The Rancher's Courtship & Lone Wolf's Lady

by Laurie Kingery

  Trapper scrunched his face and shook his head. “I never did see any point in women wearing those fool things. You might as well wear men’s britches.”

  “I would if I had a pair that fit.”

  “Hmm. Now, that’s an idea. Hannah packed up all the old clothes Tom outgrew and put them in the hayloft. I could find a pair that might fit you, but you’d probably look a sight.”

  “I don’t care how I look. I mean to be comfortable and capable on the trail, and I want Tom to see me as an equal while we travel.”

  Trapper eyed her carefully, and a slow grin tickled his lips. “Those britches might be a bit snug, but I don’t suppose they’d look too bad.”

  “As long as they fit and I can move around, I’ll be happy.”

  The old man chuckled. “All righty. I’ll get your traveling clothes while you pack. But be quick about it. If we don’t catch Tom by the time he reaches the pass, it’ll be too late.”

  Katie nodded and turned toward the house. Trapper had said to hurry, and she would. Still, she heard him chuckle and mutter, “The kid needs respectability more than he thinks.”

  She wondered what he meant by that, but it didn’t matter. She was going to Stillwater with Tom McCain whether he liked it or not.

  However, thirty minutes later, when Katie was packed and mounted on Hannah’s sorrel mare, she was having second thoughts about leaving.

  “You know, Trapper...” Katie paused, took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “I’m not so sure this is a good idea, after all.”

  “Why? This is the best idea I’ve ever had. Tom needs your help.”

  “He needs my help?”

  Trapper nodded. “More than either of you know. Tom might be ornery at times and act as tough as nails, but inside, he’s as soft as butter. And whether he’s told you or not, he’s downright worried about those folks in Stillwater, the ones that want the little girl.”

  Katie’s senses reeled at the mention of Sarah Jane. “What’s wrong with them?”

  “Tom don’t trust them to be good to her. But he’s gonna make sure they ain’t planning to make her sleep in the barn. And that they’ll feed her at least once a day. Course, he ought to make sure they don’t take too big of a stick to her when she don’t get her chores done by nightfall.”

  Katie pointed her finger. “Believe me, Trapper. That child won’t live with anyone who treats her as less than royalty.”

  “That’s what I was hoping you’d say. Hannah’s right attached to the little thing. She’ll be glad to know you won’t let those people be mean to her.”

  “Tom is in for a fight if he believes the only requirement of a good home is sleeping indoors and eating one meal a day. And I’ll take a stick to anyone who even thinks to strike her.” Katie clenched her firsts, her fingers tightening around the reins. “And if Tom disagrees, he’d better brace himself for a tangle with me.”

  “I figure there’ll be a tussle between you. Course, I doubt Tom stands a chance.” Trapper grinned from ear to ear. “And to tell you the truth, I’d like to see him get his comeuppance from a pretty little gal like you.”

  “If he tries to challenge me, he’ll wish he hadn’t.”

  “A tangle with you might be the best thing that ever happened to him. Might bring him some respectability.”

  Katie still didn’t know what respectability had to do with anything, but she’d put a stop to any fool notion Tom McCain had of leaving Sarah Jane in an unsafe or unhappy situation, even if she had to fight him tooth and nail.

  Chapter Six

  “This is where we part ways.”

  “Here?” On a trail surrounded by trees and brush? Katie didn’t like the idea of being stranded in what appeared to be the wilderness.

  Trapper removed his hat and mopped his brow. “Tom hasn’t gotten this far yet. And you’re downwind from him. He won’t catch on before you spot him. And by then, it will be too late for him to send you back.”

  She wondered if she should reach for her derringer, something she’d purchased to protect herself after her father had died. For the first mile she’d ridden along with it tucked in her pocket, but with each swaying step of the sorrel mare, she’d worried the small gun would go off, wounding her in the leg. So she’d removed the loaded firearm and placed it in her saddlebag, where it was still within reach.

  “Ride due south,” Trapper instructed. “Wait near that patch of cottonwood trees growing along the stream. Tom should go that way.”

