Heart of Ice (13 page)

“No need,” Dessie told her with a grin. “We’ve having beef stew and homemade rolls and a salad. Suit you?”

“Oh, yes! I love beef stew!” she enthused.

“You’ll like this—it’s our own beef. Want to sit down while I dish it up?”

Kati eased into a chair, noticing that only two places were set. “Just us two?” she asked as casually as she could.

“Boss is helping at the calving sheds. Had a handful of first-time heifers calving tonight, and they’ve already had to pull one. Gets expensive if you lose too many calves,” she explained.

“Is the snow still melting?”

“No, worse luck,” Dessie grumbled as she put the food on the table. “Weatherman says it’s going to come again tonight. I’ve seen it so that the snow was over the door.”

Kati’s heart lodged in her throat. “That high?”

“This is Wyoming” came the laughing reply. “Everything’s bigger out West, didn’t you know? Now,
don’t you worry. The boys would dig us out if we got snowed in. And we could get another Chinook.”

“I remember a painting by Russell,” Kati murmured. “A drawing of a cow freezing in the snow, surrounded by wolves, with the legend Waiting for a Chinook. I didn’t understand it until now.”

“See? You’re learning.” She nibbled at her stew, watching the younger woman curiously. “Uh, you wouldn’t care to tell me a little about this new book? I’ve read all your others.”

Kati’s face brightened. “You have?”

“Sure. Well, I know you, sort of.” She shifted in the chair. “Gave the girls at the bookstore a charge when I told them that.” She glanced up. “I like the books, though, or I wouldn’t spend good money on them.”

“Just for that,” Kati said, “I’ll tell you the whole plot.”

And Dessie sat, rapt, sighing and smiling, while the entire book was outlined.

“What does the hero look like this time?” Dessie asked finally. “Is he blond like your others?”

“No, this one is dark and has silver eyes.”

“Like Egan?”

Kati’s face flamed red. “His eyes are…gray,” she protested.

“Not when he’s mad, they ain’t. They’re silver, and they gleam.” She reached over and patted the young woman’s hand. “Listen, I don’t tell Egan nothing. I won’t spill the beans, so don’t start clamming up.
These eyes of mine may be old, but they don’t miss a lot. Besides,” she added, sipping coffee, “this morning he ate sausage.”

“What does that mean?”

“Egan eats bacon or ham. He hates sausage. I cook it for me.” She grinned. “He wouldn’t have noticed if I’d fed him raw eggs. In a nasty temper, he was.”

And Kati knew why, but she wasn’t rising to the bait. “Maybe his tastes have changed.”

“Oh, I know that,” Dessie said casually. “Yes, I do. Have some more stew.”

The snow came all night, but Egan didn’t appear. It was late the next morning before Kati got a glimpse of him. He came in cursing, stripping off his jacket as he strode toward his study.

“Damned bull,” he muttered. “I should have had his horns cut off…Dessie!” he yelled.

She came running, her apron flapping, while Kati stood frozen on the staircase.

“What?” Dessie asked.

“That big Hereford bull of mine got Al,” he grumbled. “Get some bandages and disinfectant and I’ll drive you down to the bunkhouse to bandage him until I can get the doctor here. I’ve sent Ramey to fetch him.” He jerked up the phone. “Kati!” he called.

She walked in as he was punching buttons. “What can I do?” she asked hesitantly.

“You can stay with Al’s wife and keep her quiet,” he told her. He held up his hand and spoke into the
phone. “Brad, have the boys tracked that wolf yet? Well, call Harry Two Toes and get him to meet me at the house in twenty minutes. Tell him I’ll pay him a thousand dollars for that damned wolf. Right.” He hung up the receiver. “Al’s wife, Barbara, is pregnant with their first child,” he continued, his eyes dark and steady on hers. “I won’t let her see him. She gets hysterical at the sight of blood, and she’s miscarried twice already. Will you stay with her?”

“Of course,” she said without hesitation. “How old is she?”

“Twenty. Just a baby herself. Al was trying to check a sore on that damned bull, and he turned wrong. It’s my fault, I should have had him dehorned,” he said shortly as he rose from the desk. “Got Al in the stomach. That’s a bad place to get gored.”

“If he works for you, he must be tough,” she said quietly. “He’ll be all right, Egan.”

His eyes searched hers for a long moment. He turned away. “Get a coat, honey.”

