by Merry Farmer
“I understand that, sweetheart,” she said, far more gentle than he expected. “But I’ve got a job too—that of being your wife.”
“Which means you stay at home and cook and clean and make things pretty, right?” His brow shot up in desperate pleading as both Travis and Franklin reached them.
“Morning, gentlemen.” Eden greeted the two with a winning smile.
“Mrs. Chance.” Franklin touched the brim of his hat. “At least, I assume you’re Mrs. Chance.”
“I am, and proud of it,” Eden answered before Luke had a chance to explain.
That last bit left him tingling with affection and at a complete loss of how to handle things. “Eden just came to see us off,” he fumbled.
She didn’t contradict him, but neither did she agree. “I was actually hoping I might come along with you boys.”
Luke flinched. “Come along with us? On the drive?”
“Yep.” Eden nodded.
Franklin and Travis exchanged uncertain looks. “You ever been on a cattle drive before, ma’am?” Travis asked.
“Nope,” Eden answered.
She shifted her Winchester to her other shoulder, sweeping one side of her jacket back and cocking her hips so that her revolver stood out. Lord have mercy, she was wearing a Colt Peacemaker. Two of them. Luke swallowed. Who had he married anyhow?
“Mighty fine weapons you’ve got there, Mrs. Chance,” Travis went on. “I take it you’ve used them before.”
“Yes, I have,” Eden answered with a smile.
The air itself paused to hear what else she would say about it, but Eden remained mum.
Franklin cleared his throat. “Mrs. Chance, do you really want to spend two or three weeks away from civilization, sleeping on the rough ground at night, eating out of a tin can, and dealing with a bunch of messy, smelly, ill-mannered…” He paused, glanced at his men, who had gathered to watch the scene, grinned, and finished with, “Cattle?”
Eden clearly caught what he’s meant to say. Her grin matched Franklin’s as she said, “Yep.”
“Why?” Travis asked, crossing his arms.
Eden looked at him as though he were dense. “Because I just got married, and I want to be with my husband. What’s so unusual about that?”
Her question was a dare. Travis and Franklin, and the rest of the ranch hands, squirmed and shifted, rubbing their necks and chins and whatever else they could to delay answering her. Luke only smiled, something warm and pulsing growing in his chest. He’d never met a woman like Eden before—never met anyone so fearless and bold…and possibly a little bit crazy. And she was his, wedded and bedded.
“I’m not going anywhere unless Eden comes with me,” he blurted, surprised that he meant it so vehemently. The other men stared at him. “You don’t realize half of what this woman is capable of,” he went on. “Neither do I, if truth be told, but I sure do want to find out.”
Lawson leaned over and whispered something to Cody at the edge of the scene. Cody snorted. Billy and Oscar—one of Mrs. Piedmont’s men who was coming along to help out—exchanged glances that said they just wanted to see what would happen next.
Travis glanced to Mason, then at Franklin with a shrug. “It’s up to you, boss.”
Luke darted a glance to Eden to see what she thought of that. She stood her ground, a confident grin on her pretty face, as if her inclusion on the drive was a foregone conclusion.
Franklin studied her. His expression twitched from an unreadable frown to an amused grin. “I’m newly married myself,” he said. “And I can’t imagine how I’d feel if I had to leave Corva for weeks on end.”
“Corva’s a gem among women.” Eden nodded. “She was always one of my favorites at Hurst Home, always helping the other girls out. She offered to paint my portrait once, but for…various reasons, I declined.” The shifty look that popped to Eden’s face sent Luke’s thoughts racing. He didn’t have time to give it much thought, though. Eden went on with, “Tell Corva I say hello next time you see her.”
Atop his horse, Franklin looked as though he’d been given a prize for valor. He nodded to Eden and said, “I will. I’m sure she’ll want to catch up with you once you get back.”
