Sanderson's Hill

by Nancy Howard

  “Good you can take your gear to the bunkhouse. Jay will show you where to bunk,” John says.

  Just then George came up, and took John's big bay horse called Trooper and Warrior to the stable, John goes with him.

  Gavin has left his horse Joe in front of the house, and he and Logan begin to walk toward it, so he can get his gear.

  He is quiet as they walk.

  “You okay,” she asks him?

  He shakes his head, then asks, “why?”

  “You're really quiet. And you're never quiet. And you seem really down.”

  Gavin pauses looking down at the ground, shaking his head.

  “Ah Logan, it's just seeing what those animals did to those poor folks. It was just awful. It's enough to make anybody hurt about everything. I swear it's beginning to wear on me. I've seen their brutality so many times now.” He stops before he finishes his sentence, then begins again, “and to top it all off they're still out there, still on the loose. They can and will kill again. I've been unable to catch them, and hell no one else has either.”

  He pauses again, then says, in a determined voice, “I want to catch them and kill them all, so bad Logan.”

  “It guess sounds like it's becoming personal with you,” she says. Looking at her friend.

  “You guessed right. We had to bury little kids, no more than five years old. I saw grown, strong men crying, because they had to do that. If and when I do catch up to Bailey Hogg and his gang, I'm gonna torture the sonofabitches before I kill them. I'll make it so bad for them, they'll be begging me to kill them, so help me God!”

  Logan listens to her friend express himself, knowing that Hogg has crossed a definite line in Gavin's mind. Killing children.

  Then they're quiet the last few yards to the ranch house.

  “Listen Gavin I wanted to tell you, that a few minutes ago when you were thinking about taking this job. I know you thought that I was not going to help you get Hogg, but you're wrong about that. I made a commitment to you help you do that, and I intend to keep it. I would never forgive myself if you went after them alone, and they killed you because I decided not to help you. Okay?”

  “Yeah I know. I didn't mean to think that, but yesterday he said he had no use for us, so I really didn't know what to think.”

  “I know,” she says.

  “I just want to be where you are Logan,” he says. Looking deep into her eyes.

  “All I want is you here Gavin, with me,” She says, back to him. “You know the real reason I decided to chase Hogg with you, is that I don't want you to get yourself killed.” I love you, I always have.

  “I love you to Logan, and I been thinkin' the same stuff. That's the reason I took this job. I just want to be near you. I don't want to let you out of my site ever again. I want to be where you are, and I don't want you getting killed either.”

  “I know that,” She says, looking at him, with a soft smile, that he finds irresistible.

  “You know you're all I thought about, while I was out there chasin' those hell bastards all over creation. I said to myself many times that if I found you, I wasn't gonna let us go in different directions. Not anymore girl.” As he says this they are facing each other now, and he reaches out for her pulling her up to him, with his arms wrapped around her waist, “Fact of the matter is, I kicked myself after I left you last year. I don't want that to happen again.”

  “I wanted us to stay together too, but last year you wanted to go to Texas, and I didn't. I missed you. I was so happy to see you the other night when you rode into my camp. I wanted to jump on you right then, and would have, but I was just to tired.

  Gavin pulls her up closer to him, and they kiss each other, something they've done to each other many times before. But not like this, long and deep, theirs tongues probing each others mouth. A kiss that was soft and caring, not rough and hurried like they'd done so many times before.

  After a few seconds they part, and lean into each other, foreheads touching. Gavin says, “up until now I been a real fool. When the most beautiful girl in the world was right under my nose.”

  She looks into his eyes and smiles as they separate, with outstretched arms, hands touching last. She pulls away walking toward the door.

  “Where ya goin,” he asks her?

  “Inside. I'm tired, I been ridin' all day. Besides I'm staying here in the house with the Sandersons. It wouldn't be a good idea for me to stay in the bunkhouse, now would it Gavin.”

  “No.” He says looking at her, as they just stand there and smile, looking back at each other for a few seconds, not wanting to let go of what the other sees.

  It seems like Logan and Gavin are seeing each other for the first time, in a different light. He sees how beautiful she is, he's always seen it, but now it's like he never has truly seen her beauty before. She senses the change in him, and she wants him to know that she does.

  Little did Logan and Gavin know, but this was all seen by Catherine, as she watched them from the parlor. Neither of them were aware at the time she was watching. Catherine smiled as she witnessed something beautiful, begin to unfold before her eyes. Love. Love that is budding between the beautiful young woman who has just entered their lives, and the handsome young man that the girl longs for.

  Tears of joy form in Catherine's eyes as she watches Logan and Gavin. Watching them makes her think about her Jennifer, and how this could have been her out there with her bo. Finding love like Logan is doing with Gavin. As she wipes a tear away that has made its way down her cheek, it makes her think that while Jenn is gone, forever, Logan is here. She hasn't been here long, just a few hours really, but Catherine knows she has her here, with her. And while she does, she will do everything she can to make Logan happy. If that's what Logan wants too.

