Playing Herd to Get

by Natalie Dean

  He’d spent the greater part of his life since their death working himself to exhaustion to do his best for the ranch—for his family. And yet what had it gotten him? Some money, security for the ranch itself, a comfortable home, and even good friends that were also workers. But it hadn’t gained him anything lasting.

  Where would the ranch be when he was gone? What would it mean if he had no kids to pass it on to? Could he truly enjoy it without a woman like Adeline by his side, encouraging him and making him laugh with her stories? Life seemed fuller when she was around and, while he didn’t know how to tell her that, he was going to try.

  The Redburn house came into view, and Harley felt his pulse speed in response. This time he had no beef, but he wasn’t here on a ploy. This time he was going to do what he should have done a long time ago. He was going to ask to court his match, Adeline Miller.

  Tying his horse up, he strode up the steps and knocked confidently on the door. The knock was the only thing about him that was confident though. His knees shook, and his palms were sweaty. Even his mouth was dry. Still, he wasn’t going anywhere until he spoke with Adeline—and Chance if need be—about courting.

  Chapter 14

  “This can’t be happening.” Adeline shook as she read the words her father had penned. She felt sick.

  “What is it, dear?” Penny asked. They were in the garden having just finished picking a few rows of green beans when Chance had come with a letter for her. He’d been in town and agreed to bring it back.

  She’d opened it with greedy anticipation of what her father and his business partners would say, but the words had been worse than a slap in the face.

  “I—it’s terrible news. I’m such a fool.”

  Penny moved toward her, ready to comfort her when a voice called from the porch. “Miss Miller, Harley Swinney is here to see you.”

  Both women looked up as one toward the porch where Chance Redburn stood with Mr. Swinney next to him.

  Adeline’s stomach lurched, and she nearly fainted. This was terrible timing. Simply terrible. And yet part of her whispered the question…why is he here?

  “Are you up to seeing him?”

  Adeline looked back at the letter in her hand and then met Penny’s gaze. “I suppose now is as good a time as any. This news concerns him and…I must get it over with. I—it’s too awful…”

  “Oh dear,” Penny patted her shoulder. “It’ll be all right. Just tell him the truth. I’ll have him come to you.”

  While seeing Harley at the current moment was the last thing she wanted, Adeline knew it had to be providence that brought him here. Providence or truly awful luck.

  “Adeline,” the deep voice said.

  She looked up at Harley and gasped. Close up, he looked different. He was shaven, and his hair even looked tidier than normal. He wore clean clothes and—did his hat look less dusty? She couldn’t be sure, but overall, she knew that he looked just as handsome, if not more so, than he always did. That would make this even harder.

  “I have terrible news.” The words burst from her, and she covered her mouth. She hadn’t meant for that to come out as it did.

  “I…well, all right.” He looked around and then gestured to a large tree. “Is it improper to ask you if you want to sit down?”

  He looked almost boyish in his request and, despite the news in her hand, she smiled. “Not at all. That is one of my favorite spots.”

  They went toward the tree, and he helped her to sit. His rough hand was warm and strong, and she felt the strength of him not only in his grip, but in his shoulders as he sat close to her.

  “Whatever this news is, it can’t be as bad as all that.” He looked over at her, the hint of a smile on his lips. “Right?”

  How she wished she could agree with him. But when he found out what she’d done—and now what Earl must have done—he would be furious.

  “Mr. Swinney, I—”

  “Please, make it Harley.”

  She blushed and dipped her head. He was being so nice to her—showing her interest. She would ruin all of that with what she had to tell him.

  “Harley, I have terrible news, and I must get it out right away before…before anything else is said.” Despite the fact that she didn’t want to tell him, would rather hear why he’d come to visit her in the first place, she had a deep feeling that this would color everything.

  She knew the place his ranch played in his heart. Harley was not only a man, he was a ranch man, and that was more important to him than almost anything else. She’d seen that in his devotion during her time on the ranch but also believed it to be true from what Penny had said. It was not only in his blood; it was his identity. And she had just made his job harder.

  She started to cry and hid her face. “I’m sorry,” she sniffed.

  “Adeline,” he lightly placed a hand on his back. “Adie, tell me what it is.”

  His gentle words, so unlike him, only fueled her remorse and her pain.

  “You are going to be so angry.”

  His hand stopped its gentle motions, rubbing circles on her back, but soon picked up the pace again. “Why don’t you tell me, and we’ll work it out together.”

  She took one long moment to compose herself, then looked up at him. She knew the tears in her eyes had to make them look glassy and red, and her nose was about to start running, but he looked at her with such compassion that she nearly dissolved into tears again.

  “I will explain, but you must promise not to interrupt me until I am done. Will you do that?”

  He nodded immediately.

  “Not a word.” She held his stare until he agreed again. Then she jumped into her explanation. She told him of her idea, how she’d written to her father, and how he’d gotten her in contact with suppliers all over the country. Some were too-far reaching for a small ranch like Harley’s, but she’d kept a careful record in case he ever got to the point where he was able to fulfill larger orders.

