The Independent Bride (8 page)

“Who are you little ladies going to get to run the store for you?” he asked as he looked around, walking with a swagger that exuded just enough arrogance to stoke Abby’s temper.

“My sister and I will run the store.”

He looked at Abby as if she was joking. “You can’t run this store.”

“Why?”

“You’re females,” he said, as though that explained everything. “You’d best find Bill Spicer. He’s the man you need.”

Abby didn’t want to make any more enemies the first day so she rejected the words that rose to her tongue. “I’ve already met Bill Spicer, and we’ve decided we can’t work together. Despite being females, my sister and I
will
run this store.”

“You can’t,” Hinson said, very much as if he was forbidding her and expected her to obey.

“I’m afraid that’s out of your control.”

His glance turned angry. “Your father had a contract to deliver fifty beeves a month to me for the Indians on the reservation. There’s been trouble the last two times. You have to deliver or the contract will be taken away.”

“You’ll receive your deliveries.”

“I doubt it,” he said with so much mockery in his voice Abby wanted to slap him. “No man will do business with a woman.”

She didn’t know what kind of women the men at Fort Lookout were accustomed to dealing with, but they must be completely lacking in courage as well as common sense. She knew lots of women who owned stores and other businesses who had proved they were as capable as men. The males at Fort Lookout were in for a rude shock if they expected the Pierce sisters to defer to their every wish.

“Do you know who’s delivering the beef this month?” Abby asked. It would be a relief to find out so she could talk to the rancher and get that settled in her mind.

“No, I don’t, and that’s what I want to talk to you about.”

“I’ll keep working while you talk.” She had decided the store, as well as their living quarters, needed to be cleaned from top to bottom. She and two of the enlisted men were in the process of removing everything from the tables and shelves, then scrubbing them thoroughly before putting everything back in neat and carefully organized piles. She’d get to the walls and floors next.

“I don’t know if you’re aware of this,” Hinson said, “but Ray Baucom and his partners used to hold the beef contract. One of his partners died a few months back. Before he could get reorganized, your father put in a bid and won the contract. I think you ought to give it back to Ray.”

Abby told herself she had to stop being prejudiced because of the way western men groomed themselves. It was a harsh land, so she supposed they had to dress rough. But even though Hinson had shaved some time in the last month and didn’t smell so strong she had to step away from him, there was something about him that smelled rotten.

“Why would I want to do that?” she asked.

“This is rough country,” Hinson said. “It’s full of rustlers, murderers, and desperate men who have little to lose. A herd of cattle is an irresistible temptation. It was all Baucom and his partners could do to get enough beef through to keep the Indians from going on the warpath. You’d never be able to get fifty beeves to the reservation.”

“It would seem pointless to give Mr. Baucom and his partners a contract they’ve never been able to fulfill. In fact, I would think it might be illegal.”

“It wasn’t illegal because they were the only ones who bid on it”

“Then you should be thankful my father won the contract. Now you have a chance of getting your whole allotment.”

“The last herd was rustled.”

“Colonel McGregor told me the Indians found it” She could tell her refusal to back down was making him angry. He didn’t seem nearly so eager to sweet-talk her.

“The Indians have been known to steal some of their own beef before.”

“Why should they steal what’s already theirs?”

He appeared to be trying to control his irritation. “There are a lot of things that won’t make sense to an Easterner. It’s all the more difficult because you’re a female.”

Now it was Abby’s turn to struggle to keep her temper under control. “What is it that I, being an Easterner and a female, won’t understand?”

“Men won’t work for a woman. You won’t get anybody to sell you beef.”

Abby believed ranchers would get over any reluctance to deal with a woman as long as they got paid.

“What else?” Abby asked.

“Your whole herd will be stolen before it gets to the reservation.”

“Why will mine be stolen and not Baucom’s?”

“There’s not much law out here. If you’re not strong enough to hold your beef, or take it back from anyone who steals it, you lose out.”

“I gather you believe Baucom and his partners are strong enough to go after anybody who tries to steal their beef.”

“Yes.”

“But not strong enough to keep all the beef they contracted to deliver, just the ones the rustlers let them keep.” Hinson’s face turned red. “It doesn’t seem as if they’re particularly strong at all. I think I’ll hold on to the contract.”

“Your father stole that contract from Baucom when his back was turned, and I want him to have it back.”

“I haven’t had time to read the contract, but I’m sure it only runs for a year. He’ll be able to submit a bid when it comes up for renewal.”

“That contract ought to be Baucom’s,” Hinson nearly shouted. “Your father knew he couldn’t deliver what he promised.”

“How many deliveries are left on the contract?”

”Ten.”

“Did he deliver on the first one?”

“No. Rustlers ran off every head.”

“Did he recover any?”

“He was dead by then. Spicer got some men together, but they couldn’t find the herd.”

“Why didn’t he ask Colonel McGregor to help? I’m sure he’s just as interested in seeing the Indians get their beef as anybody else.”

“He did, but the colonel has a lot of territory to cover and not enough men.”

If Bryce could afford to offer as many as a dozen men to work in the store, Abby was sure he would have sent even more after the missing beef.

“Well, Mr. Hinson, I appreciate your concern for me and for the Indians. I don’t understand why you want to give the contract to a man who didn’t deliver what he promised, but I’ve been here little more than a day. I have no intention of making decisions of such importance until I know more about all the issues you’ve mentioned.”

