Wildblossom (18 page)

"I'm too excited!" Even though Shelby wore a big gray Stetson pulled low to conceal her hair, as well as a coat with a turned-up collar and a big kerchief tied around her neck and chin, there was no mistaking her radiant visage. She couldn't help reaching out to Geoff, and was rewarded by the clasp of his black-gloved hand. "It's a thrilling night, but I feel that this is a noble mission. This might sound silly, but I've missed those cattle. I worry that they're not being cared for properly."

Geoff's own face was darkened and disguised as thoroughly as possible, but nothing could hide the ironic glance he directed toward the silvery heavens. "I won't dispute your affection for livestock, but I think we should get on with this." He nudged Charlie to walk over to Cal, Lucius, and Marsh, who were on the ground next to the barbed-wire fence. They'd cut it again, at exactly the same places the thieves had, just in case anyone checked later. In a low voice, Geoff reminded the quartet of their plans. He would keep toward the Croll homestead, watching for any sign of Bart, guarding Shelby and the others against discovery. Shelby, meanwhile, was the only person who claimed she could identify the eight head of Sunshine Ranch cattle. It was up to her to move among the Bar B livestock, bring out their own, one by one, and Cal would lead the cows back to the fence. There, Marsh would guide them through, and finally, Lucius was responsible for moving them back into the nearby herd.

It was very lucky that Bart Croll didn't have a larger herd of his own. If there'd been hundreds, rather than a few dozen, and fewer stars to provide a bit of light, Shelby's task would have been much more daunting.

As it was, Geoff found himself worrying. He decided to carry her into the other herd by scooping her onto Charlie's back and slipping one arm around her to hold her secure. There wasn't any point in Shelby having Gadabout out there with her; the pony was just one more thing to stand out if someone came. And when he slowed Charlie to a walk beside the Croll cattle, Geoff looked at them and wondered how the devil she could ever figure out which eight belonged to them. It seemed impossible enough in daylight!

"I feel like Robin Hood," she whispered, defusing the tension.

In spite of the looming danger, he felt a powerful jolt of desire... and a keener, elusive emotion. Against his better judgment, Geoff drew Shelby fully into his arms, moved her kerchief aside, and kissed her. Both their bodies radiated heady anticipation for the adventure ahead, and that aura was intensified as they clung together, tasting, hungering, while the night breeze nipped at their faces. It seemed that their pounding hearts were reaching toward each other through their coats.

Finally Geoff drew back, his gaze clouded. "For God's sake, be careful, Shelby."

"I will be, I promise!" She gave him a winsome smile and let him lift her from the saddle to the rugged ground.

"When you've found the last steer, hop on with Cal and ride back to the fence line. I'll check on you from time to time, but don't wait for me before you get yourself to safety." He leaned over and caught the collar of her denim coat, holding her until she looked into his eyes. "Agreed?"

"Didn't I promise?" She paused to touch his roughened jaw, then scampered off toward the herd of cattle, disappearing into the shadows.

Geoff worked his way toward the Croll house, marked in the distance by a thin ribbon of smoke that curled from the roof. It was a pretty night, and his solitude gave him a chance to contemplate his surroundings. At his estate in Gloucestershire, spring was dazzlingly lush, brilliantly green, and gloriously perfumed. Here, spring was a simpler matter: pure, pungent, and thrillingly real. The thawing ground and greening plants lent a quality to the air that made his nostrils flair when he inhaled deeply, and it was still crisp enough that his breath steamed as he let it out.

There were sounds in the darkness: quavering owls, rascally coyotes, and whippoorwills whose song was shortened in the West to simply "poor will!"

Circling the acre or so closest to the sod house, Geoff saw a light move in one of the windows. The breeze shifted, rustling the new leaves of the cottonwoods and peach-leaf willows that flanked the house. Time passed.

Geoff went back to check on Shelby, and found that Cal was with her. "Everything's fine, boss," the ranch hand assured him. "This is number five, an' she's pickin' 'em out like they're wearin' signs!"

