“Suit yourself,” Jameson said with a quick kiss to the top of her head. “Eli?” he looked up.
“Yes, sir.”
“Would you be so kind as to escort my daughter home?”
“No, Daddy, really. I’ll be fine,” Hannah protested, then turned to Eli. “Truly, I’ve walked it hundreds of times and am pretty sure I can find my way home.”
“It’s not that I don’t think you capable, believe me, I have seen what you can accomplish all on your own, but I do try to be a gentleman and when a lady’s father asks me to escort her home—especially when that lady is you—then, that’s what I do.” He turned to Jameson. “It would be my pleasure, sir.”
Mr. Redbourne nodded.
The wheels in Hannah’s head were nearly visible as he was sure she was trying to come up with another excuse, but to no avail.
He’d actually been surprised that Gordon Blythe had not been at church today. It seemed odd, but he was grateful for the opportunity to have an uninterrupted conversation with Hannah for at least the next hour.
They both stood together and watched as the Redbourne wagon headed down the familiar path to the ranch.
“You didn’t have to escort me, you know,” Hannah said, kicking at one of the many pebbles in the road.
“Yes, I did.” He didn’t elaborate.
“Well, I’m not headed directly home. I hope that’s all right with you.”
“Lead on,” he said, waiting for her next move.
Miss Hampton stood outside of the only hotel in town that didn’t double as a saloon. The children sat on the boardwalk, their faces slumped down into their hands, their elbows resting on their knees. The moment they saw Hannah and Eli, they sat up tall, smiles beaming on their faces and a slight twinge of guilt rested in Eli’s gut. He didn’t want them to get their hopes up only to be let down again.
“May I speak with you a moment?” Hannah asked the woman as she took her by the arm and walked a few yards distance away from the children.
They stared at them eagerly with keen interest.
“Your wife is sure pretty,” the little boy announced with a blatant nod of his head. “And real nice too.”
Eli laughed, but it came out more like a gasping cough.
“Miss Redbourne isn’t my wife. She’s just a friend.”
“Why?” the little girl asked.
Why indeed?
Eli thought about it for a few seconds before responding. Then he crouched down onto his haunches to be eye level with the children. He leaned in as if telling them a secret and whispered.
“Because she doesn’t like me much.”
“Coulda fooled me,” the little boy said in a half whisper.
“Oh, yeah, why do you say that?”
“A ’cause last night at the dance, she couldn’t stop looking at you. Even when she was dancing with that other fella.”
Eli was surprised by how observant the children had been, but then again, he expected it was because they all wanted to be adopted and had been watching everyone very closely.
“You think so?”
The boy nodded, knowingly.
“Hey, kid, what’s your name?”
“Archibald C. Lowell, sir, but you can call me Archie. And this is my little sister, Mirabelle.”
“Well, I am very pleased to meet you both. How old are you, Archie?”
He held up both hands, one with all fingers standing tall and the other with just one.
“Six?”
The boy nodded.
“And how old are you, Mirabelle?” he asked the little girl.
“I’m almost four. I’m going to have a birthday next week.”
“Is that so?”
She nodded with a smile.
It was surprising to think that a young child would even recognize what day it was, let alone remember her birthday without anyone to remind her.
“What day is it?”
She shrugged, then looked up at him. “The middle of October,” she said proudly.
“That’s all we know.,” Archie told him.
The boy was a couple of years older and the girl about the same age as Ethan’s young Luke.
Hannah and Miss Hampton returned, the latter with a bright smile on her face.
“Children, Miss Redbourne and Mr. Whittaker here would like to take you for a few hours tomorrow to get fitted for some new clothes. What do you think about that?”
They simply stared at her as if she were speaking in a different language.
After a moment, Archie stood up on the boardwalk, followed quickly by Mirabelle who seemed to imitate his every move.
“New?” he finally asked in disbelief.
“New!” Hannah said with a grin.
“And, would we get to keep them?” he asked warily.
“Of course,” she told him. “They would be made special, just for you.”
Archie launched himself at Hannah, who promptly caught him in her arms. Mirabelle ran to do the same, but stumbled on one of the unlevel planks. Before she fell, Eli caught her and whisked her up into his arms.
“No owies today,” he said. “Understood?”
Mirabelle put her thumb in her mouth, much like Hannah had done earlier, and nodded.
“Okay, Miss Hampton, we’ll be by to pick up the children promptly at eleven o’clock tomorrow.”
The young woman put a hand on Hannah’s arm. “You truly are an angel, Miss Redbourne. I will have them ready to go.”
Once they reached the edge of the town and started down the dirt road, Eli broke the momentary silence.
“Aren’t you afraid you are going to get too attached to the children?”
Hannah reached down and picked a small wild daisy that was still growing up through the rocks at the side of the road. “What do you mean?”
“Well, it’s hard not to feel for their plight, so buying them clothes and making sure they have a good meal, things like that will form attachments, both for you and for them. What happens when they leave or get adopted?”
“Then we celebrate,” she said matter-of-factly. “Besides, I am not so sure that I am the one with the problem of forming attachments.”
