Wayward Wind (34 page)

“Not fer a spell. I’ll be all right here. ’N I ain’t takin’ no handouts if’n that’s afrettin’ ya. Ya ort to know Volney Burbank
ain’t beholden to no man. Is White Bull back?”

“Yes, he’s back. He’ll be around for a good long while.” She knew he had changed the subject deliberately and saw the relief
on the old man’s face when she’d lied about White Bull when the truth was he’d already gone south for the winter.

“The hill trash’ll not do ya no hurt then.”

“They’re gone. Didn’t Bonnie tell you? Frank thinks they headed for California. Billy let something slip to Pa about hurting
someone. If I’d known for sure Brice had done this to you, Volney, I’d have killed him.”

“I ain’t ne’er asked ya to butt in on my fight,” he said waspishly.

“And I never asked you to butt in on mine and Bonnie’s,” she retorted in the same tone.

“What ya need is a man. Yo’re long past marryin’ age, ’n yo’re a gettin’ too feisty. Ya cain’t ride the wind as ya’ve been
doin’ up there on Light’s Mountain. Times is achangin’. There’ll come a time ’n you’ll find ya’ve straddled a whirlwind.”

“Then I’ll ride it out, and I’ll thank you to tend to your own business, old man, and let mine be!”

“Ya like him, don’t ya?”

“Like who? Him?” She jerked her head toward Cooper but kept her eyes on Volney’s face. “I can’t stand him. I wouldn’t have
him if he was smeared with honey and rolled in raisins!”

Volney’s laugh was a dry cackle.

“What are you laughing at, you old coot?”

“What’re you so het up fer? Didn’t Parnell jump ’n get all mealymouthed ’n bug-eyed over ya?”

Lorna stood and glared at the bright-eyed old man. She tossed her hair back over her shoulder and her dark lashes narrowed
until her violet eyes were barely visible. The color that tinted her cheeks and the way her mouth snapped shut told Volney
how near the truth he was.

“There are times when I don’t think I like you at all, Volney Burbank. You’re a nosey, mean old busybody, and you’d better
button up your mouth, or you’ll be seeing the backside of me, and I won’t be back.”

Volney ignored her outburst and darted a glance at Cooper beside the door. He was cleaning his nails with Lorna’s knife and
trying to hide the grin on his face.

“This’d be a good place fer ya, girl. Parnell’s not as bad as some I knowed of, although he ain’t what I’d call
extry
smart. If’n he was he’d a had ya to the preacher by now.” He paused and looked up at Lorna with an innocent look on his face.
“His ma’s a bossy woman, but I reckon you can make do with her. I’d not be surprised if’n she didn’t strip them britches off
a ya ’n put ya in skirts ’n shoes.” He laughed and slapped the bed with his good hand. “I’d shore like to see it.”

“I’m sorry that I’ll have to deprive you of that pleasure,” Lorna said stiffly. “If and when you want to come to Light’s Mountain,
you’ll be welcome as always. I’m going home.” She felt betrayed and wanted to cry again. She whirled to leave and came up
against Cooper.

“She’s not going anywhere until I have the time to take her.” He spoke to Volney over her shoulder.

Lorna hadn’t heard Cooper cross the floor to stand behind her. He placed his hand on her arm, and she shrugged it off as if
it were hot and stepped away from him.

“You can’t keep me here if I want to leave. Not even your
sainted
mother would want
me
here.”

“What makes you so sure of that? How do you know what my mother wants?”

“I don’t
care
what she wants. It’s what I want, and I want to go home.” There was tension in every line of her body, and her white face
looked wan and peaked as she strove to keep the stricken look from her face by drawing her straight brows together in a frown.

“I said I’d take you back in a few days.”

“No one
takes
me anyplace, Cooper Parnell. Get that through your thick head!”

“Get this through your thick head, Lorna: I’m not turning you loose out there on the trail by yourself. Men who’ve been in
the mountains all summer are coming down for the winter. A lone woman would be mighty tempting.”

“I can take care of myself. I always have.” Her violet eyes bored into him like the sting of a bee.

“Come on out of here. There are things I’ve go to say to you that would make Volney’s hair stand up straight.”

“Don’t pay me no never mind.” Volney placed his hand on his chest and was watching them carefully.

“You stay out of this,” Lorna spat.

