Larkspur (43 page)

When she slipped into bed, Bonnie roused and moved from the middle of the bed to the far side.

“What are you doin’ in here? Why aren’t you in there with your man?” Then with a yawn, she murmured, “Crazy woman!”

Chapter Twenty-seven

A
n hour before daylight the procession left the Larkspur and headed for Big Timber. The morning was clear and cool. Gustaf drove the buggy with Bonnie between him and Kristin. The wagon carrying the dead bodies followed, with Gilly driving and Tandy on the seat beside him. Five mounted men, including Bernie, rode alongside.

“I’m glad you insisted on drivin’ the buggy so Bernie could ride with the men.” Bonnie’s voice came softly out of the darkness.

“It was pure selfishness on my part, my bonny-Bonnie,” Gustaf said cheerfully. “I get to sit close to a pretty girl and besides that, Bernie’s much better at straddling a horse than I am.”

“It’s important to him to be treated as if he can do anything any other man can do.”

“Hellfire. He’d be a man to be reckoned with if it come down to a fight. He’s got guts he ain’t used yet. Your brother does as much on one leg as some men do on two.”

“He didn’t make many friends in Big Timber. We’d put everything we had in the café or we’d have pulled out after the first month. People there are so tied in with Forsythe they wouldn’t give newcomers a chance.”

“I’m glad you didn’t go.” After a silence, he asked, “Are you warm enough?”

“Plenty.”

Kristin listened to Bonnie and her cousin whispering together and realized that not only had Gustaf become close friends with Bernie, but something had blossomed between him and Bonnie.

She wondered what her cousin would say when she told him the news about Aunt Anna and Uncle Yarby. It was puzzling to her how her mother and father had been able to pass Anna’s baby off as their own. Kristin yawned. That it didn’t seem to matter to her, was another thing that she didn’t understand.
I’ll always think of Papa as Papa and him as Uncle Yarby
— This was Kristin’s last thought as her head drooped against Bonnie’s shoulder and she slept.

When they stopped to rest and water the horses, Buck came to the buggy and lifted Kristin down. His eyes searched her face for lines of tiredness. He drew her apart from the others and opened a canteen he took from his saddle. She drank deeply.

“That was good.”

“We’re making good time,” he told her while he adjusted the heavy shawl about her. “The horses don’t get so tired when it’s cold. Have you been warm enough?” His face was close to hers, his eyes anxious, his wild, raven black hair held down by a wide-brimmed hat.

“Yes, and I even slept a little.”

He tilted her chin with his finger so that he could look into her face. Oh, God! He loved her so much. His mind almost fluttered to a stop when he thought of losing her. It weighed heavily on him that he was taking her into town where Forsythe wanted her dead.

“Would you mind if I kissed you? It’s gotten to be a habit lately.”

“I don’t care if the others see you kissing me.”

“I wasn’t sure—”

She lifted her hand to caress his cheek. It was warm and rough and his whiskers scraped gently against her palm. It came to her that he had been lonely for a long, long time, just as she had been. He turned his head so that his lips touched her fingers and a wave of tenderness washed over her.

“Do you want one long one, or two quick ones?” She wanted to make him smile and he did . . . a little.

“I’ll take anything I can get,” he said as he bent his head. His kiss was warm and sweet and over far too soon.

“Are you worried about today?”

“A bit. Cleve says this judge is an honest one. A friend of his over at Trinity, a fellow named Garrick Rowe, had nothing but good things to say about him. But I’ll not feel easy until it’s over and we’re back at the ranch.”

For an endless moment their eyes held. His black brows were drawn together, his eyes anxious.

“Don’t worry so.” Her fingertip traced his brows in an attempt to smooth away the frown.

“I’m not a town man,” he said with jaws tightly clenched as if it was something he was determined to say. “I might embarrass you.”

“Oh, Buck!” Her hands moved down to clasp his arms. “Why do you think that? I’ll be so proud to be at your side.”

“I’ve not been with people much. Especially a judge. By myself, I wouldn’t care, but with you—”

“Do you think I care if your manners are not perfect? Good heavens! My brother, Ferd, knew all the correct things to do, and he was a bigoted, selfish know-it-all. All he thought about was his station in life and making money so that his friends would be envious.” Kristin’s voice quivered with sincerity. “I fell in love with dark, wild-haired Buck Lenning, who is the kindest, sweetest, bravest, most honorable man in the world. I adore Buck Lenning. I wouldn’t change one thing about him for the whole world!”

