Savage Land

by Janet Dailey

  'What are you so serious about?’ she asked, hugging his arm while giving him a saucy smile.

  'What happened at the pool this morning?’ His question was so unexpected that Coley couldn't suppress a little gasp. She had no trouble now flowing her previously bouncy steps his.

  'You talked to Tony, I suppose,’ Coley replied, astutely recognizing the tale-carrying culprit.

  'He said he saw you and Jason in a little clinch.’ His words came out slowly through gritted teeth, but there was concern and speculation in his eyes when he glanced at his sister.

  'That's not the way it was,’ Coley replied, going on to explain about her to fright in the deep end of the pool and Jason's rescue. ‘I was just hanging on to him because I was frightened. And that's when Tony came along.'

  'So that's all there was to it,’ Danny breathed. The relief etched little curves around his mouth.

  'Well—’ Coley drawled, desperately seeking the words that would explain her confused feelings. She had always confided in her brother and she needed again. He was always able to put things in their right order. ‘Not exactly. You see, Danny,’ she rushed, ‘afterwards I got this feeling that I would have liked him to kiss me. I don't really understand it. That's why I got so embarrassed at Tony's teasing, because I wanted it to happen.’ She paused briefly. ‘I've never felt like that, especially after Carl...’ Her words drifted away in silence.

  'Coley, there are some things you don't know about Jase.’ Danny spoke hesitantly.

  'I overheard Jase and Uncle Ben arguing one day shortly after we came here.’ Coley spoke very low so that Danny had to bend his head to hear. ‘Uncle Ben called him a murderer. That's what you're talking about, isn't it?'

  Danny studied her very intently before answering.

  'Yes, that's what I'm talking about. I've heard things, stories, I don't know how much of them are true, but either way, he's thirteen years older than you. He's ... I don't know, only I don't want you getting too close to him or you're going get hurt.'

  That was the second time she'd been warned off, the first time by Jase himself, Coley thought as they reached the stables. Did she seem so much like a child to everybody that they couldn't trust her to judge the facts?

  As they walked down the roofed breezeway and past the stalls, Coley looked around her. She had been so engrossed in her conversation with her brother that she hadn't noticed her surroundings. This was the first time she had ventured in the actual ranch-yard and she studied the various buildings and corrals with interest. Several hundred yards away she noticed a large barn surrounded by heavy reinforced fencing. She could barely make out the distant grey shapes within the fences.

  'What's over there?’ She directed Danny's attention the distant corrals.

  'In those enclosures? Brahma cattle,’ he answered. ‘They raise them for rodeo stock. I understand Jase had been doing some experimental breeding with them, too. They're a hearty breed, able to stand up under the hot weather and insects better than the Herefords and Angus. They're awful touchy, though, so don't you go hanging around those corrals. They didn't build those fences like that for nothing.'

  Coley gave a little shudder, remembering pictures she had seen of rodeo bulls tossing riders and clowns around. No, she wouldn't be going near them.

  'Here's the little mother,’ Danny crooned, stopping beside the open foaling pen at the south end of the stable. He reached out and laid a reassuring hand on the shiny brown neck of the mare. He took hold of his shy sister and drew her up beside him see the spindly-legged colt sprawled exhaustedly on the hay. ‘Here's the Johnny-come-lately.'

  As if the mare knew that Danny was showing off her son, she turned her head and nickered to the sleeping colt. He raised his too large head in answer and then attempted to get his long legs in the correct position to get him on his feet. After several awkward attempts that brought quiet gasps of laughter from Coley, he made it and stood staring at them, brightly swishing his furry whisk-broom of a tail arrogantly.

  'He's all head, ears and legs,’ Coley laughed, delighted with the comic little colt.

  'He'll grow in all three,’ Danny promised, scratching the mare's forelock as she nuzzled him for her share of attention.

  Coley tried coaxing the little man over to her, but he just shook his blazed face at her and dashed, as best he could, to the protection of his mother's flank.

  'Coley, do you like it here?’ Danny asked unexpectedly, turning an anxious face to her. ‘I mean, do you want to stay? I don't really get to be with you very much and if you're unhappy...'