“I aim to do jist that. I’m athinkin’ ya’ve met yore match, missy.”

Volney’s eyes clung to Lorna’s white face. This slip of a girl meant the world to him. He let his breath out slowly and he
seemed to sink deeper down onto the bunk. He’d not worry about her now. Parnell had a fondness for her—a great fondness. He
had seen it right from the start. The mountain’s not the place for her any more, he thought sadly. Times had changed. What
Lorna needed was a man to stand between her and the varmints that would ruin her—just as Maggie had needed Light. Parnell
wouldn’t let her have ever’thing her own way, either. He’d not go to Light’s Mountain and walk in another man’s tracks. He’d
make his own. Volney heaved a sigh of relief and closed his eyes.

She’d made a fine mess of things, Lorna thought as she stomped out of the bunkhouse ahead of Cooper. The instant she stepped
through the door his hand clamped onto her upper arm. She stopped, turned, and glared up at him.

“Stop treating me as if I’d come to steal something. I’ve seen what I came to see. I’m going now.”

His hold tightened immediately. “Not yet.”

She didn’t argue with him, nor did she struggle. She refused to pit her strength against his; but she remained half-turned
away, passively waiting for him to release her. They stood thus in an awkward silence, the night wind running chill fingers
over her flushed face. Cooper reached out and laid his hand against her cheek and gently turned her face up to him. When she
didn’t resist, he drew her to him.

“No,” she said, and turned out of his encircling arms.

“All right.” The hand on her arm propelled her forward.

Lorna walked calmly beside him, trying to blot from her mind the physical awareness of him. She rebelled against it, sensing
in it a threat. It wouldn’t do to let the hunger that drew her to come here control her now. Yet even as she cautioned herself,
she wanted to turn to him and find shelter in his arms as she had on Light’s Mountain.

They passed the smokehouse and the privy and walked on toward the shed where she had seen the man working on the forge. Cooper
drew her inside and released her arm, but fenced her in by placing a hand on the wall on each side of her. She pushed against
his chest.

“Move back, please,” she said with quiet disdain. “You were not treated as a prisoner when you came to Light’s Mountain.”

“I didn’t go sneaking in there in the middle of the night, either.”

“This isn’t the middle of the night and I’m not here because I want to be.”

“I realize that… now. At first I thought you’d—well, never mind about that. You’ve got yourself into a heap of trouble, haven’t
you?”

“What do you mean? If I was in trouble I’d certainly not come to you.”

“How about Griff? Were you looking for him?”

“Heavens, no! I’ve been looking for Volney. Billy let it slip to Pa that they’d hurt him.”

“They did that, all right. How did you know he was here?”

“I didn’t until Bonnie told me. I wanted to see how she was doing, too.”

“Bonnie’s doing fine. She took to Ma right off.”

“That’s just dandy!” Lorna was trying so hard to keep from crying that she let her guard down and the words came out sarcastically.

In the silence that came down between them Cooper’s inscrutable eyes tried to penetrate the darkness to reach into Lorna’s.
After a long time, he moved his hands from the wall, but remained close to her.

“Bonnie’s getting some pride back. She’s not acting like a whipped pup anymore.”

“I’m glad.” Lorna’s voice trembled.

“Are you?”

Lorna’s head came up defiantly. “Of course I am.”

“She and Griff are going to marry and settle over on the Blue.”

“She told me. It’ll be the end of both of them. If old Clayhill doesn’t kill them, Brice Fulton will.”

“I doubt that.”

“It’s the truth! You know it.” Her patience was waning.

“Lorna, Lorna. I don’t know what to do with you!”

There was gentleness and affection in his voice and Lorna had to hold onto her anger and keep it as a shield between them.

“I’m no concern of yours,” she snapped.

“Yes, you are. You know you are.” He rested one hand against the wall beside her head and with the other he fingered the hair
that had come loose and was lying against her neck. “Why didn’t you wait for me and Griff to finish our business here? On
our way back to the Blue we’d have come to Light’s Mountain and settled with Fulton for Volney—and for Bonnie, too.”

“I don’t wait for anybody to come kill my snakes. Brice deserved more than a whipping. He killed my dogs, Ruth and Naomi,
besides hurting Volney. He treated Bonnie like she wasn’t even human. He’s not fit to live! I thought of killing him. I could’ve
done it easier than whipping him, but I’ve not killed a man.”

