Faith considered him a moment and then nodded in agreement. “I suppose that’ll work. I’ll get our things together while Max does the chores.” She smiled sweetly. “It’s time to clean the chicken house, and that’ll keep him busy for an hour or so.”
“I knew she’d get me,” Max said glumly, shooting Nicholas a glowering look as the men rose to leave the kitchen.
“Thanks for the coffee,” Nicholas said, reaching for his hat as he pushed the screened door open. Max’s hat hung on a handy nail, and his long fingers snagged it by its wide brim as he followed.
Faith lost no time in picking out several changes of clothing for each of them, stuffing them into a valise and then adding small personal items to the assortment. She folded her new nightgown and smiled as she thought of Max. Since stowing his belongings in her bedroom, he’d decided the gown should be left permanently in the drawer. Sleeping in Lin’s home would put a damper on his behavior.
Her hands slowed as she considered the change in her life over the past few days. Max would be heading east before long if the problems in his family’s business couldn’t be solved without his presence there to handle things. He’d written his brother a reply and had planned on riding to town to post the letter today. It wouldn’t be any great problem to do that and then head on to Nicholas’s place after she’d tidied the house and readied the horses for the trek.
Dinner was a hurried affair, and Max prepared to set off on horseback to town after they’d eaten. The valise was on the wagon, the horses hitched and ready to leave when Faith deemed things to be in order, and she had only to tie the mare and filly on behind for the short ride to the big house next door.
At the last minute she picked up the crock of eggs from the pantry to take along, and then looked around the kitchen. “I think that’s all of it,” she said as Max came through the kitchen door.
He reached to take the crock from her, then held her in the bend of his other arm, leaning to kiss her briefly, holding her close for a long moment as he admonished her to take care. Her patient smile told him without words that she was hiding amusement at his concern. And he sighed.
“I know you think you’re invincible, sweetheart, but I’m allowed to worry about you if I want to. Just be sure you have your gun with you. It doesn’t hurt to be cautious.”
“I know,” she said, and her lips curved. “I kinda like you looking after me, Max. It’s been a long time since I was the focus of anyone’s attention. It’s growing on me.”
He held her tightly and bent to drop a series of kisses across her face. “I hope so. I intend to spend a lot of years looking after you.”
He deposited the eggs in the wagon near her feet and she waved as he rode off. Her rifle lay on the wagon floor, and the mare and filly trailed behind on lead ropes as she traveled the short distance to the house Nicholas had built for his wife.
It was truly lovely, Faith decided, as her wagon rolled past the back porch and on to the open barn door. A man emerged, looking up at her with admiration as she drew the team to a halt. He reached for the nearest horse and held his harness firmly while Faith climbed down from the wagon seat.
“Ma’am?” he said, the greeting traditional, and Faith nodded.
“You must be Billy,” she said. “Nicholas said he’d hired a stockman.”
“I kinda do it all, at least the chores up close to the barn. There’s two others that are workin’ the herd right now,” Billy said, after acknowledging her remark with a nod. “Nick told me to get your animals settled in, and then when your husband shows up I’m to head on up to the north pasture and help with rounding up the cattle we’re takin’ to Dallas in a couple of days.”
“Max should be here in a few hours,” she told him, gathering her valise and the shawl she’d brought along. “I’ll be in the house with Mrs. Garvey and the children.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Billy said, tugging at his hat brim as he turned to strip the harness from her team of horses. “I’ll put these animals out in the pasture, and the mare and filly with them.” He cast an admiring look at Goldie. “Sure is a pretty little thing. Nicholas is tickled with his filly. Told us all about her.”
“Thank you,” Faith said briefly, heading for the house. The man was filled with admiring glances, she decided, and a wariness she was not familiar with settled within her. She’d cast it aside within minutes of seeing Lin on the back porch, and soon was deeply involved in holding the baby, whose teething problems had kept Lin up most of the night before.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” her neighbor confessed as Faith settled into the rocking chair, the baby snuggled in a blanket and held close for comfort. For an instant, as she hugged young Jonathan close, Faith had a flash of the future. She soon might be holding her own child this way, if her deeply ingrained knowledge of coming events was to prove true.
