To Have and to Hold (Cactus Creek Cowboys) (13 page)

She was heading toward an uncertain future beyond Santa Fe, and Colby was off to find a corner of the world free of people. It was foolish to allow herself to want something she couldn’t have. It would be the height of folly to start to depend on it. She tried to push away, but Colby didn’t release his hold on her.

“Are you going to let me go?”

“What if we get another gust of wind?”

“I’m sure I won’t—”

A flash of lightning was followed within seconds by an earsplitting crack of thunder. A sharp gust of wind whipped the rain into their faces.

Colby released her. “It looks like the storm is going to be worse than I thought. You’d better get back to your wagon.”

The rising wind and heavier rain made it unnecessary for Colby to tell her it was time to take cover.

“If you pass anybody, tell them to get inside and tie the flaps down tight.”

As Naomi turned, a flash of lightning so close she could feel the heat in the air split the clouds and lit the landscape in an eerie, blue light. A simultaneous roll of thunder made the ground shake.

“Hurry!” Colby shouted over the sound of rain that was now coming down in drops so large they sounded like hail hitting the canvas.

“You’ve got to get out of this rain, too,” Naomi shouted back at Colby.

“I will as soon as I know everybody’s safe.”

Naomi took hold of his arm and pulled. “Anybody who hasn’t gotten back in their wagon is too stupid to live. Come on. There’s room for you in our wagon.”

Colby hesitated only a moment before allowing Naomi to pull him after her. They had only covered half the distance when Cato Johnson galloped out of the gloom.

“Stampede!” he shouted. “Lightning killed two oxen.”

“Get back to your wagon!” Colby shouted to Naomi.

“How many men were on guard duty?”

“Just Cato. We never need more than one in the daytime.”

“I can help.”

“Not riding sidesaddle. Get your father.” Colby turned to Cato. “Get every man who has a horse. We need to round up the livestock before they get lost.”

Lowering his head against the rain, Colby looked for horses that had been kept within the circle of wagons. He found only one—Morley Sumner’s. Cato didn’t find any. Counting Dr. Kessling who was a poor rider—Morley Sumner wasn’t much better—that meant only four men on horseback. He’d have to see if the doctor would lend his horse to someone else, but by the time Colby got back to the Kessling wagon, the horse was gone. He scratched on the flap at the back of the wagon. He was surprised when Dr. Kessling’s face appeared at the opening.

“Where is your horse?”

“I don’t know,” the doctor shouted back. “Have you seen Naomi? She hasn’t come back.”

“I’ll find her.” And if she was on that horse, as he suspected, he’d drag her off and deposit her in the wagon. She’d been riding for barely more than a week. How did she think she was going to round up stampeding animals in a driving rain?

Morley Sumner appeared out of the gathering dusk. He was a powerfully built man, which was necessary in a blacksmith but of questionable value in a horseman. Cato Johnson had all the enthusiasm of youth without much skill to go with it. Colby didn’t see Naomi or her horse, but he didn’t have time to look for her. Every second was important. With Cato leading the way, the three men headed into the gloom. They hadn’t gone a hundred yards when a horse and rider appeared through the curtain of rain.

Naomi! She had ridden ahead on purpose to make it difficult for him to force her to go back. If he could’ve spared the time, he would’ve pulled her from the saddle kicking and screaming.

“What’s she doing out here?” Cato questioned.

“The same thing we’re doing,” Colby shouted back. “Spread out. You take the far side with Morley next, then Naomi with me on this side. Try not to lose sight of each other.”

“I can’t see a hundred yards in this rain,” Morley yelled.

“Neither can the livestock. I doubt the milk cows have gone far. The oxen will be next with the mules and saddle horses having gone farthest. When you find one, head it back toward the wagons.”

Over the next half hour, they found all the cows and about half of the oxen. Colby tried to convince Naomi to go back with the gathered stock, but he wasn’t surprised when she refused.

The farther they got from the wagons, the more anxious Colby became. He would have no trouble finding his way back, but the other three could become disoriented if they lost contact with one another. He called the riders together.

“Cato, you and Morley take the stock we’ve gathered back to the wagons.”

“What is Naomi going to do?” Cato asked.

“She’s going with me,” Colby said.

“But she’s a woman.”

“She’s doing just fine—and she has the advantage of a horse. Once you get the stock secured inside the circle of the wagons, send the horses back with other riders. You’ve done enough for today. We’ll gather the stock we find in this area so tell whoever comes how to find it. Stay close to me,” he called to Naomi. “If you get lost, you’ll never find your way back to the wagons.”

