California Romance (6 page)

Matt stepped between them. “I’ll ask you once more, Red, and I want a straight answer. What in blue blazes is going on?”

“That’s what I’d like to know,” a deep voice said from the saloon door. Sheriff Meade elbowed his way past the onlookers and glowered at the two men in the middle of the room.

“I’ll tell you what’s going on,” the bloody but unbeaten lad shouted. He pointed an accusing finger at Red Fallon.  “He stole my horse and supplies two days ago. I had to hoof it here without food and water.” The lad’s dusty shirt, jeans, and boots gave credence to his statement. He shook his fist at Red. “Copper’s hitched outside this very minute!”

“That’s a mighty serious accusation, son,” Sheriff Meade quietly said. “Can you prove it?”

“Naw, he can’t prove it!” Red bawled. His nostrils flared. “I found that sorrel wandering around up near Raymond when I was going after strays the other—”

“Liar!” The boy leaped.

Matt caught him easily and steered him away from the enraged Red Fallon. “Take it easy, boy. No sense gettin’ killed over a horse. Simmer down and let the sheriff get to the bottom of it.” He looked into the kid’s battered face, “What’s your name?”

“Seth. Seth Anderson. And that ugly skunk is a lying horse thief.” He made one more attempt to get at Red, then his eyes rolled back into his head, and he collapsed in Matt’s arms.

Matt stared down at the unconscious youth. Seth’s face was pale and gaunt beneath the dark bruises. Matt motioned to a couple of spectators. “Jake, you and Murray take this poor kid over to Mace’s Hotel and ask Doc Brown to have a look at him. He’s lost a lot of blood. I’ll be along after a while.” He gently placed Seth’s limp body into the men’s care and rounded on his erring cowhand. “There was no call to beat up that boy. Why’d you do it?”

“Boss, I don’t take kindly to being accused of stealin’ a man’s horse and supplies. I tell you, I found that horse up in the foothills. There was nobody around.” Red shrugged and spread his range-hardened hands. “Figured some feller met his end up near the mines. Why should I let a good piece of horseflesh wander off?”

“When you found out the horse belonged to Seth, why didn’t you just give it back?” Matt wanted to know. He frowned. Something didn’t ring true with Red’s story, no matter how plausible it sounded. Or how aggrieved and innocent the cowboy acted.

“Why, Boss.” Red grinned and reached for his knife. “That wildcat kid burst in here madder’n a hornet, demanding to know who owned the sorrel gelding tied up outside. ’Course I told him it was mine.” He examined his knife and slid it carefully into the sheath hanging from his belt. “He just lit into me after that.”

“Yeah, Red. After you baited him,” Charlie Dunlap piped up from behind the bar. He mimicked Red’s voice. “Hey fellers, any of you missin’ a sorrel? No kid like this one’s got a horse like that, ’nless he stole him. Know what we do to horse stealers ’round here?” Charlie scowled. “Sure young Anderson pitched into you. No self-respectin’ feller, kid or not, would take that guff—and I notice you took almighty pleasure in beatin’ the stuffin’ out of him!”

A murmur of assent swept through the onlookers.

The sheriff ’s disbelieving snort showed his opinion of Red’s story and confirmed Matt’s suspicions. “Let’s take a look at the horse.”

With Sheriff Meade in the lead, Matt, Red, and a crowd of interested bystanders left the saloon and approached the sorrel Seth had referred to as “Copper.” The tired animal stood with drooping head, showing he’d been ridden hard. But his ears perked up and he whinnied when the sheriff laid a gentle hand on his mane.

Matt whistled softly. “Nice horse. No wonder the kid was upset to find him missing or stolen.”

Red glowered at his boss at the word
stolen
but kept his mouth shut. Sheriff Meade opened a saddlebag and pulled out a change of clothes. “These look like they might fit young Anderson.” He sighed. “But without more evidence, I don’t know how I can just hand this horse over to some stray kid who claims the sorrel’s his.”