“This could be good practice for you,” Lin said slyly, shooting Faith a sidelong look, as if she sought confirmation of her theory. “Wouldn’t you like to have a child one day, Faith?”
Faith’s reply stuck in her throat and then was offered as a casual statement of fact as she rocked slowly. “I had a little boy,” she said quietly. “He died of milk fever when he was two months old.”
Lin gasped and approached her with open arms, then bent and embraced both her friend and the baby she held clutched to her bosom. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I had no idea. You never said anything before.”
“It isn’t something I talk about much.”
Lin stood beside her and chose her words with care. “Was that part of the problem in your marriage? Or would you rather not speak of it?”
Faith looked up into eyes that pleaded for understanding, and Lin smiled, a faint movement of her lips. “I’ll understand if you tell me to mind my own business,” she said.
“No, it’s all right. I blamed myself for a long time for the baby’s death, and Max’s mother helped me along that path.”
“Max’s mother?”
“She lived with us. Or rather, we lived with her, in the family home.”
“It doesn’t sound like a good situation. We have Katie here and she’s been like a mother or favorite aunt to Nicholas for a long time, but she’s been my right hand all along, and she’s definitely my ally. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”
“I’d like to have done without Max’s mother, believe me,” Faith said, lifting a corner of the blanket to peek within its folds at the baby, who seemed to have settled down. “I wasn’t very good at mothering, but she wasn’t any encouragement. I seem to have done everything wrong when it came to tending my child, beginning with my lack of nourishment for him.”
“I find that hard to believe,” Lin said staunchly. “As to not having sufficient milk for a baby, it’s something that happens on occasion. You weren’t the first woman to have problems. I think you’d be a fine mother. And I hope you get another chance to prove it. Without Max’s mother in residence.”
“That’s not about to happen anytime soon,” Faith said quietly. “I’m living in Texas, and Max’s family home and business are in Boston. And never the twain shall meet,” she quoted softly.
“If Max is half the man I think he is, he’ll work something out,” Lin predicted. And Faith was left to rock quietly before the parlor window as her friend left the room in silence to tend to chores that had been neglected for the benefit of a teething baby.
Max rode into the yard an hour later, and with a quick glance at the house, where Katie sat on the back porch and shelled peas, he headed for the barn. A wave of her hand from the woman who ran Nicholas’s house was his only welcome, but once he caught sight of the wagon near the barn, and a glimpse of Goldie in the pasture beyond, he knew Faith was not far away.
The stockman Nicholas had hired was named Billy, and seemed to be knowledgeable about the roundup and the chores that needed tending to. He spoke highly of Faith’s mare and admired the new filly. “Sure wouldn’t mind havin’ a horse l
ike that myself,” he said cheerfully.
And Max was left to silently agree with the man. A whole stableful of such animals would be to his liking. If he could only persuade Faith to come to Boston, he’d do whatever it took to provide her with space to house her animals. Perhaps that would be the deciding factor. And with that in mind, he began forming the artillery he would use to persuade her to his purpose.
It was not to be a topic of discussion, as he’d planned. Faith stayed up late with the baby so that Lin could sleep, and he was barely aware of her presence when she slid into the bed beside him, well after midnight.
Daylight found him seeking out Katie in the kitchen, who quietly placed his breakfast before him, then fixed a plate for Billy when he appeared at the back door. Together, the men went to the barn, and Max began a day of chores that gave him a taste of cattle ranching. He worked with the men, building a temporary corral where the cattle would be held, stringing new rope from trees and hastily erecting fenceposts.
He left them in late afternoon and rode toward the house, aware of muscles that ached and blisters that had formed in new places on his hands. Gloves were a hindrance sometimes, he’d discovered as he worked, and he was filled with a new respect for Nicholas and the life he’d chosen.