As they headed out again, they found more oxen and a few mules, but rounding them up and driving them to a central point was tedious. The oxen were slow and stubborn while the mules were skittish and quick on their feet. Their horses would be exhausted long before they found all the missing animals.

“You okay?” Colby shouted over the noise of the wind and rain after driving three more oxen into the growing herd. He’d had to bring his horse alongside Naomi’s before she could hear him.

“I’m fine. Where do we look next?”

His irritation at her had died long ago. She wasn’t an accomplished horsewoman, but she had been as much help as Cato, more than Morley. Nor did she appear tired. She smiled like she was enjoying herself. It was hard to understand her enthusiasm. He was miserable.

“There’s got to be a streambed somewhere near here. With all this rain, maybe the water is high enough to discourage the mules and horses from crossing.”

The rain continued to lash them with numbing force. Turning so the wind was at their backs, Colby led off.

As they rode farther from the wagons, the terrain was crisscrossed by small rivulets of water. He could either follow them until they formed a stream that flowed into the river, or he could continue upland. He decided to follow the water. He was rewarded when several rivulets joined to form a stream of foaming water rushing over and around anything in its path.

“There!”

Colby indicated a point where the stream made a sharp turn against a rocky bank. Gathered in the bend, their backs to the rain, were nearly a dozen oxen, half a dozen mules, and two saddle horses. Driving them to the rendezvous spot took every bit of expertise and patience he could summon. The oxen wanted to stay where they were, and no two mules wanted to go in the same direction. The saddle horses, more accustomed to the company of humans, followed without being driven. By the time he and Naomi had gathered the animals in the chosen spot, his horse was winded. He was certain Naomi’s mount must be near exhaustion.

“You ought to go back,” he called to her.

“We haven’t found all the stock yet.”

“We won’t find the last of them until tomorrow.”

“There’s still time today.”

“Your horse is exhausted.”

“Yours is too.”

“Go back.”

“Only if you do,” she insisted.

The longer the animals were loose in the storm, the farther the storm would scatter them. It could easily take them two or three days to round up the stragglers. He made up his mind to keep looking.

“I’ll saddle one of the horses for you.”

The horses were so skittish it took several minutes before he could get close enough to grasp one by its bridle.

“You’ll have to get down by yourself,” he told Naomi. “If I let go of his bridle, he’ll be off again.”

Naomi threw her leg over the pommel and slid to the ground.

“Here, hold this horse.”

While Naomi held the fresh horse, Colby stripped the sidesaddle from her father’s horse and put it on the other. The saddlecloth was soaked, but there was no help for that.

“What about Shadow?” she asked when she was settled in the saddle.

“He’s had a breather so he’ll be okay. Stick close until you get a feel for the new horse.”

“This is Norman’s horse,” Naomi said. “He’s beautiful, but I don’t know if he has any spirit.”

Colby led off toward the upland. The wind and rain in his face made it impossible to look straight ahead. He would have to be almost upon a stray before he could see it, but he was more worried about Naomi. They had been in the saddle for hours. She had to be nearing exhaustion. Had he made a mistake in not taking her back to the wagons?

As the land rose to what Colby expected would be a plateau some miles ahead, the ground grew more rocky and less fertile. With less grass to feed fires, any trees that took hold along the edges of streams or depressions that carried runoff would have a better chance of surviving. One such clump appeared ahead.

“Head for the trees,” he gestured to Naomi.

As he hoped, when they reached the small clump of stunted trees, he found several mules gathered on the lee side.

“I’ll go to the right and you go to the left,” he instructed Naomi. “Once they’re in the open, head them toward the wagons.”

It was the bellow that caught Colby’s attention. He whipped around just in time to see a bull buffalo break from the trees and charge Naomi’s horse. The frightened animal leapt into the air, twisting its body in the process, and coming down on the haunches of the equally alarmed buffalo.

Naomi was thrown into the air to land among the trees.

Colby was off his horse and running toward the spot where she disappeared almost before the branches came together over her. He dived among the trees, pushing the branches out of his way until he found her lying in a heap, rain dripping on her pale face, and her clothes splashed with mud.

“Naomi.”

It was a cry of fear as much as of relief. Dropping to his knees, he crawled under the low hanging branches. She lay so still he thought for a moment she might be dead, but a groan relieved his worst fears.

“Don’t move,” he said. “Let me see if anything’s broken.”

“Nothing but my pride, which is thoroughly shattered.”

Colby didn’t know whether to laugh or give Naomi the worst tongue lashing of her life. Relief flooded over him in great waves that left him feeling too weak to do either.

Naomi struggled into a sitting position, pushed her hair out of her face. “I don’t suppose that stupid horse was thoughtful enough to wait around to see if he killed me.”