She thrilled to the endearment, although she knew that he was worried and probably hadn’t realized he was saying it. She ran up the stairs to get her overcoat and knitted hat, and hurried back. Dessie was already wearing a thick corduroy coat of her own, a floppy old hat and hightop boots.

“Let’s go,” Egan murmured, herding them out into the snow where the truck was parked.

It was slow going. The road was half obscured by the thick, heavy flakes that fell relentlessly. It seemed
to take forever to get to the bunkhouse. Egan had Kati wait in the car while he got Dessie inside and checked to see how Al was. He was back minutes later.

“He’s stopped bleeding, at least on the outside,” he said heavily as he pulled the truck back onto the ruts. “But he’s lost color and he’s hurting pretty bad. He’ll need to go to the hospital, I’m damned sure of that. I told the boys to get him into one of the pickups and put a camper over it and take him into town. I had Ken call Ramey on the radio and have him go on to the hospital instead of to the doctor’s and alert the emergency room.”

“It’s starting out to be a rough day, isn’t it?” she asked, thinking of the poor man’s wife as well, who still had to be told about the accident.

“Worse.” He lit another cigarette. “We had two cows brought down by a wolf and savaged.”

“One wolf?” she asked.

“He’s old and wily,” he told her shortly. “I’ve lost cows and calves to him for several months now, and I’m at the end of my patience. I’m going to get an Arapaho tracker I know to help me find him.”

“You must be losing a lot of money if the wolf is bringing down that many cattle.”

“That’s not why. I hate killing even a mangy wolf, with the environment in the mess it’s in. But you’ve never seen a cow or a horse that’s been attacked by a wolf.” His jaws set. “They don’t quite kill the animals, you see.”

She did, graphically, and her face paled. “Oh.”

“We’ll trap him and free him in the high country.” He turned the truck into the driveway of a small house not far below the bunkhouse.

“Will wolves attack people?” she asked uneasily.

“Not you,” he said, half amused. “You won’t be walking this ranch alone.”

“That’s not what I meant.” She glanced at him silently.

“Worried about me?” he asked mockingly.

She turned away. “Maybe I was worrying about the wolf,” she grumbled.

He got out and helped her over the high bank of snow. She noticed that he didn’t offer to carry her this time, and she was glad. It was torture to be close to him, with all the memories between them.

“Try to make her rest as much as you can,” Egan said before he knocked on the door. “I’ll have Ramey call here just as soon as the doctor’s examined Al.”

“All right. I’ll take care of her.”

The door opened, and a pretty young girl with dark hair and eyes opened it. “Egan!” she said enthusiastically. “What brings you here?”

His eyes went from her swollen belly back to her face and he grimaced. He pulled off his hat. “Barbara, my new Hereford bull gored Al,” he said softly. “He’s all right, but I’ve had the boys drive him in to see the doctor.”

The girl’s face went pale, and Kati stepped forward
quickly, as Egan did, to help her back inside and onto a chair.

“I’m Kati,” she told the girl as she led her to the chair and eased her bulky figure down into it. “I’m going to stay with you. He’ll be all right, Barbara. Egan said so.”

Egan looked down at her with a faint smile in his eyes. “I’ll be out on the ranch with my tracker,” he told Kati. “But if Al isn’t home by dark, you’ll stay in the house with us, Barbara.”

“Yes, Egan,” Barbara nodded numbly.

Kati left her long enough to walk out onto the front porch with Egan.

“Keep her as quiet as you can,” he said. “If you need help, get Dessie.”

“I will,” she promised. She looked up at him, quietly searching the craggy lines of his face, loving him so deeply that she’d have followed him barefoot through the snow.

He glanced down at her, and the darkness grew in his eyes as they held hers.

“The wolf,” she said uneasily. “You won’t take chances?”

He moved close, framing her worried face in his hands, and stared down into her eyes for a long moment. “I never take chances, as a rule,” he said. “Of course, I blotted my book with you.”

“I don’t understand.”

“What would you call trying to seduce a virgin on a bearskin rug?” he asked dryly.

She flushed and he laughed.

“I lost my head that night,” he told her. “I could have broken your young neck when you told me the truth.”

“Yes, I know, and your temper hasn’t improved since,” she said miserably. “I shouldn’t have said anything, I guess.”

“I’d have blown my brains out afterward if you hadn’t,” he said. “Kati, I wasn’t in any condition for initiation ceremonies. You had me so worked up, I didn’t know my name. That’s why it took me so long to get over it.”