Faith helped Katie with supper and then joined him on the back porch after the dishes were washed and put away. “Are you all right?” she asked, sitting on the top step beside him.
“Just tired,” he told her. “I didn’t know there was so much work involved in raising cattle. I guess I thought they just ate until they were big enough to butcher and then trotted off to the stockyards.” He groaned and smiled at her, with a wry twist of his lips that told of a hard day in the saddle.
“You have blisters,” she said, touching his palm. “You’ll need to let me put salve on them for you.”
He shook his head. “They’re fine. I’ll wear gloves tomorrow.”
“Why didn’t you today?” she asked, her fingers gentle on the swollen areas.
“It wasn’t handy,” he said with a shrug, “and by the time enough rope had run through my hands to make me aware they were getting raw it was too late to do much good.”
“Men.” The single word was a tender condemnation, and he lifted her face to his, pressing a kiss against willing lips.
“You like men,” he teased.
“Just you.” Her mouth opened beneath his, and he hesitated.
“Can we continue this inside?” It was a coaxing whisper, and she laughed beneath her breath as she nodded.
The next day was more taxing than Max had bargained on, but the smile of gratitude on Lin’s face as he returned to the house at suppertime was payment enough for his hours of labor. And then Faith whispered in his ear as he paused at her side for a welcoming kiss, and the massage she promised him made him feel refreshed at the mere thought.
He was fresh from a bath when she arranged him on the bed, and the cool touch of her hands was welcome against his back. She turned down the lamp and blew it out, and he heard the rustle of her clothing as she undressed.
The mattress moved as she lowered a knee beside his hip. A fragrant oil met his skin and slender fingers fed it into his sore muscles. Then, with a lithe movement, she was astride his back, leaning forward as she worked, lending her strength to the task. Her fingers followed the long lines of sinew and tendon as she spoke quietly of the happenings of her day, and he listened, bemused and half-asleep.
He drifted in a world of pleasure, half listening to the words she whispered, her tone as soothing as her touch. And then she rolled to one side and he turned his face toward her. “Thanks,” he murmured, replete with satisfaction.
“You’re welcome.” Her hand touched his jaw, brushed a stray lock from his forehead and then slid to his nape, where her fingers played in the length of dark, waving hair. “We’ll probably be leaving here by day after tomorrow,” she said quietly.
“You think so?” His eyelids were heavy, but he fought the urge to doze off. “Are you tired?” he asked, stifling a yawn.
“Not as tired as you,” she said, smiling tenderly. And then she leaned toward him and her kiss was warm, lingering and damp. “You need to sleep,” she told him.
“Maybe in the morning…” he murmured.
It seemed they’d barely slept when the distant sound of gunfire brought him to his feet beside the bed. Donning drawers and a pair of trousers and shoving his feet into his boots, he snatched up a shirt. Aware of Faith at his heels, he sped to the back porch and turned. Faith was behind him, her nightgown a pale shadow in the darkness.
He stepped onto the porch, tugging his shirt in place and buttoning it rapidly. His eyes narrowed, searching the shadowed outline of buildings and the stretches of pastureland toward the north. Silently, he waited, watching for any visible movement.
Inside the house, Lin spoke, and Faith’s reply was quiet. “No lights,” she said. “We don’t want to make Max a target on the porch.”
He opened the screened door and went into the kitchen. “I’ll need my revolver,” he told Faith and she went to the bedroom quickly, carrying it back to him in moments. “Is there a long gun I can use?” he asked Lin, and she led him to the locked cabinet in the pantry where Nicholas kept extra weapons, opening it with a key from the top shelf.
“Take what you need,” she said quickly. “I’m sure Billy will be in to let us know what’s happened. I’ll have Katie watch the children, and Faith and I will arm ourselves.”