She had to be crazy if she thought he was going to let her keep looking for strays. As soon as he found her horse—hopefully his own horse hadn’t been scared off by the buffalo—he was taking her back to camp. And he wouldn’t leave until her father had tied her up so she couldn’t leave the wagon until he said so. Which might not be until they reached La Junta.

“Can you crawl out, or do you need me to carry you?”

“I can get out if you’ll hold back the branches.”

Colby had seen many men thrown from a horse get up and climb back in the saddle. Still, Naomi was lucky to have come away without a serious injury. She crawled out between the two largest trees. Once on her feet, she would have started looking for her horse if Colby hadn’t taken her by the shoulders and turned her to face him. There she stood, rain cascading down, her hair plastered to her scalp, and her dress to her body despite the protection of her father’s rain slick. She looked up at him, a question in her eyes, and he was certain he’d never seen a more beautiful woman in this life.

“If you ever do that again, I’m going to break your neck.”

Rather than be intimidated or apologetic, Naomi laughed. “Talk to that buffalo. Being thrown into a bunch of trees wasn’t part of my plan.”

“What was your plan, to get yourself killed or drive me crazy worrying about you?”

“My
plan
was to help round up the strays. I haven’t been riding long, but I’m as good as anybody except you. Did you see Morley? He looked like he was riding a hobby horse.”

“That isn’t the point. I told you to get your father.” He had to shout to be heard over the wind and rain, but he would have shouted without that. She didn’t seem to understand she could have been killed.

“You
told
me? When did I become a child who needed to be told what to do?”

“When you came to a part of the country were people like you die in Indian attacks, where they get bitten by rattlesnakes, chased by wolves, or drowned trying to cross swollen rivers. Where people lose their way and die of thirst or go mad.”

“You act like no one from the East has ever come out here and survived.”

“Thousands have, but thousands have died.”

“Well I won’t be one of them.”

“Only because I’ll be here to save you when you pull some harebrained stunt.”

Naomi pushed the sodden hair out of her face. “
Harebrained!
Now I’m stupid as well as a danger to myself.”

“Not stupid. Just so all-fired sure of yourself you think you can do anything that comes into your head.”

“Let me remind you that I didn’t want to learn to ride, but you insisted. You said it was a requirement for every female west of the Mississippi. Well, I learned, so what better use could I make of that than round up stock we need in order to reach Santa Fe?”

“You’re a fine rider when it comes to flat ground during sunny weather. This is
hilly
ground during a
raging
thunderstorm.”

Rain streamed off the end of her nose. “I did notice that, but did you notice that I was doing just fine until that stupid buffalo didn’t have the sense to stay under the trees where it was out of the rain?”

“Anybody can ride when nothing goes wrong. It’s knowing what to do when it does, having the skill and experience to handle trouble.”

“I suppose you’d have grabbed that buffalo by the horns and told him it was rude to run into your horse, that he should be punished for his lack of courtesy.”

A strangled sound escaped Colby. “You are the most infuriating woman I’ve ever met. You just about get yourself killed, and you’re making jokes.”

“Let me go. You’re hurting me.” She shrugged out of his grip and folded her arms across her breasts. “My horse is probably half a mile from here by now. You’ll have to let me ride double until we find him. And don’t think you’re going to leave me here,” she said when he started to speak. “I can put up with the rain and the cold, but that buffalo looked as big as a horse and twice as mean.”

“He was frightened.”

“Am I supposed to care about that?”

“No. You’re supposed to
know
how wild animals react when they’re cornered.”

“I didn’t
corner
him. He had miles and miles of empty prairie to rampage in. He could have attacked your horse. What would you have done then?”

“Don’t try to change the subject,” Colby said.

“I’m tired of this one. Let’s pick on you for a while.”

“I’m not picking on you. I’m trying to—”

“Trying to show me I can’t do anything without your help and permission, but you’re wrong. I can do anything I want, and I don’t have to consult you. I don’t have to depend on you, and I don’t have to ask your advice or—”

It wasn’t planned. If he’d thought for even the smallest part of a second, he wouldn’t have done it. He didn’t know when the thought entered his mind. Maybe it hadn’t. Maybe it was just an age-old instinct responding to an opportunity. Whatever the reason, he kissed her.

It wasn’t an
oh
my
god, what have I done, jump back in horror
kind of kiss. It wasn’t even an
I
can’t believe I’m kissing her in the middle of a rainstorm, but I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time
kiss. It was a
no
holds
barred, torrid to the point of steamy, tongue down your throat
kiss that obliterated everything in the universe except the two of them. No wet, no cold, no thunder or lightning.