“Sweetheart—I don’t deserve you.” His voice was a husky whisper.

“Yes, you do, my love. And I deserve you.”

He looked into her face for a long moment, then bent his head and kissed her mouth, softly and reverently.

“If the judge doesn’t believe me when I say that I never sighed the paper selling Forsythe—if we lose the Larkspur, I’ll go with you wherever you want to go, if it’s to . . . China. Nothing is as important to me as spending the rest of my life as Mrs. Buck Lenning.”

“If he rules against us, sweetheart, I’ll not go away like a puppy with its tail between its legs. I’ll take you to a safe place, then I’ll fight for what Moss worked for and for what he wanted you to have. The man that takes over that land will never have a peaceful night’s sleep again. I know how to fight, and I’ll fight dirty if I have to.”

“That’s
my
Buck talking now.” She smiled at him, then leaned her forehead against his chest for a moment. She looked up at him and whispered, “Don’t change, my love. Don’t ever change.”

Buck looked beyond her to where the horses were being brought up from the creek.

“Cleve will go on ahead with Dillon and Pablo. They can get to town a couple of hours before we do by cutting across country. Bernie is going with them, but he’ll bypass town and go to Rose Gaffney’s and let her know that you and Bonnie will be staying there. I expect bringing six bodies into town and one of them the marshal will create quite a stir.”

“Be careful. I hope the men who were scared away are in Wyoming by now.”

“I doubt that even they were dumb enough to believe that story after they thought about it. Don’t worry. Cleve will know what we’re up against by the time we get there.”

*  *  *

Cleve and Dillon rode directly to the telegraph office, and Pablo went to the saloon to see what he could find out there.

“Any messages for me?” Cleve stood at the end of the telegrapher’s booth.

“Two.” He took them from beneath a thick book that lay on the desk.

“Anybody else seen these?”

“Nobody’s even asked.”

“How about yesterday?”

“I showed the one you sent to Trinity.”

“I’m obliged to ya.”

“Good luck.”

Cleve and Dillon moved to the end of the waiting room and Cleve read the wire from Judge Williams.

“He’ll be here on the 4:20. That’ll give us some time to set things up before Buck gets here.”

The second message from Lieutenant Collier was longer.

“The lieutenant and his men were to arrive this morning. He’ll set up headquarters. His orders from the territorial governor are to stay until Federal or territorial law can be established here.”

“That was fast.”

“Shows ya what an influential man like Garrick Rose can do. He went straight to the governor.” The men left the depot and mounted their horses. “I’ll go look up Lieutenant Collier,” Cleve said. “I want to be sure he and his men are on hand when Buck comes in with the bodies.”

“I want to be on hand myself. I can’t wait to see the look on the face of that puffed-up jackass when he sees his marshal and his gunmen piled in that wagon like a load a meat goin’ to a butcher shop.”

“Why don’t you nose around and make sure that little weasel of a lawyer is still in town. I’ll meet you back here when the train comes in.”

Dillon left his horse at the livery and walked up the street to the building where Mark Lee had his office. He took the outside stairs two at a time and threw open the door at the top.

Lee looked up from his desk, and a man in the rough clothes of a railroad worker turned to look at him, too.

“Howdy,” Dillon said cheerfully.

“What do
you
want?” Mark Lee’s tone made it clear that he was not pleased to see Dillon.

“Nothin’. Nothin’ a’tall. I’m just makin’ sure the little weasel is still in town. Don’t want ya goin’ off someplace and gettin’ lost.”

Lee’s face turned beet red and he stood. “Get out!”

“I’d be careful about doin’ business with the little weasel.” Dillon addressed the railroad man. “He’s got more tricks than a dog’s got fleas ’bout how to get in your pockets. He’ll make it seem like he’s doin’ ya a favor to take your money.”

“Get out, or . . . I’ll get the marshal.”

“Now . . . that’d be quite a chore.
Adios, amigos.”

Dillon backed out the door and went down the stairs chuckling. An angry man makes mistakes . . . it’s what Cleve said, and nobody, except his pa, understood the nature of men as Cleve Stark did. On the way to the saloon, Dillon met Pablo coming toward him. He turned into the mercantile and Pablo followed.

