“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Cassie answered quietly, aware she hadn’t been invited to the event. In fact, she’d never heard a word about it.
“What are you planning to wear?” Victoria continued, admiring the fabric.
Cassie’s chin lifted a fraction. “I haven’t been invited.” Her voice was quiet, calm, laced with hurt.
“Of course you are. Everyone is.” She turned to her brother. “You told her about the Lancer cookout for July fourth, didn’t you?”
Shane gazed up toward the sky. “Not yet.”
“Shame on you! Well, of course you’re invited, Cassie. You and Millicent and Andrew. I don’t know where my brother’s manners are.” This was said with a heated look directed toward Shane.
“Maybe I didn’t have a chance to ask her yet, Victoria.”
“What better time is there?”
“When you’re not around, for one. I was figuring on a long ride home alone with Cassie—seems like that would have been a good time, Miss Nosey Pants.”
Cassie glanced at Shane in surprise. The indignation on his face seemed real.
“Victoria won’t be happy till I’m on bended knee, I suppose,” Shane muttered. “I had planned on asking you later…” He glanced aside to glare at his sister who promptly stuck her tongue out at him. “Would you like to go to the cookout we have every year—that is—you and Millicent and Andrew?”
“I’ve never been to a Western cookout,” Cassie replied hesitantly, remembering her neighbors’ hostile behavior. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be cast inside a hornets’ nest.
“Then you have a treat in store.” Victoria took Cassie’s arm and led her toward the house. “We’ll have some dinner, and I’ll tell you all about—”
“But I don’t want to impose,” Cassie tried to protest.
“You’re not imposing. ’Sides, Shane doesn’t have to get back for a while. Let me show you the picture in the fashion magazine of the dress I’m going to make with this material. I have the newest Godey’s Lady’s Book my aunt sent me. Of course, it hasn’t been the same since Godey sold out, but this style’s still way ahead of anything I have hanging in my chifforobe. You know, I’ve been thinking about trying one of those new graded patterns through Godey’s shopping service. What do you think? I bet we could…”
Victoria’s voice trailed off as she continued into the house. Shane shook his head in a mixture of amusement and exasperation. His sister not only took the cake, she diced it up and threw it to the hogs. Expelling a gusty sigh, he climbed the steps into his sister’s house, trying to fix a smile on his face while he listened to what he knew would be hours of talk on fashions. He’d have had more luck getting Cassie alone in the middle of town hall. And Cassie thought she lived in an isolated territory. Hah!
10
Millicent guided the wagon down the dusty road. Fire-red clay rose in choking waves, and she was beginning to regret her rash decision. She had watched Cassie try the shearing for the last two weeks with a pair of clippers borrowed from Hector and realized they were fighting a losing battle. So Millicent decided to learn how to shear a sheep. It had seemed like a very sensible idea that morning, but now, a few hours later, she had yet to find Hector. She squinted through the orange haze of dust and thought she spotted a horseman.
Elated, she snapped the reins smartly and headed his way. As she neared the chestnut bay, she realized the rider was not Hector. Millicent felt a warmth spreading through her limbs as she recognized her neighbor. She slowed the wagon, easing to a stop.
He tilted his hat, a smile transforming his face.
“Miss Groden. So you’ve found my place.”
Millicent hated to dash cold water on his pleasure. “Actually, Mr. Bond, I was trying to find Hector but I seem to have lost the proper direction.” Millicent wondered if she imagined the disappointment that flickered briefly in his eyes. “It is a pleasure to see you, though,” she added hastily.
His smile widened. “Ringer, please.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Would you call me Ringer, ma’am?”
“If you wish,” she responded cautiously. “Is Ringer your Christian name?”
He laughed heartily in response. “No, ma’am, but that’s what I go by.”
“I see.” But it was apparent she didn’t. “Would you mind my asking why?”