“Oh,” she murmured, studying him. He didn’t look so formidable now. He looked…odd.

“I can’t get too close to you, baby, don’t you know? I don’t want you any less right now than I did the first time I kissed you,” he breathed, bending to her mouth. “But I could seduce you now without even trying. And that wouldn’t be a good thing.”

“It wouldn’t?” she whispered, watching his mouth brush and probe gently at hers in the cold air.

“Don’t they say,” he whispered back, “that good girls almost always get pregnant that first time?”

“Egan…!” she moaned as his mouth found hers.

He lifted her against him and kissed her roughly, his mouth cool and hard and sure as it moved over hers. His gloved hand caught at her nape and brought her face closer; and she heard a deep, rumbling sound echoing out of his chest.

“We’ve got to stop this,” he ground out as his
mouth slid across her cheek, and he wrapped her up tightly in his arms. “It’s just a matter of time before I go off the deep end if we don’t. I could eat you!”

“Yes, I know,” she whispered achingly. “I feel the same way.”

He rocked her slowly in his arms while the wind whistled around the house and snow blew past them. “I have to go, Kati.”

Her arms tightened. “Be careful. Please be careful.”

He was breathing heavily, and his eyes when he lifted his head were silvery and wild. “I used to be,” he said enigmatically. He let her go and tugged at a lock of her hair with rough affection. “See you, city girl.”

She nodded with a weak smile. “So long, cowboy.”

She turned and went back into the house before he could see the worried tears in her eyes.

“Would you like some coffee?” she asked Barbara with perfect poise. “If you’ll show me where you keep everything, I’ll even make it.”

Barbara dabbed at her eyes and smiled. “Of course. Thank you for staying with me.”

“I’m glad to do what I can for you,” Kati replied. “Come on. Your man will be all right. You have to believe that.”

“I’m trying to,” the young girl replied. She glanced at Kati as they went into the kitchen. “Is Egan your man?”

Kati flushed. “No,” she managed. “No, he’s my best friend’s brother. He’s helping me with some research on a book I’m writing.”

“You write books?”

“Yes. Those big historical things,” Kati offered.

“It must be lots of fun.” She got down cups. “I wanted to be a singer, but I married Al instead. We’ve been together two years now.” She stared out the window at the thickening snow. “I love him so much. And we’ve been so excited about this baby.”

“What do you want?” Kati asked, seeing an opening. “A boy or a girl?”

“Oh, a boy,” Barbara said. “I’ve been knitting blue booties and hats. He’ll be all right, won’t he?”

“Egan said he would, didn’t he?” Kati hedged.

Barbara smiled wanly. “I guess so. Egan’s never lied.”

Kati nodded, but her own mind was on that killer wolf and Egan out hunting it. An animal that would savage cattle three or four times its size would think nothing of attacking a man. She closed her eyes to the possibility. She couldn’t bear thinking about it.

Two hours went by before the phone rang, and Kati answered it herself.

“Barbara?” came Ramey’s voice.

“No, Ramey, it’s Kati. How is Al?” she asked quickly.

“Madder than a skinned snake.” Ramey chuckled. “He wants Egan to give him that bull for steaks.”

“He’s all right!” Kati told Barbara, laughing; and Barbara sat down heavily with a tired sigh.

“The boss might do it, too,” Ramey laughed, “despite how much he paid for him. They’re going to keep Al overnight, but he wants Barbara with him. Pack her a bag, will you? They’re going to put a bed in the room for her.”

“I sure will. Are you coming after her?”

“Guess I’ll have to. Boss is still out with Charlie.”

That was a worrying thought. “Will it take them long to find the wolf, do you think?” she asked hesitantly.

“Anybody’s guess, Miss James. See you.”

“Bye.”

She hung up the phone with numb fingers. “Al wants you to spend the night with him at the hospital. They’ve even fixed you a bed,” she said cheerfully. “He’s going to be fine, but Ramey said they want to keep him overnight.”

“Oh, thank God, thank God!” Barbara whispered. She took a minute to pull herself together before she became practical. “I’ll pack my bag right now. Oh, my poor Al!”

Kati helped her get ready, knowing how she might feel in the same circumstances. And Egan was out tracking that wolf right now. What if something happened to him? How would she manage?

Ramey came and dropped Kati by the house on
the way to depositing Barbara at the hospital. Kati waved them off and rushed to find Dessie.