Texas Pride: Night Riders (16 page)

He couldn’t answer that question now. Maybe not ever. Events had been set in motion over which he had no control. It was no longer just a question of selling the land. It was about seeing Danny grow into a man. There was Kesney’s interest in Carla, and Myrtle’s interest in everybody. There was also Riley’s presence in Overlin. Most important of all was the question of Carla’s happiness.

He could not leave for Poland while all these threads were still knotted.

***

“Why didn’t you tell me about her when you first met her?” Danny demanded of his sister.

“If I’d had any notion you’d start acting like a love-crazed fool, I’d have asked Kesney to send her back to Kentucky.”

Carla was frying sausage to go along with a breakfast of eggs, grits with gravy, and hot biscuits. For much of the morning she had had her back to Ivan, but he found his view entrancing. The heat from the cast iron stove had caused her to push up the sleeves of her blouse, affording him the rare sight of her arms from elbow to fingertips. He didn’t understand why American women insisted on wearing dresses with sleeves down to the wrists and collars that buttoned under chins. Polish women were not reluctant to wear gowns that exposed their arms from the shoulder, a generous portion of their bosoms, and the glorious columns of their necks. Ivan thought it was a custom American women should emulate, especially a woman like Carla. He wondered what she would look like in one of the gowns he remembered seeing wealthy women wear when they went to parties. Just thinking about it caused a physical reaction he knew Carla wouldn’t appreciate, especially at the breakfast table.

“I’m not love-crazed,” Danny objected, “but how could any man clap eyes on Beth and not think she’s the most beautiful creature in the world?”

“Ivan managed it.”

“I am not seventeen,” Ivan said.

“You’re not dead, either,” Danny shot back.

Ivan was fascinated by the relationship between Danny and Carla. They could yell at each other, even say things that were hurtful, yet it didn’t change their love for each other. He wondered if that kind of love was possible for him. His family had been raised to follow strict codes of behavior that made it nearly impossible to know what another person was thinking or feeling. He liked this American passion for getting things out in the open. It allowed a person to live without pretense, without dependence on rank, social position, or wealth.

It was something he would have to give up when he went back to Poland.

Carla put the sausage on a plate and brought it to the table. Danny was drinking milk, but Carla and Ivan preferred coffee.

“Look, Danny,” his sister said. “I have no objection to your liking Beth, but you’ve got to be realistic. You’re only seventeen. Beth has just turned sixteen. Both of you are too young to start thinking of anything permanent.”

“Just because you’re a cold fish doesn’t mean I am.”

Carla stopped in the midst of serving herself some eggs. “What do you mean that I’m a
cold
fish
?”

“You’ve had practically every man in Overlin hanging out after you, but you’re not interested in any of them.”

“You don’t know that.” Carla’s gaze flew to Ivan and back to her brother. “I don’t tell you everything.”

Danny was too consumed by his own situation to see the faint tinge of color that bloomed in his sister’s cheeks, but Ivan didn’t fail to notice it. Or the quick glance in his direction. Did that mean Carla was attracted to him? Did it mean she liked him? That was hard to believe considering the way she acted when he arrived, but a lot had changed since then. He was no longer a stranger. She may not have realized it, but she had started to include him in her thinking, whether it was about the ranch or something else. Ivan was both pleased and bothered because the same thing had happened to him.

“You said Maxwell Dodge leaves you cold,” Danny said to his sister, “even though he’s better looking than Kesney and probably as rich.”

“A woman may marry for money, but she doesn’t fall in love with it. Fortunately, I don’t have to make that sacrifice.”

“I don’t care about Beth’s money, and she doesn’t care that I don’t have any.”

Carla finished chewing and swallowing a piece of sausage. “I expect her father cares a great deal. And at her age, what Kesney thinks matters. Now eat your breakfast. You and Ivan have work to do.”

Danny attacked his food, stuffing it in his mouth, chewing, and swallowing as quickly as possible.

“Don’t choke yourself,” Carla said. “I don’t want Beth crying her eyes out over your dead body.”

“That’s not funny!” Danny practically shouted.

“Sorry, but you’re stretching this whole situation out of proportion. You just met Beth last night. You were the best-looking young people at the dance. It was natural you would be drawn to each other, but that has nothing to do with the kind of love that matures into a permanent commitment.”

“How would you know? You’ve never been in love. You’ve never even really liked anybody.”

Carla kept her gaze firmly on her plate. “I haven’t been in love, but I know what it’s like to be strongly attracted to someone and know it’s impossible for anything to come of it.”

