9 Ways to Fall in Love

by Caroline Clemmons

  Queenie responded to his coaxed orders. She stamped her feet and shook her head but allowed him to climb into the saddle and guide her in a circle.

  Murmurs of surprise erupted in the crowd gathered to watch Dallas’s training methods. Tom Williams glowered from the steps of his wagon. Dallas knew he’d made a dangerous and vindictive enemy.

  Three days after Dallas first saddled Queenie, Cenora received her first riding lesson. Williams and most of the men were gone. Only a few of the women and children remained to join the O’Neills and watch Cenora’s progress.

  “Look at me, Ma, I’m high as a tree.” She called and rode in a circle around the camp.

  Dallas stood with her parents. “She has a natural ability.”

  Brendan’s gaze followed her. “Aye, that she does. ‘Tis quick she’s always been.”

  By the time the other men had drifted in for supper, Cenora rode with confidence. Each evening and day of rest, Dallas and Cenora worked with Queenie and Red. Occasionally, Finn joined them. Once, Mac grudgingly accompanied them on a short ride.

  On this morning they doused campfires and readied the wagons to move out. Fingers of fog drifted up from the low places, but the sun promised a clear day ahead.

  Finn called, “Riders coming.”

  Some Traveler men rushed to stand protectively by their women while others hurried into wagons for their rifles. Children hid behind their parents or scurried under wagons.

  “Yahoo!” Dallas’s heart rejoiced when he recognized the three horsemen pull up at the edge of the camp.

  One visitor, Dallas’s Uncle Austin, called, “Hello the camp.”

  “Come on in.” Dallas tugged Cenora with him and struggled out to meet his kin.

  When they sighted him, the three rode in casually with smiles on their faces and a friendly nod to those they passed. Each of the riders had his coat open and kept one hand on the reins and the other on his thigh near the gun at his waist. Each man also carried a rifle in a saddle scabbard.

  Dallas figured they were wise to be so wary, even with him in plain sight. For all they knew, someone had him covered with a rifle. At that, it hadn’t been that long since Austin was shot rushing into a camp. The night Dallas’s life changed forever.

  As if to test Dallas’s theory, Williams pushed others out of the way and stalked forward. He planted himself between Dallas and the newcomers. Augie and Mort stood with him.

  “We don’t take to strangers,” he roared. “What business do you have here?”

  Uncle Austin never blinked. “We’ve come to see my nephew. The sheriff said we’d find him with you.” Austin emphasized sheriff, and the warning took effect.

  Williams appeared to debate the matter. “Come on in then, but see you don’t bother my people.” He stepped aside then crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Dallas. His henchmen followed, and like puppets, Augie and Mort crossed their arms, also.

  Uncle Austin stepped down first, a hearty grin on his face. Austin topped Dallas’s six-foot-three by at least two inches, and his broad shoulders and muscled chest combined to present what must have been a formidable sight to the shorter Irishmen who watched.

  He shook Dallas’s hand in a bear like clasp. “Caught up with you at last. Figured you were too ornery to die from your wounds.” He smiled but looked with measured glance around the camp.

  Uncle Austin didn’t miss much, and Dallas thanked heavens his uncle didn’t give him one of his bear hugs.

  The other Travelers’ curiosity overcame their fear, and they drifted forward to eavesdrop. All except Tom Williams and his two cohorts.

  Cenora turned shy and slid as far behind Dallas as his grasp of her hand allowed. Her folks hovered nearby as if ready to protect their daughter, and Mac scowled as usual.

  “Knew you’d find me,” Dallas said. “Now that I’m up and about, I planned to send a wire soon as we passed a telegraph station. How long you been tracking me?”

  “The boys and I started out the fourth day after you left. I was on the range when Xavier came to find me. He waited three days before he figured something serious had happened to prevent your return.”

  Dallas’s cousins, Josh and Daniel, walked up and shook his hand. In spite of the six years separation in age at twenty-two and sixteen, they looked almost like twins. Both had the black hair and blue eyes common to most McClintocks, and both were about the same height as Dallas.

