by Maggie James
Curt Hammond.
If only she could get him out of her mind…and heart.
“You go on now,” Ben was saying. “Win your race, and then remember what I said.”
“I will,” she promised and, giving him a big hug, swung up in the saddle.
Buck explained the rules to Zeke. Four barrels had been placed in two circles of the same size, equal distance between. When the starting gun was fired, both riders were to take their horses around their particular set of barrels as fast as possible. After the last one, they were to make a mad dash to the finish line, which had been measured off as accurately as possible to a quarter mile.
Everyone except Buck, who would fire the starting gun, and Ben, who stayed with him, had rushed to the finish line.
“Ready?” Buck’s eyes were on Tess.
Holding the reins tight and ready to cut against Saber’s neck to lean him into the first barrel as soon as they reached it, Tess sucked in her breath, held it, and gave a firm, quick nod.
“On three,” Buck said. “One…two…”
He fired, Tess dug her heels in, and Saber took off at full gallop as though eager to prove he was the best.
She did not look around to see how Zeke was doing, concentrating instead on her own performance.
Saber cut each barrel with ease, and then Tess gave him the reins, almost letting them go completely as she raised up in the saddle to throw herself against the great horse’s neck, letting him know he had his head and was free to run wide open.
And run he did.
It was only when the cheers exploded around her that Tess dared look over her shoulder.
She had beaten Zeke Whaley by at least three lengths.
Glancing around in search of Buck and Ben, wondering why they weren’t around to share in her glory, she tensed as Zeke came alongside her.
“I’ll see you get your money,” he said, lips smiling but eyes cold.
She wanted no hard feelings, especially since it appeared they were going to be working together. Sometimes on the range lives depended on the ability to do so. “There’s no hurry. I know you’re good for it.”
Suddenly his face became a mask of rage as he spat the warning, “You don’t know nothing about me, woman. Just like you don’t know I was actually hired to be the new foreman of the Bar M. So I’ll be running things from now on, and you better damn well watch yourself or I’ll chase your little butt out of here faster’n that horse ran that race. You understand me?”
Tess was too stunned to respond as her mind tried to grasp what he had just said. Tyler had hired him to be the new foreman? But why? Buck had been foreman for years and did his job well. Everyone knew it. It had to be a mistake. She had not heard him right, and—
She whipped her head about at the sounds of frenzied shouting amid thundering hooves.
It was Buck, and before he even spoke the words, Tess felt terror washing over her.
“It’s Ben. He just keeled over. I think it’s his heart.”
Chapter Sixteen
Tess stood at the grave, tears burning her eyes. She could not swallow past the lump of grief in her throat nor stop her lips from trembling.
Standing beside her, Buck saw her pain and wrapped his big hand around her clenched fist.
Portia and Tyler were on the other side of the grave. Even though Portia was wearing a black veil over her face, Tess could feel her fixed, icy glare and wondered, not for the first time, why the woman despised her so.
Above the roaring in her ears, Tess heard the preacher saying something about ashes to ashes and dust to dust as he sprinkled a clod of dirt over the coffin.
Tess opened her fist and squeezed Buck’s hand for courage to keep her knees from buckling and sending her toppling right into the grave with Ben.
Blessed Ben.
She loved him so.
She had rushed to the chuckwagon just as they were loading him into it. He was unconscious, and she had climbed in beside him as Andy set the horses galloping.
When they reached the house, Buck and Andy had carried Ben into the parlor. When Tess attempted to follow, Portia had turned her away.
So she had sat on the front steps with the hired hands, who had abandoned camp and rushed to await word about their revered boss.
A doctor had arrived as night dropped like a cloying shroud, and then the rain came, with wind blowing it onto the porch and soaking everyone. But no one seemed to notice, or care, as the silent vigil wore on.
Then, just before dawn, the doctor came out and told them Ben was dead.
Tess, who had sworn never to cry again, yielded to the tears that ripped from her very soul.
She had lost her best friend and would mourn him forever.
The funeral service ended, and as everyone began to leave, Tess remained where she was. Buck stayed with her.
The cemetery was a peaceful place, nestled on a slight knoll. Birds were singing, and a gentle breeze was blowing from a crystal-blue sky while the sun warmed the earth with its golden glow.
“A perfect day for a funeral,” Tess murmured sardonically as she watched the gravediggers move in with their shovels.
“His wife is buried next to him.” Buck indicated the grass covered mound. “Her name was Louisa, and she died of fever when Tyler was still a boy. He loved her so much he never married again.”
He gave her hand a tug. “Come on. We need to get back to the ranch. The boys are going back to the roundup. I’m surprised Portia let them take time off for the funeral.”
“Portia? You mean Tyler.”
He snickered. “Everybody knows she leads him around by his nose. I’ll be so damn glad to get out of here.”
“But you don’t have to leave. Tyler hasn’t said anything about your having to quit because he made Zeke the new foreman. And if Ben had lived, you’d still be foreman, anyway, and you know it. He wouldn’t have let Tyler get away with it.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. I know now he was sick, Tess, and Tyler was taking over more and more.”