“What about this?” Matt asked from the other side of the horse. He held up a wrinkled and faded photograph. “It might be a picture of his family. One of them is a good likeness of Seth. The others…” His voice trailed off as he gazed at the faces of two women. One was an older woman who clearly resembled Seth. The other—

Matt held his breath at the picture of the…girl? No. Not a girl but a young lady. She was seated next to the woman he decided must be their mother. Matt was struck by the girl’s clear, steady gaze and the look of quiet honesty on her young face. A pretty face. Innocent with a look of fun and laughter waiting to be set free. Not beautiful, but Matt had no interest in beauty.
“Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain….”
He’d learned that the hard way from Lydia Hensley a few years back. Quickly he passed the photograph to Sheriff Meade.

The sheriff gave the photo a brief glance and announced his decision. “Appears to me this sorrel belongs to Seth Anderson.” He caught Red’s baleful gaze, held up a weather-beaten hand when Red started to speak, and said, “Don’t get your back up, Red. I want to hear the boy’s side of this before I make any final judgment. He ain’t up to talking and probably won’t be for a while. I’m gonna overlook the beating you gave the kid—for
now
. But if that boy’s injuries prove serious, I’m taking you in. This is the third cutting scrape this month, and I’ve had enough. Ben Hoder’s still in jail waitin’ trial for carving up Joe Mova so bad he died. You’ll be joining him if you’re not careful.”

Red’s face turned livid. “You can’t arrest me for—”

“That’s what you think.” Sheriff Meade strode off, his boot heels clumping heavily on the wooden sidewalk outside the saloon.

“Get back to the ranch,” Matt barked, “before I decide I’d rather go shorthanded this season than put up with your shenanigans.”

“Ain’t got no horse,” Red whined. “Sold him when I got the sorrel.”

“A shame.” Matt shook his head, not sorry in the least. “I suggest you go buy him back. Then get out to the ranch.” He raised a warning finger at the man. “And I don’t want this incident brought up again, is that clear?”

A curt nod was all Matt got for a response. The big cowhand turned on his heel and took off down the street.

A sigh of relief whispered through the crowd. The interested bystanders went about their business. Matt made sure Seth would be all right then mounted Chase and headed back to the Diamond S—thanking God he had chosen to ride into town this morning. His thoughts kept time to the rhythmic beat of the buckskin’s hooves on the parched ground. Who was Seth Anderson? Where had he come from? Judging by his ragged, dusty clothing, he’d been on the trail for some time.

Were the woman and girl in the picture really the young man’s mother and sister? Matt laughed. “Why should I care, Chase?” The gelding flicked his ears but didn’t change his stride. “I do though. He’s a game kid, just like Robbie.” A pang went through Matt. “God, I miss Robbie so much. I don’t know why he had to die so young.” He forced his thoughts back to the present. “I hope Seth will be all right. I’d hate for anything to happen to him. He must be a pretty good sort, with a mother and sister like that. Looks like he could use some help. If he pulls through, I’ll see what I can do.”

Long before Matt reached the Diamond S, he had spun dreams of bringing Seth Anderson to the ranch and teaching him the tricks of the range—the same way he had once taught Robbie. Matt smiled. “Lord, if I’m a good judge of character—and I am—this tenderfoot kid will take to life on the Diamond S like Chase to a water trough on a hot day. He’s as spunky as Dori, and with her off at school, it will be good to have someone like him around the place again.” Stirrings of anticipation brought a laugh. “Oh boy, when she comes home, those two will liven up the ranch like fireworks on the Fourth of July!”

Eighteen months later, Matt knew it had to be the good Lord who’d literally dropped Seth Anderson into his lap that dusty fall afternoon. After hearing from Doc Brown that the lad’s injuries were not life threatening but merely a temporary annoyance, Matt had offered to free Captain Mace from having to care for the young stray. The tourist season was in full swing, and the captain had plenty to oversee. His hotel was crowded with guests waiting to take the Yosemite Stage and Turnpike Company’s ninety-mile trip up ten thousand feet to enjoy the awesome grandeur of Yosemite Valley. In addition, the captain and his crew provided a hearty supper for the southbound passengers of the Southern Pacific Railroad when it stopped in Madera each evening. It was too much to ask the generous hotel proprietor to care for a boy who would need vigilant attention over the next few weeks. The Diamond S was the perfect place for Seth to recuperate.

