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Love on the Ranch

Page 9

by Ciara Knight


  A boot kicking his leg shook him awake. Streaks of orange and gold shone overhead from the first sunrise he’d missed in years. He must have truly needed the sleep, and to all appearances, his pack of men were so well trained that none of them had ever been in any danger. And yet Jeb couldn’t shake his guilt at not personally staying awake to protect Elizabeth.

  “Never thought of you as a lazy man,” Teddy teased. “Couldn’t even wake you for our morning scout of the area.”

  Jeb scrubbed his face, feeling the sharp hair on his cheeks. “You never tried.”

  “Oh, I tried, but you must have been in the sweet sleep of a princess.”

  Jeb swallowed, half ready to call Teddy a liar. “You’re kidding.”

  “Nope. I said we should kick you until you woke up, but that little, weak woman of yours insisted we let you sleep. And when Samuel found out she’d be takin’ watch with him, he wasn’t about to argue.”

  His shoulders rose, and he took a long breath. How dare she make that call for him. His job as the leader of this group was to protect them. All of them.

  But he stifled the reproach in his throat, because a strong leader also knew which battles to fight, and he’d look like a damn fool fighting this one. At the end of the day, everyone was safe.

  “No, I guess not,” he said.

  The pain in his shoulder had burned out to a dull simmer. He managed to stand with less difficulty than he expected. Bacon and eggs sizzled on a frying pan nearby, and the rich aroma drew him to the fire almost as much as the woman tending it.

  His breath caught at the sight of all the ringlets of red bouncing along her spine. She’d taken her hair down, and each strand caught the shimmering light with gold and ember shimmers. “Rest of the men already ate. I wouldn’t let them wake you until we were ready to go. How’s the shoulder?”

  Without even looking at him, she plated the food and set it to the side before she kicked dirt over the fire and began packing up the wagon.

  “You should rest,” he said. “You’ve done enough in the last several hours.”

  “I’ve done no more than any other man on the drive.” Elizabeth set the crate down, twisted her hair, and shoved pins in to make it stay.

  If he had his say, she’d wear her hair down every day. Of course, that wouldn’t be practical on the trail, but that was another reason why he couldn’t let her stay. She had him thinking of doing all sorts of things that weren’t practical.

  “Mark and Winston and Kevin you’re drag, no complaining about dirt and dust back there. It’s what the newest men get. Samuel and Charles, you’ve got swing, Bart and Luke you’ve got flank. I’ll take point again.” Teddy hollered at the men.

  Jeb grabbed his plate and headed for Teddy. “I’m fine. I’ll ride point.”

  “Not until we reach the camp tomorrow. Miss McKinnie’s orders. Forty-eight hours of no riding, she told me.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Jeb protested.

  Teddy shot him a glare before walking up to him and leaning in. “That woman needs a rest. You drive the wagon.” He winked. “Don’t tell her I said nothing, though. She’ll never agree.”

  Jeb watched Elizabeth load up the rest of the gear, her hands looking cramped and her back arched. Not to mention the flush of her cheeks. “Fine, but I’m driving the wagon, then,” he said, loud enough so that Elizabeth would hear.

  After several seconds of no response, he ate a few bites of his eggs and bacon, then joined Elizabeth. “You really should take a break.”

  “I don’t need one. Besides, the faster we get to the camp, the faster we get the money, and the faster you’ll have me out of your life,” Elizabeth said, hurtling the last crate over one and settling it into the wagon. She slid past him and climbed up on the right, indicating he’d be driving.

  The wind blew steady and clouds rolled in. With Teddy’s whistle, they all dredged forward. “You know, if we can keep yesterday’s pace, we’ll reach the river by night fall, cross in the morning and then be to the camp by mid-day. Of course, we’ll need to ride back, but that isn’t more than a day and half.”

  She didn’t say anything.

  “What do you plan to do with your hundred dollars?” he asked.

  Elizabeth shook her head. “I don’t know yet, but I’ll figure something out. I’m not your problem.”

