Kate clung to a blanket to keep herself covered. “Just carry me outside and leave me. I can do this myself.”
“Jesus,” Luke muttered. He lifted her with surprising ease and carried her outside the cave and to an overhanging flat rock, then set her on her feet. “Grab hold of that rock for balance and do what you have to do. Just don’t faint on me and go rolling down that steep hill and mess up all my good work.”
Kate caught the anger and frustration in his words. Part of her was a little afraid he’d get too angry, and part of her felt sorry for him. The man had, after all, gone completely out of his way for her so far, and she knew deep inside he meant well using those towels. She glanced back to see he’d left her and had gone back into the cave. She quickly did what needed doing, in spite of extreme pain in her wounded leg. She stubbornly forced back a need to cry out with the pain, not wanting to give Luke the satisfaction of an I told you so moment. “Luke!” she called out, keeping the blanket around her again.
In seconds, she was in his arms again. Luke carried her back into the cave.
“Can I have a clean nightgown?” Kate asked him.
Luke set her on her bedding. “You can have anything you want,” he answered, still sounding disgruntled. “Like I said, I have plenty of supplies. Let me see that leg first.” He pulled her blanket away. “There’s a spot of blood on the bandages. If it doesn’t get any worse, you’re probably okay. You’d better hope you haven’t done any damage, and you need to quit being so damned stubborn and proper. Proper doesn’t mean a damn thing when you could lose your leg.” He rose to walk over and fish through the supplies he’d brought with him.
Kate hated him being so upset with her. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “Surely you understand, Luke. I still hardly know you, and—”
“Don’t worry about it,” he interrupted. He kept searching through a canvas bag for the nightgown she’d asked for. “You’ve been through a lot, and I ought to be more understanding of how a woman would feel, I guess.” He pulled out a nightgown. “I even got you a couple of dresses and some underthings,” he said, seeming to be proud he’d thought of so much. “I had to guess about your size, but I think I did pretty good. I have soap, more towels, woman’s skin cream, and some hair combs and rosewater.” He pulled many of those items from the bag as he named them. He held something up then. “And I got a brush for that pretty red hair.” He turned to her, still scowling a little. “I’ll brush out your hair for you, unless you think that’s too forward, too.”
Kate sighed and dropped her blanket to her lap. “After all you have already done, what’s left for me to be shy about?”
Luke finally grinned. “At least now you understand what I’ve been trying to tell you.”
Kate couldn’t help noticing he was even better-looking when he smiled. She put a hand to her eyes. “I think I’m more embarrassed at the filthy condition I’m in than over you seeing things you shouldn’t. I’m a mess.”
Luke brought over a nightgown and the brush, as well as a jar of cream. “Tell you what.” He laid the nightgown beside her, then rose. “I’ll go outside and take care of a few things while you put on that nightgown. Give me a yell when you’re done. I’ll come back inside then and fix you some coffee and a biscuit. When you’re done eating, I’ll brush your hair for you. You’ll feel a whole lot better tomorrow. So in the morning, I’ll fix you a pan of hot water and give you some bloomers and a dress, and I’ll leave for a while and let you wash up on your own and get dressed if you want. I just don’t want you using that leg any more than necessary.”
Luke walked out then, and Kate watched after him, not sure how angry he might still be at the moment. Now she felt rather foolish. Wincing with pain, she studied her bandaged leg and decided Luke had done a pretty good job of wrapping it. She saw some small bloodstains, but nothing alarming. Quickly, she took off the shirt she was wearing and pulled on the nightgown, then managed to raise up a little and pull it down over her legs. She waited several minutes until Luke finally came back inside and sat down across from her again. He poured himself a second cup of coffee and then poured one for her, handing it out.
Kate took the coffee. “I truly am sorry,” she said again, watching his gaze as she spoke. “I’m not exactly myself, and you can’t blame me for still being afraid of everything and everyone.”
Luke took a biscuit from a cloth bag next to him and stuck a fork into it, holding it over the fire to warm it. “Don’t be sorry,” he answered. “Life is life. You went through hell before we even met, and what happened with ole Buck out there must have been awful, let alone lying here alone with that leg going bad on you. You’re a hell of a woman, Kate, brave and strong. I think I can imagine how hard it must be in your situation, us hardly knowing each other. But I’m an honest man and can be trusted. I think I proved that by practically killing Ole Red getting back here to you.” He paused to put jam on the biscuit.
“You said you found those men?”
He nodded and handed the biscuit to Kate. “Found them and killed them. Had a little help with one of them, but I got the other three myself. Got my money back and my bull. I had enough to buy you a horse and saddle, plus two pack horses, and all the supplies we need. If I’d known I’d come back here to find a saddled horse waiting, I could have saved some money, but I guess it’s just as well. Now we have an extra riding horse. In country like this, you can’t have too much in the way of backup supplies. We have plenty of food and water—” He glanced at her and grinned. “And clothes,” he added. “I’m sure you’re glad of that.”
Kate smiled, relieved he was in a better mood. She bit into the warm biscuit, relishing its flavor and the feel of food in her stomach.
