Love on the Ranch

by Ciara Knight

  The wind whistled like a steam train, and she thought about swinging the door open and falling into his arms, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

  After a moment, the shadow of his candlelit steps disappeared from under the door. She rested her head against the cool, solid wood and closed her eyes, wishing to be home in a huddle of her sisters. They’d been poor and starving at times, but she’d never felt so alone as she did now in the dark of the night.

  She crawled into bed and buried her head under the pillow, praying for the storm to end and the morning light to shine again. At some point, she’d managed to doze, only to wake at the first call of the rooster. Even though Jeb had ordered her not to cook for the men, not to allow them back into his home, she still couldn’t lounge all day, waiting to be returned to Sherman like a bad egg to the mercantile.

  With her worn and somewhat less than appealing-smelling dress, she decided not to sit around and wait. There had to be something she could do to stay a little longer until she could devise a plan. It wasn’t so bad here, not with Mary and the men. They felt like family. Safe, dry, and enough food to fill her belly daily promised far better than what could be waiting for her in Sherman.

  She padded down the stairs and went outside to listen for groans or snores from the men. It had appeared that they’d all left for the day already. Fine, she’d talk to Cookie and see if she could make some sort of arrangements with him. She’d do all the work in exchange for food and some soft hay in the barn to sleep on, and then she could stay for a bit longer.

  The chicken’s clucked in encouragement, and one even ran to the small A-framed structure on the other side of the barn, as if to lead her to Cookie. She avoided the barn and the memories of her breathing debacle last night, pushed up her sleeves, and knocked on the front door, but it squeaked open at her touch.

  “Hello? Cookie? Are you in there?” She waited to the count of five, then nudged the door open. The room smelled like urine and sweat, but she didn’t see any sign of the man named Cookie. She rounded the small home and found a pot hanging over an open fire, bubbling with charred goo.

  The odor of rotting meat and decayed vegetables made her gasp and cover her nose with her sleeve. With one stuttered inhale, she held her breath long enough to grab a cloth and remove the pot from the fire before she stumbled away coughing. Her lungs constricted and expanded with the desire to rid it of the smell of waste.

  “Whatcha think you doin’? You must be that women who almost ran me out of a job.” Long grey facial hair swung with his stumbling.

  Elizabeth cleared her throat and swallowed. “You must be Cookie. Just the man I wanted to see.” She forced a pleasant smile and light tone to her voice. “I thought it was time we met.”

  “Time for me to get you out of here. You’re poison.” Cookie slinked over to her, his breath greeting her with a nauseating punch before he grabbed her arm. His grasp told her he was younger than he looked and packed his muscles hidden under the oversized, ripped, filthy shirt hanging half out of his pants. “Boss is right. Women are nothing but lying and manipulative.”

  That remark jolted her enough to push his hand away, but he was quick and penned her against the wall.

  “Sir, you will unhand me, or I will scream.”

  “Who’s gonna hear you? Men gone. Woman of the house went to the neighbors. You ain’t gonna do nothing but give me what I want, then I’ll dump you in Sherman. No one will ever know. Then the men will go back to liking my food.”

  She pressed both hands to his chest and shoved. “No!”

  He stumbled back and fell on his rear with a thump loud enough to tell her it would take a second for him to recover. She bolted toward the house, but he scurried like a rat after crumbs.

  “You ain’t goin’ nowhere ‘till I’m done with you.”

  Flashes of Dinah’s attack paralyzed Elizabeth for a second. She was innocent, but not protected from the desires of men. She forgot her ladylike ways and punched him in the mouth, but he only pinned her arms behind her. She kicked and thrashed and fought with all her strength. Then she felt it. His gun still on his belt.

  She put her hand to his mouth to keep it from her lips, and with her other hand she grabbed the gun from his holster. He captured her wrist before she could pull it free. She kneed him, but still couldn’t free her wrist, so she closed her eyes and said a prayer and fired the holstered gun.

  “Awwwuhhh!” He doubled over reaching for his foot, so she took advantage of his distraction and slipped the gun free. He fell to the ground. “You shot me!”

