"Why are you so anxious to leave?" Zac asked. "You'd think you were afraid of us."
"I'm not afraid, not anymore, but I'm sure your brother would like his bed back. And quite frankly, I'd feel better at home."
"But you don't have a home. It burned."
Stupid of her to forget. She still couldn't get used to it. "I meant at my friend's home." The lump in her throat made the words difficult. "Besides, he can't be used to having a female about."
"He's not used to having anybody about."
Zac had been dealing cards all morning. Daisy wondered what a nearly grown man could find in cards to interest him so much.
"He was fit to be tied when I showed up."
"You don't stay here with him?"
"Good God, no. I've been at school, but I ran away."
"Why?" Daisy had always wanted to go to school. Her father had told her of the colleges for women that had begun to appear after the end of the War between the States, but she had always known there was no chance she might actually go to one. Zac had been given that wonderful opportunity and he had thrown it away.
"It's boring. I hated it. I like action and excitement."
"Then why did you come here?"
"Because I'm hiding from George."
"Who's George?"
"My oldest brother. He fancies himself the head of the family," Zac said, aggrieved. "He let everybody else do what they wanted, but he sent me to college."
"Everybody else?"
"Yeah, I've got six brothers."
"Six!"
"Not a one of them went to college except Madison. You couldn't get Monty or Hen inside one with a gun. Maybe Jeff, but nobody else."
"Well I think you're a great fool to run way. Just think of all you're missing?"
"I know what I'm missing. That's why I left." Zac stopped dealing his cards and glared at her. "Why do you care?"
"I don't care exactly, but I think you should have stayed at school."
Daisy turned back to the window to escape Zac's indignant gaze. She considered going for a walk just to get a few minutes to herself. She needed some privacy. She missed her own room. It was hard always being in the presence of someone else, especially when that someone wasn't the least bit pleased about it.
She looked out the window again. The sun hadn't come out, but it had stopped snowing. It was clear enough for her to see the snow was far too deep to even consider trying to make it home. She turned and surveyed the cabin. It was smaller than her home had been. It had a wood floor but no loft and was dominated by the most elaborate cooking stoves she had ever seen.
It was obvious the cabin was very well made. The doors and windows fitted without cracks. Everything looked smooth and square. Even the logs in the walls had been planed, the mud between them worked smooth until it gave the walls a finished look. The floorboards fitted without cracks, splits, or warping.
The cabin was surprisingly well furnished. In addition to the bed, there was a table with four chairs, a chest of drawers, and a large trunk. A double row of pegs lined the wall on either side of the door for coats, slickers, and hats. Shelves below that for shoes. The shelves covering the far side of the cabin contained the books, a wide selection of tools, and the largest collection of ingredients, seasonings, and cooking utensils Daisy had ever seen.
She looked around, but she could see no sign a woman had ever lived in the cabin. It was without decoration.
There was plenty of room for her to mark off a small corner for herself.
"Does your brother have any cord or rope?"
Zac's reply was surly. "What do you want it for?"
"To put a curtain across that corner," she said, pointing to the window she had just left. "I need some privacy."
"I don't see why."
"I'll need it when I take a bath."
Zac's eyes widened. "I don't think Tyler will let you."
"Why not? He takes baths himself."
"How do you know?"
"Every prospector I ever met smelled worse than a cow yard. Your brother doesn't."
"Look for yourself," Zac said, pointing to the shelves on the wall between the door and the fireplace.
Daisy found several coils of rope. They were all too thick for her purposes, but she found nothing else. "Will you put some nails in the wall for me?"
"Not on your life. I don't want Tyler breaking my head."
"You think he won't like it?"
"Tyler never likes anybody messing with his things. I used to think he'd rather wear dirty clothes than have Rose get her hands on them."
"You keep talking about so many people," Daisy said, "that I hardly know what you're talking about."
"Rose is George's wife. She practically brought me up."
Daisy was of the opinion Rose hadn't done a very good job of it, but she thought it better not to say so.
"Where's your brother? Since you think he might disapprove, I'd better ask him."
"Stick your head out the door and yell," Zac said. "He shouldn't be too far away."
"He's probably busy," Daisy said. "I'll wait."
"If you wait for Tyler to stop working, you'll be a year older."
Daisy felt like telling Zac that working too much was better than wasting his morning playing with a deck of cards, but she didn't say so. She decided he wasn't used to being taken to task by a female, especially one he didn't know very well.
* * * * *
Frank entered the adobe. The wind whistled through cracks around the ill-fitted door. There were at least a dozen small piles of snow under the eves where the wind had driven the powdery flakes through the cracks.
"It's slacked off," Frank said. "I expect we can get up into those hills now."
"Hell, Frank," Ed cursed, "it's cold as a bear's butt out there." Ed wore all his clothes, yet he hovered next to the stove for warmth.
"No colder than it'll be in your grave if that female makes it to Albuquerque."
"Maybe they died in that blizzard," Toby said. He lay in his bunk, the covers up to his nose. "The whole damned mountain is covered in at least six feet of snow."