Arms akimbo, Shelby stood in a shaft of moonlight and beamed at Geoff. "What can I say? It's a gift."

He rode past her and reached down to touch her cheek, wryly murmuring, "Scamp," then returned to his lookout post. However, even as Geoff approached the sod house, something in the air disturbed his high spirits. Straightening in the saddle, he glanced around. Nothing moved; even Croll's ramshackle barn and corral were quiet.

The door to the house opened then, and Geoff's heart lodged in his throat.
Damn!
The distance was great enough that he couldn't see who it was immediately, but he knew that he was close enough to be noticed. Charlie seemed to stiffen beneath him.

"You there! I can see you!" called a woman's tremulous voice. "Come over here, stranger, and don't try anything! I have a gun, and I'm not afraid to pull the trigger!"

Splendid,
Geoff thought grimly, and did as he was bade. Approaching the sod house, he made out Vivian's figure more clearly: she wore a man's coat over her long dark skirt; her hair, pinned up on her head, shone pale in the moonlight; and she was aiming a large shotgun straight at him.

"What're you trying to steal?" Vivian cried when he was a few yards away. "Are you a rustler? My husband tells me to shoot first and ask questions later, and maybe that's good advice!" Her voice shook as she added, "We don't have much, you can see that. Why don't you leave us alone?"

He drew off his hat. "It's Geoffrey Weston, Mrs. Croll. Do you remember me?"

His British accent had a jarring effect on her. Her eyes got big as saucers and she lowered the rifle. "But—what—what're you doing over here, Mr. Weston?"

It came to him that she was blushing, which made him sad for her, but probably was a good sign that he'd get out of this mess. "I don't suppose you'd believe me if I said I needed to borrow a cup of flour?"

"You can tell me the truth," she said softly.

"You won't shoot me if I come down? You can trust me not to harm you, Mrs. Croll."

"I know that." Vivian set the shotgun against the hitching post and waited while Geoff dismounted and led Charlie over to stand before her.

"Would you believe me if I told you that your husband stole eight head of our cattle?" he asked gently. "I have proof."

"Yes. I believe you." She looked down. "I'm sorry."

Her defeated tone stirred up deep feelings of sympathy in Geoff. "We came tonight to take them back. That's all; we aren't looking for revenge, and we know that the law is on Bart's side, so that's not a choice, either. We just want our cattle back."

"Of course." She nodded sadly. "I don't blame you." Her blue eyes studied his romantically shadowed face for long moments before she whispered, "I wish there were someone to come for me, as you have come for your cattle—to take
me
away from him...."

Geoff felt as if he'd been punched in the stomach. "I thought as much. You're not happy here, are you?"

"No. How could I be?" Tears thickened her voice, and in the next instant she caught herself. "I have to stop imagining other people's lives and count my blessings. I owe him everything. I had no place to spend the winter, until Bart took me in. I am—his wife...."

"Look..." He put a hand on her coat sleeve, feeling the thinness of her arm through the bulky material. "I'll send Shelby to meet you, and then at least you'll have a friend. Shelby Matthews is the young lady who manages the Sunshine Ranch. I won part of it in a poker game, and live there as well."

"That sounds romantic. Are the two of you... promised?"

Smiling dryly, he replied, "No. We're partners—and friends. And we'll think of a way to help you, Mrs. Croll. You certainly deserve more from life than—"

They were interrupted by the sound of hoofbeats approaching on the ranch road, and both of them paled.

"Get inside!" Geoff ordered. Then, in one movement, he pulled his hat on, swung onto Charlie's back, wheeled around and galloped away.

Like a nightmare, he heard the hoofbeats coming on, after him—enough noise for at least two horses. His lungs burned and his heart thundered as he urged Charlie forward, grateful for the horse's great speed.
Please God, let Shelby and the others be back at the house by now!
Geoff thought wildly as he approached the spot where he'd left Shelby in the midst of the herd. Surely she was finished—and he'd made his instructions crystal-clear that she should look after her own safety above all else.

"Hey!"