  She looked down to the tip of his shoe and found a hole in it. It was little more than a graze, and she knew he wasn’t done with her, so she lifted the gun straight at his head.

  “If there is one thing I learned during the war, it’s how to shoot a man who wants to cause me harm. Now you best go before I shoot you the way I wanted to shoot that union soldier who attacked my sister. This time, it’ll be a fair fight one to one, and I’m the one with the gun and a hateful memory.”

  “What’s going on here?” Jeb rode up on horseback as if to rescue her, but she didn’t need him. She’d rescued herself.

  “The woman’s crazy,” Cookie said.

  She kept the gun pointed at Cookie and thought about shooting him for his words. “He attacked me.”

  “What?” Jeb dismounted.

  Cookie cowered from him but pointed at her with his blackened nails. “Just like you say. She’s lying and manipulatin’. All women the same. She’s just tryin’ to stay and take my job. And I ain’t gonna let her.”

  He lunged for her, but Jeb caught him by his belt and tossed him to the ground like a bale of hay. “You never put a hand on a lady.” Jeb glanced at Elizabeth, whose hand began to shake as if her body had caught up to the situation and the terror of it. Jeb held up both of his hands in front of his chest and shuffled toward her. “It’s all right. He’s not going to touch you. I won’t allow it. You’re safe on my land.”

  Her hand shook harder than the shutters on the house had rumbled from the storm last night. Jeb covered the gun with his hand and slipped it from her grasp. She shook her head and stumbled back to the wall of the shack.

  “You gonna have to hog-tie that woman before I drive her into town. She’s crazy. You gonna have to pay me to see the doc, too. Look what she did.”

  Jeb rounded on him. Elizabeth didn’t need to see his face to know he was as red as fire based on his ridged stance and tight grip on the gun. “You listen to me and listen good. You have five minutes to get off my land and never return or I’ll put a bullet in that hollow space between your ears.”

  Cookie huffed. “You takin’ her side? The crazy woman? Guess she won you over, too, with her feminine ways. All you men are under her spell. I should have her hung or burned for such tricks. She got you bewitched. Guess you’re just like your pa after all.”

  Jeb lifted Cookie up by the shirt and threw him toward the shack. “Shut your mouth and leave before I take you to the sheriff.”

  “He aint gonna listen. Her word against mine. And he’ll believe me,” Cookie said, but still headed to the other side of the building.

  “He’s certainly not going to listen to a horse thief.”

  Cookie stopped dead. “I didn’t steal no horse.”

  “Your word against mine. Who’s he going to believe?” Jeb said with a tone that ordered submission. “You better make tracks, now.”

  Before Elizabeth could even recover from her ordeal, the man was running to the road. Not even waiting for a horse to ride.

  When Cookie was past the house and almost a dot in the distance, Jeb went to Elizabeth and put his arm around her shoulder. “Let’s get you inside. I want you to know that I would never treat a woman that way, and I never would have told Cookie to take you to town if I knew he’d try something so disgusting. I’m just happy I arrived in time to save you. I knew this ranch wasn’t a place for a beautiful young woman like you.”

&
nbsp; The way he cuddled her into his side, his gentle tone, his sympathetic gaze, and his complimentary words once would have comforted her. Instead, it made her mad. “You didn’t save me.”

  Jeb stopped at the edge of the porch steps and blinked at her. “What do you mean?”

  “I saved myself. And you’re wrong. I am fine here. I can handle myself, and now that you don’t have a cook for your men, you need me.”

  She stomped up the porch steps, into the house, up the stairs, and collapsed on her bed to cry. Cry from the fear of what the man had attempted, cry for the realization of how horrifying the ordeal had been for Dinah, cry because she was alone in a foreign world with people who didn’t respect or love her. But she made sure her tears were silent. No way she’d ever let Jeb Clayton know that she wasn’t strong enough to handle Cookie and his aggressive manners.