  “I didn’t mean that…I only—”

  “Only what?” Elizabeth asked, her tone sharp and clear.

  Anything he said would sound condescending. “Nothing.” He set his attention on the trail ahead, wishing he was back on his horse where a man belonged. They rode for hours in silence until he couldn’t handle it anymore. He always thought women never stopped talking, but Elizabeth, he couldn’t get a word out of her. “How’d you learn to use a rifle like that?”

  She studied her dirt and dust-covered dress. “We needed to eat, and after the war, I swore no man would enter my home again without my invitation.” Her words were cross and fierce, and he had no doubt she meant them.

  He waited a few breaths to see if she’d elaborate. When she didn’t, he prodded again. “Do you have a big family?”

  “I did. Six sisters, three brothers, and parents.” She picked at the dirt in her nailbeds. A woman shouldn’t have hands that looked so worn from hard labor. They didn’t match the beautiful, flawless skin on her face.

  “Where are they now?” he asked, nudging a little further. He wanted to know more about the woman that rode with his crew.

  “Some died in war, others became mail-order brides.” She let out a long breath and tucked her bonnet around her face. “One of my brothers died in a train accident, another on the battlefield, one protecting my sister. And my ma, well, she died of a broken heart. Lands were burned, and so was our home. Only thing standing were two rooms from a once-grand mansion that was the envy of Atlanta. Our plantation once stretched as far as we could see. Our life was perfect until the Bluebellies took everything away.”

  “You mean the Union soldiers?”

  She nodded, her bonnet ruffle fluttering in the wind.

  That’s when he realized he’d never told Elizabeth what camp they were headed to. What would she say about selling to union soldiers? Would it be a problem? The war was over, and they were the only soldiers now.

  He internally shook himself for again having such impractical thoughts. It didn’t matter what she thought of the buyers. This was business, and if she had a problem with it, she’d have to suck it up, because she needed the money as much as he did if she was going to survive. But when she turned her head and he saw the tears in her eyes, he thought he’d drive the entire heard back to the ranch if it would make her smile.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The day drug on and on and on in silence. The drizzling rain followed them for miles until her dress felt heavy with the added weight of moisture. Jeb had spoken to her at the start, but she didn’t like getting to know the man. Not when he was only going to send her away as soon as they returned to Clayton Ranch. Strangers shouldn’t know personal information about a lady. It wasn’t proper.

  When they finally settled in for the next meal, she heated up some beans with meat.

  Bart was first in line. “I think you are the greatest gift to walk in the South, Miss McKinnie.”

  “I told you all to call me Elizabeth. You all call each other by first name. I’m just one of the ranch hands. You should call me what’s right.”

  “We mostly call cooks Cookie.”

  Elizabeth took a bite of her meat. “That wasn’t his name?”

  “No.” Samuel chuckled. “Just what the cook’s normally called. “We can call you Cookie.”

  “Elizabeth is fine,” she said with a little more assertiveness than she’d planned. Perhaps it was the wear and tear of the trail, or the fact she hadn’t had much sleep for the last day, or maybe it was all the possibilities Jeb had put in her head. Why would a man ask so many personal questions if he wasn’t aiming to get to know her
better? And why would he want to get to know her better if he wasn’t planning on courting her?

  “You got it, Elizabeth.”

  “Only on the trail. At the camp, you refer to her as Miss McKinnie. Got it? We don’t want any of those soldiers getting any ideas.” Jeb ordered.

  “We won’t let any of ‘em near her. She’s one of us now,” Teddy said with a touch of grit.

  “You know it. I’d protect her with my life,” Samuel said.

  Jeb held up a hand. “I know how you men feel about Elizabeth, but let’s not start any brawls with those men. We’d like to get paid.”

  “Of course, pay is the most important thing to you.” Elizabeth tossed her plate down and headed for the wagon to shift the empty crates to the back.

  “Now you done it,” Samuel said.

  “Yeah,” Bart agreed.

  “Did what?” Jeb asked with a huff.