“When I was a kid, some of the older cowpokes set me up with a horse that nobody’d ever been able to break. They told me he was an old horse we’d already put out to pasture. Fact was he was a dead ringer for the horse in the pasture. I was too embarrassed to admit the horse was killing me, so I kept getting back on till I broke him. The boys started calling me Ringer, and it stuck.”
The humor of his story struck Millicent, and she tried to restrain the laughter that bubbled to the surface. But when she gazed into his mischievous eyes, she was lost. The laugh grew, erupted, and multiplied as Ringer joined in.
“I’m sorry,” she finally gasped.
“Nothing to be sorry about, ma’am. Guess I’ve had that handle for so long that it just sounded natural. Took somebody new to remind me how funny it is.”
“I don’t mean to poke fun at your name,” Millicent replied. “And please call me Millicent, not ma’am.”
“I’d be pleased to, Millicent.”
She met his eyes and felt an odd catch in her throat as he spoke her name. He made it seem almost lovely. She started to reply and found that the breeze snatched away the beginning of her answer, tossing it skyward and leaving her breathless. She searched the gentle creases of his weathered face and wondered at the pain that had caused them. And wondered at the floating sensation that seemed to possess her limbs. You’re too old to be getting fanciful, she scolded herself. Much too old.
She cleared her throat, hoping her head would clear also. “I don’t suppose you’d know where the Basque’s pasture would be?”
His easy smile split his face. “Yes’m. Just over the next rise. You were almost there.”
“I was lucky to have seen you, then. I was heading down the road and I…” Her words trailed off as his impossibly wide smile grew even wider.
“If you don’t mind my saying, ma’am, I’m the lucky one.”
Millicent found herself doing something she hadn’t done in more years than she cared to count. She blushed. From the top of her ginger hair to the lace collar of her calico dress, she flushed. “Well, I…” Millicent stuttered, hopelessly realizing that flirtation was a lost art she’d never really mastered.
Ringer tipped his Stetson. “I’d best let you get on your way, Millicent.”
She willed the revealing heat to leave her burning cheeks, wondering if she sounded as rattled as she no doubt looked. “Yes, I need to see the Basque.” She picked up the reins to signal the horses, hesitated, and stared straight ahead, avoiding Ringer’s face as she spoke. “I’d be pleased to have you stop by for coffee.” She fervently hoped her face hadn’t taken on the hue of a ripe tomato.
“That’d be right nice, ma’am.”
Daring a quick glance at him, she relaxed a bit at the pleasure showing on his face. “Well, then, I’ll be on my way.”
“Yes’m.” He gaited his horse back as she flicked the reins. “I’ll be seeing you soon, Millicent.”
She nodded her head in reply, inwardly glowing as he said her name. Millicent felt as foolish as an old maid at a wedding, but the dreamer locked inside her melted as she thought of his blue eyes and winsome smile.
The warmth of that smile carried her through the dandelion-laden meadow and over the gentle rise to the abundant summer pasture. She spotted the Basque and opened her mouth to call a greeting. Instead her smile froze and the warmth in her stomach cooled and battled with the bile rising in her throat. Oh, God, no!
11
Cassie forced the cup of hot tea into Millicent’s shaking hands.
“You’ll feel better with something warm in you,” Cassie insisted gently, shak
en more than she’d cared to admit by Millicent’s discovery.
More than a dozen of their spring lambs had been slaughtered horribly. Their decapitated, mutilated carcasses had been strewn over the south end of the pasture, and their heads floated grotesquely in the water barrels.
Millicent shivered uncontrollably despite the warm tea in her hands and the shawl Cassie had wrapped around her knees.
“Andrew!” Cassie blurted out, suddenly worried about his safety.
“I sent Evan to find him,” Shane replied.
Suspicion overwhelmed Cassie, and she glanced over at Shane.
“I figured you’d want the boy close to home.”
Cassie didn’t answer. Had Shane purposely planned his visit so that he would be free of suspicion when the sheep were discovered?
