A Promise in Defiance: Romance in the Rockies Book 3 (5 page)

Naomi stepped out in
the summer sunshine, leading her horse, Buttermilk
[3]
, out of the
small, temporary lean-to. She paused to drink in the view of her cabin, its new
cedar roof in place. The home she adored, framed by the soaring San Juan
Mountains and a cloudless, sapphire sky. The gurgling Animas River rolled past
the home site, winding its way through sixteen thousand acres of McIntyre land.
The water sounded joyous, almost like children giggling.

Contentment swelled in
Naomi. Charles’s land. Her land.

Lush, green, rolling
pastures waited for the two thousand head of cattle on their way up from Texas.
Starting tomorrow, the crew that had put a roof on her home and finished the
bunk house would start on the barn, and a few days later, their ranch would be
teeming with cattle and men.

She wouldn’t lament the
loss of peace and quiet. After spending almost a year in the hotel seating
customers, serving food, and scrubbing pans, she was tickled to have something
to do outside again. She never thought she’d be anything but a farmer’s wife,
her toes wiggling in warm Southern soil.

But now she was a
rancher’s wife.

And a mother.

Hoof beats
drew her away from the woolgathering to the path coming out of the forest.
Emilio burst from the shadows, cantering toward her on his little roan,
Matilda
, Two Spears scowling like an ill-tempered
old woman from the front of the saddle. She pulled Buttermilk forward and met
the boys in the front yard.

“I see you found our
yearling.” She raised her hand and touched Matilda’s nose as the horse came to
a stop.

Emilio lifted the boy
from the saddle and set him on the ground. “
Si
. And I gave him a good
talking to about staying put.” He shot Two Spears a stink eye. “You and Mr.
McIntyre are good people. He has a good home here. His people, like mine,” he
paused ever so slightly, “will disappear. Some things you cannot stop.”

Naomi’s heart went out
to Emilio. He didn’t remember the village he’d been born in, his parents had
been murdered when he was very young, and that awful sister of his, Rose, who had
raised him, was now in prison. Until this moment, Naomi hadn’t really
considered just how lonely Emilio must be. Yet he never let it show. Smiling
often, always working, he seemed more focused on moving forward. With that
handsome grin, hair as black as Two Spears’s, and a strong but gentle
disposition, she doubted he’d be a single man long either . . .if
he could just get over Hannah. But she couldn’t fix that situation today.

“Well, boys,” she
rested a hand on her hip, “sometimes family isn’t who brought you into the
world.” She dared a look at Two Spears and gentled her voice. “Sometimes, it’s
the people who are here to help you survive it.”

Had she seen the
tiniest softening in Two Spears’s tight, dark scowl? She
hoped
so.

“
Si
,” Emilio
whispered.

Praying
she’d said at least one thing right to help these boys, she changed subjects. “I
guess Charles is still out looking for
Trouble
here.” She wagged her
thumb at the boy. “He was supposed to give me a ride into town. You didn’t see
him anywhere, did you?”

“Only when he told me
to find Two Spears.”

“All right,
well . . .” she faded off. She could hitch the wagon for her and
Two Spears, let him ride Buttercup with her, or saddle another horse. Was that
the height of stupidity? “Two Spears, if I let you ride your own horse into
town, will you give me your good word,
as a man
, that you will not run
off?”

The boy dug his thumbs
into his front pockets and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. 

Naomi extended a hand. “If
you give me your good word, I will trust you.”

She knew the value
Indians placed on truth and doubted he would lie. Most likely he wouldn’t
answer at all. Instead, after pondering a moment, the boy grabbed her wrist,
the way Indians shook hands. “I give you my good word.”

Both she and Emilio
grinned. “All right then.”

“Would you like me to
saddle one?” Emilio started to dismount, but Naomi waved him down.

“No, if you wouldn’t
mind, find Mr. McIntyre and let him know Two Spears and I will be there directly.”

“Mr. McIntyre!” Emilio
spurred Matilda and raced past the hovel of a miners’ camp on the edge of town
to catch his friend. “I found him!”

