Blue Moon Promise (34 page)

Bo prodded her with his boot again. “Get up, or you can just head on back where you came from. We don’t need no lazy boys on this trip. You’re awful puny. I’m surprised your mama let you out to come with us. You’re no bigger than a grasshopper. What’s your name?”

Her name. She tried to pitch her voice low. “What should I do first, sir?” she asked, hoping he wouldn’t ask her name again.

“Sir. I like that. You are learning. For now, just get your lazy hide out of bed and get your breakfast. We pull out in half an hour.” He walked away without waiting for an answer.

If she could just escape detection for one more day, she should be safe. Nate wouldn’t waste that much time to send her back. She forced herself to her feet and went to find breakfast.

The second day was a repeat of the first, with Lucy growing more confident on the back of the mare. She watched the others and learned to cut a steer out of the herd and how to drive strays back to the main group. Feeling rather smug, she stopped to take a swig of water and noticed a man driving two steers behind a rock. Thinking they would exit the other side of the rock, she watched, but they didn’t emerge.

Alarmed, she rode over to see if something was wrong. A man was tethering the cattle together behind the rock. It was Childress, the man who’d attacked her. In a flash Lucy understood what was happening. He was stealing Nate’s cattle. Anger gripped her, and she started to pull her rifle from its sling on her saddle, but then her hand stilled. What rustler would be afraid of a boy by himself, rifle or not? She wheeled her horse around.

But her movement had caught the rustler’s attention and he turned his gun her direction.

A bullet whizzed over her head, and she bent low over Wanda’s neck. Another bullet whined by close to her cheek, and then she was out of range. Shaking, she saw Bo on the other side of the herd and made her way to him.

“A rustler!” she gasped.

Bo jerked his head up. His eyes narrowed as he stared at her. “Where?”

“Behind that rock.” She pointed. “It’s Childress. He has two cattle tied up. He shot at me.”

His lips thin with rage, Bo rode off to where she pointed. Before he got there, a man on a horse tore out from behind the rock. He lashed his horse ferociously as he tried to get away. Bo shot over his head, and the man hunched down.

Another cowboy rode to intercept the rustler, then another. Within minutes, he threw down his gun and surrendered. Bo drove the rustler on, pausing long enough to give her an approving nod. Lucy swelled with pride. She’d done well today. Wait until Nate heard about it. Margaret herself couldn’t have done better.

It was nearly dark when Bo rode back. He made his way to her side. “The boss wants to see you.”

Lucy barely contained her gasp. “What for? It’s bedtime.”

“When the boss calls, there ain’t no bedtime, kid. You head on over there now.” Bo’s voice brooked no argument.

“I’ll go in the morning.”

Bo grabbed Lucy by the collar and raised her to her feet. “You’ll go now. You got a lot to learn and this is the main lesson. When the boss says jump, you ask how high.” He released her, and she fell to the ground.

She rose, dusting herself off. “Yes, sir.” There was no help for it. She lifted her chin in the air. Nate wouldn’t send her back, not now. Her heart beat loudly in her ears as she saddled her horse and rode to the front of the herd. Maybe she had proved herself today. That was all she could hope for.

She found Nate outside the chuck wagon with Margaret and six men circling him. Pulling her hat over her brow, Lucy dismounted and walked toward them. Staying in the shadows, she listened for a moment. They seemed to be reading the Bible. Nate was having a Bible study?

“You mean no matter how good I am, God won’t let me into heaven?” Margaret’s voice was indignant. “I’ve proven my worth to anyone who dared question it, Nate Stanton!”

Several of the men nodded and frowned as if they didn’t understand either.

“God loves us for who we are. We can’t work our way to his love. That doesn’t work here on this earth either. You either love someone for who they are, or you can forget it. Love that is earned is no love at all. It won’t last.”

Nate’s words struck at Lucy’s heart like an anvil. Was that what she’d been trying to do all her life? Even with God she tried to be good, to be worthy of his love. She tried to control things because she wanted to prove her worth. He loved her in her sin. Why wouldn’t he love her always?

And now with Nate . . . she’d tried to work her way to his love as well. He either loved her or he didn’t. And with Nate’s words, she realized she desperately wanted to be loved just for being who she was, not for being like Margaret or anyone else. Just for being herself.

Her blood surged. She would find out now where she stood. If Nate chose to love her, wonderful. If not, she would go on being the best wife she could, but with the gifts God had given her, not the ones he had given Margaret.

“You wanted to see me?” Lifting her head, she was ready to let him see her face.

“I reckon I owe you some thanks, young man.” His attention was on the Bible he was closing as the other men stood and began to wander away. “You’ve got sharp eyes.”

“That’s more than I can say for you, Nate.” Margaret laughed. “That’s no lad—that’s a girl.” She rose and knocked the hat off Lucy’s head.

Lucy had wrapped a bandanna around her hair to keep it from falling out while she worked and while she slept. She whipped the bandanna off and let her hair flow free. “Hello, Nate.”

“Lucy!” Nate rose to his feet. “What are you doing here? And where’s Eileen?”

“I left Eileen with your father. I wanted to come with you, but I was afraid you’d send me back, so I tried to stay out of the way for a few days.”

“I think it’s time for me to get another cup of coffee,” Margaret murmured. She rose and left Lucy staring into Nate’s eyes.

“This was very foolish,” Nate said with a frown. “You’re in no shape for this trip. I’ll have to send you back.”

“I’m fine. Really. We’ve come too far. If you do, the drive will be delayed.”