“I respect you, respect your courage and the fact that you didn’t have to save me at all,” Luke told her between sips of coffee. “You could have ridden off on my horse and never looked back—could have left me for the buzzards. But you didn’t.” He lit another cigarette. “Life out here is hard on a man, let alone a woman. You might have found a way to survive, but fact is fact, and it’s not easy. You saw what happened to me.”
Kate finished her biscuit. She couldn’t help wondering at how easily he’d talked about killing those men—like it was nothing. It was probably because of all the killing he’d had to do in the war. He didn’t strike her as a man who’d always found killing an easy thing to do. She wanted to know more about his background. Had he ever loved a woman? Did he think about settling? And why did she suddenly hate the thought of the two of them parting ways eventually?
She finished her biscuit and coffee while Luke got out more supplies.
“I have the horses and other things to tend to,” he told her, “so I’ll have to leave you alone for a bit. I’ll be right outside.” He stood up. “I might go do a little hunting, but I promise I won’t be far. Don’t be alarmed if I’m not back in a few minutes, and don’t worry if you hear a gunshot.” He walked out, his big frame filling the cave entrance as he did so.
Kate lay back down and waited, drifting off a time or two because of the grogginess left over from too much laudanum. She started awake when she heard three gunshots, but she reminded herself he’d said not to worry. Still, she couldn’t help wondering if the gunshots were from Luke shooting at an animal, or from someone shooting at Luke. She realized then that she was becoming much too dependent on Luke Bowden. Not only that, but she was starting to care about him in womanly ways that seemed wrong for someone she’d just met. She couldn’t help a sigh of relief when Luke finally returned with a skinned and gutted rabbit, the biggest one Kate had ever seen.
“I’ll shove this big guy deep into a small barrel of lard to preserve it,” he told her.
Kate watched, thinking how he seemed to know everything about survival. He’d mentioned once that he’d hunted and explored with his father, who’d taught him a lot of these things. Plus, there was the war. T
here was always the war. It had changed men…and women.
Luke washed up and walked around to Kate’s side of the fire. “How’s that leg feeling?”
Kate moved it a little. “It’s still okay. No more blood stains.”
“Good.”
“I’m sorry to slow you up, Luke. I’m sure you want to get going.”
He sat down beside her and picked up the brush he’d bought for her. “Can’t get over the mountains any more this year anyway. No big rush, I guess. We’ll have to figure out how we’re going to hole up for the winter.”
We. Did he mean together?
“We have a lot of plans to make.” He began running the brush through her hair, pulling a bit at first to get the tangles out, then brushing through it more easily. “I’ll have you know I’ve never brushed a woman’s hair for her before, but I promised I’d do this for you after you ate. I just figured I’d better do some hunting first while it’s still plenty light out.”
“Thank you.” Kate closed her eyes and enjoyed the brushing. It helped make her hair feel cleaner. “And thank you for getting me this nightgown.”
“When we leave, you can wind this hair up into the combs I got you and get it out of the way, so it doesn’t get all tangled again.” He finished brushing her hair and handed her the brush. “There you go. Now lie down and get some more rest. I’m pretty done in myself. I’m going to sleep for a while. You need anything first?”
“No.” Kate watched his eyes again. “Thank you for everything, Luke. For a while there, I was so terrified you’d never show up. I’ve never felt so alone in my life as I did the day you left, not knowing how long it would take for you to make it back, if you came back at all.”
“I told you I’m a man of my word.” He rose and walked around to his own gear, spreading out a bedroll. “I didn’t want to leave you alone like that, Kate, but you weren’t strong enough to make that ride to Lander. It was selfish of me to put revenge before your safety, but there’s a part of me that’s angry all the time—ever since the war, and for reasons I’d rather not talk about. Getting hung doesn’t exactly help a man deal with the hate he carries inside over other things. I figured you’d be safer around me if I found those men sooner than later and got all that festering revenge out of my system. If I’d gone to Lander later and missed them, I’m not sure I could have lived with that. Just don’t worry when I ride off. I can take care of myself, and I’ll never leave you alone for long.”
Kate lay back down and covered herself. She watched Luke remove his boots, and she decided that later she’d ask more about finding those men—what had really happened. He settled into his bedroll and covered himself. She soon heard a soft snoring.
Who are you really, Luke Bowden? Why are you out here in such dangerous, rugged, unlivable country? Life is hard enough without deliberately coming to places like this and staying.
She thought how ridiculous her situation was. Never in her life did she dream she’d be caught sleeping half naked in a cave in the middle of nowhere with a near stranger, a man who was full of dangerous anger and could break her in half if he wanted. She was completely at his mercy and completely dependent on him to get her out of this place, and he was under no obligation to do anything more for her than he already had. He could have his way with her and leave without ever seeing her again.
She closed her eyes and tried to sleep. She missed home, missed her old life, missed her dead husband. She wondered if she would ever make it to Oregon, yet suddenly it didn’t matter. She had no idea if she even wanted to go there now. Wherever she went, it would mean saying goodbye to Luke Bowden, and she couldn’t imagine why that bothered her. How could someone become so completely attached to a stranger in such a short time?