But there was no sign of Billy, and the barn was dark and silent. Within minutes, Max headed across the yard, opening the door and easing inside. Working in the moonlight that filtered through behind him, he readied one of Nicholas’s horses for riding, unwilling to expose himself by lighting the lantern hanging from the ceiling.
Behind him, a sound caught his attention, and he turned quickly, then relaxed as he recognized Faith in the doorway, her pale hair gleaming. “What are you doing out here?” he asked quietly, noting the rifle she carried.
“I came out to see if Billy was here, but apparently he’s not. Can I do anything to help?”
“I’m going to ride north and find out what’s going on. I want you to go back to the house and stay safe. I’m wary of Billy not being here.”
“Nicholas seems to trust him,” Faith said slowly, and Max waited for her next words as if a second shoe were about to fall to the floor. She did not disappoint him, her face somber as she looked up. “I don’t like the man, Max. I can’t say why. Just a feeling, I suppose. Watch your back.”
He frowned at her warning, and yet he had no reason to doubt her instincts. “Nick wouldn’t have a man so close to the house if he couldn’t trust him,” he told her.
She shook her head stubbornly. “I don’t care what Nicholas thinks. I don’t have good feelings about the man.”
Faith was not given to rash statements. If she felt so strongly about this, it would pay him to heed her words. “All right,” he said. “I trust your judgment, sweetheart.” He bent to snatch a quick kiss. “Be safe,” he murmured.
“I’ll be fine. Lin has a shotgun at hand, and I’m not afraid to use my rifle if I have to.”
“My wife the sharpshooter,” he teased, casting her a last look. His left foot lifted to the stirrup and he was in the saddle and out the door, riding swiftly across the pasture, and beyond it to the wide meadow to the north. Within moments he was at the eastern edge of the meadow, where a hedgerow rimmed the side.
He rode along it, counting on the bushes and tall trees to conceal him. He pulled his horse to a halt, then blended into the foliage, intent on the horizon, where, farther to the north, he knew the men were watching the herd of cattle.
Whoever had pulled a trigger was in hiding, but the fact remained that something was not as it should be. It would not be wise to rush in. Better to stay back until he surveyed the lay of the land. It took on different forms in the night, the familiar acreage becoming a mystic landscape in
the dark.
Her rifle at her side, Faith went back to the house, aware of every shadow, her hearing attuned to each sound from the trees. There was a hush she was wary of, as if the night birds had drawn into their nests. Even the owls were silent, and the usual soft rustling sounds of small night creatures were missing.
“Will he be all right?” Lin asked from her post beside the kitchen window.
“He’s a man,” Faith said sharply. “They all think they’re invincible, don’t you know?”
Lin chuckled in the darkness. “He’s capable, I’m sure, Faith. Nicholas trusts him. He told me he thinks Max is a warrior in civilized clothing.”
Faith considered that thought and nodded. “He may be right. I just never considered him in that light, I suppose. But he’s fearless, I’ll give him that. He’s never run up against an enemy he couldn’t best, or a foe he couldn’t run to ground, so far as I know.”
“It took him long enough to find you,” Lin said.
“He’s never told me much about how he managed to track me down,” Faith said. “Only that he paid good money to locate my whereabouts. It makes me wonder if my face was on Wanted posters that circulated among lawmen between here and Boston. I’ve meant to ask him, but we’ve always found something else to talk about.”
“I imagine you’ve had a lot of catching up to do.”
In the dark, it seemed easier, somehow, to speak of Max and the problems they’d faced during the past weeks. Faith chose her words carefully as she confided in her friend. “We had to start from scratch,” she said. “Right back at the beginning, with his mother and my unhappiness, and Max’s inability to understand my problems.”
“Has he seen the light?” Lin asked.
“Apparently so,” Faith told her. “He’s done a lot of backtracking, I think. And I’ve decided that if I ever plan to make any sort of life with him, I’ll have to face his mother down someday.”
Texas Gold (Mills & Boon Historical) Page 17
