by Merry Farmer
She nudged her mount to hurry after a cow that might have looked in the wrong direction, but who was in no more danger of straying than Luke was.
Luke rubbed his face, trying to decide if he should be alarmed or amused. It was too late now for him to give a fig about what Eden’s life had been before Hurst Home. He’d already married her, and she was proving to be exactly what he wanted. But he sure did wish she’d come out and tell him who these brothers of hers were.
Well, damn. The last thing Eden expected was to feel bashful about telling her new husband the truth. After a quick lunch, they hit the trail again. Travis had moved Luke to the back of the herd and spent a half hour imparting wisdom about what a leader looked for from that position. Eden shifted into position with them, but her mind was a thousand miles away.
She should have known better than to draw her rifle and show off her shooting. If she’d just waited a few more minutes, someone else would have seen that the “coyote” was a log, and she could have ridden on, cool as you please. But no, it’d been so long since she’d felt the smooth grain of wood encasing that cool, metal barrel that she couldn’t resist its siren call. But that wasn’t half as alarming as the way she’d gone all squirrely when Luke started asking her questions.
If Luke knew the truth about her family, about who she’d been before escaping to Hurst Home, he wouldn’t like it. If he didn’t like that, he wouldn’t like her. He’d either pull away and spend the rest of his life resenting the fact that he’d married someone who misrepresented herself, or he’d get rid of her entirely. And Lord help her, she liked Luke. A lot. Which meant she wanted him to like her. A lot.
“Stop being such a girl,” Brent’s voice echoed in her head.
She frowned and clenched her jaw, nudging her horse to ride up beside Luke’s. Brent was hundreds of miles away. He didn’t know where she was. Even if he did, if he had managed to trace her to Hurst Home somehow, what could he possibly do about it? No, she was free of him and that life forever.
“Once you get your eye for the position, you’ll be able to spot trouble before it happens and direct your men to cut it off before it develops into anything.” Travis was still instructing Luke.
Luke nodded with intense concentration. “I got it.”
Eden had no doubt that he did. His shoulders were set and the angle of his chin as he scanned the herd was the picture of confidence. Eden’s heart thrummed with promise, knowing that he was her husband…and it shivered with worry over whether she would lose him for things that had happened years before meeting him.
Luke’s intent gaze tripped across her as he assessed the cattle, and he smiled. Smiled like a bullet shot clean through to her heart.
“Enjoying yourself?” he asked, maneuvering his horse so he could ride closer to her.
“In every way.” She did everything she could to look carefree.
“Were you paying attention to everything Travis said about riding back here in drag position?” He nodded to Travis, who still rode only a few yards away.
“Nope,” Eden admitted proudly. “I was too busy watching you.”
Luke blushed and lowered his head a tad. “Shucks, ma’am,” he teased.
He opened his mouth to say more, but from the left flank, a call of, “So, is Travis teaching Eden to be a trail boss now?” from Cody stopped him.
Luke frowned and sat higher in his saddle. “Show some respect,” he called back.
But before he finished, Billy was already adding, “Seems to me like Mrs. Chance would make a mighty fine boss.”
Billy and Cody laughed. Luke’s jaw hardened to the point where knives could be sharpened on it. He scowled like a thunderstorm.
“Never mind them,” Travis said, shaking his head.
Easier said than done, especially when Mike and Mason caught on from the right flank.
“I’d take orders from Eden any day,” Mike shouted with a laugh.
“Why, because she’s prettier than Luke?” Mason asked, loud enough for everyone to hear.
“No, because she’s tougher than him.”
Luke’s shoulders sagged and his expression drooped as the other cowhands burst into guffaws. The men riding point turned in their saddles to see what was going on, but, blessedly, didn’t get involved. Eden was sorely tempted to draw her revolvers and offer to shoot the next man who made a disparaging comment about her husband, but it would only have proved the point of the joke.
“I’ll go talk to them,” Travis said and nudged his horse to trot off to the left flank.