  Through it all, Harley’s eyes widened in surprise. She had to stop him a few times when he’d started to speak, and he’d quickly stopped, letting her continue. When she got to the letter in her hand, she paused for a breath, and he jumped in, thinking she was done.

  “This is incredible, Adie. I’m…speechless. I can’t thank you enough but—”

  “Wait,” she said, new tears coming into her eyes. “I’m not done.”

  A flicker of fear skittered across his gaze, but he nodded for her to continue.

  “I was hopeful, expectant really, waiting for this letter. This was to be the final notice affirming that things could begin as soon as you were filled in and on board with it all. It was…supposed to be joyous news.”

  The sick feeling returned in full force, and she had to look away for a moment to catch her breath.

  “But it informs me that another ranch has superseded your claims. They have come in bidding lower and are primed to take your spot. My father says there was nothing he could do.”

  Harley’s eyes remained impassive, so she continued.

  “I—I didn’t know what to make of this all. No one knew about this. But then I kept reading, and he names an Earl Pearson as the arranger.”

  “Earl—”

  She nodded. “I foolishly told him about this the other day as I was about to leave to go to the post office. I—he was acting nice and not at all off-putting. I was so proud of what I’d accomplished with paper and a pen and I…I suppose I wanted to brag.” She fought back tears. “It was wrong of me, but I thought that Earl was just a ranch hand. Your ranch hand. I thought…I thought he’d be happy because of the business you’d gain. How it would help his job.”

  “He left. Yesterday.” Harley’s words were flat.

  “I don’t know why he told everyone his name was Peters but—”

  “I can hazard a guess.” Adeline looked up to see Harley’s gaze fixed on the rows of corn husks in front of them. “Pearson is a large ranch on the other side of the valley. They are my
direct competition. For a long time, I’ve outsold them and done pretty well, but I suppose they sent in a spy—Earl—to find out what I was up to. It’s low, but it would make sense seeing as how he hardly worked and was the worst hired hand I’d ever had.”

  “I’m sorry, I—”

  “Don’t.” Harley’s words weren’t angry, just determined. “He stole not only your idea but the best business opportunity I could have had. I…I don’t know if we can come back from this.”

  And with those words, Adeline saw in Harley’s face a look that made her blood run cold. It wasn’t anger; it wasn’t hatred; it wasn’t even annoyance—it was defeat. Her grand gesture for the man she cared for had fallen flat on its face.

  “Harley, please, you can’t—”

  Adeline’s words held a pleading tone that tugged at his heart. Part of him wanted to stay, to have her comfort him and remind him that they could still make it through this, but after hearing the extent of her plan, he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to afford to make it. The Pearson Ranch would gain the bid for the land that he was looking at—they’d be able to afford it—and they’d expand while he’d slowly diminish until his stock was gone and he had nothing left.

  “I—I’m sorry.” He stood, dusting off his pants. “I’m glad I’ve got this information. I can get a jump on things and see if I can’t get out in front of this.”

  “But Harley—”

  He wasn’t angry at her. He really wasn’t. But he didn’t have the energy in him to reassure her. He didn’t have it within him to make her feel better when he felt like he’d been trampled by a herd of cattle. Or was it more that his dreams had been trampled?

  “Look,” he stopped and turned to face her, “I need to get back to the ranch. I need to think through things. I have a lot of planning to do if this thing is going to happen, and that means making decisions now. It’ll take a lot of time and…” And what? Was he not going to see her again? Had his feelings lessened?

  As he looked down at her, golden hair framing her face like a halo, he knew he couldn’t do that. He just couldn’t be here right now.

  “I promise to come see you again. Okay?”

  “I—I understand.” She lowered her gaze and took one small step back.

  The separation was what he wanted, but at the same time, his traitorous heart wanted him to forget the ranch trouble and pull the woman into his arms. To wipe her tears away. To reassure her that it was all right.

  But it wasn’t all right.

  He balled his fists and spun around. “Bye.”

  The word was all he could muster from the depths of his confusion and hurt, even though he knew it wasn’t enough. That it would hurt her.

  He was almost to the porch when he heard her stifle another sob. It was almost his undoing, but then an image of his Ma and Pa flooded his mind, and he forced his feet up the steps. He’d promised them long before he’d promised Adeline anything. He’d said that the ranch would survive—and more than that, he’d make the ranch thrive. Was that all being threatened now?

  Had one well-intentioned woman, no matter how beautiful she was, gone and messed everything up for him?

  He was on his horse and nearly out of town before his fingers finally relaxed from their clamped position. His shoulders remained tensed, but that was to be expected. He had a lot to take care of, and no certainty of a good outcome.

  It was only a matter of time before he knew how badly his business would be affected. Only a matter of time before he knew if his dreams would come crashing down around him or not. Until then, thoughts of Adeline were out of the question.

  Chapter 15

  Adeline faced the next days like a specter in her own life. The other women noticed, Penny noticed, and one day, Mr. Redburn noticed as well, though he knew better than to ask her himself. Instead, he sent Penny to talk to her.

  “You know, moping about like this won’t help things,” Penny said, taking a slow sip from her iced tea.