  She feels that Logan may be looking for something more in her life. She senses it, and hopes that John had the chance to discuss it with her, as they rode out onto the ranch today. Now she has something to tell John, about what she just saw, as Logan and Gavin embraced and kissed each other, several times. They love each other.

  She knows that down underneath that bounty hunter exterior dwells a soft, beautiful young woman, screaming to be let out, wanting a better life. She, John and the Chatfields were witness to this last night at dinner. Logan lit up the evening with her beauty, confidence, and poise. Something that may have surprised some about Logan, but Catherine was aware of it as soon as Logan came into the dinning room. No one would have ever guessed that she's a bounty hunter.

  As Logan enters the house she softly closes the front door behind her and leans against it. She smiles to herself. She wants to shout out. She is happy. For this one day in her life she is happy. She has just been told by her Gavin that he loves her, and she want to reciprocate that love. She doesn't want to lose Gavin, ever again.

  Logan ascends the stairs with a new found confidence that she's never had come over her before. She can't explain it right now, but it is a good feeling, that she wants to not end. It's not just about her and Gavin. It's here, this place. This ranch. It's John and Catherine. It just feels right, all of it, already. Like it's a perfect fit for her. She has sensed it since she walked through the door yesterday. John told her today that they were giving her an opportunity here. Logan heard him loud and clear. He told her that he and Catherine want her here, and they want her to stay here with them.

  She now understands why he said this to her, and the void she's filling for them, already. They lost Jenn and miss her dearly, and Logan figures, that for now she can help them with their grief of loss, by being here for them. As she told John she could never replace Jennifer, and she can't of course. But maybe Logan is the right medicine for the Sandersons, just like they may have come into her life at the right time too.

  As thoughts of happiness swirl in Logan's head ascending the stairs, and going to her room, she is completely unaware of Catherine's presence in the parlor.

  MEANWHILE BACK AT THE livery stable Jay sees that J
ohn has returned. He wants to talk to him about why he hired Logan and Gavin to take care of the rustling problem he's having.

  “John you got a minute,”

  “Jay what can I do for you.”

  “I got back very late last night, and I learned just a bit ago that you hired Logan Kincaid to do security work, to stop the rustlers.”

  “I did do that, and I just now hired her boyfriend Gavin Sloan too. Is there a problem?”

  “Well I was just wondering why you didn't run it by me first?”

  “You were gone with the sheriff's posse, and I didn't have an opportunity to talk to you about it.”

  “If you would have waited and talked to me, maybe I could have gone out there with one or two of the boys, and watched for awhile.”

  “Well sir that would not have worked out. You're the foreman here and your job is to keep the cowboys, and cattle in the places I want you to put them. You've got enough on your plate. Besides Logan and Gavin can provide the proper security that we can't. They're professionals.”

  Jay stands there and realizes that he has no grounds to argue with John about hiring Logan and Gavin. His mind is made up about them.

  John sees Jay just standing there, and asks, “is there anything else?”

  “No.” He says, and quietly walks away, thinking more and more about the job at the Running 'B.'

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Henry Baker came to the Rio Doso area a year ago, along with his daughter Brittany. He bought the old Teller place, almost immediately and started to buy up a lot of land in the area. The old teller ranch is right next to Sanderson's Hill, and Henry was well aware of it. He began quickly buying up tracts of land around the old Teller place, for pennies on the dollar. But the old Teller ranch is not as good of grazing land for cattle, Sanderson's Hill ranch is. and Henry knows this. He knows it's prime grazing land.

  He has some money, but he's far from as wealthy, as he wants everyone to think he is. Yes he's buying large tracts of land, but it's Sanderson's Hill that he wants. He wants to box John in. In order to do this he has to buy more land, so he devised a scheme that would allow that to happen. He buys land for pennies on the dollar, and then pays a pittance to the bank to keep from being foreclosed on.

  He told bank president Bill Chatfield that he had contacted some old friends on the continent, and in London. That they're willing to invest in what he was telling them, is prime ranch land, here in New Mexico Territory. He received promissory notes from the bank that he could purchase the land, based on the fact that he had several investors that would pay for the land, he was purchasing.

  Of course this was all part of his scheme to get at Sanderson's Hill. There were no investors in Europe at all, so he began to feel the squeeze of not being able to pay off the land he was purchasing. He began to use what money he had to cover the notes until he could squeeze John and Catherine off their land. He told Chatfield that Europe had been hit by hard times, and it would just take the investors more time to help him pay for the land, buying himself some time.

  So he figured that being a cattle ranch, the Sandersons had only one commodity to sell. Cows. He began to hire rustlers hoping for them to steal John blind, and causing him to sell out to him. Then he would have Sanderson's Hill ranch in his possession, and be able to payoff the notes he owed on, in full. Henry figured steal enough of John's cows and it would eventually bring him the negotiating table, to sell Sanderson's Hill, to him.