  'Oh, no, I like it here,’ she inserted quickly. ‘Aunt Willy is so good me that I feel guilty about not being able to pay my way. But, Danny, I wish you wouldn't work so hard. You're always off in the barns or stables somewhere.'

  'You know something, I like it. It's all so interesting that it doesn't seem like work,’ Danny replied earnestly. ‘Can you imagine that, a city boy like me? But there's so much you have to know to be able to operate a ranch successfully, especially one of this size. Do you want to see some of the other horses?’ he asked as if suddenly self-conscious of his enthusiasm.

  'Yes,’ Coley replied, following Danny as he walked away from the pen.

  When they reached an adjacent corral, Coley climbed on to the top of the fence beside Danny, barely concealing her dismay as the horses within trotted over to them.

  'They won't hurt you,’ Danny said as a bold sorrel horse bunted his arm playfully. ‘They just want some attention.'

  Hesitantly Coley placed a careful hand on the head of a small bay and made a haphazard job of scratching his head as she had seen Danny do. As another horse moved in making Coley feel like she was being surrounded, she scooted closer to Danny. The new horse, a blaze-faced chestnut, nuzzled her arm.

  'His nose is so soft,’ Coley exclaimed, turning her hand palm upwards as the horse investigated it. ‘It feels like velvet.'

  She gradually grew more confident, not jumping every time one made a move that she wasn't prepared for, until she was laughing along with Danny at the spats of jealousy that took place between the horses. They were so engrossed in the little byplays that they failed to hear Jase ride up behind them.

  'Why don't you take your sister out for a ride?’ he said to Danny, almost startling Coley off her perch.

  Danny looked at his sister before issuing a rueful snort that said ‘forget it’ very plainly.

  'I'd love too,’ Coley murmured wistfully, ‘but...'

  'I know, you don't know how to ride.’ Jase laughed, a warm delicious laugh, that tingled through Coley. ‘Do you want learn?'

  'Sure, but...’ said Coley, slipping off the fence, followed by her brother.

  'Danny could teach you,’ Jase suggested.

  'Oh, no, not me,’ Danny cried, begging off with grim determination. ‘I've been through that before. Her decisions last about as long as it takes to saddle a horse and then she's gone.'

  'Do you want learn?’ Jase repeated, the two blue diamond eyes challenging her.

  'Of course,’ Coley asserted, indignant and a little put out by her brother's evaluation of her weak determination.

  'Grady!’ Jase called, turning in his saddle to hail a ranch hand leading a white-faced roan out of the stables. ‘Bring Misty over here! Miss McGuire needs a gentle mount, so you'll have find another one for this afternoon.'

  'I didn't m-mean now exactly,’ Coley stuttered as Jase stepped down off his blood-bay stallion. Jase accepted the reins from the rider and turned Coley.

  'What's wrong with now?’ His eyes twinkled wildly although the deadpan expression on his face didn't change.

  'He's got you now,’ Danny hooted, overcome with malicious brotherly glee at his sister's predicament.

  'Nothing, except I promised Aunt Willy...’ Coley began, searching wildly for some way out of the trap that her big mouth had got her in.

  'There isn't anything that Aunt Willy would have for you that couldn't be put off,’ Jase i
nterrupted. Then he turned to the roan and stroked its neck. ‘She just doesn't like you, Misty.'

  'Oh, she's fine. I mean, she's ... there's nothing wrong with her. It's just...'

  'You'd better tell her yourself, because I don't think she believes me,’ said Jase, shaking his head in mock despair.

  Feeling like an utter fool, Coley stepped over towards the horse. Unwillingly she stared into the liquid brown eyes of the roan that blinked so trustingly back at her. As if on cue, the horse stepped forward and nuzzled Coley's shoulder until Coley placed a reluctant hand on its head and began stroking it.

  'Misty likes you,’ Jase commented, while Danny stood back, silently shaking with ill-concealed humour. ‘Just a few turns around the corral wouldn't do any harm.'

  'Oh, all right,’ Coley agreed, slightly ashamed of her reluctance. She turned a glowering eye on her brother. ‘But I don't need an audience.'

  'I'll take my cue,’ Danny grinned, and moved off towards the stables with a wave and a dubious ‘good luck’ to Jase.