  Josh gave Dallas a measuring look then looked around. “Good to see you on your feet. You led us a devil of a chase. The man you sold the horses to sent us the wrong way, and we lost a lot of time. Eventually we found your marks on the trail.”

  Daniel surveyed the camp as if in awe of his surroundings. He thought himself a grown man, but he still had a lot of boy in him.

  Dallas looked at the ground and tugged at his ear. “Well, a lot’s happened.” He figured he might as well get on with it. He took a deep breath and looked up as he pulled Cenora beside him. “This here’s my wife, Cenora Rose.”

  His kin looked as poleaxed as Dallas still felt. Attractive and passionate as Cenora was, he’d still give anything not to have met up with her and her kin.

  “Well, I’ll be damned.” Austin shook his head, then removed his hat. “Uh, begging your pardon, ma’am. Kathryn’s going to be a mite put out she missed Dallas’s wedding.”

  Josh gave Dallas a knowing look. “Yep, she’ll be asking a lot of questions when she sees you.” He removed his hat then leaned over and kissed Cenora on the cheek. “Reckon I should welcome you to the family, Cenora Rose. I’m your new cousin, Josh McClintock. This is my little brother, Daniel.”

  Never one to jabber a person’s ear off, Daniel took off his hat and nodded shyly.

  “Austin McClintock, ma’am, at your service.” Uncle Austin followed Josh’s example and kissed Cenora’s cheek, but Dallas recognized Austin’s closely guarded expression.

  Cenora curtsied then smiled at Dallas, apparently pleased as punch she’d been included. Lord, he had a lot of explaining to do all the way around.

  “Come on over to our wagon,” Dallas said. “I’ll introduce you to everyone, then we can have some privacy.”

  That loosened Daniel’s tongue. “You mean you have one of these funny wagons?”

  Dallas gave Daniel’s arm a playful punch. “Just temporarily. Belongs to Cenora’s parents.”

  When they’d reached the wagon, Dallas stood on the step and called to the crowd that had followed them. He introduced the visitors. A few of the Traveler men nodded but most stood back suspiciously and stared. Others looked covetously at the fine horses the three visitors rode. One or two walked around the animals, admiring them and their saddles.

  Fortunately, no one touched Austin’s big black gelding, Shadow. Only Austin and three or four others could handle his horse.

  Cenora’s family came forward, and Dallas introduced them. The O’Neills also seemed in awe of Austin, Daniel, and Josh, whose height towered over everyone but Dallas.

  Brendan peered up at each of Dallas’s relatives and then at Dallas. “Do ye come from a family o’ giants then, Dallas, me boyo?”

  Everyone laughed.

  Dallas explained to his kin, “You just caught us. This bunch is ready to move out. I headed them toward McClintock Falls. While I was ailing, they’d veered off toward Uvalde.”

  “So, you’re bringing the wagons to your place?” Austin kept his voice neutral.

  Dallas had lived with this family since he was twelve and recognized his uncle’s disapproval as well as the set of his uncle’s jaw and the little tic at the corner of his mouth that popped up when something annoyed Austin.

  Dallas tugged at his ear. Dang, but he’d like to be done with these Travelers forever. But he had to answer his uncle’s question, and he knew it wasn’t the answer Austin hoped for.

  “Looks that way. To get them to head toward my place I told them they could camp on the river for a while. Can’t go back on my word.”

/>   Josh grinned. “Reckon with your new wife and bringing this bunch to your place, you’re stuck riding with the wagons.”

  Austin said, “Now that we see you don’t exactly need rescuing, we’ll ride alongside you for a few hours until we have enough details to satisfy the folks back home.”

  “Darn that Barnes. Where’d he send you off to?”

  “Told us you went to San Antonio.” Austin shook his head. “Took us three days to get there, then we couldn’t find anyone who’d seen you so we doubled back. Wasted a week. Started looking along the way you would have taken to reach Barnes’ place.”

  Josh nodded. “Hotaka Gap sheriff told us about the shooting and your wounds. Said the men you shot had broken out of jail over in Castroville.”

  “Knew how to track you then and found your marks.” Austin shook his head. “Sent a wire to Grandpa we were hard on your trail.”

  Pinning Dallas with an amused stare, Austin raised his eyebrow. “Appears the sheriff left out a lot.”