N
o one understood why Matt wanted to take on the still-wet-behind the-ears kid.

“It’s roundup, Matt. Are you loco?” the captain protested when Matt showed up with his wagon to transport the young man out to his ranch. “You’ve got no time to mollycoddle a greenhorn, especially one who probably won’t be leaving his bed for the next month.”

Matt couldn’t deny that even without the beating from Red, Seth didn’t look much like a candidate for ranch work.

“More like a shopkeeper,” his foreman, Brett Owen, joked when he saw him.

Matt didn’t explain why he wanted Seth out at the Diamond S. Or that something about the lad called out for help—help he hadn’t been able to give his younger brother. So Matt brought Seth home to the Diamond S and placed him under the gentle, ministering hands of his family’s longtime housekeeper, Solita. At once the round-faced, cheerful Mexican woman clucked and fussed over Seth as if he were a long-lost chick returning to the nest.
Perhaps he is
, Matt mused on more than one occasion. The more he became acquainted with Seth Anderson, the more the young man reminded Matt of his younger brother, Robert.

Robbie had worshipped the ground Matt walked on. He had followed him everywhere. Five years Matt’s junior, Robbie tried to do everything his older brother did. The boy’s desire to keep up with Matt often led him into trouble. Occasionally he lit into Matt in frustration when he found himself lacking the skills necessary to do whatever his brother did. Matt prayed for patience, took it all in stride, and tried to be the big brother he should be.

Unfortunately Robbie tried to keep up once too often. Matt, at twenty, had excelled at the ranching tasks he loved. His father, William, depended on Matt to help run the growing Diamond S spread. Matt could rope, ride, and brand just about anything on four hooves. He could break a colt gently or all at once.

Fifteen-year-old Robbie wanted to prove he could do it, too. Although forbidden to work with the green colts, he took it upon himself to try to break Skye—the wildest colt on the ranch. Matt found his little brother one afternoon—broken and near death. He lived two more days before passing quietly from Matt’s arms into heaven.

Now, six years later—with his entire family either back east or in eternity—Matt saw in Seth a replica of the brother who had been snatched away from him too soon. Every day he grew closer to the plucky boy.

Fall roundup ended, and Matt devoted all his spare time to working with his newest cowhand. Seth healed rapidly and seemed anxious to please his benefactor. Although weak and shaky at times, the young man made up for his inexperience with the determination to conquer every task Matt set for him. The older and more seasoned hands watched in amusement and shouted good-natured barbs at Seth while their boss tried to teach him basic ranching skills.

“Ride ’em, cowboy!”

“Straddle that saddle, kid!”

Seth ignored the banter and raw jokes and focused every ounce of his willpower into mastering the various jobs on the Diamond S. To the astonishment of the skeptical Diamond S cowboys, Seth learned quickly. Even trail-hardened Brett Owen finally admitted—although not in Seth’s hearing—“He’s worth his salt.” High praise indeed. It summed up the growing respect for Seth’s hard work and stubborn determination.

By spring good food and steady exercise combined with the mild climate of Madera turned the stripling lad into a well-muscled and agile young cowboy. Once he proved himself adept at working with cattle and horses, haying, cutting fence posts, and the myriad of other duties a cowboy must do, Seth was welcomed into the ranks as a full-fledged cowhand, ready to pull his weight to make the Diamond S prosper. By summer he was one of the top hands.

During this time, Matt learned about his young friend’s hardships back East. Often after church on Sunday afternoons, while the rest of the cowhands took the day off to head for town to court, cockfight, gamble, or take part in some other activity Matt preferred not to know about, he and Seth rode to Matt’s favorite spot on the ranch—some distance into the Sierra foothills—and talked. The promontory that overlooked Matt’s ranch offered both privacy and beauty. The entire valley spread out before them, dotted with dark clumps of the vineyards and orchards that were quickly springing up north of the San Joaquin River. Closer to their lookout, the rolling range was sprinkled with Diamond S cattle roaming freely.