“Who said it’s impossible for…” Danny stopped in mid-sentence. “You never told me you were attracted to anybody. Who is it?”

Carla refilled her coffee cup. “It’s not important.”

“It can’t be Dodge or Kesney,” Danny said. “Both of them would marry you at the drop of a hat.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. They haven’t asked—”

Danny didn’t let his sister finish. “Not if you mean neither one got down on his knees and begged, but you can’t deny they’ve been chasing after you ever since they came to Overlin.”

“I don’t know why we’re even talking about me.” Carla sounded annoyed. “You’re the one who’s about to die from love.”

“I am not,” Danny contradicted. “I just want you to accept that I’m not too young to be in love. I mean
really
in love.”

“Okay, I can accept that,” his sister said, “but you have to accept that there are two major barriers to this relationship even if Beth feels the same way about you.”

“I know she does.”

Carla ignored that comment. “Both of you are too young to start thinking about marriage. Even if you weren’t, you have no way to support a wife. Or did you expect Kesney to support both of you?”

Danny jammed a piece of sausage into his mouth. “I haven’t thought that far,” he said through his food, “but Kesney could make me his foreman. He said he was looking for a new one. Pete Forrester decided to join Riley.”

That caught Ivan’s interest. He stopped eating and turned to Danny. “Why would he do that? Working for Kesney is a good job.”

“Riley said they were going to be looking for cows that had been stolen from ranches farther north. He said ranchers were willing to pay to get their herds back. All the men will share the money.” Danny glanced over at his sister before turning back to Ivan. “I’m thinking about working for him, too.”

“No.” The one word was short and unequivocal.

Danny turned to his sister. “I’m old enough to decide what I’m going to do.”

“With Ivan injured, you have enough here to keep you busy.”

“I don’t have anything here. I lost it in a card game, remember?”

“I know that, but—”

Danny jumped up from his chair. “There’s no
but
! You just said I couldn’t support a wife. I’m going to do something to change that. I’d rather work for Kesney, but if it means I have to work for Riley, I’ll do it.”

Without giving his sister a chance for a rebuttal, Danny grabbed his hat, jammed it on his head, and went out the door. Carla had turned toward the doorway through which her brother disappeared. “I used to get upset when girls teased Danny about being so pretty. I never thought I’d be upset when one actually liked the way he looks.”

Ivan didn’t know what to say, so he drank some of his coffee and waited for Carla to continue.

“He talked about Beth like he couldn’t think of living a day without her.”

“In Poland young people often become overwrought when they fall in love the first time. Are they so different here?”

“Is that how you felt when you fell in love for the first time?”

“I was sure I could never love anyone else.”

“Have you?”

Was she asking whether he had fallen in love since then, or was she asking if he loved her? He was certain he’d been successful in masking his attraction, but it was getting harder. There was also something about her expression, the look in her eyes, and the set of her mouth that convinced him she wasn’t asking out of idle curiosity. His answer would be important to her. “No, but I know I can with the right person.”

“How can you tell when you’ve found the right person?”

Everything about her had become more intense, more focused. She reminded him of a cat hunting its prey, her gaze unwavering, her motionless body virtually crackling with potentially explosive energy. She was willing the right answer out of him. But what was the right answer? Her attitude toward him had changed from rage to tolerance. At times she seemed happy to work with him, even willing to depend on him or listen to his suggestions, but that was a long way from being attracted to him or wanting a personal relationship. How would she react if he said he was attracted to her? What if she was the
right
person
? Would it matter since he was going back to Poland in a year?

“I cannot say how I know, only that I do.”

She seemed to turn to stone in front of him. “Are you saying you’re in love now?”

She had misunderstood him. He had meant to say that he
would
know when it happened, not that it had already happened. “I do not mean that. I tried to say—”

He was interrupted by the door bursting open and Danny striding into the kitchen, his face twisted in anger. “Kesney is here. He has something he wants to say to both of us.”

Ivan couldn’t decide whether he was more relieved at being prevented from attempting to answer Carla’s question, or disappointed in Kesney for thinking he had to say what he surely must have guessed Carla had already said to her brother. Danny took up a position at the end of the table close to Ivan, his arms folded across his chest, his mouth set in a hard line, his eyes hooded and smoldering.

“Morning, Kesney,” Carla said. “What’s so important that it brings you out before breakfast?”

Carla’s voice and expression were so unencouraging Kesney seemed to hesitate. Maybe he wasn’t completely insensitive.

“I’m not sure whether I should say anything.”

