The Convict and the Cattleman (27 page)

“I don’t know. She died before I came here. You–you have a daughter.”

He looked back at her, his face stricken. “A daughter. God almighty. He’s denied me the woman I love and a child.”

“She’s beautiful. Like Charlotte, I’m told,” Bridgit offered.

“Her name?”

“Olivia.”

He laughed, a short, rusty sound. “After my own mother. Bless her.”

She looked at the terrible state of the cabin. “Jonah loved his sister and he thought it best if he could raise his niece in comfort.”

He spun around, lips pulled back. “That’s just it! He thinks because he’s got the money he can arrange things for his convenience. It’s not true. She’s my daughter and I’ll have her at my side to raise.”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, frightened by his anger.

“Aye, you should be. Right from the start you’ve lied the same as he did. He deserves you.”

Langnecker threw the curtain back and sat at a small table, head in his hands. He gave no indication that she should leave. She couldn’t stay here, but with no supplies and no way of knowing which direction Laurie Lark lay in, she was as good as dead. Even if she stumbled onto it by accident, she’d still be under suspicion of stealing from her employer.

Something glittered near the old stove. A single ruby earring, misplaced by two bushrangers. Like the stones on the dirt floor, she was lost and out of place as well.

24

Langnecker glowered at her as he loaded a pistol. “You can’t stay here.”

Fear gripped Bridgit’s throat. After everything, she hoped he didn’t intend to shoot her. “Perhaps you can recommend a place for me?”

“Aye, the depths of hell, right alongside the arrogant sod you’re beddin’.”

She flinched at his words. “Where are you going?”

“To fetch back my daughter.” The pistol slid into his belt beside the knife.

“He’ll never let you have her. I heard him tell Rupert to shoot you if anyone saw you there. Some good you’ll be to Olivia in a puddle of your own blood.”

Jonah wouldn’t give Olivia up without a fight and she hated to think what would happen when Langnecker arrived demanding his offspring. She couldn’t imagine the baby growing up here. If he didn’t have the means to repair the place, then Olivia was no better off here than on the streets or in an orphan home.

“Ain’t shot me yet.” The battered hat settled on his head. “He owes me more than a child. I’ll collect what’s due to me.”

“I think it’s best if I come with you.”

“So you can talk me out of this along the way? She’s my blood kin. I won’t have Jonah giving her the idea she’s better than her father.” Langnecker eyed her. “Go to Parramatta and complain to the warden that some hoity-toity Englishwoman plotted your murder. You can give them an accurate account of Kenny and Rog.”

“I can’t. She set it up to look like I robbed Jonah. If I go there...”

The cold gleam was back. He knew precisely what would happen if she went there with a robbery hanging over her head. “Quite the bind, ain’t it? Pity, love, but it ain’t my fight. I’ve got other plans and no time to help liars.”

Desperate, she resorted to pleading. “Couldn’t I walk behind your horse?”

“You can’t match his pace. I’ve got no intentions of keeping an eye on a wayward female.”

She stood up, angry at his careless attitude. “Then you should have let Kenny and Rog kill me. I’ve done everything I’ve been asked to do since I was arrested. I’m tired of people ordering me around and never taking my feelings into consideration. You’re taking me to Laurie Lark, or else.”

He looked grim. “Or else what?”

She stamped her foot. “I haven’t decided, but it will be markedly unpleasant when I do!”

“Temper, temper,” he mocked.

“Are you taking me with you or not?”

“I suppose if I don’t, you’ll burn the house and I won’t have a place to bring up Olivia.”

Hands on her hips, she looked around with distaste. “That would be doing you a favor.”

“Aye, couldn’t have that. Always thought it was the redheads given to foul moods. Mark me wrong.” He sighed and looked at the ceiling as if waiting for guidance from above. “As you’re dead set on it, I suppose I’ll have to take you. Otherwise you’ll follow and find a peck more trouble. I’m not happy about it and I’ll expect compensation for
my
trouble.”

“How far is it?” She didn’t like the idea of riding double with Langnecker. She wasn’t sure she could trust him, even if he did frighten off the bushrangers. He had too much association with them.

“A day and a handful of hours. Long enough.”

Jonah had suggested she learn to ride. Sitting astride the wide horse, clinging to Rob Langnecker’s coat and praying she wouldn’t fall off wasn’t how she’d hope for an introduction to the activity. The horse seemed unconcerned about having two passengers, trotting along with a bone-jarring gait. It did nothing to soothe the ache at her temple or the stiffness in her joints.

He gave a stiff hop, nearly unseating her.

“Keep your feet out of his flanks,” Langnecker growled.

“His– I don’t even know what I did,” she protested.

He responded by nudging the horse to go faster. Terrified, she gripped his coat. It was a rocky path and she feared any minute they’d both go flying over the animal’s head.

The earring was tucked safely in her pocket. Proof enough, she hoped, of her innocence against the theft. She’d deal with Jonah’s anger over telling Langnecker about Olivia separately–if he didn’t have her arrested on sight. For all she knew, the territorial constable waited for her at Laurie Lark or kept watch on the road.

Was Jonah searching for her? If he discovered her riding along with Langnecker, he might suspect the worst. Could he believe any worse of her? If not for Charlotte’s lover, she’d be at the bottom of a well by now. Jonah’s sister had seen something in him no one else had. Closing her eyes, she wished more than anything she was safe in Jonah’s arms again. Wished things could return to the way they were before the party.