  “Don’t know, but that is a woman for you. Whatever it is, apologize quick before she won’t make breakfast in the morning.”

  “I don’t have to win her affection to do that. I pay her. She’s the cook.”

  Elizabeth could feel her red-hair temper simmering, but she bit her lip and grumbled. “Didn’t get paid yet.”

  Jeb strutted over to her side. “What’s that?”

  “Nothin’, boss,” she said in her best ranch-hand accent with her hands twisted in front of her and her shoulders slumped.

  Jeb threw his hands up in the air. “Women.”

  “That’s right, I am a woman. Not that you’d notice.”

  “I noticed. Every man here has noticed.”

  “Are you saying I’m not doing my job? That I’m not pulling the same weight that the men are?”

  “No, you’re pulling too much. You’re going to collapse before we reach camp if you keep going like this. You are not a man, and you’re not equipped to handle this kind of job.”

  “Oooh!” Teddy groaned.

  “You best take them words back fast,” Samuel added.

  A rumble of thunder sounded in the distance, as if warning that her temper would explode in a moment if he didn’t start thinking before he spoke. “You listen to me, Jeb Clayton. Since the day I met you on that stagecoach, you’ve acted like a self-important scoundrel that only cares about money. You probably would sell your own mother for a dollar. But you don’t own me. And you never will own me. Since being a wife is the last job a person can have when they’re owned, beaten, and have no rights in their life. And a man like you would probably keep me starved, denied clothes, and forced to cook and clean until my fingers didn’t work anymore.”

  “I’ve been nothing but kind to you. I kept you in my home when you had nowhere else to go despite your lies. Every time I think there might be a redeeming quality about you, you prove me wrong with a quip, sour disposition, or high and mighty attitude, as if you’re better than me.”

  “Boss,” Samuel called.

  “Not now. We are going to work this out once and for all.” Jeb pushed up his sleeves and looked down his nose at her. “You might be beautiful. One of the most beautiful women that has ever traveled to these parts, but it doesn’t make you worthy of a man. All that means is you can manipulate, lie, and steal.”

  “You’ve found me out.” Elizabeth closed the last step between them and poked him in the chest with her finger. “I cook and clean in this ratty old dress, all so I can win you over with my beauty.”

  “Boss!” Teddy yelled.

  “What?”

  “Look.”

  Elizabeth followed his gaze to the largest, darkest storm she’d ever seen. The clouds rolled in around them like hungry teeth ready to chomp them all into raindrops. “Best get everything cleaned up quick and stored away.” She scrambled to grab the crates, leaving Jeb with his red-faced, tense-jawed, narrow-eyed expression.

  “Best finish up the vittles,” Jeb warned the men. “We’re going to be rounding up cattle if that storm doesn’t pass us by.”

  “Get a move on and get ready,” Teddy ordered the men.

  As if in answer to Teddy’s words, a streak of lightening splintered across the sky, the brightness like an echo of warning in the fluffy, angry clouds. Three seconds later, a loud clap of thunder rolled across the land, both aboveground and below. The handle of the pot rattled against its iron base.

  Cattle scattered, men hopped on horses, and there was no stopping Jeb. Not when he knew each head of cattle meant twenty to thirty more dollars in their pockets. The men rounded up strays and drove them back toward the rest.

  She didn’t need to put out the fire since the hard, wet, pounding rain hammered the fire and the land. Then she saw it. The darkest of clouds, swirling and robbing earth of its dirt. While the men were rounding up the strays, they were going to lose the heard as they were sucked up in a rage of spinning wind.

  The sound drew closer. Piercing like a steam train, deep like a foghorn, growling like an angry bear. There wasn’t time to move the wagon and save the heard. The men could survive without food for a day, but they couldn’t survive starving indefinitely with no pay.