“If you are not sure, why not wait until you are?” Ivan asked.

“I would if I thought my daughter would listen to me. Since she won’t, I’m hoping Danny will.”

Danny’s demeanor changed immediately. “What did you do to Beth?”

“Nothing like what you’re thinking.”

Kesney was so obviously uncomfortable Ivan started to feel sorry for him. It had to be difficult for a father to a raise a daughter alone, especially when brought into conflict with a young girl’s idealistic vision of love and happiness. Ivan wasn’t prepared to say Kesney had spoiled his daughter, but he had protected her from the realities of life and let her have her way most of the time. As much as Ivan liked Danny and was confident he would grow into a fine, dependable adult in a few years, he wasn’t yet the kind of man Ivan would have wanted for his daughter.

“What did you do to her?” Danny asked again.

“For an hour I listened to her tell me how wonderful you are. When she could finally stop talking about your looks, she read me a list of enough sterling qualities and faultless character traits to qualify you for sainthood. When she reached the point of planning her wedding, reducing the number of rooms in
my
house that would be left to my use to two, and how I had to find you a job immediately, I finally spoke up.”

Ivan was surprised he’d waited that long.

“If you made her cry, I’ll—”

“He can’t answer your question if you keep interrupting, Danny,” Carla said.

Ivan was relieved Carla had stopped her brother from making a foolish threat. Once words were spoken, it was hard to forget them.

“I told her she was too young to be thinking of weddings and marriage,” Kesney told Danny. “She’s just sixteen.”

Kesney looked to Carla as often as Danny, making Ivan wonder if the reason for his mild approach to Danny was to keep from doing anything that would prevent Carla from marrying him.

“What do you want us to do?”

Carla’s expression hadn’t softened. Ivan hoped Kesney was clever enough to figure out that while Carla might criticize her brother, she wouldn’t allow anyone else to do it.

“I want you to continue being her friend.” Kesney smiled briefly at Carla. “She likes you and thinks you’re very courageous to have worn that red dress, but I want Danny to stay away from her.”

Danny looked like he was about to explode, but he held it in when Carla said, “Let Kesney finish.”

“I like you,” Kesney said to Danny, “but you’re too young. Even if you weren’t, you have no way to support a wife. I know I’ve spoiled Beth, probably given her more than I should since her mother died, but she would be miserable married to a cowhand. She’s never fixed a meal, sown a stitch, or cleaned a room.”

As Kesney reeled off a dozen other things Beth had never done, Ivan could see Danny gradually deflate. No matter how all-consuming his infatuation with Beth might be, he couldn’t help but see that marrying her would force her into a life that was completely alien to her.

“Like I said,” Kesney continued, “she’s only sixteen. I want to see her enjoy being young. I want her to go to parties, dance with lots of boys, and think picking out a pretty dress is more important than planting a garden. She’s not like Carla, capable of taking over the ranch when your parents died.”

“I don’t know how you expect me to be friends with her yet never let her see Danny,” Carla said. “Even if he weren’t my brother, she’s bound to meet him in Overlin. It’s not a large town.”

Danny’s posture had continued to wilt—his gaze falling to the floor—until he looked like he was trying to become invisible. Kesney had made him see the reality of the situation in ways that his sister hadn’t. Now he raised his head and looked straight at Kesney.

“I can make sure she never sees me.”

“How?” Kesney asked.

“Never mind that. I just want you to know that I love Beth. I’d never do anything to hurt her.”

“I’m sure you wouldn’t. It’s just—”

But Danny had turned and walked into the part of the house that led to his bedroom.

Kesney turned to Carla. “What’s he going to do?”

“I don’t know, but you don’t have to worry about it. He’s given you what you came for. Now you’d better get back to your daughter.”

Kesney went from protective father to unhappy suitor.

“I didn’t want to do this,” he said to Carla. “I really like Danny, but I can’t have Beth thinking of marriage at her age.”

Carla’s gaze remained fixed, her eyes cold. “I don’t know that you can stop her from thinking of it, but neither Danny nor I will do anything to encourage her. Now I have to clear away breakfast and change the dressing on Ivan’s arm to make sure it’s not infected.”

As though reminded of an oversight, Kesney turned to Ivan. “Thank you for protecting Carla from that drunk. I’ve been upset with myself for leaving her, but I was worried about Beth.”

“No need to thank me. Any man would have done what I did.” Ivan didn’t like the way Kesney intimated he had some ownership of Carla. From the change in her expression, Carla didn’t like it, either.

