Not the Marrying Kind (14 page)

Kat couldn’t put her finger on exactly what
was wrong but she knew something wasn’t quite right. Looking toward
Joshua again, she noticed how he gripped the bay’s reins. Tension
rippled from him, so real she could feel it spreading through the
quiet morning air. His movements were slower than usual, too, more
cautious, more studied.

“Something bothering you?” She reined up her
mare.

He pushed his hat back and slowly surveyed
the land around them. “Seems there ought to be a few more head out
here. I thought you said you’d turned a dozen beeves out onto this
stretch.”

His words jolted her. “Yes, nearly two
dozen,” she replied. Anxious thoughts rattled through her brain,
but she quickly assured herself that no cause for concern existed.
“They’re probably over that next ridge.” She pointed toward the
hill ahead of them. “They like to go down toward the creek. Must be
cooler there,” she speculated.

“I don’t know.” Joshua frowned, worry lining
his brow. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

Kat stiffened, marveling again at how
closely this man’s thoughts and emotions paralleled her own. Yet
she didn’t want to entertain any possibilities of trouble. She had
enough problems to deal with already.

“How would you know? You’ve never done any
ranching before, have you? It didn’t take me long to figure that
out,” she added, breaking the tension with a bit of laughter. She
saw, too, an opportunity to wheedle a little information from the
fellow. “You never have filled me in on your past jobs.”

“I’ve done a little of this, some of that.”
He shrugged. “Even if I’ve never worked on a ranch, I know enough
about roping and riding to bring in cattle.” His gray eyes
narrowed, their color darkening. “I also know when things aren’t
right. Call it a sixth sense, I guess. You feel it, too, and don’t
tell me otherwise.”

Kat pressed her lips together. Damn the man
for being so in tune with her. Nobody had ever been able to read
her thoughts so clearly.

“All right, yes, something feels a bit odd,
I’ll admit. But it’s probably nothing to be concerned about,” she
rushed on, once again wanting to erase any possibility of trouble.
“I mean, just because the cattle have moved, that doesn’t mean
something’s wrong. It just means they’ve gone someplace else. We’ll
find them.”

“Maybe something spooked them.”

“Like what?”

Beads of sweat lined his brow, even though
the morning air still held a touch of coolness. Joshua pulled a rag
from his pocket and wiped his forehead. “Cody’s talked about
mountain lions. I’m wondering if maybe there’s one around. One or
more,” he added, turning away. “I thought I saw some big tracks
back yonder.” He jerked his head toward the south, the direction
from which they’d come.

Kat hadn’t noticed anything. She’d been too
lost in her thoughts, too busy thinking about herself and her
future. Busy, too, thinking about Joshua Barron and wondering about
his past. She remembered the moment when she’d seen him grip his
horse’s reins. Was that when he’d spotted the tracks?

“Why didn’t you say something?” Kat followed
his movement, then shook her head, refusing to believe what she
didn’t want to hear. “I doubt it’s a lion. We haven’t seen any
carcasses.” She lifted a hand to shield her eyes and gazed up
toward the morning sun. “I don’t remember seeing any vultures
either. If a mountain lion were killing cattle, we’d see signs of
it. More than a few tracks,” she pointed out.

“Don’t big cats bury the carcasses? Or hide
them in the brush?” He gestured toward the scrub trees that flanked
the land.

“Yes, but the Rocking P isn’t the only ranch
in this area. Someone would have spotted evidence of a kill and
notified the other ranch owners.” She shook her head again. “I just
don’t think that’s what’s causing the problem.”

Joshua rested his hands on the pommel of his
saddle and leaned forward. “How else do you explain the missing
cattle? We’ve been riding for the last hour, Kat. How many
longhorns have you counted?”

She swallowed hard, hating to admit he had a
point.

“We’ll find them,” she said, her voice
stern. They
had
to find them, otherwise she’d fail to
fulfill the contract, her father would make good on his threats,
and she’d be Mrs. Virgil Kendrick faster than a hawk could swoop
down on an unsuspecting rodent. “Let’s split up. I’ll take that
hill, you ride down along the stream. Shout out if you find
anything.”

“I don’t think so. Might be better if we
stay close together.”