“It would have been better if you’d killed him and had your pa drag him off the mountain. A man can take a lot of things,
but being whipped by a woman isn’t one of them.”

Cooper’s caressing hand moved to her cheek, and his fingers stroked her soft skin. For a moment she was unable to move or
speak, trembling with humiliation because she wanted nothing as much as she wanted to lean into that caressing hand, but she
stood perfectly still. She could feel his breath stirring the hair on the top of her head, and he moved still closer until
her breasts slightly touched his chest. He smelled smoky, tangy, and of freshly washed clothes.

“Will you please move back and give me room… to breathe?”

Cooper drew a deep breath and moved back a step. “Stay here with Ma and Bonnie, and I’ll go settle with him.”

“He’s gone. He took Hollis and Billy with him.”

“I’ll make sure.”

“No! I don’t want you interfering in my business.”

“Come on up to the house. We’ll talk about it in the morning.”

“No!” She tried to slip under his arm, but he grabbed her and pulled her against him. “Let go or I’ll cut you with my knife!”

“You don’t have it. I took it when I jerked you off the horse.”

“You—” Lorna’s hand went to the sash around her waist. It was empty. She had not been without that knife since she was a child.
What had her infatuation for this man done to her? “Give it back. It was my Grandpa Light’s.”

“I reckon it’s safe enough—now,” he said with a trace of laughter in his voice. He took it from his scabbard where he had
slipped it in alongside his and handed it to her. “You couldn’t cut me any more than I could cut you. Come on, sweetheart.
Come to the house and meet my mother, visit with Bonnie and get a good night’s rest. We’ll hash this over tomorrow and decide
what to do.” His voice was soft and persuasive now.

Sweetheart.
Her heart trembled and her thoughts milled around in wild disorder. In the end she knew that she couldn’t go in the house.
She had come in the middle of the night, an uninvited backwoods girl in ragged shirt and britches. No! She couldn’t face that
woman with the neatly piled hair and freshly ironed dress who couldn’t possibly understand her and the way she lived.

“I’m not a bit tired,” she said spiritedly. “And I’ve had my visit with Bonnie.” Cooper’s arm was around her and he was urging
her out of the shed. She dug in her heels. “I’m not going in there, Cooper. I’d be obliged if you’d stop shoving me.”

“Why not? What have you got against my mother? You’ve not even met her.”

“And I’m not going to, either. I’ll not have her looking at me as if I’m something that crawled out from under a rock.”

“What gave you the idea she’d do that?” Cooper was clearly dumbfounded. “Was it what Volney said about Ma being bossy? He
was just talking to hear his head rattle. He likes her. He fusses at her like he fusses at you. That’s how I know he likes
her.”

“I don’t care if he likes her or not. I’m not going in and that’s the end of it.” Lorna felt the vacant feeling in the pit
of her stomach expand to her heart. Everything had gone wrong. The only thing to do was to play out the hand and wait for
her chance. “I’ll stay until daylight, if it will set your mind to rest.” She added the last scornfully. “But I’ll sleep in
the bunkhouse with Volney.”

“No, you can’t stay there. Louis and Sam and Griff would have no place and I’ll not ask them to go to the barn. Come on.”
The grip on her arm had loosened, and now his hand merely guided her.

Lorna walked beside him feeling the frantic clamor of her heart. She wished she hadn’t come here. Didn’t he say that he was
going back to Light’s Mountain to settle with Brice for Volney? That’s what he said, but was he going back to see her, too?
Oh, yes, she remembered suddenly. He was going back to see if she looked like she’d swallowed a watermelon!

“I’ve got to see about Gray Wolf.”

“I’ll light a lantern.”

“I don’t need it.”

She pulled away from him and went into the barn. Cooper followed. He knew the barn like the back of his hand and seldom needed
a light, but wondered how she found her way to Gray Wolf’s stall. She must have eyes like a cat. He leaned against the heavy
timbers of the stall while she loosened the cinch on the saddle, pulled it off and dropped it on the floor in the corner.
There was a long silence. Cooper could see the blur of her white face. She looked so small standing beside the big horse.
She began to murmur to Gray Wolf; soft unintelligible sounds. The horse tossed his head, but stood quietly.

“Come on out, Lorna.”

Silence.

“Don’t think for a minute that I won’t come in after you if you don’t come out.”