“You don’t—” Luke tried to stop him, but gave up. He let out a string of colorful curses under his breath.
Of all things, that made Eden smile. “Well, I’ll be, Luke Chance. What an amazing vocabulary you have.”
He glanced to her, shoulders still down, with only a wisp of a grin.
“Oh boy,” Eden sighed to herself. She inched her horse closer to Luke’s and touched his arm. “Why the hell do you care what they think anyhow? They’re just a bunch of dumb cowpokes.”
Luke sent her a look that was so mournful she was tempted to laugh. “If they’re just a bunch of dumb cowpokes, then so am I.”
“I beg to differ.”
He arched a brow, staring at her with a wary look that said he assumed she was pulling his leg.
Eden hissed out a breath and shook her head. “Why let them get to you? You’re the one who was chosen to learn to be a trail boss, not any of them. And from what I’ve seen over the last few days, you know what you’re doing and then some.”
Luke shook his head, but halfway through a dismissive gesture, he stopped and stared at her for a long time. Eden could practically see the gears turning in his head before he let out a breath and said, “Half the time, I’m not sure if I really do know what I’m doing or if I’m just stumbling along, making things up.”
Eden had spent enough time around her brothers and their egos to know that Luke had just handed her the most precious gift he had to give, his pride. The importance of giving a good answer, an answer that would help her husband feel like a man, pressed down on her.
“Everything I’ve learned about you in the last two days tells me that you’re a fine man with a solid head on his shoulders,” she said. “Am I right?”
Luke winced. He slipped his hat off, wiped the sweat and dust from his brow with his sleeve, then put his hat back on. Finally, he answered. “As long as I can remember, I’ve been getting into trouble. I thought it was my job to keep the adults from thinking they could control me or hurt my family.”
“That’s right noble of you.” Eden nodded.
He glanced sideways at her in surprise. “Then, one day, I woke up and realized I was the adult. Only, everyone around me still expects me to get into trouble and cause a ruckus.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re actually a troublemaker or a…a ruckus-causer.”
“Exactly,” he barked, as if arguing the point. Then he let out a sigh. “But do you ever get folks telling you you’re one thing for so long that even though you know you’re not, you’re not sure who or what you actually are?”
Eden thought of her brother, Brent. She thought of the midnight escapes and the heists. She thought of scouting out towns and climbing up to the roofs of buildings with her rifle to cover her brothers when they snatched the loot and ran. Most of all, she thought of the pistol that had been cocked and aimed at her head when she put her foot down and told Brent she didn’t want to be like him anymore. She’d walked out in spite of his threats, banking on the fact that he wouldn’t come after her. He wouldn’t. She kept telling herself that.
“Yes,” she answered, barely above a whisper. “I know exactly how that feels.”
Luke shook his head, unable to see the turmoil of her past. “Sometimes I wonder if I really am capable of being a leader or if God planted me here on this earth to be…entertainment.”
The way he said it, the sorrow and defeat in his eyes as he considered the path
he felt forced to walk, lit a fire in Eden’s gut that reached up and grabbed her heart. She’d felt forced to walk her path too, until she risked her life to run from Brent. It was the least these stupid, blind cowpokes with cow pies for brains could do to respect a man for realizing he could do better than be a joke. Luke had competence in spades. She admired him for it more than she would have guessed she would when she met him, and she could feel that admiration growing into something more.
“I tell you what,” she said with all the force of fire behind her words. “Any man who doesn’t see that you’re a born leader is a crying fool.”
Luke balked, but his back straightened. “You think so?”
“Sweetie, I know so,” she insisted. “From the second I stepped off that train, you’ve been arranging things and facing things head on and doing the jobs you’re meant to do, as a rancher and as a husband.”
A hint of a smile pulled at the corner of his mouth, and this time it stayed there. “Well, the husband things were a might easier than the rancher things.” The blush that kissed his cheeks was a reflection of the heated mischief that came to his eyes.