They rode on, the sun rose high and the horse never missed a step on the treacherous path, bringing them nearer and nearer to Laurie Lark, although she couldn’t imagine to what end.

* * * *

Midday, Langnecker stopped the horse and indicated Bridgit should slide off. She slung her leg over the horse’s back and nearly fell as her sore muscles protested. He dismounted and stretched his back.

She sat in the grass, ashamed of her quivering legs. Somehow she still had to get back on the beast.

“What’s she like?” Langnecker asked.

It was easy to recall Olivia’s face. “Even tempered. She smiles a lot and she’s curious about everything. Dark, curly hair and blue eyes. Like yours.”

“I’ve only seen her at a distance. I didn’t know she was mine.” He rubbed the stubble on his chin, gaze distant. “I figured her for yours and Jonah’s.”

“We’re not–” Telling him they weren’t married meant nothing; he and Charlotte hadn’t been either. “I haven’t been at Laurie Lark long. A month.”

“Then you’re not Jonah’s woman. Not entirely.”

“I would have been, if not for this mess.” She nibbled her lower lip, pushing down the self-pity threatening to overcome her.

“Is he good to her?”

“He doesn’t know what to do with a baby. I’ve been taking care of her, trying to help him understand how important family is. That there’s more to raising a child than seeing to her basic needs. I think he’s grown fond of her.”

“Cold bastard,” he muttered. “I came from a big family. Several of us and plenty of cousins to play with. I want that for Olivia. Charlotte and I talked about...”

He stopped talking and shook his head.

“Mr. Langnecker, what did you do?” she asked, half-afraid of the answer.

He sneered at her. “What difference does it make? No matter whether I committed the crime I was accused of or not, I got punished for it.”

She understood his frustration and again sympathy tugged at her heart for him. “I tried to steal coins out of a woman’s pocket. I barely got my hand inside before she screamed for a constable. Six months in gaol before they transported me. My brothers and sister are spread across Dublin.”

For a long minute he was silent. “I was a carpenter. I’m not too bad with sums. Made an impression with the boss and he started lettin’ me make purchases and oversee the supplies. I gave him my purchase orders every time. Somehow ours got mixed with another company’s. It looked like I reported the wrong amounts. He accused me of skimmin’ profits. Here I am, eight years later, a reformed convict and property holder.”

“And a father.”

“Aye, there’s that.” His gaze flickered into the forest, trained on thoughts far away.

By telling him of Olivia’s existence, she’d more than ruined any future she might have with Jonah. If Olivia wasn’t at Laurie Lark, he didn’t need her. No promise of a family, no position as mistress of the station. No more shared nights with Jonah. Just six more years as a laborer. It didn’t matter, because she hadn’t convinced him of her innocence.

“Why did you help me, Mr. Langnecker? You could have left me with them.”

He gave her a look of disbelief. “I never killed anyone nor stood by when it looked as though they’d be killed. I didn’t fancy startin’ with you and certainly not when they aimed to do the deed on my property.”

“I’m eternally in your debt,” she said, meaning it.

Langnecker scowled. “I suppose I should discount that credit because you’ve taken care of my daughter. Not many people would. I’m sure everyone believes she’s a bastard.”

“I love her. It was nothing short of a pleasure to look after her.”

The scowl deepened, but his eyes reflected a softer emotion. “If you’re going to be runny as a wet spring after rainy season, I suggest we get goin’. I’ve no patience for female tears.”

* * * *

Bridgit tightened her arms around Langnecker’s waist. They’d ridden all day and the sun was starting to set. A sound as loud as thunder boomed around them and something plucked at her sleeve. The gelding picked up the pace, running as though a swarm of angry bees were after it.

“What is it?” she cried.

“Someone’s shootin’ at us,” he answered, crouching over the horse’s neck.

Another roar issued, but she didn’t feel any more strange tugging at her clothes. After rounding a bend, Langnecker stopped the horse.

“Hide behind that tree. Don’t peer around it and don’t let them see you,” he ordered.

The frightened horse ambled farther down the path, flicking its ears and tail. The tree Langnecker chose wasn’t as wide as Bridgit’s. She pressed her back against the rough bark and prayed for deliverance from the situation. He raised his pistol and listened. If his heart was beating anywhere near as fast as hers, she didn’t know how he could hear anything.

“What’s this about? I thought we agreed to part as mates,” he called.

“Give us the gel, Langnecker and we’ll forget you ’eld Rog at knife point.”

Bridgit turned and looked around the trunk, but the two men were well concealed.

“I don’t think I’m gonna forget any time soon, Kenny,” Rog said, his voice muffled. “It ’urt a bit where ’e cut me.”

“Shut up!” Kenny hissed. “We can’t leave ’er alive. Surely you understand. If the lady what ’ired us found out the gel lives, it’d be trouble for all of us.”

“I reckon it’s twice the trouble if you left me alive because I know you killed her. If I let you kill her, that is.” Langnecker growled.

“Give ’er up and we’ll split the bounty wiv you,” Kenny promised.

“No thanks. I think she prefers life and I need her for my own reasons. We’ll take our leave, gents.”

“You said you was gonna do ’er, Rob. An’ if you ain’t gonna, then we ’ave to.” Rog peered around his cover.

Langnecker fired. The bullet zinged off the tree and hit some foliage, causing leaves to fall around the bandit’s hiding place.