Texas Pride: Night Riders (4 page)

“Of course I’ll return, but it will be several hours from now. You’ll be miles away.”

“Why should I be miles away?”

“You’re obviously getting ready to leave, and I can’t see any reason why you would want to hang around town.” There was that dazzling smile again. Why did he keep doing that? It made it harder to remember she never wanted to see him again.

“If I am going to live here by the stream, I need a tent and some supplies. I will ride to town with you, and you can tell me which are the best stores. Do you think I should build a cabin before winter?”

It was a moment before Carla could speak. He couldn’t be staying. She didn’t
want
him to stay. “But you’ve got to leave,” she sputtered.

“Why should I leave if I will have half of your ranch just for staying?”

“It’s not divided in half.”

“I will hire a surveyor when it is time to sell.”

She felt like everything was closing in on her, but she refused to panic. She had a year to figure out how to get her ranch back. It would have been easier if she didn’t have to do it with Ivan camped at the front door, but she didn’t have to be seen with him or teach him where to shop.

“If you’re determined to stay, I can’t stop you, but I won’t ride into town with you. I don’t want anybody to think I’m happy about you being here.”

“No one will think that.”

Didn’t the man know how to frown? Did he have to smile all the time? How was she supposed to think? At least she was still on her horse. Otherwise he would be towering over her and intimidating her further. She was used to men being taller—Danny loved being able to look down at her—but Ivan was a blond giant. “Why won’t people think I want you here when they see me parading around town with you?”

“Every time you look at me, you frown like you smell something bad. Since I do not smell bad, they will know you dislike me.”

“I don’t dislike
you
. I don’t know anything about you. I just dislike what you’re going to do.”

“Then you will help me learn the best places to buy?”

None of this was really his fault, and she couldn’t blame him for trying to take advantage of the situation that would enable him to return to his homeland. She knew how unhappy she’d be if she were forced to leave Texas. “Okay, you can ride with me, but you’ll have to go shopping on your own. You also need to know I’m going to do everything I can to get this debt cancelled.”

“That is expected,” he said calmly.

Didn’t the man ever get angry or upset? Was he too dim to realize not everything was going to work out the way he wanted just because he was too stubborn to leave? “Are you ready?” she asked. “I have a lot to do.”

In answer to her question, he swung into his saddle and brought his horse alongside hers. “I am ready.”

She felt like she was traveling in his shadow. Even his horse was bigger than hers. She didn’t look forward to riding with him for the next hour. What do you say to a stranger you’re hoping will leave and never come back? Apparently Ivan didn’t have a problem. He asked about the grass, the trees, the bushes and the vines. He asked about the soil. What rancher knew anything about soil? It was just dirt. Texas was covered with it. At least she understood his concern about water.

“I have more than enough water,” she told him. “The creek is fed by a spring that runs all year. We have a well for the house and a windmill that pumps water for the corrals.”

“The soil is equally important,” Ivan insisted. “It determines what kind of grasses grow, how nutritious they are, and how plentiful. All of that determines how many cows you can support per acre and how much they will weigh.”

“I know that,” Carla said, irritated he would think she was either ignorant or stupid. “If you’d wanted to know that, why did you ask about clay and loam and all that other stuff?”

“My family owned the same land for five hundred years. We had to take care of our soil, replenish it, so it would last year after year.”

She couldn’t imagine any ranch lasting five hundred years. Her father had had three different ones since coming to Texas. Once the Indians and the buffalo were gone, there would be millions of acres of new land available for settlement. No one thought about replenishing the soil. It was too poor to bother.

“Will you tell me about your family?” Ivan asked.

“Why do you want to know?” He was a stranger, a foreigner—an aristocrat if she could believe what he told Danny—who wouldn’t understand anything as ordinary as a farmer’s son who dreamed of owning his own ranch in what was considered the uncivilized West.

“Everything.”

“That would take longer than it will take us to reach town.”

“Then only as much as you want to tell me.”

She didn’t want to tell him anything, but his smile was doing awful things to her resistance. Why couldn’t the sun be in her eyes? Then she wouldn’t have to see him. “My parents came to Texas more than twenty years ago. They had to move twice, but they managed to increase their holdings despite three wars.”