“And I know you’ll continue to fulfill those particular duties to the very best of your ability.”
He chuckled, his blush deepening. “Kinda makes me wish we weren’t out on a drive right now.”
She giggled—giggled like a schoolgirl. Lord, it felt good to let herself get swept up in something as ordinary as being sweet on a man. Not just a man, her husband.
“Next time you get to feeling like those lard-for-brains fools expect you to act like one of them, just remember you’ve got at least one person who thinks you’re the king of the castle.”
He puffed up with such pride at her simple comment that Eden’s throat squeezed tight.
“I appreciate that,” he said, voice gruff with emotion. “I can’t say there’ve been many people who showed that kind of faith in me.”
She grinned. “I can’t say I’ve met that many people who I’ve wanted to believe in.”
He glanced sideways at her, his grin tightening. For a moment, Eden worried she’d said too much. Luke narrowed his eyes, deep in thought.
At last, he said, “You sure you’re only just looking to be a rancher’s wife and mother of his children?”
She let out a breath on a laugh. “Sweetheart, you have no idea.” She wanted to be a safe wife and mother. Her eyes danced off across the herd, over the wilderness that they walked through, at the other cowhands. Anywhere but at Luke.
Luke hummed as though figuring out a puzzle. “One of these days, maybe you’ll put all your trust in me instead of just some of it.”
His words were quiet, thoughtful, and they stung. He knew she was holding back. Dammit, now she’d have to work out a way to tell him about her past. She just needed to find a way to do it that didn’t end with him hating her.
Chapter Seven
In spite of the fact that Eden wanted nothing more than to settle down with a constant roof over her head, steady food on the table, and enough safety to bring babies into the world, as the next few days passed on the cattle drive, she enjoyed herself. There was a world of difference between riding out with her brothers—always hiding, always looking over her shoulder—and ambling along with Howard Haskell’s ranch hands, a clear job to do in front of them.
The best part of all was the time she got to spend with Luke.
“You gonna eat that last piece of bacon?” she asked, nudging his shoulder as they sat side-by-side around the breakfast campfire.
“Of course,” Luke replied, in good humor. Eden made a move to snatch the bacon from his plate, but he was faster. He swiped it up and chomped on it before she could do more than laugh.
Lord above, it was nice to have an easy, free relationship with a man. A good relationship, one that was proper and aboveboard. The cattle drive gave her a chance to get to know her new husband in a way she never would have if he’d gone off to work every day while she stayed home. She liked what she was learning. In fact, she’d venture to say she was falling hard.
The two of them continued to nudge each other and giggle like disobedient kids in a school room, until Travis crossed behind them on his way to pick out a fresh horse for the day from the remuda, the herd of saddle-broken horses they had brought with them on the drive to give the other horses a rest now and then.
“Breakfast should be squared away and we should all be ready to go in fifteen minutes,” Travis said in passing.
“Yes, boss.” Luke jumped to his feet, taking his last bite of bacon with him.
Eden hopped up after him, setting about gathering the breakfast dishes that the ranch hands had left behind. “You’re the boss too, you know,” she chuckled.
She expected Luke to make some sort of snappy comeback, but instead he sighed as he stamped out the campfire.
Eden frowned and straightened, her arms full of tin dishes. “What?”
Luke was slow to look at her. His silly mood had vanished in a blink. He scowled at the ashes of the fire as he stomped with a little too much enthusiasm. Eden took her armful of dishes to the back of the chuck wagon, where Lawson, who drew the short straw and had wagon duty for the day, was setting things in order. She dumped the dishes there, then marched back to Luke, crossing her arms when she reached him.
“Spill it, cowpoke,” she ordered him.
Her teasing at least managed to wipe the scowl from Luke’s face and replace it with a fond smile. Eden enjoyed the shivery thrill that smile gave her, but she wasn’t after flattery at the moment. She continued to stare at her husband, arms crossed, brow arched to underscore her question.