Glancing at the top of Shane’s gleaming head as he leaned toward Millicent, Cassie wanted urgently to believe they didn’t need protection from Shane. Encountering Shane’s intense regard, she felt her stomach constricting. Could she stand knowing the answer?
“Milly.” Cassie shook her friend’s shoulder gently, and Millicent’s eyelids slowly fluttered open. “I’m sorry to wake you, but you have a visitor, and he’s very insistent. He says he has to see you.”
Millicent shook her head groggily and raised herself up on her elbows. “Who could it be, Cass?” Millicent didn’t know how long she’d been asleep. Cassie had insisted she go to bed after she’d fixed her a liberally laced hot toddy, and Cassie had drawn the curtains so the room had remained darkened. It was hard to tell if it were still afternoon, evening, or the next morning.
“A Mr. Bond. I tried to send him away but he wouldn’t budge.”
Ringer! Millicent felt a sudden rush of warmth. “Tell him I’ll see him in a moment. I have to freshen up.”
Cassie’s jaw dropped in amazement.
“He’s perfectly respectable. I met him one day when you were out rounding up strays.”
“You didn’t mention it.” Millicent could hear the gentle reproach in Cassie’s voice.
“It must have slipped my mind, Cassie,” Millicent fibbed. She hadn’t wanted to share the pleasant encounter with anyone. She’d been afraid it wouldn’t be repeated, and she’d wanted to treasure the surprisingly pleasant feelings his visit had evoked.
“If you’re certain.” Cassie’s face was wreathed in concern, and Millicent didn’t want to cause her any more worry.
“Ringer came by to meet you. He offered to help us out since he’s our nearest neighbor.” Millicent could see some of the worry falling from Cassie’s brow.
“Ringer?” Cassie said curiously, then smiled and shook her head. “Oh, well, I trust your good judgment…I’ll offer him coffee while you’re getting ready if he can settle in one place long enough. The man’s about worn a hole in the rug already.”
Millicent rapidly discarded her rumpled dress and pulled a fresh Wedgwood-blue day dress from the large pine wardrobe. She fastened the long row of cloth-colored buttons up the bodice of her dress and crossed to the full-length mirror. One glance at her puffy eyes was enough. Wishing she had a bottle of witch hazel, Millicent instead poured a generous amount of water from the pitcher into the bowl and dipped a linen cloth in the liquid. She laid the cool cloth against her swollen eyes and bathed her cheeks and forehead.
Another critical examination in the cheval glass assured her that her red hair was still wound into a respectable coil. She knew she didn’t look her best, but only time would improve her puffy eyes.
Taking a deep breath, Millicent grasped the door handle and pulled the door open. She hesitated as she entered the front room, studying Ringer’s back as he paced toward the window. He held his hat in his hand, turning it around continually. Just as abruptly, he turned toward her. Without a word he covered the room in a few immense strides.
“Are you really all right, Millicent?” The agitation in his voice was clear.
“Yes, Ringer. I was upset, but I’m all right.” She cocked her head in puzzlement. “How did you know what happened?” It seemed unlikely that Cassie would have revealed to a perfect stranger what her friend had discovered.
“You didn’t come back, and after a few hours I rode to the Basque’s pasture and I saw…Hell, I didn’t know what to think!”
Millicent felt her heart catch in her throat at his concern. “Hector took me home over the eastern crest. I’m sorry if you were worried.”
“Worried doesn’t begin…” Ringer reached out and grasped her shoulders. “I’m just glad you weren’t hurt.” As though realizing he was overstepping the bounds of propriety, Ringer dropped his hands to his sides. “What are you going to do now?”
“Do? Well, I guess we’ll group our flock with Hector’s and—”
“You don’t mean you’re going through with this tomfoolery?”
Millicent’s head jerked upright. “Tomfoolery?” She kept her voice deceptively quiet.
“Whoever butchered your sheep was playing for keeps. What makes you think it won’t be you or one of your friends instead of a sheep next time?”
His concern was touching, but she’d thought he was different. She’d thought he understood. “Do you expect us to just pack up and leave? That’s what this despicable person is hoping for.”