  She needed to be stronger, more aware. At least there had been one shining star in the darkness: Jeb couldn’t send her away now. Not unless he wanted to cook for his men. Of course, the first time he went to Sherman he could find a replacement cook, or maybe he could ask one of the men to take on cooking duties, but she doubted he was prepared to do either.

  After she washed her face, she marched down to the kitchen and decided she couldn’t worry over things she couldn’t control, but she could cook the best darn meal of her life and try to earn her spot among the men.

  Life was too unpredictable to rely on a man, especially one that only thought women were good for birthing babies. She needed to do it on her own or find a life partner. Lord knew the minute a man died, the woman had nothing left. She’d figured that out when her father and brothers had passed. They were left defenseless, and with no resources. That would never happen again. She’d make sure she never had to submit to any man’s wishes, and she would be the commander of her own future.

  Chapter Eight

  Jeb smashed his fist against the barn wall, splintering the wood. His horse reared in his stall. “Sorry, boy.”

  “What’s got you madder than March Hare?” Teddy asked, remaining near the barn door.

  The smell of hay and regrets filled Jeb’s lungs. “I almost sent Cookie away with Miss McKinnie.”

  “Ah, you woke up and figured out she’s perfect and you want to keep her?” Teddy smiled with a huge I-told-you-so grin.

  “No, you don’t understand. I meant to send her alone on a solitary road all the way to Sherman with Cookie.”

  “You’re right. I don’t understand.” Teddy inched into the barn but pressed his back against the wall.

  Jeb let out a long breath, but he couldn’t release the tightness in his chest. “It would’ve been my fault if he had…had…”

  “Oh.” Teddy drew a line back and forth with his left foot. “Cookie tried to…become better acquainted with Miss McKinnie?”

  Jeb punched the solid beam. This time the wood didn’t crack, but his hand did. He ground his teeth tight through the pain. At least he could focus on something besides the image of Cookie penning Elizabeth to the wall. “Yes.” He leaned his forehead against the barn pole and closed his eyes, waiting for the sting to fade on his knuckles.

  “I would accuse you of caring, but I remember you jumping in when those two men in Sherman dragged me behind the bank and you pounded them. You didn’t even know me at the time. I knew right then and there I had to work for you. A man who would always defend someone in need. Since you keep saying you don’t care, I assume it’s just that, your need to protect people.”

  Jeb remembered the two men who tried to rob Teddy. He was half their height and didn’t even have a weapon to defend himself. “It wasn’t a fair fight.”

  “Yes, but most men in Sherman would walk the other way and avoid trouble. You walked into it.” Teddy strutted over with an ease in his step. “Boss, it wasn’t your fault. No reason you should’ve thought Cookie would do such a thing. He’s worked here for over a year and never did nothing like that before. Besides, you knew him even before this ranch, right?”

  “I should’ve known. A man and a bottle always lead to such things.”

  Teddy slapped him on the back. “You’re too hard on yourself. I just have one question, though.”

  “What’s that?” Jeb lifted his head and quirked a brow at him.

  “Where’s the body? I’m your man. I’ll hide it and take the fall if I need to. Better yet, I’ll say I shot him for horse thieving.”

  Jeb couldn’t help but smile. Not at the ludicrousness of his words, but that he knew Teddy meant everything he said. He’d take the fall and never complain. He was a good and loyal ranch hand. “No need. I didn’t harm him. Not any permanent damage, anyway. I only threatened him. Apparently, you’ve been with me too long, because I used the horse thieving to run him off. I knew him attacking Miss McKinnie wouldn’t merit any time in jail, but horse thieving would make him run. Cookie likes his head attached to his neck.”

  “Good.” Teddy grabbed the brush and opened the stall. “How’s Miss McKinnie doing?”

  Maverick neighed and bowed his head, so Jeb rubbed his nose. The sound of the bristles down Maverick’s back soothed them both. “She’s fine. Not sure she even needed me to intervene. That is one feisty woman. Not at all the attitude of such a delicate thing as she appears to be. Not at all what I’d expect from a Southern belle.”