“My family lost everything in three wars.”

It was hard to feel sorry for a family she didn’t know, especially when the only member of that family she
did
know was determined to take half her ranch, but she could understand how Ivan felt. She just wished he could find another ranch to steal. “Maybe they’ll get some of it back someday.”

“My sister has. That’s why I must return to Poland.”

She was so busy being angry she’d forgotten that, but she supposed it wasn’t important. It didn’t matter
why
Ivan wanted to take half her ranch—just that he did.

“Tell me about Mr. diViere. Why are you working with him?”

“I used to think he was my friend. He repaid my trust by stealing my money.”

“Didn’t you try to stop him?”

“He took it when I was sleeping. I did not see him again for seven years. When I did, shooting him would have been doing a murder. I do not want to go to prison.”

“But there must be some law, a judge, some court—”

“Laveau was the only one who knew I had money or where it was hidden. He has a way to charm even the most wary. He has even attempted murder.”

“Then he can be arrested, tried in court.”

“Laveau betrayed his troop to the Union army. Because of that, he is given the protection of the army here in Texas. Even the Reconstruction government protects him.”

Another sin to be laid at the feet of the rascals who had taken over the capital in Austin. “Where is he now?”

“I don’t know.”

“When will you see him again?”

“Never. All the legal arrangements have been left in the hands of a lawyer called Lukey Gordon.”

“Lukey would never do anything illegal.”

“It’s not illegal to transfer property from one person to another.”

“It is when that person doesn’t own the property.”

“But Laveau does own that property. Your brother signed papers that make it legal.”

She was going to see what she could do to convince a judge to change that. She couldn’t let her brother lose his share of the ranch because of a moment of foolish overconfidence or his failure to spot a conniving and manipulative man. “Let’s not talk about that. We’ll never agree, and I’ll only get angry again.”

“It does not change the facts.”

“The fact is diViere cheated, so that paper you have is worthless.”

“Not until you can get a judge to say so.”

“Don’t think I won’t.” Carla struggled to control her temper. “In the meantime, it might be safer for you to move on. Once everybody knows what you’re trying to do, they’ll be just as anxious as I am to see you gone.”

“I lived through a war with thousands of men with guns and cannons trying to kill me. I’m not afraid of a few Texans.”

“Texans were better shots than Union soldiers. They hit what they aimed at the first time.”

“You should give up trying to chase me away,” Ivan said with one of his blinding smiles. “I will be here for the next year.”

She didn’t want to think about that. The man was too friendly, too overwhelming, and too handsome for her to stay mad at him for a whole year. Besides, he seemed rather nice. He’d certainly been unfailingly pleasant despite her rough treatment. She had to stay away from him. She would never have believed it, but she found him attractive in a way she couldn’t ignore. That was odd considering the attractive and eligible men she
could
ignore.

Kesney Hardin topped the list.

Kesney was mature, handsome, rich, and well-dressed as well as having charming manners. Despite being old enough to have a young daughter, Kesney was the most eligible man she’d ever met. Carla had been flattered by his interest. She had dreamed of marrying for love, but she’d never found any man who could ignite that spark. She had begun to wonder if she was capable of love. Her father said she thought like a man. Her mother said she was too practical. Her brother said she was a pain in the ass who always thought she knew better than he did. Fortunately, she
did
know better, but that didn’t make Danny like it.

Then there was Maxwell Dodge, a businessman who’d recently arrived in Overlin. He’d quickly shown a decided partiality for Carla, something that Kesney hadn’t liked at all. Neither had any other eligible bachelor in the area. Carla knew most of these men were as interested in her ownership of the most successful ranch in the area as they were in her, yet no one had attracted her the way Ivan’s smile did. That was a danger sign, and she ought to have the good sense to talk herself out of thinking it was anything more than a tool Ivan used to get what he wanted.

“You are very quiet,” Ivan said. “Did I say something to upset you?”

“Of course you did. You said you were going to be here for a year at the end of which you intend to sell half of my ranch to the man with the most money. Do you expect me to be happy about that?”

“No. My father lost the last of our land when I was six.”