  'Okay. Now what?’ Coley asked. Her anger was bolstering her courage.

  'Come over here to the left side of the horse,’ Jase instructed, taking her by the hand as he spoke.

  'Do you have to get on from this side?’ stalled Coley.

  'It's best. It's the side that the horse is used seeing a rider approach, so if you come from the other side he won't be expecting you and might spook,’ he explained patiently.

  'I thought a horse wouldn't let you get on him except from the one side.'

  'No, that's not true. In fact, the Indians mounted their ponies on the opposite side,’ Jase smiled. ‘That peculiar quirk of theirs saved a cavalry patrol from ambush once.'

  'Really?’ Coley asked, interested in spite of herself.

  'Two patrols were supposed to link up at a designated point. The scout from one patrol spotted the second patrol waiting for them. He was just going to report his commanding officer that he had sighted the other patrol when he saw one of the so-called soldiers mount his horse—from the wrong side. He realized immediately that Indians must have wiped out the other patrol, stolen their uniforms and were waiting to ambush his patrol,’ Jase concluded. He stared at her rapt face. ‘But that little story isn't getting you on this horse, and that's what we're supposed be doing.'

  Coley grinned at him shyly, and surprisingly he returned the smile. He threw the reins over the roan's head and turned back to Coley.

  'Step over here,’ he said, indicating a place on the ground at the horse's side. ‘Place your right hand on the saddle horn and with your left hand grip the reins and rest your hand on the horse's neck.’ He guided her hands through the moves. ‘You always want to shorten the inside rein just a little so that the horse's head turns towards you. Never turn your back to the horse. Keep him in sight so that you know what he's doing. We have a few that take a playful nip here and there, or shy away when you try to mount.’ He glanced at her make sure she was taking it all in. ‘All right, now place your left foot in the stirrup.'

  Coley did as she was told, although her balance was not too good. Luckily the roan wasn't a big horse and Coley was fairly tall.

  'Okay, now pull yourself in the saddle,’ Jase finished.

  It was a simple instruction, but not easy to carry out, as Coley soon discovered. She got halfway up, only to lose her balance and slip to the ground. She glanced at Jase and tried again. This time she got her leg over the saddle, straddled above it awkwardly for a second before receiving a shove from Jase that slipped her into the seat. She sat very still, her left hand clutching the saddle horn as well as her right, and stared at the ground so very far below her. If Jase noticed the little waves of panic that were numbing her, he made no mention of them. He stepped to the roan's head, took hold of the reins under the chin, still retaining a hold on his own horse's reins and began walking. His voice was very matter-of-fact when he began speaking again.

  “I'll lead you over to the corral so you can get used to the movement of the horse,’ he said. ‘All you have to do is relax, don't hold your body too rigid and follow the motion of the horse.'

  Coley stared at a point between the horse's ears and tried to do as she was told. It sounded so simple. Jase stopped at the corral gate, opened it, and led the group in, closing the gate behind them. He swung easily into his saddle and reined his horse over beside Coley. He reached over and removed Coley's hands from the saddle horn, his eyes twinkling as she swallowed nervously. He placed the reins in her left hand and instructed her to let her other arm fall to her side. Against her better judgement, she did as she was told.

  He showed her how to lay the reins against the side of the horse's neck to get him to turn, the proper length of rein from the horse's mouth to her hands, and, most important as far as Coley was concerned, how to stop him.

  'We'll walk around the corral now. Just squeeze your legs and heels a bit.’ He waited until she did it before starting his own horse out.

  After several plodding rounds, Coley felt quite good. She even relaxed a little. Of course, the ground wasn't quite as far away now, or at least it didn't seem to be.

  'Do you want to try a trot?’ Jase asked. She nodded confidently. ‘Do the same as before, squeeze your legs.'

  She did. Her horse began shuffling his feet in a lazy semblance of a trot while Coley bounced all over the saddle and nearly off. Instinctively she pulled her horse back into a walk. Her hazel eyes were very round when she looked over to Jase.

  'This time, sit well back in the saddle so you don't get the motion of both the front and back legs of the horse. Don't move against the motion, ride with it. Try it again,’ he said.