  He should go that way? “What if he doesn’t?”

  Trapper turned in his saddle, the leather creaking with his movement. He scanned the rolling horizon and pointed at a small wooden structure. “See that cabin over yonder?”

  Katie craned her neck and spotted the rustic log structure perched upon a grassy hillside. “Yes, it looks like it has a newly patched roof.”

  “It does.” Trapper chuckled. “I fell clean through the old one last spring, trying to help Tom fix a rotten spot that leaked like old fury whenever it rained.”

  “Why were you two fixing the roof?”

  “My friend and neighbor, Izzy Ballard, lives there. The old cuss and I go way back, and he owes me. I near broke my neck when I fell through and landed inside. Izzy will get you back to Hannah’s place if Tom has already passed through.”

  “Are you sure he won’t mind?”

  “Not if he’s still alive.”

  “Izzy might be dead?” Katie shuddered at the thought of walking into the cabin and finding a body.

  Trapper laughed again. “Izzy’s too stubborn to roll over and die. He’ll be right flattered to be asked to help a pretty woman in distress.”

  Katie didn’t like the idea of being pretty or in distress. But she liked being stranded even less.

  Before she could give it much thought, Trapper said goodbye and headed back the way they’d come, leaving her on her own.

  She wasn’t sure how long she waited to catch sight of Tom or his horse. She supposed it had only been a few minutes, but she’d gotten so caught up trying to follow the trail that she’d nearly missed seeing him ride down the hillside, away from Izzy’s cabin.

  When he lifted his hat, adjusting it, a stray beam of sunlight reflected off his coal-black hair, reminding her of an Indian brave, a warrior.

  She meant to call out, to confront him with her plan, to insist he take her with him, but a second thought silenced her. In spite of what Trapper had said, she doubted Tom would be pleased to see her. And since they were only an hour’s ride from Hannah’s house, she realized he might send her back with Izzy. So she nudged her mount forward, keeping her eyes on the broad shoulders of the man she’d better keep up with.

  The tight-fitting dungarees definitely made riding more comfortable, and Trapper had been right about Gully Washer. Hannah’s sorrel mare certainly had more get-up-and-go than the old roan.

  However, an hour later, Katie had nearly lost sight of Tom’s gelding. She urged the mare along, worried she was too far from Izzy’s cabin to find it again. She was just about to call out to Tom in spite of her reservations, knowing he’d hear her. But before she could do so, a rattle sounded from the brush, followed by the horse’s whinny.

  The mare reared. Katie grabbed for the pommel, but only caught a few strands of mane and fell to the ground with a thump.

  As she struggled to catch her breath, her eyes locked on the largest snake she’d ever imagined let alone seen. A bloodcurdling scream seemed to come from someone else, as she froze in fear.

  Gully Washer, on the other hand, had taken off like a rifle shot in the same direction as Tom, leaving her to stare at a coiled, black-and-brown diamondback that hissed and rattled in anger.

  If Katie still carried the derringer in her pocket, she could have shot it, but the gun was stashed in the saddlebag strapped to the mare, so she had nothing to us
e in defense.

  She ached in a hundred different spots, most notably her right ankle, which had taken the brunt of her fall on the hard dirt. But she didn’t dare move. Instead, she sat quietly, waiting, hoping that the vile creature would just give up and go away when he realized she wasn’t a threat to him. Either that, or that Tom would have heard her scream and come looking for a damsel in distress.

  It seemed like ages, but it was probably only a matter of moments before the big, ugly snake finally slithered to the tall grass off to the side of the pathway. With her heart still pounding like a blacksmith’s hammer, Katie reached for her right ankle, which throbbed something fierce.

  Before she could even attempt to stand, a stranger’s voice interrupted her efforts. “What do you know, Georgie. Look what we got us here. We done found us a woman.”

  Katie glanced over her shoulder, where two men atop their horses looked down at her. A short, stocky man did the talking. The other one appeared awestruck, his gaping smile revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth.

  “Why, I ain’t never had such luck before. She’s a pretty one, even in britches.” The stocky man spit a brown stream of spittle to the ground and wiped his mouth with the back of a beefy hand.