"I ain't taking no chances," Frank said. "She wasn't supposed to be alive after I shot her. Nobody was supposed to see the house before it burned. Then that man came back just as I was about to plug her. That female is shot full of luck."
"What are you going to do when you find her?" Ed asked.
"Kill her, dammit. What did you think?"
"And the two men?"
"They're mine," Toby said, the dullness leaving his eyes.
"Sure," Frank said. It made him nervous when Toby's eyes glowed. It usually meant he was itching to kill somebody.
"I don't like all this killing," Ed said, uneasily.
"We don't got no choice," Frank said. "If we do this job right, people like that god-damned Regis Cochrane will start respecting us. If we don't, we're just some two-bit cowhands nobody wants anymore."
* * * * *
Tyler returned along the high ridge. He paused to study the landscape through powerful binoculars, but he could detect no sign of human life. He had spent the morning looking for any indication the killers had followed them into the mountains. He hadn't found any, but he was still uneasy. A gut feeling told him any man who'd tried twice wasn't going to give up easily.
Now the blizzard had stopped and the killers could travel, he would have to check again tomorrow. They could move quickly. They didn't have a wounded woman to worry about. He had to take Daisy to Albuquerque as soon as possible. If they were caught in the cabin, they'd be like sitting ducks.
His steps lagged as he approached the cabin. He'd stayed outside because he was uneasy around Daisy. If her blushes and hiding in the corner were any indication, she was just as uncomfortable around him.
Tyler paused to look back at the spectacular view before him, a series of mountain peaks covered with snow-laden trees. Against the stark white of the snow, the green of the firs and pines seemed even deeper
and richer. There was a hazy look to the air, like it might snow again any minute.
He looked up at the crest. The high pass was the only way down to Albuquerque for miles in either direction. It must be under a dozen feet of snow. It would be impossible to cross for days. The trip would be twice as long if they had to go around the mountain. If the snow melted all at once, every stream would be out of its banks. Like it or not, the wisest choice would be for Daisy to stay here until all danger of snow, cold, and flooding was past.
Tyler felt the tension in his chest tighten another notch. Every day the snow stayed on the ground brought him a day closer to the seventeenth of June, his twenty-sixth birthday. He had promised George he'd quit if he hadn't made a substantial strike by then. Just thinking about giving up caused the tension to twist a little tighter. He had to get back into the hills. He was close. He knew it. But there was no point in blaming Daisy or Zac for tying him down. He couldn't go prospecting now even if he were here by himself.
He had stayed outside for another reason. He wanted to escape the way Daisy looked at him ever since she heard about the gold. He had seen the shock and disgust in her eyes. He shouldn't have expected anything else. Nearly everybody reacted that way.
For as long as he could remember, he had been indifferent to people's opinions. That's the way he survived being the ugly Randolph, the one his father said was too tall and skinny to be a natural athlete like his brothers. It hadn't bothered him his brothers thought his search for gold was crazy, so he couldn't understand why he should care what Daisy thought. But he did.
Well he might as well stop. It was a waste of time. She would be gone in a few days. She didn't want anything to do with a man like him, and he had no desire for a permanent relationship with any woman. He might as well begin putting her out of his mind right now. That was more easily said than done. Cursing his luck, he picked up a load of wood and headed for the cabin.
The wind blew the door out of his grasp. Daisy and Zac jumped like two people caught doing something they shouldn't.
Chapter Five
"She wants to put a lot of nails in the wall," Zac announced without preamble. "She's gotten modest all of a sudden."
Tyler closed the door and put his wood down before turning to Daisy. She looked upset. Not surprising since nearly every word out of Zac's mouth seemed calculated to distress her.
"I just need two nails," she said.
"What for?"
"To hang a bunch of sheets," Zac explained.
"Concentrate on your cards and let me talk to Daisy," Tyler said, his temper beginning to rise.
Zac hunched a shoulder.
"Now what is this about hanging sheets?" Tyler asked.
Daisy blushed. Tyler hadn't realized how endearing a blush could be on a female with a handful of freckles scattered across her nose and cheeks. Not even the bandage could lessen its effect. He felt some of his irritation drain away and sympathy take its place. The closest he'd ever come to being in a similar situation was when Rose came to live with them on the ranch in Texas. He could still remember how out of place he felt even though Rose and George had done everything they could to make him feel it was his home as much as theirs.
It must be ten times as hard for Daisy.
"I need some privacy," she finally managed to blurt out. "I thought if I could hang some sheets across that corner . . . ”
Tyler didn't know why he hadn't thought of it himself. It was ridiculous to expect a woman to feel comfortable with two strange men staring at her all the time. He guessed he'd have known that if he'd ever had a sister. Rose had a parlor just to get away from the family she loved. She said it didn't matter everybody invaded it all the time as long as she knew she could close the door when she needed.
Tyler regretted Daisy's need to hide from him. It was the same as pushing him away. He didn't like being rejected. That's why he closed people out first. He had hoped Daisy was different.
Tyler went to the shelf, picked up a hammer and two nails. "I'll hang a line across the end of the room. Do you think that'll be enough?"