It was all Luke could do not to laugh out loud. So that’s what she meant about being friendly to get out of sticky situations. Eden had to be the most clever woman he’d ever met, on top of the most beautiful and most sensual. She’d worked magic around Franklin Haskell, knowing exactly what to say to get what she wanted.
“I appreciate that, sir.” She nodded respectfully to him, knowing she’d won. “And I promise to keep a sharp eye on your messy, smelly, ill-mannered cattle in the meantime.”
Luke chuckled, heart light. At least, it was light until they started moving, figuring out which spare horse they could bring along for Eden. All that cleverness of his wife’s could easily be directed at him any moment. He was going to have to watch himself where she was concerned. But then, that was another thing he’d always heard about women that he suspected he was about to find out was true. Men thought they wore the pants in their marriages, but women were the ones who sewed those pants, and they could make them as tight as they wanted.
Chapter Six
Eight hours later, Luke’s heart wasn’t so light. In fact, he felt as though a fifty-pound buzzard had crept up on his shoulder and was staring down at his every move.
“Watch the left flank,” Travis called across the milling herd of cattle as they rounded a bend where a slope met the stream a few miles outside of Paradise Ranch.
Luke sat straighter in the saddle, glad at least that he felt as one with Marshall, his gelding. He spotted a pair of cows that looked more interested in investigating the slope than continuing on with the others. Instinct kicked in, and he nudged Marshall to investigate.
“No, no!”
A numb prickle crawled down Luke’s spine at Travis’s correcting shout. What had he done wrong? Anxious and frustrated, he turned Marshall toward Travis, who was now riding through the ambling herd to reach Luke.
“What?” Luke called when Travis got close enough. “I was just going to stop those two from getting away.”
He glanced over his shoulder. Not only were the two cows still straying, Eden had paused atop her horse to watch him. Her face was shaded by the wide brim of her hat, so he couldn’t tell what she thought.
Travis rode close, evidently keeping his reply to himself until he could deliver it face-to-face. Perfect. Luke grunted. His wife was about to witness him being reprimanded when he was supposed to be proving how competent he was. Just what he needed.
“You’re trail boss,” Travis said when he was only a couple feet from Luke. His horse danced, but Travis kept it under control. “Your job is not to herd the cattle, it’s to herd the men.”
“Yeah?” Luke tried to sound casual, but his mind raced to drink in the lesson, and his muscles clenched with the need to perform well.
Travis nodded. “So as leader, you can’t do every job yourself. You see what needs to be done, who is available to do it, and you delegate to them.”
“Right.” Luke lifted to search over the dusty herd and the men from Paradise Ranch who were driving it. Cody and Mike were up at the front, pacing the cattle, Mike taking his turn driving the chuck wagon. Billy and Mason were over on the right flank. Lawson and Oscar rode drag, bringing up the rear. That left him and Travis…and Eden.
As if she could sense the conclusion he came to before he came to it, Eden smiled.
“She wanted to come,” Travis said, seeing that she was the closest one to where action was needed too. He shrugged. “So far, she’s pulled her weight. Why not put her to work doing something other than cooking?”
Luke gaped. “You want me to order my wife to bring back two straying cows?”
“Why not?” Travis nodded, a grin making its way into his eyes. “A good leader can train anyone to do any job.” He was close enough to reach out and thump Luke’s arm. “Go to it
.”
Travis rode off, and Luke nudged Marshall to move on. Eden must have sensed some of what the conversation had been about. She had already walked her horse along the flank toward the spot where the two cows were drifting further and further up the slope. Following them was one thing, but Luke had never seen a woman herd a cow.
He had, however, seen plenty of women herd a pack of unruly children. There was only one way to find out if that instinct stretched across the animal kingdom. Although, if he made a mash of teaching Eden how to manage cattle, he’d be reminded of it every day when he looked in her pretty face.
“No way to find out but to try,” he murmured to himself, then kicked Marshall into action. “Hey, Eden!”
She pulled on her mount’s reins to turn him toward Luke. “Hey, what?”
“Travis wants me to show you how to keep unruly cows from wandering off.”