  “Are we gonna keep her, Ned?” the one called Georgie asked.

  Katie wondered if his wide-mouthed stare was due to his reaction at seeing her or if his lips just couldn’t close over his mouthful of teeth.

  “Sure, we’ll keep her. You don’t expect us to just walk away from a gift that fell out of the sky, do you?”

  They both seemed to find that funny, but the idea sickened Katie. She had no weapon. And even if the horse hadn’t run off, she would’ve been hard-pressed to snatch the gun out of the saddlebag without them taking notice.

  She wished she had something to fight them with—a hatpin, a rock, a stick. All she had was her wits, and something told her those might not be enough.

  Where was Tom?

  Surely he’d heard her scream and was on his way.

  Or had he gone after Hannah’s horse?

  The short, stocky man named Ned stepped closer, a wicked gleam in his eyes. His belly hung over the straining waistband of his dirty gray britches. He reeked of month-old sweat and something else she couldn’t be sure of—rancid grease, she suspected. And she cringed at the thought of him touching her.

  She fought the physical reaction and struggled to gather her wits. “I do believe I’m the lucky one, gentlemen. I fell off my horse, and it ran off. I don’t suppose I could talk either of you into running after it for me, could I?”

  The man called Georgie stood ramrod straight and beamed. “I’ll get it for you, ma’am.” Then he turned to his stocky friend. “You don’t care, do ya, Ned?”

  “Go on. We’ll have to take turns having a go with her anyway. And I aim to be first.”

  Katie’s stomach reeled, but she pointed in the opposite direction of where the fool horse had run. “It’s a sorrel mare.”

  “Don’t use her all up,” Georgie told his friend, before spurring his mount and riding off.

  Taking advantage of the man’s departure, Katie batted her eyes and smiled. “I don’t suppose I could talk you into doing another favor for me, as well.”

  Ned eased closer. “After I’m done, maybe.”

  “Of all the luck,” Katie said with a sigh. “It seems I lost my bag of gold coins.”

  At that, Ned slowed to a stop. “Did you say gold?”

  “Yes, I had it in my hand, counting out the coins when the horse reared and threw me. The bag flew out of my hand and fell into that tall brush over there, and I heard them scatter.”

  Katie reached for her booted foot, stroking it carefully. “I’d get the bag and collect them all myself, but it seems I’ve twisted my ankle.”

  Ned strode to the edge of the road nearest Katie, bent and began to brush the grass aside with both hands. A rattle sounded too late for him to jerk back.

  “Aagh! I been snake bit!”

  Katie used the diversion to hobble to her feet, her ankle aching. “That’s a real shame,” she said. “You could surely die from that nasty bite.”

  Ned screamed again, this time louder. Then he fired his gun in the air. “Georgie! Git on over here. I need your help!”

  Katie prayed that Tom had heard the commotion, because she could certainly use some help, too.

  “I’m gonna die,” Ned said. “For sure and certain.”

  “You need to see a doctor,” Katie said. “So I suggest you ride to the nearest town. And fast.”

  Moments later, horses approached, their hooves crunching along the twigs and leaves. Katie watched as Tom rode his gelding and led Hannah’s sorrel mare by the reins.

  He looked fierce on that big gelding, his gun drawn, his eyes blazing. Katie never thought she’d be so happy to see anyone in her life, especially a man as frightfully angry as he appeared to be.

  Ned strode forward, his wounded hand clutched tightly to his chest. “Help me, mister. I don’t want to die. You’ve got some injun in you, don’t ya? You gotta know all kinds of secret brews and remedies.”

  Tom looked at Katie, his face never so stoic, so unreadable. “What happened here?”

  “He intended to hurt me. And that snakebite serves him right.”

  “You tricked me!” Ned, his hand clutched tightly to his chest, glared at Katie. “There weren’t no bag of gold in them bushes. You knew that snake was there, and you wanted me to get bit.”

  “I didn’t know that snake was still in those bushes. Not for sure. It could have slithered off for all I knew.”

  Tom dismounted and pulled a knife from his belt.