It’s this country, she told herself. It does that to a person. Yes, that was it. She would have to be very careful of her emotions and her decisions until she was back to civilization and a normal life…whatever normal was.
Fifteen
Kate awoke to see Luke was still sleeping. She realized how tired he must be, since he’d apparently ridden hard and fast in order to get to Lander and back in the shortest time possible, let alone whatever he went through when he got there. She still didn’t know the whole story. She couldn’t help feeling grateful for so many supplies, and she wondered how on earth she would repay him for her share. He hadn’t asked, but she felt responsible to give him something for all he’d done.
She had to relieve herself again, but she didn’t want to wake Luke. He needed his sleep as much as she did. She threw off her blankets and grimaced with pain, struggling to make no sound as she got to her knees and used her right foot to push herself up. The effort was fruitless. The minute she stepped on her left leg, the pain was worse than she expected, and she let out a short, unintended yelp that woke Luke. He stirred and sat up as she tried to get to her feet again. Immediately he was beside her, helping her up.
“What the hell are you doing?” he asked.
“I didn’t want to disturb you,” Kate agonized. “I just needed to go outside again. I’m sorry!”
“Stay right there a minute,” Luke ordered. His boots still on, he walked to his gear and fished out a package of Gayetty tissue paper. He handed it out to her. “Hang on to this, and I’ll carry you out.”
Kate felt the color coming to her cheeks. “They had this in Lander?”
“Yes. Supply wagons come through there twice a year.” Luke picked her up in his arms as though she weighed nothing.
“I wouldn’t think a place so remote would have anything this modern,” she told him.
“Well, believe it or not, there are enough women there that things like toilet paper are in demand. God knows how fussy women can be.” Luke carried her out of the cave.
Kate looked around in bright afternoon sunlight, afraid to put her head on Luke’s shoulder for fear it would seem too intimate. Yet she longed to do just that, even longed to put her arms around his neck. But now she didn’t worry so much about him taking it wrong as she did about making a fool of herself. Besides, her condition was probably playing games with her, making her feel more vulnerable than she would normally feel. “What kind of women are in Lander?” she asked, suddenly self-conscious and wanting to make small talk.
“All kinds. Wives and mothers, women who run their own businesses, like clothing stores and bathhouses and such, and the kind of women who live over the saloons.”
Kate hated the thought that he might take up with the saloon women once they settled in Lander for the winter, yet she had no right objecting. She didn’t own Luke Bowden, but a small part of her wished she did.
Luke carried her several feet from the cave entrance to a small pine tree and carefully lowered her. “This is a safer spot than by those rocks where I left you last time. This isn’t so close to the edge of that hill, and the low-hanging branch on that small tree will be safer to hang on to. Watch that leg.” He showed her the branch and handed her the box of tissue paper. “I’m sorry I didn’t remember this paper the first time I brought you out here. I was a little upset with you.”
“I don’t blame you. I was behaving badly.”
“You were just being yourself. Fact is, I guess I would have been more surprised if you hadn’t been a little upset. But I did have your best interest in mind. I just need you to understand that.” He set her on her feet. “I’ll go check on the fire and come back when you give me a yell.”
Luke left, and Kate managed to take care of necessities, smiling at how Luke had thought of everything, even tissue papers. The fact that he was so able and efficient made her realize what good husband material he was. Don’t be a fool, Kate Winters. She called out his name when she finished, and quickly he walked out and lifted her again, carrying her back to the cave. Just as he set her down, they both heard a man let out a loud whistle, followed by shouts somewhere in the distance.
&
nbsp; “Luke, someone’s coming!”
Kate hardly got the words out before Luke grabbed his rifle and hurried to the cave entrance.
“What is it?” Kate asked anxiously.
Luke watched quietly for a moment. “Six men,” he answered. “Headed up here, probably to sleep for tonight. I figure they are on their way someplace else because they have extra horses, a few cattle, and a wagon with them. Looks like it’s loaded up with supplies.”
“Luke, they could be dangerous!”
“Just like every man out here,” he answered, “including me, under the right circumstances.”
Including you? Kate remembered the six-gun Luke had left her—the gun she’d killed Buck with. It still lay under the saddle she’d used for a pillow. She reached under the saddle and pulled it out to check the cartridge chamber. It still had four bullets in it. The fifth one had gone through Buck and her leg, and she’d fired the sixth one point-blank into Buck. She shivered at the memory.
“You keep calm,” Luke told her. “Let me do the talking. And go along with anything I say, understand?”
“Yes.”
“My gun belt is still laying over there near you. Make sure that pistol is fully loaded.”
Kate did as she was told, nervously putting two more bullets into the revolver.
Minutes seemed like hours as the men rode closer. “They’re checking out that fresh-dug grave,” Luke told Kate. “Now they’re looking up here.” He cocked his rifle and moved farther outside, raising his rifle and taking aim. “You men stay right there!” he shouted, his voice echoing against canyon walls. “One of you can come up, but come up easy, and leave your gun with the others. I have you in my sights!”
There came a pause.
“We’re just lookin’ for a place to get out of the hot sun,” one of them finally yelled in reply.
Ride the High Lonesome Page 9