He looked over at her, a wry smile touching her features as she continued to look ahead.
“I see the way you look at that little girl—like she’s woven her way into your heart already.”
“There is a difference between being kind and forming attachments.”
She shot a look at him, a brow raised, then looked forward again, her smile deepening.
“Fine. If I was in a position to take her in, I would. Him too. They are adorable. I don’t understand how they were passed up by the others.”
“Many of the farmers and ranchers out here barely make enough to survive and feed the family members they already have. Taking on two small children can be a challenge.”
She voiced exactly what he’d thought.
“Well, I wish it were different.”
“Me too, but all we can do is strive to do the best we can to help them in the meantime. Providing them with some new, clean clothes is a step in the right direction.”
They walked in silence for a while, until they came to a slight bend in the road, then Hannah veered off course and headed for the meadow that was just beyond a fence line.
“Where are you going? Do the farmers around here care if you are trespassing on their land?”
“Not generally,” she said, climbing between two rungs. “It’s the closest way back to the homestead. Besides, I’m pretty sure the owner of this property will not object too much to having us cross over it. He is, after all, my father.” She laughed, placing her crossed arms up over the top rung and staring back at him.
“Your father owns more than one plot of land?”
“Other than his investment in Tag’s property, Oak Meadow, down in Texas, I do not believe he owns any other land directly. This,” she swept her hand across the landscape like a paintbrush, “is
all part of Redbourne Ranch.”
Eli strode up to the fence and stared down at Hannah. “Your father is a very blessed man.”
Color immediately rose in her cheeks and she glanced away. “Yes, he is. We all are. That,” she pushed away from the fence and turned to walk away, “is why we must help these children,” she said, her voice trailing behind her.
With one foot on the bottom rung, he swooped up over the fence and quickly caught up to her.
Over the next half an hour, Hannah proceeded to give him a tour of their property. Most of it was simple grasslands, but there were several areas with thick copses of trees and others woven with streams.
When they reached a large open field, dotted with cattle, the hairs on Eli’s arms stood on edge. He glanced around, but couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
Hannah whistled softly as she continued to pick flowers and greenery as she walked.
SNORT.
The sound was distinct, though not loud.
Eli glanced back at the cluster of cattle, but could see nothing out of the ordinary until he took another few steps forward to reveal a bull in their midst.
“I thought breeding season was from April to June.”
“It is, why?”
“Because there is a bull in the midst of all those heifers right there.”
Hannah looked up.
“It’s the new longhorn from Tag. I can’t believe he got loose.”
Eli scanned the field where they were completely exposed—no trees, no fence line to stick to or climb over, no large sticks or poles with which he could defend them against it if it decided to charge—but he did spot a narrow bridge crossing the stream an estimated hundred yards ahead of them. He doubted the bull would be so bold as to attempt crossing a bridge narrower than his girth.
The bull tossed his head, then focused on them, standing at an angle and pawing at the ground.
“That is not a good sign,” Hannah told him as she sidestepped toward the bridge, not taking her eyes off the bull. “Make yourself look as big as possible. If he starts this way, yell at him as loudly as you can, dodge him, then run the opposite direction.”
“Dodge him? Have you encountered many bulls over the course of your life?”
“Not loose like this,” she admitted. “This is a first for me, but when my dad and brothers speak, I generally listen.”
Dodge him? he thought again, disbelievingly. He’d had to get out of the way from rolling logs, falling timber, and even a swinging ax, but never a live, territorial, full-ton bull.
The animal positioned himself at the front of the cows, his eyes still trained on Eli and Hannah. Step by step they made their way toward the small water crossing.
“Ooof,” Hannah called out.
Eli darted a glance in her direction only to find that she had tripped over something protruding from the ground, and had reached out, grabbing him by the hand and managed to remain upright.
She looked at him and nodded. He’d only taken his eyes off the bull for a few moments when Hannah’s eyes grew wide and folded her lips together with apprehension.
“Don’t move,” she told him, slipping her hand from his and placing a finger over her lips.
He wasn’t making himself look bigger, yelling, or any of the things she’d cautioned him to do just moments ago and the thought of the bull standing close enough to him to provide him with a punctured seat was not his idea of a fun walk through the field.
“Run!” Hannah yelled, then pulled him down on top of her as she fell yet again.
Eli curled his body up around hers, paying careful attention to wrap his arms around their heads. He would do everything possible to protect her from the enormous beast.
“H-ya! H-ya!” Someone shouted. Eli dared a glance upward, his heart lifting at the sight of Ethan and Cole on their respective mounts, ropes in hand, each with lassoes expertly thrown around the bull, holding it from charging. He recognized one of the other three riders as Cole’s friend, Alaric, from breakfast, but guessed the other two to be hired hands at the ranch.
“Whittaker, are you all right?” Ethan called out to them.
Eli glanced down at the woman below him. “Are you all right?” he asked.
“I will be. Will you please let me up now?” Hannah asked, blowing hair out of her face and pushing against him.
He scrambled to get up from on top of her and with a little help from her, overcompensated and landed backward on his rear end.
“Fine,” he called back. “We’re just fine.” He could hear Cole’s laugh from where he sat and shook his head.