“Why?” She eyed him with keen interest. “Are
you afraid?”

“Yes, ma’am, I’m sorely afraid. For you,” he
added. “I’d feel right awful if anything happened to you.”

“Really, now?” Kat grinned. “You’d only feel
bad because you’d be out of a job. But set your mind to rest.
Mountain lions are solitary critters. They hunt at night and tend
to avoid humans. They’re rarely ever seen, and they don’t attack
humans unless there’s a shortage of other prey.”

Joshua seemed to mull that information over
in his mind a moment. “Maybe you’re right,” he acknowledged. “In
which case, you’ve probably got a bigger problem.”

“And what would that be?”

She already suspected what Joshua was
getting at. Cattle were disappearing. She couldn’t argue with that
fact. If wild animals weren’t taking them, humans were. With the
high prices for beef and the access to free-ranging herds, cattle
rustling paid well.

And if rustlers were afoot—a likely
possibility—somebody needed to alert the Sunset Protective
Committee. Kat turned somber. She pressed her legs against Sadie’s
flanks and rode onward. When she reached the creek, the signs were
too obvious to deny. Broken branches. Hoofprints. Boot tracks in
the mud along the creek bank.

Time now to wake up and smell the coffee as
her pa often said. In other words, time to face the awful truth.
And time to do something about it.

“I’ll pay a call on Wes Randall, see if he
knows anything,” she said after sharing her suspicions with
Joshua.

“Do you think that’s a good idea? I mean,
won’t that just stir up trouble?”

Kat dismounted and led Sadie toward a grassy
area near the creek. As she walked, Josh rode alongside.

“Rustlers
are
trouble,” she pointed
out. “Somebody needs to put a stop to it.”

“But what if…” He hesitated. “What if it’s
somebody on the committee?”

Kat’s head snapped around. “Why would you
think that? What reason would another rancher have for rustling
cattle from the Rocking P?” It made no sense to her.

But judging from the look on his face,
apparently it made perfect sense to Joshua.

“Are you blind, Kat?”

She continued to stare at him, waiting for
him to explain.

“People aren’t always as honest and
upstanding as you think,” he said, swinging his leg over the
saddle. “The members of that little committee are good men, I’m
sure, but they’re also men looking to make a few bucks. We all
are.”

“So?”

“They know the Rocking P is going down.
You’ve cut back on help, your father’s talked about selling the
place, and I’m guessing somebody’s decided to take advantage of his
ill health and help put him—and you—out of business.”

She considered his words, realizing any one
of the other ranchers in the area could, indeed, be behind the
rustling. It hurt to know she couldn’t trust her own neighbors, but
what other explanation could there be?

“So going to the committee and bringing up
my concerns would only alert whoever’s behind the rustling. Is that
what you’re saying?”

“Right.”

Kat mulled the matter over in her mind for a
moment. “Well, then, we’ll have to put a stop to it ourselves.”

“We’ll do what?” Joshua’s face screwed up.
Those gray eyes narrowed once more, shooting doubts her way. “Just
how do you plan to stop a bunch of rustlers?”

“Simple. We’ll catch them.”

“Simple?” he parroted, pulling his hat off
and slapping it against his leg. “Doesn’t sound too simple to me. I
doubt those rustlers will be likely to come around in broad
daylight, Miss Kat. It’s not like we can sit here for a spell and
have them accommodate us by showing up.”

For heaven’s sake, did this man really think
that’s what she planned to do? She rolled her eyes.

“No, of course they won’t rustle cattle in
broad daylight. Do you think I’m stupid?” She flashed him a warning
look. “Don’t answer that. We’ll come back. Tonight. Around
midnight.”

Joshua scratched at his jaw, frowned,
nodded, and hobbled about for a bit. Finally, he looked directly at
her. “No, Miss Kat, I don’t think you’re stupid, but I am wondering
if you’re crazy.”

“Not in the least. You said yourself we
can’t go to the committee.”

“What are you suggesting we do? Hide out
here in the dark, maybe get ourselves shot up?” He shook his head.
“Sorry, but I’ve had enough of that.” He gestured toward his leg.
“Getting shot hurts.”