She persisted, “But you can keep your job. You’ve told me enough times how bad you need the money so you and Katie can get married.”
“Yeah, I know. I’ve got to prove to her family I can take care of her, because they don’t want her to leave Santa Fe. Her pa has a nice spread there and wants me to work for him. But I tried that once. That’s how I met her—working for her pa as a wrangler. And he can be a real son of a bitch, so I didn’t stay.”
“Well, what will you do now?”
“Stay in these parts. Everybody is looking for drovers now. I’m going to head on out this afternoon.”
“Well, you’d better keep in touch.” She had just lost one best friend. She did not want to lose another.
They had started walking to their horses. Tess was thinking how she would hate having to ride sideways in her western saddle because she was wearing a dress when Buck startled her by asking, “Where are you planning to go? You won’t want to stay here now, will you?”
She looked at him in bewilderment for a moment before stammering, “I…I haven’t thought about it. I guess I’ve been too lost in grief. Maybe that’s what Tyler wants to see me about.”
“What do you mean?” They had reached the horses, and Buck, without asking if she wanted his help, grabbed her by her waist and lifted her up on her horse.
“He sent word to me this morning that he wanted me to meet him in his study immediately after the funeral, so I’m going to do that before I change clothes and get back to the roundup.
“And don’t you dare leave before I have a chance to say good-bye to you,” she added with a stern shake of her finger.
“Don’t worry. I’ll wait for you at the bunkhouse. I’m curious to hear what he wants, because I don’t trust the scalawag and never have:”
Tyler was waiting for her.
Bounding to his feet the instant she walked through the open door, he shook her hand and gestured for her to sit down.
&nbs
p; Moving to a mahogany cabinet, he asked, “Would you like to join me in a brandy? After what we’ve been through, I’m sure we can both use one.”
She declined and glanced about, thinking how she could count on one hand the number of times she had ever been in the study.
Sun streamed in through floor-to-ceiling windows. There was a huge stone fireplace at one end of the room, and the walls were covered with mounted heads of deer and other creatures of the wild. The air smelled of leather and tobacco.
“Portia is taking a nap,” Tyler said as he poured amber liquid from a crystal decanter into a glass. “People will be calling this evening, and she wants to be refreshed. This has been so hard on her. She adored my father.”
Tess was glad his back was turned so he would not see the disgust surely mirrored on her face.
He was not, she mused, an unattractive man. Tall and slender, with wavy brown hair, a smooth complexion and a dimple in his cheek when he smiled, he had almost a feminine beauty about him. But his eyes lacked the warmth of his father. Cold, almost sinister, it was difficult to believe he was actually Ben’s son.
He went back to his desk and sat down, leaned back, and propped his shiny leather boots on the edge.
When he did not speak for long moments, raking her with the intimate gaze she found so annoying, she impatiently prodded, “Tyler, what did you want to see me about? I need to change and get back to the roundup. There is a lot of work to be done before we leave on the drive, and—”
“You won’t be going on the drive. And you won’t be going back to the roundup.”
She gasped, “What do you mean?”
He downed his drink in one gulp, slapped the empty glass down on his desk, spread his hands, and, with a careless shrug, asked, “Did you really think Portia would allow you to stay once my father was no longer here?”
“I don’t understand. I know she never liked him bringing me here, but I think I’ve proved I’m a hard worker, and Ben wanted me to have the experience of the drive. I won’t even be here. I’ll be on the trail. So why should she object?”
He smiled, as though it were all quite simple. “She’s jealous of you, Tess. She says I have to run you off. She doesn’t want to ever see your face again.”
“That…that’s absurd. She has no reason to be jealous of me.”
“Oh, yes, she does.” He nodded firmly. “She’s not blind. She sees you for the lovely woman you are. She’s also not stupid. She knows I’m attracted to you and wants you out of the way.”
Spine stiffening with indignation, Tess struggled to control her anger as she retorted, “She has no reason to worry. I don’t want anything to do with you, Tyler.”
“But I want something to do with you.”
He was on his feet again and around the desk in a flash, taking her by surprise. Grabbing her up in his arms, he attempted to rain kisses over her face as he crooned, “I’ve wanted you since the first day I saw you, Tess, but I never dared say anything because of my father. He’s gone now, so there’s nothing to stand in our way. I’ll put you in a house of your own in Dallas. A nice house. You’ll have everything you want and never have to worry about anything ever again, I promise.”
“And I promise”—she cried, shoving him away so abruptly he was caught off guard and stumbled backward, almost falling—“that if you ever try to touch me again, I’ll blow you away. You’d better be glad I’m not wearing my guns now.
“How dare you think I’d be your mistress?” she ranted on, bosom heaving with her fury. “I’d rather be in that coffin with Ben than have you touch me. And you should be ashamed of yourself, behaving this way the day he’s buried. Couldn’t you have waited a day or so before proving what a slimy snake you really are?”
He held up his hands in surrender, face pale as he retreated to his chair behind the desk. “I’m sorry. I really am. Forgive me. I don’t know what I was thinking. I guess I’ve just wanted you for so long I lost control. But calm down. We don’t want Portia to hear—”
Tess sneered, “Oh, heaven forbid we upset her.”