“I can understand your concern, little lady,” Hinson said more calmly. “I know it must be a lot for you to try to run this store. It’ll probably take months before you get everything figured out. I’m only trying to make things easier for you. If you’d just release the contract, you could get on with your cleaning and straightening.”

No one had ever dared patronize Abby in such an insulting manner. It was all she could do not to throw her pail of dirty water in his face. “I don’t think you understand, Mr. Hinson. The discussion is over. Good day.”

He looked as if he couldn’t believe his ears. Apparently no woman had ever refused to do what he wanted.

“I’ll come back tomorrow.”

“You won’t talk to me about this for at least a month.”

His temper snapped. “You’ll talk to me before then whether you want to or not. The next shipment is due in a week. When it doesn’t arrive, I will be down on you like a swarm of bees. And if the Indians leave their reservation and steal from the ranchers, you’ll have Colonel McGregor to deal with.”

“Thank you for the warning,” she said and turned her back on him.

“You are a stupid and hardheaded woman,” Hinson shouted. “I’ve tried to talk some sense into you, but you’re too dumb to know what’s good for you. I’m not having my position here wrecked by some tenderfoot female. The first time you fail to deliver, I’ll snatch that contract from you so fast you won’t know what hit you. If you’d take my advice, you’d head back East where people like you don’t put sensible men in danger.”

“That man is a liar,” Zeb said after Hinson slammed out. “Spicer never said a word to the colonel. Neither did Hinson. The colonel only heard about it when some of the Indians left the reservation to find the herd themselves.”

“What happened?”

“They found it, all right. They found the rustlers, too. The only reason we didn’t have every white man for fifty miles around clamoring for us to murder the Indians who left the reservation is, they had enough sense to bring the rustlers to the fort. A few of them had bullets in them, but they were still alive.”

“What did Bryce—I mean Colonel McGregor—do?”

“Shipped them off to Boulder Gap to let the law there deal with them.”

“Do you think anybody will try to steal the herd this timer’

“Seems half the people out here are stealing cows from the ranchers, gold from the miners, or land from the Indians.”

“What do you think of Hinson?”

“I think he’d as soon steal from his mother as the Indians. Everybody knows he don’t give the Indians what’s promised. If he does, it’s spoiled, broken, or the wrong thing.”

“And Baucom?”

“He says rustlers kept stealing his cows, but he seems to have plenty of money just the same.”

“Do you think Baucom and Hinson are working together?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. Baucom was plenty mad when your pa won that beef contract. He swore he’d get it back one way or the other.”

Chapter Five

“We came to see how you’re doing,” Pamela announced as she burst into the trading post followed by her father. “Daddy said I couldn’t come by myself.”

Abby looked up from where she’d been sorting through stock that had been piled randomly in one corner. She’d already decided she needed more shelves so that she and Moriah could see what they had and the customers could find what they wanted.

“You should have warned me you were coming,” she said to Bryce. “I don’t normally greet visitors sitting on the floor.”

“We can fix that easily enough,” he said.

He extended both hands in the obvious expectation that she would let him help her up. She wasn’t sure of the etiquette that prevailed on isolated army posts, but this would have been considered a familiar gesture in St. Louis. However, greeting a guest while sitting on the floor was probably even worse, so she cast aside her doubts and let him help her to her feet.

Help wasn’t the right word.
Lift
was. Bryce wasn’t merely big and tall. He was strong. Having her hands in his firm grasp made Abby keenly aware of herself as a woman, but she was determined she wouldn’t let herself be carried away again by a handsome face and impressive strength … or a warm smile. She’d let herself be fooled by a man’s outward appearance in St. Louis, and she had almost ended up in jail.

“It looks as if you’ve made some good progress,” Bryce said.

“Only on the surface,” Abby said. “I don’t know how Father managed to make any money with everything in such disorder.”

“He seemed to know what everybody wanted and where to find it. I remember people saying as soon as they walked in the door he would start pulling down things for their order.”

“It will take a while before Moriah and I know our customers that well, but we hope to compensate by being more organized. As soon as I’m able, I’ll have shelves built on all the walls. It’s hard to keep things organized when they’re stacked on tables or piled in the corner.”

She was talking too much. She was sure Bryce didn’t want to hear about her plans. Most likely he wouldn’t have come if Pamela hadn’t dragged him. If he was interested at all—except in trying to convince them to return to St. Louis—he probably wanted only to make sure she could supply the needs of his soldiers and their families.

“Let me know when you’re ready for the shelves,” Bryce said. “I’ve got a couple of men who’re very good carpenters, but they’ll each cost you thirty-five cents a day.”

“I don’t know that I can pay them. Bill Spicer handed over almost no money from the last few weeks.”

“I imagine he drank up a good bit of it.”

“He said he left the store unattended because people would write down what they took and pay for it later.”

“That’s a bigger lie than I thought even Spicer would try to pull off. Your father gave credit, but he would never have allowed such a practice.”

“Why would Spicer do it?”

“I imagine he expected the lease to lapse and someone else to take over. He was just taking care of himself while he could.”

“He’s a thief.”

“Nobody doubts that, but you’ll have a hard time proving it I advise you to chalk it up to experience and forget it. Even if you could prove Spicer stole from the store, there’ll be nothing to recover.”

That was what she’d expected, but she wasn’t happy to have her suspicions confirmed.

“You’d be well advised to look for a buyer. I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard to—”

“Do you think my sister and I would be doing all this work if we intended to sell the store? You’ve been very kind to us, but your constant effort to get rid of us is beginning to make me angry.”