At last, Luke gave up with a sigh and stepped closer to her. “I’m supposed to be learning how to lead a cattle drive, right?”
“Right.”
Luke shrugged, a thread of anger working its way into his downtrodden expression. “So how come, three days in, Travis is still giving all the orders? He showed me how to run all the positions, told me a lot of stuff I already know about cattle.”
“Yeah?” Eden shifted her arms to rest her hands on her hips, leaning closer to him in support.
“The only reason I can think that he hasn’t turned over more authority to me is that he doesn’t think I deserve it in the first place,” Luke said at last.
The spark of anger in his eyes over the situation caught hold in her. “That’s not right. Maybe he’s the sort of man who has a hard time letting anyone else take the lead.” Heaven knew her brother Brent was that kind of man, as they’d all learned far too many times.
“Yeah, well…” Luke rubbed the back of his neck, grimacing. Then he sighed and let his arms drop. “Nothing I can do about it now except do my job. And maybe talk to Franklin when we get home.”
“Maybe,” Eden echoed with a nod. She gave Luke an encouraging smile.
He returned that smile, then marched off to get his job done. Eden continued cleaning up the camp, but the entire situation didn’t sit well with her. Yes, she’d learned a lot in the last few days, but not everything she’d learned was adding up. Travis not letting Luke take the lead, the other ranch hands poking fun at him every chance they got, Luke’s slips in confidence. Something had to be done.
Once their camp was cleaned up and the men were busy saddling their horses and organizing the herd, Eden marched over to Travis.
“I want to talk to you,” she began straight out.
Travis was about to mount his horse, but stopped and twisted to face her. “What can I do for you, Mrs. Chance?” His lips twitched as if he thought calling her that was funny.
Eden wasn’t amused. She crossed her arms and asked, “Why aren’t you giving my husband more responsibility? You’re supposed to be teaching him to lead a cattle drive.”
Travis’s grin dropped, and his jaw with it. “Well, ma’am, I am teaching him.”
“Mmm hmm.” She continued to stare him down, as if they were about to march twenty paces and draw. �
�So why haven’t you given him the chance to take the lead for a while.”
“Well…I…uh…”
“And furthermore, why are you letting the other men continue to make jokes at Luke’s expense?”
“Jokes? Um…I hadn’t noticed any—”
“Men don’t treat other men as a leader if they’re allowed to make jokes about him,” Eden stormed on. “You all keep bringing up that saloon fight he was involved in and his escapades at Bonnie’s—which I happen to know for a fact are pure fabrications,” she added. Travis opened his mouth, but she rode over him with, “Franklin Haskell wants Luke to learn to be a trail boss. As far as I understand, he’s in charge of you all. So, you tell me why you aren’t following his orders.”
Travis stood frozen, staring at her. She knew it was a wily move, but she settled her weight on one leg, sweeping back the corner of her jacket to show off her Peacemaker as she planted a hand on that hip. Travis blanched.
“All right, I accept that you may have a point,” he muttered.
Eden grinned. “Good.”
Travis looked up to meet her eyes. “Why didn’t Luke come to me himself? Why did he send you?”
Damn. She hadn’t thought about that. It didn’t look great when a man’s wife defended him to his boss. “He thinks he can handle things himself,” she said, willing to make herself look like a loose cannon as long as Luke got the respect he deserved.
It was Travis’s turn to cross his arms and hum, “Mmm hmm. So this wasn’t his idea.”
Eden winced. “Not exactly.”
Travis stepped closer to her. “I’ll tell you the truth, Mrs. Chance.” This time he didn’t say her married name as if it was a joke. “Luke is a good worker, but he doesn’t exactly have the best track record with dependability.”
Eden wanted to snap back a reply, but she kept her lips sealed.
“You haven’t known him that long, but I’ll admit that he’s been well-behaved since you showed up,” Travis went on. “He could be a fine trail boss, but he lacks confidence.”