Great. He knew exactly how she felt because the same thing had happened to him. She hoped he wasn’t expecting a show of sympathy. She was saving all she had for herself. And for Danny. As angry as she was at him, she knew he felt even worse because he’d failed her as well as himself. If she could get her hands on Laveau diViere, she’d like to strangle him. Instead, she had no one to direct her anger to except Ivan Nikolai. She needed to be thinking of reasons the judge could use to nullify the bet. She couldn’t do that with Ivan looking over her shoulder all the time.

“Is that a neighbor of yours? She seems to be in trouble.”

Carla followed the direction of Ivan’s gaze. Some distance ahead, a buggy had come to a halt. It looked like a wheel had come off. A young woman was standing by the buggy, looking helpless and upset. “I don’t recognize her,” Carla said.

“We must help.” With that announcement, Ivan urged his horse into a fast canter. Carla had no alternative but to follow. By the time she caught up with him, Ivan had dismounted and introduced himself.

“Her wheel has come off,” he said to Carla as she dismounted. “I will put it back.”

How could Ivan know how to fix a wheel? She couldn’t imagine wagon repair had been part of his training to be a prince. She turned her attention to the young woman who seemed to be close to tears. “My name is Carla Reece,” she said to her. “My brother and I own the Four Corners ranch a few miles from here. I don’t remember seeing you before.”

“I just got here,” the young woman said, tears threatening to spill over her lower eyelid. “My name is Elizabeth Hardin, but everybody calls me Beth.”

“Are you any relation to Kesney Hardin?” Kesney had a young daughter, but she was still in Kentucky.

“He’s my father. He wanted me to wait until he could go to town with me, but I can drive by myself.” She looked at the wheel, which Ivan had picked up from where it had rolled several yards away. “I had no idea the wheel was ready to come off.”

Ivan was rolling the wheel toward them. “The problem is not your wheel. The lynchpin has come out.”

“How could that happen?” Beth asked. “It looked fine when I left.”

“It probably has become worn and worked its way out over the bumps. I will look for it.” Ivan turned and started back down the trail.

“I’m so glad you and your husband came along,” Beth said to Carla. “If my father found me like this, I’d never hear the end of it.”

Carla was so startled Beth Hardin would think Ivan was her husband that she momentarily forgot her surprise that Kesney’s daughter was in Texas rather than Kentucky. “We’re not married,” Carla said. “We’re… ummm… neighbors… and are just riding to town together.”

“I’ll have to pay him for fixing my buggy. Where can my father find him?”

“Umm… you’ll have to ask Ivan. I can’t speak for him.”

“He’s very big.” Beth said it in a way that told Carla the young woman found that attribute very appealing. “And he has a nice smile. Have you known him long?”

“No. He just moved here.”

“Where is he staying?”

Carla didn’t want to answer that question, but she couldn’t think of an acceptable reason to refuse. “He’s staying at my ranch until he can make other arrangements.”

“Then I guess Papa will know where to find him.”

Kesney had said his daughter was fifteen, much too young in Carla’s mind to be allowed to drive herself to town. She was definitely too young to be casting her sights on a man like Ivan, who was probably twice her age. Besides, the child was beautiful. Carla could envision several of Overlin’s young bucks getting into fights over the chance to hold a door for her or help her across the street.

“What is he doing?”

Carla turned to see Ivan had left the trail and was walking toward some bushy growth that grew alongside the creek. “I don’t know. Maybe he couldn’t find the lynchpin and is looking for something to replace it.”

“He talks kinda funny, doesn’t he?”

Carla didn’t know why she resented that comment any more than why she was annoyed Beth thought Ivan was attractive. “He’s from Poland. He says he was a prince.” She didn’t know why she added that, either. Considering the way Beth’s eyes brightened, it was probably a bad idea. “He’s going home as soon as he can.” Why did she say that? To protect Ivan? He didn’t appear to need protection from anyone, least of all her.

“Is he a prince now?”

“He may be, but it won’t do him any good in Texas.”

Beth looked to where Ivan was breaking a branch off a small tree. “What is he doing?”

“I’m not sure. I expect he’ll tell us when he gets here.”

Beth wiped a drop of perspiration from her forehead. “Is it always this hot here?”

“No. Sometimes it’s hotter.”