“I’ll take you back myself. Wait here while I talk to my trail boss.”

Lucy’s spirits flagged. He wasn’t even going to give her a chance. He was just sending her back. Her shoulders drooped. She should have let the rustler steal those stupid longhorns. At least she could have avoided detection until they were farther away.

Nate came back. “We’ll leave in the morning. You’d better get some rest.”

There was a strange gleam to his eyes Lucy didn’t understand, but right now she was too angry to care. She stormed off. She was too mad to even tell him about the land they owned. He didn’t deserve to hear that news.

Before she’d gone ten steps, Nate grabbed her arm and hauled her against his chest. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“To bed!” she spat. “You don’t even care about why I came. You just want to pack me off home like a child.”

Nate gave a heavy sigh. “Lucy, this just isn’t the time or place for an argument. We have a camp full of observers.”

Lucy glanced around and heat crept up her neck. At least ten men were watching them with great interest. “Fine,” she snapped. “We’ll talk tomorrow. I’ll go back to my bed.”

“You’re staying here. I’ll send Jed for your bedroll and horse.”

Lucy clenched her fists. “I’ve been doing just fine on my own.”

He shook his head. “While I trust my own men to be respectful of my wife, there are some here who signed on just for the drive. I’ll not have you vulnerable.”

She stalked over to a tree and flung herself down. If he thought he was holding her hand tonight, he could think again.

When Jed brought her bedroll, she kicked it open and clambered into it. But it was a long time before she slept.

THIRTY
 
 

H
e had to tell Lucy. Jed lay in wait for his sister behind a tree near where she slept. The whole camp had been full of the news that she’d come on the drive dressed as a boy. Though he could talk to her in front of Nate, this was private stuff and he wanted only his sister.

Nate finally rose and moved off in the dark. Jed crept closer until he could touch her arm. “Lucy,” he whispered urgently. He shook her, and her lids fluttered then opened.

She sat up. Confusion raced across her face. “Is something wrong?”

He crouched beside her as the memories exploded in his head. “I know what happened that night. The night Dad died. I remember!” He shuddered. “It’s horrible, Lucy. More horrible than you know.”

“Oh, Jed.” She grabbed his hand. “Are you all right?”

His chest tightened at the compassion in her voice. “I didn’t want to remember.” She was going to be upset when he told her, but she had to know. “It was my mom.”

“What do you mean?”

He could still see his mother’s twisted mouth and threatening stare. “She came to the shop with Albert. She told Dad she wanted the coins. That she was going to disappear but she had to have money. That he owed her for putting up with the kind of life they’d lived.”

“Where were you when they were arguing?”

“Putting stuff in the storeroom.”

“She didn’t see you?”

He shook his head, still feeling sick as the memories poured in.

Lucy gave his hand a squeeze. “He’d told her about the coins?”

“The day before.” Jed could still see the greed in his mother’s eyes. He’d blocked it out.

“What did Dad say?”

“He told her no. That if she wanted to leave him, she could leave like the pauper she was when she came. Sh-She picked up a heavy statuette thing and hit him with it.” Jed swallowed hard. “I was peeking around the door. Then Albert and another guy I’d never seen put Dad’s body in the buggy. It was parked in the back. I hid when they came through the storeroom.” He couldn’t help the tears that started down his cheeks. “I should have made them stop.”

“They were grown men, Jed. There was nothing you could do.”

“She saw me when she followed them and made me get into the driver’s seat. I took off in the buggy before they could get in. I was trying to get Dad to the doctor, but the rain was coming down so hard.” He gulped and wished he didn’t have to tell her it was his fault.

“Oh, Jed.” Lucy’s eyes were moist. “She’s pure evil.”

He had to tell her all of it. “The horses went faster and faster. The next thing I knew, the buggy was tipping over. Then I woke up at home with you beside me. If I hadn’t been driving so fast, maybe I could have gotten him help.”

“It wasn’t your fault, honey. She killed him.”

“I wish she weren’t my mother.” Jed swiped the moisture from his face with his sleeve. “I hate her.”

Lucy buried her face in her hands. “We have to forgive her somehow.”

“I can never forgive her,” Jed said fiercely. He jumped to his feet and ran back the way he’d come.

NATE THOUGHT HE saw Jed with Lucy, but by the time he got back to camp, she was sleeping. He couldn’t get over her courage as he watched her sleep in the flickering glow of the fire. And the danger she’d put herself into. What if someone else had discovered she was a woman and taken advantage of her? A chill shuddered up his spine.

Bo moved into the gleam of the light. “Here’s her pack, Boss.” He tossed it at Nate’s feet.

Nate thanked him, and when the man melted back into the shadows, Nate picked up the pack and hauled it over by his. It would be easier to combine them all in one. He began to pull items from the roll and grinned when he recognized some of his old clothing from his adolescent years. A warm sensation lodged under his rib cage at the thought of her wearing his clothing. It seemed so intimate.

“Stanton?”

He turned at the sound of the man’s voice. O’Brien stood in the shadows. The other rancher usually had his herd ahead of the Stanton cattle. “Slumming tonight?” Nate asked with a grin.

“Not exactly.” O’Brien moved closer to the fire and held out his hands to warm them. “I always knew you were nobody’s fool, son, but I didn’t realize just how crafty you are.”

“What are you talking about?”

O’Brien nodded at Lucy lying curled in her blanket. “Marrying that little gal was a smart move. I wondered why it all happened so undercover, especially when me and your pa had it all planned out. How we were going to merge our land and eventually acquire the Thompson acreage.”