“It isn’t safe for you here. Not while you’re tied in with the Daltons. You just don’t realize—” He broke off abruptly, pain filling his face as it had when he’d told her he no longer had a family.
“We aren’t running.” Millicent heard the determination in her voice and realized she felt as strongly as Cassie did about their new start in the West. It might not be her legacy, but it was a chance for a life she couldn’t have even dreamed of in Boston.
Ringer sighed deeply, then lifted his head and locked her moss-green eyes with his own deep blue ones. “Then you’re being as foolish as your friend.”
“I appreciate your concern, Ringer.” Millicent’s voice was soft in the growing shadows of twilight that shrouded the house. She wondered absently where Cassie had gone.
Ringer’s eyes seemed to narrow in determination. “You may be seeing more of me than you counted on, ma’am.”
“Oh?” Millicent questioned almost breathlessly.
“Yes’m. If I can’t talk you into leaving for your own safety, then I’m going to be around here a lot more often.”
Millicent nodded her acceptance. “I’ll agree to that. Ringer. But make no mistake, we’re neither faint-hearted nor feather-brained. We’ll not be scared off by cowards that sneak in, destroy, and then flee.”
Ringer’s grim eyes flickered with untold pain as they met and held hers. “That’s what I’m afraid of, ma’am.”
12
“It’s been almost two weeks, Sis! You can’t keep me hidden behind your skirts forever doing lessons!” Andrew’s changing voice cracked on the last word, rising in high-pitched anxiety.
Cassie placed a worried hand on his still smooth cheek. “I know, Button.” She hadn’t called him that in years. Not since he’d told her it embarrassed him in front of his friends. She understood his frustration; he was no longer a child, but not yet a man.
And now she felt equally torn. She’d taken a stand that they would remain, yet she was too fearful to let Andrew return to the flock.
Shane repeated his offer daily to buy her out, and his tactics chipped away at her. His attempts grew more insistent, more relentless.
“Oh, Cassie!” Andrew’s adolescent voice broke with a cry between disgust and frustration.
“What if there’s trouble?” she questioned, wishing she hadn’t placed him in such a dangerous situation, wishing she’d realized all the pitfalls before impulsively bringing them all here.
“Do you want to lose the ranch?”
“Of course not. I just want to make sure you’re safe.”
“I’ll be careful, Sis. If we group together and keep all of the dogs with the flock, we’ll be safe.”
�
�If I say yes…”
“I knew you’d come to your senses.”
“I did say ‘if,’” she reminded him. “I want you to have a plan of watch.”
“Anything you say. Between Brady, Bob, and me, we’ll be covered.”
Cassie tried to keep a frown from forming on her face. She still didn’t trust Bob Jensen. His constantly shifting eyes and stealthy ways bothered her. But she hadn’t been able to get anyone else besides Brady, Wilbur’s swamper, to work for her. And it galled Cassie that Shane had wanted her to get rid of Jensen. What made the situation even more intolerable was that Shane had planted those seeds of distrust about Jensen.
“Andrew’s right, you know.” Cassie swung around at the sound of Millicent’s voice, and they both watched Andrew tear off to the barn.
“I suppose so. It doesn’t make letting him go any easier, though.” Cassie leaned against the corral railing as she spoke.
“So, what’s on the agenda for today?”
“Flushing.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Flushing. It’s to get ready for breeding.”
Millicent backed away. “Don’t count on me.”
“We’re stretched pretty thin right now, Milly. I could really use your help.”
“I don’t know…”
“We don’t have to do very much. Right now, we just have to put one ram in with the ewes. Oh, and check to make sure their feed’s up.”
“Why?”
“Geez, Milly. You know.”
“You mean so they can…”
“Uh-huh.”
“Oh.”
“Besides, haven’t you noticed the rams lately?”
“Running the house keeps me pretty busy, Cass. What do you mean?”
Summer Rose Page 8