“Travis wants that?” A grin twitched her lips.
Luke frowned. “Yeah. That a problem?”
Eden shrugged. “Don’t you want to show me how to rein in some cows, trail boss?”
Luke’s mouth sagged open. “What’s the difference?”
She chuckled. “There’s a world of difference, sweetheart. You’ve got just as much backbone as Travis Montrose does.”
“I’ve—” Luke frowned and shook his head. His plucky wife was driving at something, but right then there wasn’t time to work it out. The pair of cows decided to make a break for it.
Luke pushed the strange conversation aside and nudged Marshall, nodding to Eden, then ahead at the cows. She spurred her horse after him, and in no time, the two of them were riding wide of the herd.
“Cows aren’t the brightest creatures God made,” he explained as he showed Eden what to do. “They prefer to be in a mass. They like being guided. They get all itchy and confused when they stray.”
“Kind of like a man?” Eden teased with a wink.
It was probably a jab at him, but Luke laughed anyhow. “If you’d like. All they need is a little gentle encouragement to head back to the path they’re supposed to be on.”
“Exactly like a man,” Eden laughed. “Show me how?”
It shouldn’t have, but that simple question puffed Luke’s chest with pride. Sprightly as Eden was, she was asking for his instruction. He knew full well what he was doing and the best way to get it done, so as soon as she was shadowing him, he demonstrated the best way to guide and holler and coax nervous cows away from their escape plan and back into the bulk of the herd. Sure enough, as soon as they sensed their buddies around them, the cows gentled and their steps relaxed into the plodding lope of the rest of the herd.
“That wasn’t so hard.” Eden drew her horse up alongside his. Her chest rose and fell beautifully as she panted from exertion and concentration. Out in the sun, the dusting of freckles across her cheeks seemed more pronounced and downright…kissable. “You’re right, it just takes some calling and nudging, and they go right back to where they want to be.”
“In a situation like this, yes.” Luke nodded, working hard to focus on the job instead of all the other things they could be doing. “If they end up in a full-on stampede or if there’s some other danger, it’s a whole different problem to solve.”
“So how do you solve it?” She looked up at him like a student ready to be instructed by a master.
Something warm and bolstering flooded Luke’s chest. “Well.” He shrugged as though it was no big deal. “If they start stampeding in earnest, the first thing you’ve got to do is make sure there’s no major source of danger in the immediate area, no cliffs or rivers or such.”
“Uh huh. Then what?”
“Turn them to the right.”
“The right?” She balked, smiling as though he was joking.
“I’m serious. Get them to turn to the right and start running in a circle. Once they get all balled up, they’ll stop.”
“By running to the right?”
Luke shrugged. “Cattle don’t like turning to the left when they’re running.”
Eden burst into giggles. “That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Well, it’s true.”
“Oh, I believe you, but still.”
Off to the right, Travis called out, “Luke, watch your tail.”
Luke twisted to check behind him. Another couple of cows had veered off, but only by a bit. He turned back to Eden. “Think you can handle them?”
“I know I can.” She nodded, then wheeled her horse around to go after the strays.
The rest of the day passed in far more pleasant a manner than Luke ever would have imagined. The weather was holding, the herd was calm, and Eden was much more of a help than he could have imagined. By some miracle, his first day as a trail boss was going well. Pete, his adopted pa, would be proud. He even slept well when they set up their bedrolls and lay down under the canopy of stars. Eden camped out close to him, and crazy though it was, Luke was kind of glad she didn’t try to climb in his bedroll with him. With all his buddies around, that would have been about as awkward as things got.
Morning dawned clear and cooler than days had been. Eden got up before the men—well, all the men except for Travis—and had a load of bacon and a pot of beans cooking over the campfire as everyone else came awake. The scent alone was divine.
“You sure did pick a winner,” Mason said around a mouthful of breakfast as they prepared for the morning’s work.