  Without another moment to spare, she screamed and hollered at Teddy, but he was coaxing one of the strays from the river. That was it, it was up to her. No one else would make it in time. She hiked up her skirts and raced to the remuda. Spotting one of the smaller mares near a rock, she mounted bareback and held onto the mane with all her strength. She’d ridden plenty bareback as a child, but it had been years. With thighs tight around the beast, she moved swiftly toward the cattle, whistling and screaming for them to move, but they stood like petrified statues, watching the tornado ravage the world on a direct path for them.

  She charged toward the front line of cows, and with the next clap of thunder, the horse reared up, sending them running away from the path of the tornado. Before she could take a breath of relief, the tornado split in two, then three.

  Hail pummeled her, and everything became disorganized, unpredictable. The mare reared again, sending her flying back, and her head smashed against hard ground. Before she could stand, the horse ran with the cattle.

  She’d started a stampede. The cattle would survive, but she only hoped she hadn’t hurt anyone else on the other side.

  Surrounded on three sides by tornadoes, she gathered her drenched skirts and ran in the direction of the stampede, but she knew she couldn’t outrun the tornado. It gained ground, but she pumped her arms and kept running hard, fast. The roar whipped around her, wind thrashed at her skin, hail hammered her head, debris whizzed by her. Then her feet could no longer find the ground as she was lifted into the air.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Jeb grabbed Elizabeth’s arm, flung her up in front of him on his horse, and rode hard. The wind captured anything in its path, throttling its collection overhead and smashing it into bits of debris. The stampede continued as a tree flew in front of Jeb, and he dodged right before it collided with the ground inches from his horse.

  A cow continued running, but its legs weren’t propelling it forward anymore. It finally lost the battle. Its hind legs lifted first, then its body, before it disappeared hind first into the sister tornado.

  The wind lashed at his back, but his horse was fast, even with the extra weight. He only hoped the herd didn’t stop until they were clear of the storm. Rounding them up later would be a bother, but the more that survived, the better off they’d all be.

  He wrapped a protective arm around Elizabeth to shield her from the storm, holding her tight to his chest so she’d be secure if he had to make a sharp turn. The aching pain shooting through his shoulder was a small price to pay for keeping her safe.

  Teddy raced along at his side and Samuel to his right. It was obvious they’d all come to save Elizabeth, but he’d done it. He finally had the red-haired beauty in his arms.

  Two of the funnels evaporated in seconds, and the clouds overhead faded into silver puffs of rain.

  They continued riding as the storm’s str
ength died quickly, and the debris no longer slammed around them.

  As the wind settled into a breeze and droplets dusted his skin, he realized how great it felt to have a woman in his arms. Perhaps there would be more to marriage than having boys to work the ranch. Maybe his mother was right, and some marriages were good. No matter how much he protested and bucked at the idea of Elizabeth, the way she felt against him was undeniably good. And when the last vestiges of the tornadoes disappeared up into the sky, he allowed himself one deep breath of her honey scented hair.

  That was a scent he’d like to wake up to each morning. If only she hadn’t lied. Hadn’t his ma always told him once a liar, always a liar? That was how their courtship had started and look at where it had left them.

  “Are you hurt?” Teddy yelled.

  “You’re holding me too tight,” Elizabeth said in a rushed, winded way. “Let me down. I’m fine.”

  That’s when he realized he’d kept riding, so lost in his world that he hadn’t even noticed the cattle dispersing in various directions. He pulled back on the reins too abruptly and nearly sent them both tumbling over the back of the horse.

  When the horse had settled, Elizabeth slid from his horse and his arms. “Go, I’ll get one of the other horses. We need to get this cattle rounded up.” She smacked the flank of his horse, sending him back into motion.

  The cattle had split, some stopping at the edge of the river while the rest swung south. Jeb scanned the men. To his astonishment and relief, they were all still alive and working hard.

  It took over two hours to round up most of the cattle that had fled south. He wasn’t happy when he realized he couldn’t see Elizabeth. All the men had followed him and had left Elizabeth alone. Thoughts of those criminals still out there twisted his gut and made him work harder. His shoulder, back, neck, and every muscle in his body throbbed.

 

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