  Teddy paused brushing and peered around the flank of Maverick raising his brows at Jeb. “Be careful.”

  “Of what?”

  He resumed brushing, and Teddy ducked into Maverick’s shadow. “Someone might think you sound impressed by Miss McKinnie. Maybe even a little interested.”

  Jeb let out a sound that he didn’t even know he could make, something between a pig squeal and a cow yawn. “Impressed at the fight she put up? Sure. Who wouldn’t be?”

  “Right. Good thing you’re not interested in her.”

  Jeb stopped stroking Maverick’s nose, so he nuzzled closer to Jeb’s neck. “Why’s that?”

  “Because there isn’t a man on this land, and probably in all of the Texas Territory, that doesn’t want to marry a woman who can cook and fight while looking like an angel with a golden-red halo.”

  Jeb’s hackles rose, but he didn’t make a sound, or he’d sound like a wolf in heat. Instead, he backed away and headed to the house in silence. When he reached the edge of the barn door, he spotted Elizabeth. She wasn’t resting in her room, recovering from the ordeal. Instead, she’d set up a food station on the front porch. Somehow, she’d dragged the table from in front of the fireplace outside and brought the wooden benches from the dining table.

  The smell of stew invited him up the steps with its promise of a good, rib-clinging meal. Elizabeth exited the house but paused, holding a large pot with a cloth. “If you’re going to tell me I’m not supposed to cook for the men, then you can just hold your tongue. It’s my fault Cookie is gone, and even if you send me away in an hour, I’m going to make sure those boys have a delicious meal first.”

  Jeb didn’t know what to say. He found himself frozen on the second to the top step as he noticed an amber halo surrounding her with the setting sun beaming from her side.

  She stomped her foot. “Well, you gonna get out of my way, or am I going to have to dump this stew on you, too? You should know this is hot, though.”

  The steam rising from the oversized pot confirmed her words. Then he noticed how her hands were shaking. Was it from the ordeal? He grabbed the pot from her grip and set it on the table. “You should go rest. You’ve been through a terrible ordeal.”

  “Pfhumph,” she said, blowing air through her extended bottom lip and causing the free strands of hair to fly around her face, then settle at her cheeks. “I’m fine.”

  Her words were firm, but he saw something in her set jaw and wide eyes before she about-faced and stormed back into the house. She returned with a basket full of what smelled like bread. His mouth watered with the idea of her delicious biscuits, but when she opened them, he noti
ced it was corn bread. Not his favorite, but he was sure she’d made it well enough for him to try. It was always dry in his mouth, and after a day on the dusty land, he didn’t want anything dry.

  “Listen. I owe you an apology,” Jeb blurted.

  She froze, her hand resting on the cloth covering the muffins. “I’m listening.”

  He scanned the horizon, then hooked his thumbs on his gun belt before facing her. “I’m sorry for what happened.”

  She shrugged and stirred the stew. “That must’ve been painful, but out of all the things you’ve done to me since I met you, that is the one thing you don’t need to apologize for.”

  Hooves hit the packed earth in rapid succession. The men were hungry and must’ve smelled that Elizabeth had been cooking again.

  “Of course it’s my fault,” he said while they still had a brief second alone. “You are living on my ranch, and I should have control of my men. It won’t happen again.”

  She laughed. A delicate, soft, sweet sound with a hint of something dark.

  “What are you laughing about?”

  Men dismounted and unsaddled their horses. She watched for a moment, then dropped the spoon to the side of the bowl with a clank. “You’re not my husband, so you are not responsible for my well-being. And as for the men, you cannot possibly guarantee that none of your men would ever behave in such a way. That being said, I feel safe with the others. None of them have been anything but kind and considerate. Although their manners are rough, a casualty of living with all men for so long, I’m sure, it does not place me in any danger.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head to the side. “And for your information, I do not need to be protected. I can handle myself.”

  “Yes. I saw that.”

  Her eyebrows drew together with anger, but he held up his hand. “No, seriously, I mean that. You fought Cookie off like a grown man. I was…impressed.”