“So that’s what happened, huh?” It pleased
her to finally have an answer to the question that had been on her
mind so long. “Want to talk about it?”

“Nope. No reason to do that.”

“Guess you must have fought in that late
unpleasantness.” That’s what her pa called it, although to Kat’s
mind a civil war that nearly ripped the nation asunder was a hell
of a lot more than a mere unpleasantness.

Of course, nobody liked to think about or
talk about bad things. Referring to it as something
unpleasant
made it more palatable, she supposed. Wasn’t she
guilty of doing the same thing as often as not, skirting around
difficult issues, refusing to face problems head-on? Sure enough,
that had been her approach to life too many times. All the more
reason why now, when it mattered most, she had to take a stand and
move into action.

“Never mind,” she said, no longer interested
in the man’s war injuries. “We need to come up with a plan.”

“You’re serious about this?”

“Dead serious.” She eyed him intently. If
she couldn’t count on Joshua Barron, she needed to know that
fact…now, not later. Would he back down? Would he refuse? She held
her breath, waiting for him to respond.

He stared off toward the creek. “Kat, I
really don’t think—”

“I’m not paying you to think. I’m paying you
to do what I tell you.” She hadn’t really meant to jump down his
throat, but her nerves had grown taut. Frustration brought her
temper to the breaking point. “We’ll meet here shortly after
midnight. We can hide-out around those boulders and keep watch.”
She gestured toward a rock formation about thirty yards
distant.

His lips thinned. He seemed on the verge of
speaking up, but he shook his head.

“You’re the boss.”

What he said was true. She was the boss. She
was in charge. She would be responsible if anything went wrong. The
realization brought a momentary madness.

Exactly what
did
she plan to do when
the rustlers showed up? Politely ask them to put down their guns
and turn themselves in? A dumb idea, for sure, but she couldn’t
back down now.

“I won’t do anything stupid,” she assured
Joshua who still stood glaring at her. “All we really need to do is
get a good look at the rustlers, see if we can identify one or two
of them.”

“What are you going to tell your father?”
Joshua sat down, stretched his long legs out, and pulled the
stopper from his canteen. He tipped it up and drank. Wiping a hand
across his mouth, he looked at Kat. “If he finds out, he’ll never
let you do this. In fact,” he continued, swallowing another swig,
“if he knows there’s rustling going on, he’ll put a stop to this
little enterprise. You know he will. Your father loves you too much
to let you take chances.”

“I know,” she quickly agreed. “That’s why
we’re not going to tell him. Not a word of this to anybody, do you
understand?”

“So, how do you plan to get out of the house
without him knowing what’s going on?”

“Don’t worry. I can manage.” Getting away
from the house for the night was the least of her concerns.

“What if the rustlers don’t show up
tonight?”

“They will.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“The moon’s full.” She crossed her arms and
gave him a smug little smile. “That’s when rustlers work. Moon
gives plenty of light, enough for them to do their dirty work. And
more than enough to make it easy for us, too. We’ll be able to get
a good look at them.”

“I still think this is crazy, Miss Kat. Is
there anything I can say or do to make you change your mind?”

She shook her head. “Not a thing.”

Kat’s heart fluttered to think of the coming
night, the silvery moonlight, and a handsome man on a bay gelding.
Slipping away to meet him and hiding out with him in the dark
somehow seemed even more exciting—and more dangerous—than trying to
catch a gang of cattle thieves. Those unexpected thoughts surprised
her, adding anticipation to her quickly growing list of emotions.
“We’d better get back to work,” she said, her voice unusually
raspy.

The rest of the morning and the afternoon
passed quickly. Kat and Joshua worked to clear brush on several
sections of the land, and they were able to locate and round up a
few scattered cows.

At the end of their workday, she watched him
ride off toward Cody’s place then wheeled her mare around and
headed not for home but for the tiny town of Sunset. She had a lot
to do and little time left before nightfall. First on her agenda
was finding Lucille and letting her in on her plans.

At supper that night, Kat excused herself as
soon as she’d finished eating. Usually she stayed at the table,
chatting with her mother and father, and even talking with Emily
Sue. It was family time. The most important hour of the day, Pa
called it.