Wicked Wyoming Nights (22 page)

“I was just closing up for the winter.”

“Will you be sorry to leave?” he asked, stepping into the semi-darkness of the interior.

“Not as much as a few days ago.” There was a vein of still-warm resentment in her voice.

“I wish you hadn’t said anything about my helping with the school.”

“I don’t see why it’s okay to thank Ella and Mrs. Burton but not to thank you.”

“You’ll find out soon enough,” Cord commented dryly, “but that’s not what I came for. I wanted to tell you I’ll be going on roundup in a couple of days.”

“Do you have to go?” The words were out before she could stop them. “I mean, I thought you had already gone on roundup this year.”

“The spring roundup was for branding new calves. Now we have to cull the steers for market. It won’t take half as long-Eliza’s face brightened. “Then they go to market, and with all the trouble people are having with impounded herds, I mean to take them myself”

“Why would anyone impound your steers?”

They haven’t yet, but they might. My success has made me very unpopular with the Association, and tying up the money I get for the sale of my herd would be one way to keep me under control*

“When will you get back?”

“Six weeks, maybe longer.”

Eliza tried to keep from showing the disappointment that swept over her, but she failed completely. Cord had never left her before and the feeling of loss was a shock.

“What are you going to do?”

Cord looked puzzled.

“I mean, why does it take so long?” She didn’t really care what he did, only how long it would keep him away.

“We have to go over the whole range again, keeping an eye out for any unbranded calves while rounding up the steers old enough to sell. Then we drive them to the railhead in Montana. Once we get to Chicago, I’ll try to find the best possible price. Even a dollar a head can make a big difference. It’s important to the boys too. They have steers of their own going to market along with mine.”

“Do all the owners take their own cows to market?”

“Most of them send their foremen, or even sell them to jobbers at the railhead,” he said, taking her in his arms, “but I can’t afford to pay anyone for work I can do myself. This herd is the most important I’ll ever sell. If I get the kind of price I think I can, I’ll be able to pay off the last of my debt. Then the Matador and every head of cattle on it will be mine, free and clear.”

“Is there anything else in your life as important as those cows?”

“You.” Cord put his hand under her chin and tilted her face up until he could look into her eyes. A pair of teardrops had streaked her soft cheeks with their glistening moisture. Cord gently wiped them away and kissed her lingeringly. “You do believe that, don’t you?”

“It’s hard sometimes.” She looked into his eyes with such heartfelt earnestness Cord almost considered sending Franklin to Chicago. “It’s just that I don’t see you very often. Sometimes, when I’m in the schoolhouse or the saloon, I find it hard to believe this part of my life is real. I realize it’s not your fault—I’m the one who insisted on keeping everything a secret—but sometimes, when I’m feeling particularly lonely, I wonder if I haven’t made you up just to pretend there’s someone who cares for me.”

Cord folded her in a crushing embrace. “You don’t ever have to doubt me or my love,” he assured her. “This is not the time to stir up a lot of trouble, especially when I won’t be here to stand the heat with you, but we’ve got to get things settled with your uncle. I can’t wait much longer.”

“Miss Smallwood, are you in there?” It was Melissa’s voice. Eliza sprang away from Cord, hurried over to the only window remaining open, and began to fasten the shutters.

“Damn and blast!” exclaimed Cord as Melissa, afraid to enter the nearly dark schoolhouse, stood in the doorway, peering intently into the shadows.

“I’m here, Melissa,” Eliza answered. “Mr. Stedman is showing me how to fasten the shutters so they wouldn’t come undone before next spring.”

“You’d better make sure they’re good and tight, or some vagrant cowboy is likely to burn it down again,” Melissa said. “They’re a real nuisance, turning up all over town and pestering decent people to give them jobs.” Eliza could feel Cord stiffen with fury, and she reached out to take his hand to forestall the caustic words that rose to his lips.

“They don’t have much choice when the ranchers turn them off every winter and then refuse them jobs if they try to run a few cows for themselves,” Cord said in low barbed tones as he stepped out into the bright sunshine.

“Mr. Stedman, what a pleasure to see you,” Melissa simpered, batting her lashes in such an obvious way Cord’s anger turned to amusement. “How did you ever find the time to help close up the schoolhouse?”

“I was in town getting some supplies for the roundup, and offered Miss Smallwood a hand. Now I must be going. Remember what I said about your uncle” he said to Eliza. He bid a perfunctory goodbye to Melissa and went on his way.

“He is such a handsome man” Melissa sighed. “Don’t you think so, Miss Smallwood?”

“Well, yes, I suppose he is” Eliza said, faltering, not sure how to respond.

“I think he’s the most handsome man I’ve ever seen,” Melissa gushed, “and I’m going to ask Mother to invite him to the Christmas party.” Eliza couldn’t think of a response, and wisely decided not to say anything at all. But her silence was hardly noticed. Melissa continued to sing Cord’s praises all the way back to the center of town.

“Do you think he will come if we invite him?” she asked Eliza just before they parted ways.

“I’m not sure,” she stammered. “I can’t say what he will or won’t do.”

“You and he seemed to be such friends, I thought you might know.”

Eliza could feel her face turning red. “You mustn’t let his helping me mislead you. I’m new to Wyoming and unfamiliar with its ways. Mr. Stedman has been kind enough to lend me assistance and offer advice several times when I needed it.”

“That just proves what I told Mother.”

“What did you tell your mother?” asked Eliza, terrified of what Melissa might have said.

“That Mr. Stedman should be considered one of our leading citizens. His helping you just proves it.”