She stepped out from among the cattle, waving her arms, wearing a panicky expression. Without looking back to see how far back his pursuers were, Geoff slowed Charlie just enough to hold out a hand to Shelby and haul her up as they passed. Resuming the hard gallop, he kept one arm gripped around her midsection and looked for the fence. It wouldn't be far.

"I—I can't—breathe," Shelby gasped.

"Good!" he barked, but relaxed his hold on her a bit. Countless decidedly unfriendly words and epithets waited on his tongue, but he couldn't spare the effort speaking would require. When they came to the fence, he would need every ounce of concentration he possessed.

Hanging on half sideways, secure only in the iron grasp of Geoff's arm, Shelby saw the glint of barbed wire in the distance. Shots rang out from their pursuers, occasionally missing her by what seemed like inches. Her thrilled state gave way to raw terror.

"Geoff - I'm scared!" She assumed they'd turn and follow the fence line until they could lose the pair of riders chasing them through the darkness. Instead, the wire came closer to closer, and she had to bite her lip to smother the scream that rose in her throat. When Geoff leaned forward in the saddle, taking her with him, Shelby closed her eyes, utterly terrified.

Charlie sailed up, up, and out, seeming to fly—like the paintings of fox-hunting English horses Shelby had seen. No western horse was trained to perform a feat of such magical grace, but Charlie landed softly and safely, in spite of the considerable burden on his back.

"Where are the boys—and the cattle?" Geoff demanded roughly once they'd landed on their own side of the fence.

"Back—I told them—to go back to the house." She was shocked to discover that she was nearly faint from fear and relief. And it wasn't over—the hoofbeats were coming closer across the scrubby range.

Before she could recover, Shelby found herself being virtually pushed off the horse, while Geoff jumped with her. Holding the reins in one hand and her arm in his other, he scrambled forward in the darkness, heading straight toward a shallow gully that was apparently a remnant of an earlier path carved by the Stinking Water River. Using that meager protection, and aided by the cover of night, Geoff coaxed Charlie down into the hollow.

Shelby recovered her senses enough to see what needed to be done. Slipping her arms around the buckskin's neck, she drew him down, and together she and Geoff persuaded Charlie to lie down. Then, with each of them flattened against the ground on either side of the horse, they stroked him and waited. The chilly spring air seemed to vibrate with tension and danger.

Only a minute or so passed before the pursuing horses stopped short at the barbed-wire fence.

"I think you was seein' things, Ted! I shoulda stayed at that game tonight, where I coulda won some money! I knew this'd be a waste of time!"

"Whatta you mean, Bart? You saw that horse same as me!"

"Then where'd it go? Didn't just disappear into thin air, and in case you didn't notice, this here's a fence. You think the horse crawled under the barbed wire?" He laughed. "I bet it was a deer. You're just too suspicious fer your own good. That sissy limey comes sniffin' around and you think he's up to somethin', when he prob'ly ain't got the brains of a cow!" Croll laughed at this display of wit, and his laughter shifted into a coughing spell.

"I got instincts about these things," Ted insisted as they turned away from the fence. "If that dude wasn't upta somethin', why wasn't he at the game tonight?"

"Cuz he's wettin' his wick in that crazy Matthews broad! Gotta get all he can before her uncle comes back from Billings!" More laughter, more coughing, and then, as Bart got farther away and more difficult to hear clearly, he added, "Tell you what. We'll settle this by askin' Viv if she saw or heard anythin' tonight. I got her trained to keep an eye on the ranch when I'm not home...."

* * *

There was no rational explanation for the wildly heightened mutual attraction that both Shelby and Geoff felt that night. He tried to be angry with her as they returned to the house, but in truth, as she sat in front of him on the saddle and leaned back into his chest, he was captivated. The desire to push down her coat collar and kiss the soft, tender nape of her neck was powerful. To his chagrin, his body betrayed him, and he was powerless to stop himself from growing hard and hot inside his denim pants. Given the fact that Shelby's backside was flush with his crotch, Geoff could only hope that she was too naive to notice. A self-deprecating smile twitched at the corners of his mouth as she shifted closer still and he thought he heard her sigh.