of doing things.”

“I’ve got the documents proving ownership and I’ll deliver them to Greer.” Luke was tempted to do some pacing himself. “The man has a mighty big ranch. I listened while I rode for home and heard his name. He’s added thousands of acres since he stole my place. I want my land back, but that ain’t enough. I want Greer to pay for killing my pa.”

There went the twist in Luke’s gut again. “I can’t prove he pulled the trigger. But I can prove he forged the bill of sale of the S Bar S, because Pa didn’t own it. He’d signed it over to me all right and legal and mailed me the deed. So Greer lied about Pa selling out, and my pa was dead and couldn’t challenge Greer about it. I think a judge will put Greer behind bars for theft if a good lawyer”—Luke nodded at Vince—“like Vince here, makes the case.”

Vince smiled. “At your service.”

“But you don’t think Greer will stand by quietly while you let the law get involved?” Rosie sank deeper into the chair as if trying to escape the coming storm.

“No.” Luke was as sure as could be of that. “Judging by the three attempts on my life since I’ve headed home, it’s safe to say Greer is going to fight me with everything he’s got.”

“Besides that,” Dare said, “Greer’s a hothead. Word around town is he’s got a temper that blows once in a while. He’s not quite sane when it happens.”

“And throwing him off his land oughta set him off good.”
Luke shook his head and took a quick look at Rosie. “So what are we going to do with you while I start a range war?”

Rosie sat up straighter. “Can I g-get a job maybe? Here in town?”

“Nope.” Dare didn’t elaborate.

“She should be able to find work sewing or working at the diner,” Luke said.

“This is a mighty small town, and a stranger gets noticed.” Vince crossed his arms, settling himself more solidly in the doorway. “A man might’ve come riding in with no need of explanations. But a woman—there aren’t any of them little critters here.”

“None?” Luke surged to his feet in surprise. “There aren’t women? There were several families when I was a kid. Not a lot. Never enough to start a school. You said Greer had made it a bad town to live in but
none
?”

“Nope.”

“What about Harvey Foster and his family?” Harvey’s son Gil had been Luke’s best friend as a child. The two of them had made friends with a few Kiowa children and even a Comanche boy once. They’d run wild in the rugged canyon. Gil had been a big part of why Luke had fought for the North. Harvey was an emancipated black man who owned a small ranch near the Stone ranch. When the war had come along, Luke couldn’t see fighting for slavery. He’d argued with his pa about it before taking off to enlist in the Union Army.

“I’ve met no one by that name, and I’d say I’ve met everyone. And he surely isn’t ranching in these parts, because no one is ranching except Greer. We’re a long way off the main trail out here, and with restless Indians still around, it’s not a welcoming place for a family,” Vince said.
“I can’t think of a way to explain Ruthy here to anyone. No woman has ever come riding in, for any reason in the weeks I’ve been here. If one did, she couldn’t come in alone and expect to be treated right. So, Miss Ruthy, you’d need to come from somewhere. You’d need to have a reason to happen by here. We’d need to find someone to ride in with you and it can’t be Luke, because he’s a known man with trouble to face. And if you came in with him, then his trouble is yours. It isn’t that easy to show up in a town this small. Dare or Jonas or I could ride out and stay away a few days, then come back with you. Or we could take you somewhere safer, get you to Fort Worth maybe. But we’d have to push hard to get you down there, then get back in time to help Luke. I doubt we could do it in a week, even if we pushed our horses until they near to dropped, it’s that far south and east.”

“Is there a stage in town? Could I somehow—?”

“No stage.” Vince shook his head. “Freight wagons come once in a while. But there ain’t no rhyme nor reason to their coming. I suppose we could ride out in four directions and watch the trail. When a wagon comes along, if we could get the driver to stop and wait while we fetch you from Dare’s house and you get on their wagon with some story as to why you’re coming into town, that might work. Except a freighter’s always a man in a hurry and all kinds of men work as mule skinners. Not all decent. We’d have to get him to go along with a lie about how you came to be on his wagon. Then you’d need to—”

“Okay,” Rosie said, cutting him off. “I get it. There’s no way for me to be in town. So what do we do?”

Rosie stood from the chair and went to Dare’s desk and started tidying. Luke couldn’t decide if she just needed to
move because she was nervous or because the untidy desk really bothered her.

“We hide you.” Luke sat back down, bothered by the womanless town. What had happened to Gil and his family? Greer had a lot to answer for.

“Where?” Ruthy made tidy stacks of Dare’s doctor supplies.

“Probably here,” Dare said. He kept moving, circling the room.

Ruthy’s hands stilled. “I can’t stay in a house with a single man. That’s not proper.”

“And I suppose that plank you were floating on in the stream was proper?”

“I couldn’t help that.”

“You can’t help this, either.” Luke was done with this discussion. “Listen. We need to figure out how to get those papers to Greer without getting shot out of the saddle. I know the ranch well. I think if I—”

A loud rattle of wagon wheels clattered toward Dare’s house. He shot out of the room and was back in seconds.

“Oh, good night. It’s that crazy woman again, Lana Bullard. And her husband is just as much of a lunatic.”

C
HAPTER 5

“I thought you said there weren’t any women in town.” Ruthy plunked her fists on her hips.

“Well, there’s one. No, actually there are two,” Dare said. “Greer is a married man and has a couple of children.”

“I don’t remember Greer having a wife.” Luke was on his feet.

“She’s a mail-order bride.” Dare had a tone to his voice when he mentioned Mrs. Greer that distracted Luke for a second. “Someone said she’s only been here about a year. Has a couple of half-grown kids, one of ’em a girl, so if you count the girl, there’s a third woman in the area.”

Ruthy raised her hand. “Four.”

“Women everywhere you turn.” Vince smiled at Ruthy. Luke saw her blush at Vince’s attention and he didn’t like it.

“Mrs. Greer and her young’uns stay to themselves. I’ve never once seen them in town, though I did ride out and treat her for a sprained ankle. She’s a snooty woman, not a word of thanks nor a penny in payment, even though Greer’s a rich man.”

“But Mrs. Bullard is in town from time to time. She’s expecting a baby,” Vince said. “She’s married to Simon Bullard, the foreman out at Greer’s place.”

Dare shuddered. “I swear she just comes in so I can hold her hand. Every word I speak is like an oracle straight from God. And when she’s not hanging on my every word, she’s furious at Simon for her condition. I’ll be up with her for hours. You’ve got to hide. All of you, quick. Come on.” Dare shoved Vince toward the back of the house just as the front door slammed open.

Luke and Ruthy, only a pace behind, just ready to step out of Dare’s office into the hallway, froze and looked at each other.

The frantic man shouted, “Come quick, Doc. We need help.”

Dare stuck his head in the room and hissed, “Vince got out the back door. You two get in the storeroom.”

He closed the door in Luke’s face.

Luke caught Ruthy by the arm and dragged her to the only other door in the room. He yanked it open and shoved her in, hurrying in behind her. He closed the door only seconds before Simon came in, still hollering.

“She’s in pain, Doc. What’s happening?”

“Dr. Riker, you’ve got to help me!” His wife’s screams echoed off the office walls.

Luke hadn’t gotten more than a glimpse of this closet. There were shelves lining a space about four feet square, each loaded with unknown things that stuck out at random. He was afraid to move for fear he’d bump something and knock it to the floor and bring Simon Bullard, who probably had orders to shoot Luke on sight, right to their hiding place.