Melissa waved goodbye to Eliza and headed toward home while Eliza turned her steps toward the saloon. She hoped Melissa would not use Cord’s helping her as an excuse to importune her mother for an invitation to her Christmas party. Eliza had heard nothing about it, but she was sure only the most substantial citizens would be invited to the inner sanctum of Green Street. Certainly not the school teacher, and especially not when the schoolteacher sang in a saloon.

Chapter 16

“There’s really nothing we can do as long as the range is crawling with his hands,” Les said to Croley. “Besides, he’s selling his best steers, and they don’t pay us enough for those old cows to make it worthwhile.”

“Nobody pays enough to get me to go after anything of Stedman’s,” reiterated Harker. “I told you before, if you start messing with him, you can count me out.”

“You don’t have to worry you’ll end up with a broken leg,” Croley said scornfully. “I’ve worked out a plan. Besides, we’ll be taking unbranded calves so there won’t be any way he can prove they’re his.”

“I still don’t like it,” said Les. “We’ve had pretty good luck running off a few beeves at a time and selling them to the mining crews. They pay good and we don’t have to keep the beef on our hands waiting for someone to come along and prove they ain’t ours.”

“You’re running from Stedman like he was God.”

“On his land, he might as well be. There ain’t nobody gets past him, and every damned cowboy on the place rides the range from daybreak to sundown poking his nose in canyons and asking questions just like those steers was his.”

“You leave the worrying to me. I told you I had it worked out. We won’t hold the calves ourselves and there’ll be no way anybody can tie them to us.”

“And how do you plan to do that? You might as well tell me you plan to take them across the Bighorns as think there’s a single acre of his land Stedman and his boys don’t cover.”

I’ll tell you when the time comes. No point in too many people knowing about it. Besides, I plan to set up a decoy in case anything does go wrong.”

“Where’re you going to find anybody that dumb?”

“Ira Smallwood.”

“That sodbuster! He barely knows enough about horses to stay on one.”

“But he hates Cord Stedman enough to do just about anything, even something as stupid as getting himself caught with his rope on one of Stedman’s calves. With him as cover, any number of men could get away.”

“Does he know anything about it yet?”

“No. I’m letting him stew, and Stedman’s interest in his niece is making it certain he’ll be in the right mood to join us. She mentioned Stedman at the graduation last week and the old man is still raving about it. I figure a few judicious words dropped here and there, and Ira will be ready to pull the trigger himself.”

“I ain’t getting mixed up in no killings,” exclaimed Harker. “I told you right from the beginning I was off to Montana the first time anybody pulled a trigger. There ain’t no steer worth swinging from a rope.”

“Nobody’s ever convicted around here.”

“Not for rustling, but killing is different.”

“I think you boys are getting soft.”

“Then you try riding after some ornery, cussed steer in the middle of a pitch-black night and see how much you like it. We got a good system going for us, and I don’t see any reason to change it now”

“Money.”

“Anybody’d think you had enough, what with the money this place brings in and half of what me and the boys take. You must be rich.”

“Maybe I am, but neither of you is getting any younger. In a few more years you won’t be able to ride a hundred miles a night. You’re going to need enough money to buy yourself a piece of land and some cows.”

“I ain’t running no cows when I quit,” stated Harker. “I want a saloon, just like the one you got here, where I can sit back, look at the pretty girls, sleep in a soft bed, and watch the money roll in.”

“You’re too much of a fool to put together an operation like this.” Croley spat. “You’ll always be for hire by someone with more brains and vision. Now get out of here and come back when you’re ready to work.” The two men left, disgruntled.

“One of these days I’m going to punch him right in the mouth,” Harker promised.

“Aw shut up,” said his companion. “You ain’t never going to do nothing and you know it.”

“Why didn’t they applaud for Cord like they did for Ella and Mrs. Burton?” Eliza asked Susan Haughton. “He deserves more credit than either one of them.”

“People don’t trust him, and some don’t like him. Sam and I don’t.”

“But why? He’s been the one person I could always depend upon.”

“Cord Stedman may have befriended you, but you’re not trying to homestead any land he’s after.”

“We did once.” Susan looked up sharply. “Well, not actually, but he thought we were.”

“And what did he do?”

“His men tried to burn our wagon.”

“That’s exactly it.”

“But he replaced everything they ruined.”

“Are you sure we’re talking about the same Cord Stedman?”

“Didn’t he come see you about sending Billy to school?”

“Yes, but-”

“He was also the one who gave Ella the idea of building a new schoolhouse.”

“Who told you that?”

“Ella.”

Susan appeared to take some time to digest this. “He does appear to have been remarkably busy, especially for a man who’s not even married. Maybe that’s why they don’t trust him. I mean, why should he be interested in a school?”

“People shouldn’t have to like him to thank him for something he did.”

“This county is deeply divided between the small owners and homesteaders and the large ranchers who’re trying to drive them both out. Do you remember I said the school teacher before you left when two people were killed?”

“Yes.”

“Those people were ordered killed by the Association, those same big ranchers, because they were supposed to be rustlers. Only nobody around here believes they were guilty. Nothing was ever done to the killers even though every one of them was known by name. There were four witnesses, but when it came time for the trial, none of them could be found.”

“Do you mean somebody murdered them?”

“Maybe. At least that’s what people think.”

“But what has that got to do with Cord?”

“He used to be one of us, but he’s been so successful he doesn’t belong anymore. No one really believes he’s gone over to the Association, but they wouldn’t be surprised if he had. Right now they’d rather not be forced to make up their minds, and I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to try to force them. He’s been known to defend his property against several of them, and that has left some pretty hard feelings. I know it must seem strange to you that people should dislike Cord for trying to protect his own herds, but the rustlers are their neighbors, or relatives, and they won’t turn against them no matter what they do.”