  Henry Baker is a con man and has been running land schemes like this for years. The reason he left London, was that he was getting to much attention from Scotland Yard. He'd been under their watchful eye for some time. So he left and came to American shores, making his way along with Brittany to Oklahoma. Where he immediately started another land grabbing scheme there. When the law began to get to close to him there, he fled and headed for New Mexico Territory, and Rio Doso to start his land scheme all over again.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Jay Canter mounts up, and is heads staight for Henry Baker's ranch. When he heard that John had hired Logan and Gavin, to take care of the cattle rustling problem at Sanderson’s Hill, it made him very angry. Jay has been disgruntled working for John, because he feels that Sanderson has lost confidence in his ability to do the job, of ranch foreman. Jay wants more authority over the day to day operation of the ranch, but John has yet to relinquish it to him. He's even asked John to let him take over running the entire operation. A request that fell on deaf ears. Over the past few month's John has become more involved in the running of the ranch. Even to the extent that he has been doing some of the hiring of ranch hands, and directing their activities on a daily basis. This whole scenario doesn't set with Canter, and now with the hiring of Logan and Gavin, it seems to be coming to a head in his mind.

  He has heard of Logan and knows she's a bounty hunter. He doesn't want her or Gavin at Sanderson's Hill, but he realizes that he has little to say about it now, after talking with John. He doesn't like it that the Sandersons seem suddenly taken by Logan, letting her stay with them at the ranch house, like she is. He doesn't like her, Period, or Sloan for that matter, but knows that until he can secure the foreman's job at the Running 'B', he will have to work with them.

  So today, he rides hard and fast to Henry Baker's ranch house, where he feels like he is wanted. After all when he starts working here he will be close to Brittany, which will make the pot of working there even sweeter.

  Baker has offered him the same job at his ranch, and at a considerable higher amount of money.

  Canter sees Baker out next to the main corral, as he rides up and dismounts.

  “Jay, what brings you over here at this time of day? John's not keeping you busy enough?”

  “Well sir I came by because I want to talk to you about your offer to me, to be your ranch foreman. If it is still something you want me to do?”

  “Of course, of course. Let's walk and talk about this, shall we,” Henry asked politely? “Why the sudden change? The other day when I mentioned this to you, you really weren't sure you wanted to leave John.”

  “Well sir that's all changed, and I think I am ready to go to work for you. That is if what you offered me the other day still stands?”

  “It does. So what has John done, to cause you to take me up on my offer?”

  “Well sir he's taking control of the running of the ranch from me, on a daily basis. It's like he's lost confidence in my ability to do my job. And to top it all off he has hired Logan Kincaid, and Gavin Sloan, both bounty hunters, to solve the rustler problem out on the mesa.”

  “Logan Kincaid, I've heard of her. But who is this Sloan?”

  “Another bounty hunter, he's Logan's boyfriend, actually. They're really into each other.”

  “I didn't think John liked bounty hunters.”

  “He doesn't, but apparently he thinks these two have some sort of value, especially when it comes to catching cattle thieves.”

  “Is that so, well Jay the job is yours, but I'm not quite ready for you to come over and work for me yet. I have some business dealings to take care of with my current foreman, and that that will take about three weeks. Does that still work for you?”

  “Yes it does.”

  What Baker is not telling Jay is that he and his current foreman are in a battle over how much money Henry owes him, when he leaves. Henry promised the man a bonus for rustling John's cattle, and has not paid him. The man whose name is Ralls has threatened to tell the law about Henry's activities, if he's not paid in full for what he did. Henry has agreed to pay him, but it will take him at least three more weeks to get enough cash.

  “You'll be okay with the bounty hunters under your watch until then.”

  “I will. But Mr. Baker, they ain't really under my watch at all. John hired them, and I just schedule their work. I don't have any control over Logan and what she does at all,” Jay pauses, and then asks. “Anyway Mr. Baker Uh... is Brittany around?”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN<
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  That night after dinner, it is late and John is still in his office doing paper work, something he hates doing. Logan has already gone off to bed, as Catherine walks in, to tell him about what she saw happen between Logan and Gavin, after they got back to the ranch that afternoon.

  She sets down just in time to hear him swear about the paper work, “Damn numbers I can't get em to work out.”

  “It's late. Can't it wait until tomorrow John? You're very tired.”

  “I'm afraid it's going to have to, and you're right I'm exhausted. I'm getting to damned old to do this, I need to find someone to run this place, so you and I can kick back and enjoy life for a change.” He pauses, looking at his wife, who he's been married to for over thirty-five years. And by now he knows that the look on her face tells him, that she has something to discuss with him, so he asks, “so my dear what's up? I thought you'd done as Logan has, and gone off to bed?”

  “No it's really Logan that I want to talk about. Her and Gavin.”

  “Oh? What's going on?”

  “First, I wanted to ask you if you had the chance to ask Logan about her intentions, while you were out today?”

  “I did.”

  “And?”

  “And I will say, that girl has had one hell of a tough life.”

  “I figured that. Why else would she become a bounty hunter?”

  “She told me some stuff today about her father, and how he abused the hell out her growing up. He stripped her and beat her, and starved her. According to Logan, he was nothing but a mean sadistic drunk.”

  “He beat her?” Catherine said, in disbelief.