Hannah now knelt on the ground, her hands in front of her. Her boot had gotten twisted in her dress and she was having a difficult time getting to her feet.
“Why do I keep falling when I’m around you?” she ground out quietly. “I’ve never been so heavy on my feet in all my life. I think you’ve cursed me, Eli Whittaker.”
Despite the severity of their previous predicament, he couldn’t stop himself from laughing. He stood up, then bent down in an attempt to untangle her boot from the hem of her dress.
RIP. A strand of material along the hemline tore away from the rest of her clothing, leaving a gaping hole in its wake.
He closed his eyes. Just one more reason for her to dislike him.
With a little more effort, her foot came loose, and Eli offered her his hands.
“Up we go,” he said as he heaved her into a standing position. He took a little longer releasing her than he probably should have, but he liked the feel of her hands in his.
“Thank you,” she said, blowing another strand of hair from her face. It fell again and she swiped at it with the back of her hand, leaving a streak of dirt that extended across her cheek.
“Sorry about your dress.” He pointed to the hem.
“Good thing I’m fairly handy with a needle.” She gathered the skirt into bunches in her hands and closed the distance between where they stood and the narrow bridge.
When they finally made it back to the homestead, Ethan and Cole had already corralled the bull and were standing in front of the corral with Alaric.
Cole immediately wrapped an arm around Hannah’s shoulders.
“We’re not sure how the new longhorn got out, but you two were cutting it a little close crossing a field where he was loose with those heifers, weren’t you?” Ethan stared at his little sister. “You know better than to run.”
“Well, it’s not like there was a big stick to hit him with and I just don’t happen to be the same size as any of you,” she retorted.
Cole sniggered as he held out a carrot and a beautiful black horse moseyed over to where they stood. “Good thing. You’d a been the biggest woman any of us had ever seen.” He reached up to stroke the neck of the stallion. “Seriously, sis, you could’ve been killed. I’m glad Alaric noticed the open pen or there could have been real problems.” He nodded at his friend, then turned to Eli, dusting off his hands. “And, thank you.”
“For what?” Eli couldn’t think of anything he’d done to deserve any types of gratitude.
Ethan clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t think we didn’t see how you were willing to use your body as a shield between that bull and our little sis. You’re a good man, Whittaker.”
Eli didn’t feel like such a good man. Truth was, he’d been scared to death. He also had to admit that he was grateful that animal had not gotten ahold of his hide as he was kind of attached to it. He chuckled to himself.
However, he couldn’t discount the fact that he liked the idea of her brothers warming up to him. Maybe she’d warm up to him again too. Even though they’d been discovered in a rather compromising position from the perspective of someone looking in, he didn’t want her brothers to think that he, in any way, was trying to take advantage of their unfortunate predicament. He’d known too many men who would have, but he was realizing more and more every day just how much he wanted to get away from that life.
“It’s nothing any of you wouldn’t have done.” He glanced over to where Hannah had sat down on a stack of fresh straw he guessed they were going to throw into the corral. “Your father did entrust her safety to me, after all.”
“True,” Cole conceded, then a huge grin grew on his face and he clicked his tongue.
The horse reared up onto his hind legs, startling Eli enough that he moved to take a step back, but something blocked his retreat and he stumbled backward over a giant, newly cut tree trunk and onto his hind end.
Where did that come from?
Everyone laughed, including Eli as he quickly scrambled to his feet, heat searing the back of his neck.
“You’d think a lumberjack would be able to smell the scent of fresh-cut wood from a hundred yards.” He took off his hat and dusted the front legs of his trousers with it, then glanced up to see one of the ranch hands atop a horse dragging a cart with two more logs toward them.
“Are you all right?” Hannah asked as she rushed to his side.
“All except my pride,” he said with half a smile.
She closed her eyes and shook her head with a little laugh. “You men and your pride,” she said as she leaned up against the corral gate behind her brother and Alaric put his arm around her shoulders.
A twinge of jealousy caught in Eli’s gut at the sight.
“Time to start gearing up for the season,” Ethan said. “Sometimes winter comes pretty early around here, and we’ve got to have plenty firewood stocked in the woodshed.”
Eli understood that.
“Need any help?”
“Won’t turn it down,” Ethan said as he tossed a stack of straw over the corral fence.
Eli nodded, his hat clutched by the rim in his hands.
The black horse that had startled him pranced around the enclosure with the grace of royalty. Cole climbed up over the gate and whistled. The horse trotted over to where he sat. It wasn’t like anything he’d ever seen. The stallion wasn’t simply obeying the rancher’s commands, but seemed eager to please, playful.
“I’ve never seen a horse quite like that. Is it a new breed?” Eli asked.
When he’d been just barely a man of sixteen, Lucas, Jonah’s younger brother, had gifted him with a beautiful two-year-old bay gelding that stood at sixteen hands. It had been too much of a horse for him at the time, but he’d grown to trust and ride as good as any of the Deardon brothers. This horse reminded him a lot of Kratos, named after the Greek god of power, strength, and sovereign rule.
The Lumberjack Page 11