  Brendan coughed and looked embarrassed. “Weel, we’ll just be getting on our way and leave you lads to catch up.” He ushered Aoife back to their other wagon, and Finn and Mac headed for the ponies, casting an occasional glance over their shoulders at the newcomers.

  Dallas looked at his wife and nodded toward Daniel. She smiled, so he asked his nephew, “You want to ride in the wagon?” Dallas asked Daniel.

  Daniel nodded. “Sure, I’d like to see the inside.”

  “Cenora will show you where to sit so you don’t get bounced too hard. I still can’t drive the team for long before I have to rest up. Austin, the seat’s only wide enough for two of us, so maybe you’d help me drive the wagon while Josh rides along beside us.”

  They got underway, and Austin guided the wagon in line behind the O’Neills at the tail of the row. Mac, Finn, and other lads were with the ponies that drifted alongside the train, but Austin had tied Shadow and Daniel’s horse to the rear of Dallas’s wagon where he secured Red’s and Queenie’s reins.

  Austin’s jaw clenched, and the little tic reappeared. “Okay, son, now tell me how the hell you got yourself in this mess?”

  Dallas glanced over his shoulder through the curtained opening to make certain Cenora couldn’t hear. He wished he’d closed the wooden shutter-like doors that separated the seat from the wagon to make the inside weather tight, but it was too late now. That had to be done from inside the wagon. However, she and Daniel appeared lost in conversation while she demonstrated the various drawers and cubbies of the compact living space.

  Dallas dreaded it, but he turned back and launched into the whole story, from the time he first saw the group in Hotaka Gap as he rode through to deliver the horses he’d sold until his kin’s arrival. Austin shook his head a few times but said nothing.

  Josh laughed when Dallas explained about getting caught with Cenora in her shift. “Thought I was the rogue of the family.”

  “At first I figured maybe I’d been set up. You know, that maybe they pulled this swindle on every stranger who happened along.”

  “But you don’t think that now?” Austin met his gaze.

  Dallas shook his head and hoped he didn’t blush. “Reckon she proved herself when I took her innocence on our so-called wedding night. Much as I hate it, reckon I’m stuck with her now,” Dallas paused. “I never wanted to marry her, that’s for damn sure. Now regardless of whether that odd ceremony was even close to legal, I seem to have acquired a wife and a set of in-laws.”

  Austin raised his eyebrows. “And do you plan to stick with this wife, son?”

  Dallas grimaced. “Reckon so, unless she leaves me. She may take off first chance she gets. She can stay or not. It won’t affect my life that much. I don’t intend to make any changes in the way I do things at home.”

  “Son, having a wife will change your life whether you want it to or not.” Austin plowed his fingers through his hair, then resettled his hat. “Perhaps it will all turn out for the best.”

  Dallas exhaled and rubbed his hand through his hair, then caught himself. He admired Austin more than any man alive and often found himself mimicking him. “What am I to do about her family?”

  “Aren’t they going on west with the others?” Josh asked.

  Dallas shook his head and explained about the trouble, plus what he’d learned about Williams’ threats years ago. “The man is sure to carry through with his revenge. Not only have I married the women he wanted, I showed him up in front of everyone by taming a horse without a whip. Seems a shame to abandon the O’Neills to his anger, especially when part of it is my doing.”

  Austin met his gaze. “So you think they won’t be safe left with this bunch?”

  Dallas exhaled. Dang, he hated being saddled with a wife, much less her wild family. He couldn’t in good conscience abandon the O’Neills, though. They seemed ill equipped to cope with life.

  “No. You see, in spite of living with the tinkers for ten years, the O’Neills aren’t really a part of the group. It’s like they’re tolerated but kept apart at the same time. For example, you’d think people took turns bringing up the rear and eating dust, but the O’Neills always travel at the end of the wagons.”

  He related the story Cenora had told him about their voyage to America. Austin and Josh guffawed when they heard about Brendan’s gift of gab with the industrialist financier. He heard Daniel’s laugh behind him, and stilled. Dang, how much of the conversation reached inside the wagon? He looked back again, but his wife appeared busy and drew Daniel’s attention to something at the back. He tugged on his ear. Apparently she hadn’t heard the conversation, or she’d be spitting mad.