“Any talk of the uprising?” Dillon went straight to the cheese counter and turned the wheel. With a slab in one hand, he dipped into the cracker barrel with the other.

“Nothin’.”

“You reckon they don’t know that two hundred Sioux are ridin’ this way?”

“Ain’t nobody worryin’ about it.”

“The brave men didn’t even stop by to warn the town. Bet they were scared Forsythe’d shoot ’em.”

“The deputy and four others are here. But not to worry,
Señor.
Pablo is here to take care of little brudder.” Pablo said this as two women came down the aisle toward them.

Dillon ground his teeth in frustration and waited for the ladies to pass.

“You little warthog! Someday I’m goin’ to shove that hat down your throat.”

“Why you do that,
Señor?
This good hat.”

Dillon went to the counter and dropped two nickels. The clerk scooped them up and put them in the till.

“Don’t it beat all about the soldiers being in town. Lieutenant come in with a letter from the captain out at the fort. The army will pay for any supplies the lieutenant needs. Hope they’ll be here for a long time.”

“What’er they doin’ here?”

“Ain’t knowin’ that. Some of the town folks is glad, some not so glad. I’m hopin’ they stay and clean out that bunch that’s been hangin’ round.”

“Wish I’d be here to see it. I purely do.”

“You leavin’?”

“In a day or two.”

“Wish you’d hang around. Big Timber needs folks like you and that friend of yours.”

“Big Timber needed folks like Yarby Anderson and Buck Lenning, but they sat by while Forsythe tried to run them off.”

“Well that’s the way folks do at times. There wasn’t anybody who’d step up and go against the colonel.”

“Cletus Fuller did.”

“Yeah, well—”

“I’ll have another hunk of cheese and be on my way.” Dillon tossed another nickel on the counter and headed for the cheese wheel.

*  *  *

Several men got off the 4:20 train and went into the depot. None of them looked like a judge. Cleve and Dillon leaned against the depot wall.

“Might be gettin’ off the cattle car,” Dillon said.

“Doubt that.”

A man in worn boots, wearing a range hat and a leather vest came out of the depot, set a well-worn valise down by a bench, and watched the train pull out. When the last car passed he walked over to Cleve.

“Howdy. You Stark?”

“You . . . Judge Williams?”

“Been James Williams for fifty years. Judge Williams for ten.”

Cleve held out his hand. “Glad you’re here. This is my friend, Dillon Tallman.”

“Tallman. That’s a name to reckon with in the West.”

“You’ve heard of ’em, way up here! Well ain’t that somethin’?” Dillon grinned as he shook hands with the judge. “Pleased to meet you. You don’t look like any judge I’ve ever seen.”

“Don’t look judgy enough for you, huh? Wait till I get duded up in my suit and bow tie. I’ll look judgy.”

Dillon decided then and there that he liked Judge Williams a lot.

An hour later in the judge’s hotel room, Cleve stood and put on his hat. Dillon had rapped on the door and said Buck and the wagon were coming into town.

“That’s about the size of it. Miss Anderson will be here to swear she never signed the paper or accepted any money for the Larkspur.”

“Then what we’ve got is fraud and forgery.”

“Is that all?”

“All we can prove.”

“We might scare the hell out of Mark Lee, Forsythe’s lawyer. He’ll want to save his own hide.”

“Let’s see how it plays out.”

“After Buck gets here with the bodies, I’ll serve notice on Forsythe that he’s to appear in your courtroom in the morning. By the way, I’ve arranged with the hotel for you to use the dinin’ room. They were glad to oblige after I threw in the governor’s name a time or two.”

The judge put on his hat. “I think I’ll go along and see the show. I’ll keep my distance from you, but point out Forsythe if you see him.”

*  *  *

Colonel Forsythe was showing Mark Lee to the door.

“Don’t you have any guts? You’re as nervous as a whore standing at the Pearly Gates. Can’t you stand up to that mouthy kid?”

“He knows something—”

“What could he know? I’m expecting the marshal and Bruza back anytime. No one knew the men were riding out there except you and me.”

“What about Del Gomer?”

“He was here and tossed around a few threats. He’s so lovesick he’s probably holed up in his hotel room, and tomorrow he’ll take the train to Helena. That’s where he thinks that slut and her brother headed.”