  She'd gone too far to quit now, Coley thought, and resolutely tightened her legs against the horse's sides and off they went. She really tried to do as he said and succeeded to a certain extent, but she still bounced, although not quite as bad. Around and around the corral they went, Jase holding back his bay to stay along side the slow, shuffling roan.

  'Let's canter now,’ he ordered, and held back again until Coley had urged her horse to the faster pace.

  'That's easy!’ Coley exclaimed delightedly as Jase rode along side. The rhythmic, rocking motion was such a snap after the bouncing, jarring trot. ‘This is fun!'

  He pulled his horse into the centre of the corral and stopped. He watched her circle several times before he called to her that that was all for day. She pulled the roan up and turned him into the centre towards Jase.

  'You've had enough for today. Any more riding and you'll be stiff as a board,’ he smiled, and Coley smiled back. ‘I'll tell the boys that Misty is yours. You can ride her whenever you like, but only in the corral for the next week or so until you get used to it.'

  'Thanks,’ Coley cried, rubbing the side of the roan's neck happily. She slid out of the saddle to the ground, leading her new mount over to the fence with Jase following suit. ‘I never thought I could ride. I always got so frightened. But you didn't give me a chance.'

  'That was the general idea,’ he replied, leaning against a fence post.

  'Still, I want to thank you. You've taught me swim. Though I don't know how yet, I know I'm going to learn. And you've now taught me to ride,’ Coley trailed off breathlessly. Then she glanced over at him with a sudden stab of guilt. ‘I'm sorry about the way I behaved this morning. At the pool, I mean.'

  'Nothing happened at the pool this morning,’ Jase said coldly, turning his head to Coley where her gaze subsequently rested on his scar. ‘Except in Tony's imagination.'

  'I didn't mean that,’ said Coley, lowering her head to watch her boot scuff the dirt of the corral. ‘I meant that I didn't mean to make things more difficult for you.'

  'How could you do that?’ he asked, eyeing her speculatively.

  'Well,’ Coley's face was red now as she struggled over the words, ‘I know you're in some sort of awkward position here on the ranch. I don't know why, only that it's something about your brother, and I don't
want to do anything that would make things harder for you.’ She searched his inscrutable face for some sign of understanding, ‘You've been so good to me, teaching me things and all, that I don't want to get you in trouble over it.'

  'I won't,’ Jase answered, staring down at bet with a very grim expression on his face. Seeing the anxious eyes dwelling on him, he smiled. ‘So don't worry about me, my little yellow rose.'

  Coley laughed and joined in step as he started towards the corral gate.

  'You know you're really a very good teacher,’ she smiled up at him. ‘I can just see you teaching your sons and daughters.'

  Her imagination painted bright little pictures as she spoke, of dark-haired little boys with blue eyes.

  'There won't be any!’ His voice was cold and hard. The biting tone brought Coley to a complete halt as she stared into his cold eyes filled with contempt. ‘Because there won't be any wife.'

  'Why ever not?’ Coley asked. Her eyes grew sound and just a trifle fearful at the anger and coldness in his face.

  'I have nothing to offer a wife. Not a home, not a future, not an inheritance for children. Nothing!’ Jase exclaimed bitterly. Coley stared at his cheek where the jagged scar seemed to be throbbing the rapid pulse of his temper. His hand reached up and touched the scar lightly with his fingertips. ‘I have this for my wife,’ he mocked. ‘The mark of Cain.'

  And he was gone while Coley stood silently within the backlash of his words.

  Chapter Five

  COLEY paddled idly in the water, enjoying the refreshing coolness of the pool in the afternoon sun. She could swim now, after a fashion, thanks to a week of intensive lessons from Jase. Of course, she had been restricted, like a child, to the shallow end of the pool whenever she swam alone. She could handle Misty pretty well now, too, but there again he wouldn't let her ride alone except in the corral. She grimaced disgustedly.

  He treated her so differently. He had become distant and aloof since that first riding lesson. It was as if she was a total stranger. And all because of her big mouth, Coley thought. He had left yesterday to go into San Antoine for something or other and she hadn't even known he was going or even gone until she asked where he was at the dinner table last night. He could have at least said good-bye.