  “What are you going to do with that?” Ned asked, his eyes growing even wider.

  Did he actually fear a scalping? From the look on his face, she suspected he might.

  “I’ll help this time,” Tom said, “but don’t ever come near this woman—or any other woman—again.”

  “I didn’t know she was yours,” Ned said. “I thought she was free for the takin’.”

  “Free?” Tom snorted. “This woman is going to cost some man plenty.”

  Katie didn’t know what he meant by that, but she was too relieved to see him to take any offense—and she wasn’t at all ready to risk stirring things up any more than they already were.

  Tom surveyed the area. “Where’s his friend?”

  “He went for Gully Washer, but I sent him in the wrong direction.” Katie studied Tom, who wouldn’t have fallen for her story about the bag of gold and who wouldn’t have chased after a runaway horse without looking at the tracks first.

  “Take off your shirt,” Tom told Ned.

  When the man complied, Tom ripped off a sleeve and used it to cinch the man’s arm tight. Then taking his knife, he sliced into the darkening wound.

  Ned cried out. “What are you doing? Don’t cut my hand off.”

  Tom pulled him closer. “Suck the blood and spit it out. It’ll help remove some of the poison.”

  Ned nodded, then did as he was told. Between spits and sputters, he looked up at Tom and asked, “Am I going to die?”

  “Maybe. And maybe not. Either way, you’ll probably get pretty sick. You’d better find a doctor fast.”

  When Georgie returned, Ned wasted no time in convincing him to hightail it back to town.

  As Katie and Tom watched the two men ride off at breakneck speed, she returned her attention to the man who’d come to her rescue and had to admit that she was glad that he had. She might have outsmarted Ned and Georgie temporarily, but she wasn’t sure how long she would have been able to keep them at bay.

  But when she saw him slap his hands on his hips, she realized her moment of reckoning was at hand.

  * * *

  Tom studied the headstrong woman wearing one of his
long-outgrown shirts. He would have recognized that blue-and-green-plaid material anywhere. Hannah had stitched it together one evening by candlelight, and he’d worn it with pride until it no longer had fit.

  He assumed the pants and boots had once been his, too, and doubted that she’d found the old clothing on her own.

  Trapper must have given them to her when he put her up to tagging along after him. Tom could see the old man’s hand in all of this. He’d probably figured Tom would have to return her to Hannah’s place and maybe give up his plan to go to Stillwater altogether. He never had liked the idea of Tom working for Harrison Graves. But it didn’t matter. Tom’s mind was set, and no one was going to change it.

  “I suppose you want to know why I’m here,” Katie said.

  “For a start. I’d also like to know why you were riding Hannah’s horse. You’re lucky I spotted her running off—and that she came to me when I called. You were also lucky I heard that gunshot and Ned’s holler.”

  “The poor horse was frightened by a rattlesnake and took off like a shot. Why did she go to you so easily?”

  “I have a way with animals,” he said.

  “Apparently so.” She tossed him an easy grin as if she could sweet-talk her way out of all the trouble she’d become. “I must say, Tom McCain, you’re a sight for sore eyes—and an answer to a prayer. You came just in time.” Her grin deepened into a pretty smile, as if that could make everything all right.

  To be honest, it did help a little. When he’d realized Ned and Georgie had planned to take advantage of her, he’d wanted to tear them limb from limb.

  But that didn’t mean Tom was no longer upset that Katie had followed him. Nor that he’d forgotten another time when a woman and a snake had gotten a man into trouble, taking all of mankind with them.

  “What’d you do?” he asked. “Sweet-talk Trapper into helping you?”

  “I really didn’t have to.” She brushed the dust from the denim jeans. “It was as much Trapper’s idea as mine. He seemed to agree that I should accompany you to see Mr. Graves.”

  Tom didn’t doubt that. And while he would have preferred to haul Katie back to Hannah’s house, he couldn’t afford to spend the additional time it would take to rid himself of her. So that meant that he was saddled with her for at least the next three days—long enough to go to the Lazy G Ranch, take care of business and then ride back to Hannah’s.