“Maybe you should think about getting married yourself,” Eden answered his praise. “I knew a lot of girls back in Nashville who would love a life out here.”
Mason shrugged. “I can’t say as I’m ready to tie myself down yet.”
“Why?” Cody snorted. “What are you doing that requires not being tied down?”
Mason flushed. “Well, I could go off on an adventure any day.”
Cody laughed. Even Travis shook his head. “If Luke here can settle down with a woman, than anyone can,” he said.
Luke frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Come on.” Mike thumped him in the arm from his seat beside him by the campfire. “You’ve never exactly been the serious and responsible type.”
Before Luke could protest and insist that he was as responsible as any of the others, Cody rushed on with, “Well I’m sending away for a wife. I already told Mrs. Evans I wanted one the other day, right Luke?”
“And what did she say?” Mason drawled, as if he knew the answer.
Cody’s enthusiasm faltered. “She said she’d think about it.” He hopped up, face more than a little red, and marched his dishes over to Eden.
One by one, the men finished their breakfast and got down to the business of cleaning up camp and saddling their horses. Eden tidied up breakfast and stored things away in the supply wagon. Whether because he was embarrassed or just because it was his turn, Cody volunteered to drive the wagon for the day. Luke thought about asking Travis if Eden could have more time to clean up their food, but by the time he thought of it, Eden already had everything stored and secure and the fire doused and covered in dirt.
“Where’d you learn to clean a camp that fast?” he asked her as the two of them rode on the right flank an hour later.
“From my brothers,” Eden answered.
That was all she answered. There was nothing wrong with that explanation, but now that Luke had spent some time with his new wife, he was beginning to see that sometimes she didn’t look him in the eye when she told him something. Nothing else gave him the idea that she was uncomfortable, but the more he looked, the more that didn’t seem normal.
He had more cause to doubt as the sun rose to its zenith above them.
A commotion rose up from the cattle on the left flank. Luke and Eden both twisted and craned their necks to see what was going on. Billy managed to keep the cows on the left flank from spooking, but his shout of “Coyote! Coyote on the left!” set everyone on edge.
“Steer the herd away fro
m it,” Luke called out on instinct, nudging Marshall into a faster walk.
“Keep them moving,” Travis echoed him from the front.
“I’ve got it.”
Luke pulled his horse to a stop in surprise at his wife’s call. He twisted to check on where he’d left her behind him, only to find her reaching for her rifle. She’d stored it in her saddle, and as soon as it was in her hands, she checked the magazine and raised it to aim so fast Luke could only blink.
Eden stood in her stirrups, drew in a breath, and narrowed her eyes. The rifle cracked as she fired a shot. Her horse jolted, but she moved as though she hardly noticed. Far across the other side of the herd, fifty yards away at least, a cloud of dust and shower of splinters filled the air as her bullet hit its mark dead center.
“That’s no coyote,” she shouted to the others.
“It’s some sort of dead log,” Travis agreed, then laughed. “You seeing things, Billy?”
The tension that had gripped them all dissolved into chuckles and teasing.
“It looked like a coyote,” Billy grumbled.
Whether it looked like a coyote or a log or an elephant, Luke was captivated by something else entirely. He slowed his horse, waiting for Eden to catch up. She still held her rifle…as if it was perfectly at home in her hands.
“Oh, wife of mine,” he began with a crooked grin. “Where did you learn to shoot like that?”
She shrugged, and once again answered, “From my brothers.”
Her eyes wandered out over the herd, brow knit in concentration. Luke saw it as the ploy it was. Curiosity bubbled through him like a stream after a storm.
“So, if you have brothers who were willing to teach you so much about surviving, how come you were in a home for women in danger?” he asked with a sly grin and narrowed eyes.
For the first time in the tumultuous thirty-six hours since they’d met, his wife blushed and stammered. “Well…I…sometimes a woman wants to be around other women and not a bunch of rough and stinky men.” That explanation bled right into, “Watch out, someone’s trying to get away.”