Men, suspicious of his
presence too near their cabin watched him race by, hands on their guns.

Mr. McIntyre spun his
sorrel and trotted back, cutting the distance between them. “Where was he?”

Emilio knew he should
approach this gently. Smith and Shelby each had one bad leg. Mr. McIntyre was
liable to make it two. “He was at the livery.”

The men fell in beside
each other, horses going at an easy walk. “Fine. Now, what aren’t you telling
me?”

Emilio would never play
cards with Mr. McIntyre. He’d never been able to lie to him or hide
information. “Smith and Shelby had hold of him. Supposedly he’d tried to steal
Shelby’s horse.”

Mr. McIntyre’s face
darkened. “Those two. I should have run them out of town when they tried to
drown you. My mistake.”

“
Si
, but a
preacher saved him. Beaned Shelby right between the eyes with a rock.”

McIntyre laughed. “I
see our new preacher is winning converts.” He shook his head, as if at a loss,
but his amusement quickly faded. “Is Two Spears all right?”

“Yes sir.” The two men
rode in silence for a moment, the wide valley surrounding them, warm summer sun
shining down. The grass was as green as Emilio had ever seen it, thanks to a
snowy winter. “Your cattle will arrive soon,
si
?”

“Yes. Within the week.”
Mr. McIntyre tilted his hat back and looked over at Emilio. “Regarding my
cattle, I have been meaning to speak with you. How would you feel about moving
out to the ranch and assisting my foreman? I can rely on you, Emilio, and I
know that. You’ve proven yourself.”

Emilio puffed up at the
praise. He appreciated the words, the trust.

“I would like you
involved in this new venture. It seems that Rose told me once you worked with
cattle.”

“
Si
, I did.”
Stolen cattle. A huge herd that was hidden in a wide, green,
secret
maze
of canyons in Arizona. Emilio had been thirteen or fourteen at the time, he
didn’t know for sure. “I drove them, fed them, slept with them for a year.”

“You would be
interested, then?”

Emilio couldn’t stop
the grin he was sure outshined the noonday sun. “Yes sir.”

“You won’t be in town
as much.” Mr. McIntyre’s voice picked up a hesitant edge. “You won’t see
certain people as often.”

Emilio wasn’t sure if
he meant Hannah, specifically, but not seeing her would be a good thing. Now
that Billy had come back into her life, she didn’t have room for any other man.
She was still his friend, but somewhere along the way he’d realized he’d wanted
more. About that time, Billy had shown up. The winner was clear. Besides, he
was the father of her baby. Emilio had to get over her. Not seeing her every
day would help. “I will be glad to be out on the ranch.”

Mr. McIntyre nodded
approvingly, as if understanding the choice. A man couldn’t live his life in
love with a woman who couldn’t return the affection. A man would move on and
forget her.

Emilio intended to do
just that.

Emilio sat on the cot
and stared at the shelf of personal items on the wall opposite him.

After the hotel had
burned, he had moved back into the little room behind the Iron Horse’s bar.
Instead of falling asleep to the sounds of drunken laughter and a poorly-played
piano, he heard the noises of a family. Little Billy’s muffled crying, or Hannah
and Mollie giggling like silly girls, or the soft muttering of Ian and Rebecca
working late on the newspaper. Occasionally, Billy picked up his guitar and
strummed a few songs. Good, peaceful sounds.

He pondered the shelf
again. Everything he owned would fit into one saddle bag. Two shirts, one pair
of pants, a few sets of unmatched socks. A small Bible. An arrowhead he had
found down by the river.

Nothing else. And he
would never have anything else if he didn’t get his head out of the mud. Hannah
was taken. Rightly so. Still, his heart hurt.

A soft rap on his
doorframe mercifully interrupted his useless thoughts.

“My, you look lost in
deep contemplation.”