  “I’m not sure that knowledge is helpful at the moment.” Adeline nearly tasted the bitterness of her words.

  “Have you tried to write about this?”

  Adeline threw her hands up into the air in desperation. “Writing has gotten me into too much trouble at this point; I don’t think it’ll help now.”

  “But at your heart, you were trying to do something good. Surely Mr. Swinney sees that.”

  “I don’t know what he sees,” Adeline confessed. “I…I endangered his ranch. As you said before, that is one of the most important things to him. I don’t know that he could ever forgive me for that. Perhaps I’m destined to be an old maid.”

  “Now you’re being dramatic.”

  Adeline set down her glass and looked over to her friend. “You weren’t here. You didn’t see the…hurt in his eyes—like I’d betrayed him. You didn’t hear how he spoke to me after. He was very angry and I wouldn’t be surprised if he never came to see me again.”

  “Is that really the man you think he is? If so, I dare say you are better off not to have him in your life.” Penny narrowed her gaze. “But, if you don’t truly believe that is who Mr. Swinney is, then you must give him the benefit of the doubt. He may just need more time than you’d think to work this through.”

  “But I want to fix it,” Adeline admitted the words she’d been thinking ever since Harley left. “I don’t want to see him upset. I don’t want to see him unhappy. I…I want to see his ranch thrive. Perhaps if I wrote—”

  “I think you should wait on the writing,” Penny said. Her soft smile made Adeline look down.

  “Maybe you’re right.”

  “I don’t say that for any other reason than, though a rightly penned word will do wonders, you don’t know where your words would be best spent. Am I right?”

  “Yes,” Adeline agreed.

  They sat in silence for a time, both looking at the garden surrounding them.

  “It’s funny,” Penny finally said. “We’re surrounded by so many plants. So many small little vines that depend on just the right amount of sunlight and water. They need tending, and yet if they were left to their own devices, they would still do well. In fact, sometimes what we do hurts them—like too much water.”

  Adeline looked over to her friend for an explanation.

  “I think,” Penny hesitated, obviously searching for the right words, “Mr. Swinney is one such plant. He could be tended and pushed, but I think he’d do better without further administrations. He must come to his own conclusions. Nothing you say or do will fully convince him of anything at this point. He must decide it for himself.”

  Adeline heard the wisdom of her friend. She even knew she was right, and yet it wasn’t as easy to simply agree to something just because you knew it was right.

  “What you need is patience, my dear. Like we have when waiting for the crop to come to its fullest. Pick too early, and the fruits of our labor will not be as good as they would have been had we waited.”

  “Do you really think that good could still come from this?” Adeline asked, her eyes blurry with unshed tears.

  “I do, my dear. I hold out the best of hope for you both.”

  Adeline nodded her head, accepting her friend's wisdom-salted opinion. Patience. The one thing you could not be in a hurry to gain was the one thing Adeline was most in need of.

  Harley found himself on the road to the Pearson Ranch before he could talk himself out of it. To his credit, he’d taken several days to think things through and cool off as best he could, but warring thoughts about Earl juxtaposed with a longing to see Adeline, and finally, he’d made the decision to figure things out once and for all.

  He took a path mirroring the crow's flight toward the Pearson ranch and hoped they didn’t patrol their borders with shotguns. It was a risk, but he was still so incensed at the betrayal that he knew he wasn’t making smart decisions, but he didn’t care enough to stop.

  Up ahead, he saw the roof of what he assumed was the barn. As he drew
up closer, he saw that it was, in fact, the house. These Pearson’s sure had money.

  Taking a cue from his possibly foolish, possibly brave attitude, Harley directed his horse to the hitching post in front of the house. He climbed down, secured his horse, and tromped up the front steps.

  After his third knock, the door was opened by a small, plump woman with dark hair and tanned features.

  “Yes?” she said with accented English.

  “I’m here to speak with Earl Pet—Pearson.”

  “Pearson is here. Please, come in.”

  He followed the short woman down a hallway and into a well-appointed sitting room. She indicated he take a chair, so he did. When she asked for his name, he merely said to say a friend was calling. She looked concerned about this, but there was no way he was cluing Earl in on the fact that he was here.

  Finally, after almost forty-five minutes of waiting that would have likely made any friend leave, he heard boots clomping down the hall. Earl appeared in the doorway and shock registered.

  “I—uh, what are you doing here?” Then his eyes flashed to the pistol at Harley’s hip

  “Relax,” Harley said, “I’m not here to shoot you.” Though the thought crossed my mind.

  Visibly relieved, Earl took a seat across from Harley. “Well?”

  “Well.” Harley’s word was a heavy statement.

  “Look, whether or not it was the right thing to do, it’s been done,” Earl admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

  “That’s all you’ve got to say? You lie to me to spy on my ranch, steal a shipping deal practically out from under me, and you—” He’d almost said, ‘You kissed my girl’ but held himself back. Adeline was not his girl—not yet, and perhaps not ever.

  “I know. I did a mean thing,” Earl said, his eyes rolling upward. “So God’ll smite me or something.”

  His irreverence irked Harley. “It’s more than that.”