"I don't need that much. Just enough space for my mattress."
"We can move the bunk to the back wall," Tyler said. He pushed the chest of drawers up against the shelves then picked up the trunk and moved it across the room next to the chest of drawers. "Give me a hand with the bunk," he said to Zac.
"I'll break open my wound."
"Not if you bend at the knees rather than the waist."
"I can help," Daisy offered.
"You ought to be sitting down instead of standing up," Tyler said.
"But it's okay for me to be dragging furniture about the cabin," Zac complained.
Tyler was tempted to lock Zac outside. Nearly every word out of the brat's mouth made Daisy feel worse about being here. He hadn't done a lot better himself, but he was trying. He lifted the bunk and practically dragged Zac across the floor behind it.
"If I'd known you wanted to race, I'd have told you to harness up one of the mules," Zac said, staggering back to his chair, his hand clutched dramatically to his side.
"You're stubborn as one. I guess I got confused."
"I've a good mind to leave as soon as the snow melts."
"I'm counting on it," Tyler said. Choosing a spot behind the door, he drove a nail into the log wall. It would leave a hole, but he could fix that later. He drove a second nail across the room to match. "How many sheets do you think you'll need?"
"I'm sure two will be enough."
Tyler measured the distance in his mind. "Make it three." He pulled three sheets from a pile on one of the top shelves.
Daisy stooped down to pick up her mattress. Almost immediately Tyler saw her stagger and reach out to steady herself. He caught her before she fell. The effect on him was everything he'd spent the morning outside to avoid.
Daisy fit his arms perfectly, like she'd been made just for him. She looked up at him with startled eyes, a little fear mingled with surprise, chagrin, and some of the hot excitement that rushed though him like a flash flood down a narrow canyon. He couldn't move.
Holding her didn't feel strange or uncomfortable anymore. It seemed natural, as natural as wanting to kiss her. He'd never really noticed her mouth before. Most likely it was like many other mouths, but it seemed special to him. Her lips were slightly apart, her expression one of tense expectation. Her eyes were opened wide, their deep brown almost a mirror of his own.
Tyler felt himself lean forward, his arms drawing Daisy closer. She watched him with a look of disbelief. As their lips grew closer, he felt her body tense.
"You going to lay her down or stand her up?" Zac asked. The sound of his voice broke the spell, its gossamer threads vanishing as if they never had existed.
"I said you were too weak to be up," Tyler said as he helped Daisy to her feet. He felt a little shaken. When he tried to steer her toward the bed, she balked.
"It was just bending down so suddenly," she insisted. "I'll know better next time."
"Next time you need something tell me or Zac." Acutely conscious his arms were still around Daisy, Tyler guided her over to a chair at the table and made her sit down. For a change she didn't argue with him.
"I'm sorry to be so much trouble."
"It's not that. It's just Zac and I aren't used to taking care of a woman. We don't mind doing things. We just don't know what we ought to do."
And he didn't. At first he had looked on her as something to keep him from his work, but she had added a new dimension to his feeling for women. He recognized he would never again be satisfied with his old ways of thinking about them. He picked up the mattress and laid it in the corner. "Is that where you want it?"
"Yes."
He looked at the thin mattress. She couldn't possibly be comfortable on that. He got his own mattress from the bunk and put it beneath her mattress.
She looked at the bare boards that were all that was left of his bed. "What will you sleep on?"
"I'll fold up some blankets."
"But that will be hard."
"Not nearly as hard as sleeping on the ground. How do you want me to hang these sheets?"
Tyler knew Daisy didn't want him to do everything for her, so he let her help. She got to her feet slowly. He watched closely, but the dizziness didn't return. She picked up the top sheet from the pile on the table and unfolded it. He helped her adjust it so the hem barely brushed the floor. The other two sheets went into place just as easily.
He watched her breathe a sigh of relief. With a smile of satisfaction, she stepped behind the sheets and pulled the barrier closed. He knew she must feel better. The smile told him she did.
He felt cut off.
"You're not done yet," Zac said. "She wants a bath now.”
Daisy decided then and there that one day Zac would die by torture.
She expected Tyler to refuse, but he didn't say a word. He simply opened the stove door and put in more wood. He was going to heat water for her bath!
"The creek's frozen. Where are you going to get that much water?" Zac asked.
"There's snow. Give me a hand."
"I don't want a bath."
"You will. Get moving."
He went outside and came back with a metal pot full of snow. He placed it on the stove and went out again. He was back in a moment with another. He didn't stop until he had six.
Daisy would have preferred to hide behind the curtain. It would have given her time to consider if Tyler's capitulation had anything to do with what happened between them when she had her dizzy spell. But she couldn't let him prepare her bath and not lift a finger, not after all the work she had caused him.
"What can I do?" she asked when he came in carrying snow in a blanket.
"Help me get this in the pots," he said.
Daisy was amazed at the amount of snow it took to make water. She scooped load after load into the pots and almost immediately it melted into nothingness.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know a bath would be this much trouble."
"There's plenty of snow," Tyler said, and he disappeared outside.
Daisy Page 5