“Hey.” Emilio stood and
nodded at Mollie. So similar to Hannah in looks, down to the shimmering blue of
her eyes, he was both happy and disappointed every time he saw her. “
Si
,
I was thinking I don’t have so much to take to the McIntyres’ bunkhouse. “She
was a year or two older than Hannah, and carried herself differently. Working
in the Iron Horse, she had seen and done things Emilio hoped Hannah would never
do . . . things Mollie would never do again.

She ambled in, twirling
her finger in a long, golden lock of hair. “Mm. Packing will be easy then. I
came to see if you needed any help. “She glanced around the dim walk-in storage
room that gave up precious inches to his cot. “I’d sure enjoy a ride out to the
ranch, if you don’t mind bringing me back.”

Mollie bit her lip and
batted long, thick eyelashes at him. She sure had a way of looking at him
sometimes . . . a way that, if he would look back, might open
new doors.

“Funny how girls can do
that. Do you practice it?” He wrenched his lips into a frown, but had to fight
to keep it.

Mollie huffed and
dropped her hands on her hips. “What do you mean? I just wanted to go for a
ride. The weather is so nice today.”

“You can quit begging.”
He gave up and let the frown give way to a full grin. Shaking his head, he
turned and grabbed his saddle bag from a hook on the wall. “You can come.”

“Well, don’t do me any
favors.”

He paused.
Girls. So
sensitive.
Would he ever learn when to joke with them and when not to? Or
were they offended at random? He ducked his head in apology, at least suspecting
how to make amends. He straightened to his full height and faced her. “
Señorita
,
would you like to accompany me to the McIntyres’? I would be most honored with
the pleasure of your company.”

Mollie held on to her
mad for a moment, but then burst out laughing. “
Si
. Yes.”

Naomi and Two Spears
slowed their mounts to a trot through town. As usual, the street swarmed with
miners and reeked with the stench of unwashed bodies and horse manure baking in
the sun. The air clanged and chimed as pans swayed back and forth on pack
saddles.

Men still stared at her
when she rambled around town, but now they knew better than to say anything
unless, one, the comment was excessively polite, or two, they were personal
friends. Touching her was absolutely out of the question. No one had been that
stupid since Tom Hawthorn had just about choked the life out of her.

Today, however, they
weren’t staring at her. Or, more accurately, they weren’t staring at her
only
.
Suspicion, anger, disgust filled strangers’ eyes as they studied the boy, and
then
her.

How can they look at a
child with such hate?

Two Spears was not
oblivious to the atmosphere. He straightened in the saddle, pulled his
shoulders back, puffed up his little chest. He might be afraid of these white
men, but he wouldn’t show it. Her heart swelled with pride at his courage.

“Where were you exactly
when Emilio found you in town?” She thought perhaps to get his mind off the
crowds with the question, and she had neglected to ask for details earlier. She’d
merely assumed he’d been wandering about.

“At the livery,
stealing a horse.”

He said it so
matter-of-factly she wasn’t sure he’d heard him correctly. “You were stealing a
horse?” They rode up to the hitching post in front of the town hall, but didn’t
dismount. “Well,” she said, flustered by the detail. “Ahem . . .
where is the horse then?”

Two Spears stared
straight ahead. “The men who owned it caught me and were about to cut me.”

“What?” Naomi asked
breathlessly. She turned in the saddle to look directly at him. “What happened?”
She scanned him head to toe, feeling like a fool for not getting this
information earlier. “Are you all right?” And why didn’t Emilio say anything?

“A . . .
preacher
came along and threw a rock at one man. The other man I
stabbed.”

Naomi’s heart felt as
if it might drop right into her stomach. Her mouth wouldn’t function for a
moment. Finally, she whispered, “Stabbed?”

Charles burst through
the batwing doors and stomped out on to the boardwalk. Judging by his scowl, he
knew some of this story, but Naomi was shocked when he turned the glare on her.
“And just what is he doing on a horse? Were you trying to give him an
opportunity to steal another? And cause more trouble?”

Naomi should have taken
a breath, but Charles’s tone instantly struck her like a match on sandpaper. “I
was trying to get to town so I could help with dinner, seeing as I didn’t know
where
you
were.” The second the words left her mouth, she regretted
them.