  “Can you imagine how persuasive the man must be?” Josh asked. “Good thing he’s not inclined to run a swindle.”

  Dallas shrugged. “Who’s to say he’s not above it? But I think he’s basically honest. Remember, he was a farmer in Ireland before put off his land,” he reminded them.

  “I don’t know how good he is at working a crop, but I know Brendan would never make it on his own. He can talk a blue streak, and it takes him three sentences to say yes or no, but he’s not sturdy. Suspect he’s better at giving advice than following it. Aoife is seriously ill and could likely benefit from Kathryn’s doctoring.”

  Austin, always proud of his wife’s healing skills, nodded. “And what about the brothers?”

  Dallas exhaled. He wished he knew. “It would pain the parents if they went away, but the two might prefer staying with the Travelers. One’s courting a girl, plus Cenora hinted they’ve acquired some bad habits.” He lowered his voiced and leaned so only Austin could hear. “I suspect they’d steal and cheat given the chance.”

  He remembered the activities he’d observed while he’d been held captive, which is how he thought of his time with the clan. “I have no patience with men who’d rather steal than work or have their wives beg for a living as some of these people do. Of course, there are some nice folks along, but others aren’t worth the bullet it would take to shoot them. I’m not sure yet which group her brothers fit into.”

  “Don’t worry, son,” Austin reassured him. “You can work it all out when the time comes. We’ll back whatever you decide.”

  Austin’s words reassured Dallas, and relief flowed through him. The presence of this part of his family and their visible support soothed his jangled nerves.

  “You still having the nightmares?” Austin sent him a measuring look

  The heat of a blush spread across Dallas’s face. “Not so often now that I have her beside me all night. Um, I haven’t told her about Greta Vortmann.”

  Josh said, “No? Well, she’ll have to know eventually. She’s likely to run into Greta in town.”

  Dallas closed his eyes, and memory revived the terror that never completely left him. And now he had the added burden of the O’Neill family. He exhaled slowly and sought to calm himself.

  “So far I haven’t been able to talk to Cenora about it.” He could hardl
y bring himself to mention it now to men who’d been present when he’d caused the tragedy.

  Austin put a hand on his arm. “Son, what you tell her is your business. You know none of the family will ever mention it unless you bring it up first. But Josh’s right, some biddy in town will comment, or Cenora will run into Greta on the street or at the mercantile.”

  “Yeah, I know. I just can’t talk about it yet.” Dallas’s emotions jumbled in a twisted maze of darkness. Memories of what he considered his disgrace blended with his hatred of his forced wedding and worry over his ranch. The combination kept him in constant turmoil—except for the time he shared lovemaking with Cenora. Then, her passionate response pushed all thought from his mind.

  He swiped a hand across his face, wishing he could wipe away bad events as easily. “Sometimes I think how her kin forced me to wed her, and it makes me so furious I want to strike something, but it passes. So far Cenora has been a pleasing enough companion though she drives me crazy with all her superstitions and her chatter.”

  Dallas shrugged. “I’ve seen evidence of her fiery temper, especially with her youngest brother, but I’ve yet to be the target for it. I’d like to believe things will work out for Cenora and me as well as for her family, but it won’t be easy. They’ve had a hard, odd life.”

  He paused for a few moments, lost in thought. “It’s nothing like with you and Kathryn.”

  Austin chuckled. “True. I was eager to wed almost from the minute I laid eyes on Kathryn. Could hardly stand it until I got her in front of the preacher.”

  Josh nodded. “But she didn’t come with a passel of kin.”

  Dallas snorted. “That’s right, but Cenora does. Her folks and her two brothers. The youngest one is a sullen soul. I figure her parents would be relieved to settle on the ranch or in town just to be done with the constant moving.”

  “Yes,” Austin agreed. “I can see where her parents might like to reclaim the life they lost in Ireland.”

  “Guess we’ll see whether those two brothers object and move on rather than mend their wild ways and bide within the law.” Dallas hoped he’d seen the last of trouble, but Cenora’s brothers made him wonder.