“If you’d only listen to reason.”
“I don’t want to hear anything you’ve got to say, Tyler. And suddenly I realize I don’t want to go on that drive, either. I don’t want anything else to do with you or your ranch. I think it’s time I went ahead and got a spread of my own, anyway.”
He smirked. “With what? My father didn’t leave you anything. Nothing you can claim, anyway. He wrote a new will a few weeks ago, as you probably know, since you no doubt wheedled him into it, but—”
“That’s a lie. I never asked him for anything except his wisdom, and he was always generous with that.”
“But,” Tyler continued as though she had not spoken, “I convinced his lawyer he was mentally incompetent, and it was destroyed.”
He winked over templed fingers. “It cost me a little, but it was worth it; therefore you haven’t got, as they say, a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of, so maybe you should think about that before you decline my offer.”
Maybe, Tess thought hotly, it really was a blessing she wasn’t wearing her guns, for her temper had reached the boiling point and spilled over as the words came rushing out. “I’ve already declined your offer, and I have my own money, thank you. Five thousand dollars in a bank in Dallas. I’ve planned to buy my own place all along, and Ben knew it. I was just waiting till I learned everything he could teach me. I think I’ve done a damn good job of doing that, so it’s time for me to move on, anyway.”
To her surprise, Tyler laughed shrilly and spun his chair around and around before coming to a stop to taunt, “You little fool. That’s not enough. Look around you.” He waved an arm. “You see what I’ve got here. Are you ignorant enough to think five thousand dollars could buy it?”
“I don’t have to start off with something this big,” she pointed out huffily, thinking she ought to just storm out and not listen to him, but pride made her argue.
“You might have enough to build a small cabin for yourself, a bunkhouse for your hands. Maybe even a large enough herd to get you going. But what about land? Things have started getting back to normal since the war, and prices are soaring, what with the railroad finally getting here.
“You might have been able to get into the cattle business with that much money a year ago,” he continued to gloat. “But not now. So you better think about my offer real good, Tess. Besides, you belong in silk and satin. Not buckskin and leather.”
“And you belong in an insane asylum if you think I’d ever consider it. I’ll be leaving as soon as I get my things.” Ben had gone along with her turning part of the hayloft in the barn into her private quarters, but she did not have much.
She turned toward the door but paused to note the pleading in his voice when he called, “No, wait. I don’t want you to go like this.”
Curious, as well as suspicious, she turned back around.
His voice cracked, and Tess stared down at him in wonder, for suddenly he seemed a broken man as his words came in a rush, “I feel so alone. Portia and I don’t have a marriage. She won’t let me touch her, because she’s afraid to have a baby. Right after we married, her sister died in childbirth, and she’s scared the same thing will happen to her. I thought with you being alone, too, we could help each other.”
Tess backed toward the door. She could not help feeling sorry for him, but his problems were his own. Not hers.
“And I don’t care what she says. You can take the damn horse.”
Tess felt a stab of apprehension. “What are you talking about?”
“Portia wants him. She says you’ve no right to him.”
“Ben gave me that horse.”
“I know, I know, but Portia says you’ve no right to take him when you go. But this time I’m standing up to her. Take him. Only hurry up and get out of here before she tries to stop you.”
“Oh, no,” Tess cried. “I’m not going to be charged with stealing a horse…”
Her voice trailed off and she caught herself before blurting, again.
She walked briskly back to his desk and found a blank sheet of paper. Handing it to him, she commanded, “Put it in writing.”
“What—”
“Put it in writing that Saber is mine and sign it. That way she can’t say I stole him.”
“But—”
“Do it, Tyler. If you mean what you say, and if you want to stand up to Portia, then sign it so I can leave.”
He grabbed a pen, and while he was writing, she ventured to ask, “One more thing. I want to know why you hired Zeke Whaley to take over as foreman. You know Buck’s a good man and does a good job. Did Portia make you do that, too?”
“No. It was my way of getting ready to take over when Pa died. I knew he’d been feeling poorly, and it was just a matter of time. I figured things would be easier if I had a foreman loyal to me instead of him. But I’ll keep Buck on, too, as long as he doesn’t make problems for Zeke.”
He signed the paper and held it out to her.
She snatched it from him. “He won’t stay. He was planning on leaving when Ben died, anyway. And I won’t be surprised if a lot of the other hands do the same thing. In case you didn’t realize it, Ben was the reason they stayed.”
With a stricken look, Tyler hurried back to his liquor cabinet.
Tess was out of the study and out of the house before he could finish pouring his drink.
Buck was outside the bunkhouse, saddlebags packed and smoking a cheroot as he waited for Tess. But when she appeared, eyes afire like a Mexican sunset, head held high and chin pointing like a weather vane, she just walked right on by without so much as a glance in his direction.
“Tess…”
She kept on going.
He was right behind her. “Tess, wait up.”
She did not slow her clipped pace, continuing on to the barn, where she quickly climbed the ladder to the loft.
Buck, bewildered, stared upward and called, “What is the matter with you? I can’t keep waiting. I want to make the Compton spread by sundown and see if I can hire on there, and—”