She and Charles both
sagged a little.

“I’m sorry. I only just
discovered,” she cut her eyes at Two Spears, “he did more than wander into
town.”

“If Logan had not come
along,” Charles spoke more gently as he stepped forward and pulled the reins
from Two Spears’s hands, “those men would have killed you.”

“Charles!” Naomi
snapped. The boy did not need that information. “Are you trying to scare him?”

He whipped his glare
back to Naomi. “Yes.
And
keep him out of trouble and in
one piece
.”

Charles’s face flushed,
and his brow creased hard in the middle with a baleful look. She’d rarely seen
him this angry, but felt sure she could match him. About to dismount and go
toe-to-toe with her loving husband, a calmer voice spoke from the doorway of
the saloon.

“No harm done. And the
boy is all right.” A man stepped up beside Charles—tall, solid, a bit
weathered, shaggy blond hair curling at his collar. Icy blues eyes warmed when
he looked at Two Spears, then Naomi. He inclined his head, as if she amused
him. “You must be Mrs. McIntyre.”

“I am. And you, sir?”

“You can call me
Preacher.”

“Preacher? You’re a
real
preacher?”

Charles inched forward,
clearly still irate. “We can cover introductions later. You and Two Spears need
to understand something.” He pinned the boy with a hard stare. “Those two who
accosted you today are dangerous. You cannot go around antagonizing men like
that.”

The boy’s scowl melted
off his face, fear and confusion replacing it.

“
Charles
.”
Fuming, Naomi dismounted and stomped up to her husband. “You can’t tell him
things like this. He’s just a boy.”

“Excuse me,” the
preacher said softly. He purposely stepped between the warring parties, forcing
some breathing room, and rested a hand on Two Spears’s horse. He grinned
sideways at the boy. “Have you ever seen a printing press, son? A real one in
action?”

Two Spears shook his
head. “I would rather see you throw another rock.”

“Well,
uh . . .” Looking a little chagrined, the preacher glanced at
Naomi and Charles, and rubbed his neck. “Uh, maybe we could go outback and toss
a few into the water.”

Two Spears leaped from
the saddle like an excited squirrel and stared up at the preacher with a hint
of adoration. The man towered over him. Yet the boy didn’t look intimidated in
the least.

The preacher dropped a
hand on Two Spears’s shoulder. “Let’s let these two finish their talk.”

He started to usher Two
Spears inside when the boy stopped and looked up at Naomi. “I saw a grizzly
once defend her cubs from a hunter.” He shifted to Charles, his face scrunching
in disapproval. “The hunter lost an eye.”

Stunned looks
ricocheted amongst the adults. Biting down a grin, the preacher ushered the
child inside. Naomi tried to hold on to her anger with Charles, but the image
of the grizzly and the matter-of-fact way Two Spears viewed their feud melted
it. Simultaneously, she and Charles chuckled.

He hung his head and
rested a hand on his gun. “That boy is wise beyond his years.”

“Yes, he is.” Naomi
hooked her hand inside Charles’s vest. “You can’t treat him like he’s a huge
inconvenience, and you can’t scare him into behaving with stories like that.
You’ll just push him away.”

“I cannot emphasize
enough to you the prevailing opinion out here of Indians, Naomi. Since settlers
have been coming West, there have been merciless clashes over land.” He
clutched her shoulders. “But the only thing the papers ever report is the
massacres of whites. Indians aren’t even seen as human. They’re more reviled
than Negroes.”

Naomi realized that
Charles’s anger was actually an expression of fear, and it sobered her. “Is he
in that much danger?”

“Absolutely. And if he’d
taken that horse and run off, he may have gotten himself into a situation where
there was no help.”

“All right. I
understand.” She started to walk past him, but as his hands slipped away she
stopped and clutched his fingers. “But if you want to stop his running off, you
need to show him that you care. You could start by apologizing to him.”

She didn’t wait for an
answer.