“I’m sure Beth is chewing her nails worrying about what you’re saying to Danny,” Carla said. “You’d better get home and reassure her that there was no fight and that all will be well in the end.”

Kesney tried to apologize. “I’m sorry about this.”

Carla stopped him by standing up and moving to the door. “There’s no need. I understand completely. Now you’d better go.”

There wasn’t much else Kesney could do but leave. He did so reluctantly.

“He has some nerve,” Carla said once she closed the door behind him.

“That went better than I expected,” Ivan said. “From the way Danny looked, I thought Kesney would come in shouting and making threats.”

“I wasn’t talking about that,” Carla said. “He talked like he owned me, like it was
his
responsibility to protect me.”

Ivan knew it was stupid to be happy that Carla was irritated with a man who seemed to truly like her and who could give her a comfortable life. If he were really interested in what was best for Carla, he’d encourage her to fall in love with Kesney rather than develop an interest in him. There was no future in such a relationship, but he couldn’t stop himself from feeling happy he’d gained a little in Carla’s regard.

“I’ll set him straight next time I see him.” Apparently feeling that she had dealt with the issue, Carla turned her attention to Ivan. “How is your arm? You didn’t roll over on it during the night and start it bleeding again, did you?”

“My arm is fine. I told Danny I would ride with him.”

“Let me look at it first.”

Ivan was used to Cade’s wife giving orders to the cowhands when it came to taking care of them, but it felt especially nice to have Carla do it. He warned himself not to get used to it. Nothing had changed. He was still there to take half of Carla’s ranch. Carla removed the bandage. After assuring herself that his wound really was better, she covered it with a salve she said her mother had taught her to make then bandaged it up again.

“I know I can’t stop you from getting in the saddle today. You may be Polish, but you’re just as stubborn as any Texan.”

Whatever else she might have said was cut off when they heard footsteps leading to the front door followed by the door slamming.

“I’ve got to see what Danny’s doing.”

“Let me,” Ivan said. “He has no reason to be angry with me.”

“But I’m his sister.”

“The sister who just told him he could not have the woman he wants.”

“Woman! Beth is still a girl.” Carla struggled with herself for a moment. “Okay, but you’ve got to tell me everything he says.”

“When a boy gets to be seventeen, there are some things a sister should not know.”

“Don’t you dare keep anything from me. He’s my brother. I’m responsible for him.”

Ivan got to his feet and walked toward Carla. “I have to go before Danny rides away without me.”

“Ivan Nikolai, if you dare—”

The kiss Ivan dropped on her forehead caused her to break off without finishing her sentence. “Stop worrying. I will do what I can.”

“What can you do? You hardly know him.”

Ivan shrugged. He didn’t know, but he wouldn’t find out standing there arguing with Carla. He gave her a quick smile and left the house.

He found Danny leaving the bunkhouse, his saddlebags over his shoulder.

“Where are you going?”

Danny kept walking toward the corral where he kept his horse. “To join Riley,” he said. “Any hope I had of asking Kesney for the foreman’s job just got blasted to kingdom come.”

Ivan wondered why Texans couldn’t speak a language that could be understood by ordinary people. “What about Carla?”

“What about her?” Danny tossed his saddlebags to the ground, picked up a rope, and entered the corral.

“She’s depending on you to take care of the ranch.”

Danny cut his favorite horse out of the herd. “She doesn’t need me. She’s got you. I’m not even sure she wants me.”

“You know better than that.”

Danny’s lasso settled over the head of his horse which came to him willingly. “I guess so, but I seem to mess up everything I touch. Maybe it’s better for everyone if I disappear for a while.”

“How will working for Riley make you a suitable candidate for Beth’s hand?”

Danny laughed as he brought his horse over to the corral fence to saddle him. “
Suitable
candidate
for
Beth’s hand
,” he mimicked. “You sound like a Polish prince when you talk like that.”

“And you sound like a Texan when you talk about blasting things to kingdom come.”

Danny placed the saddlecloth on his horse and smoothed out the wrinkles. “It means I don’t have a chance.”

“Riley will not pay you much money. How will that help?”

Danny placed his saddle on his horse and started to tighten the girth. “Riley’s men don’t just go after herds stolen from around Overlin. They also look for cows that have been stolen from ranches in other parts of Texas. He says ranchers will pay to have their herds returned to him. Everybody in his group gets a share.”

Riley was here to protect Texas ranchers, but from the first Ivan had been certain he had found a way to profit from it as well.

Danny finished strapping his saddlebags into position. “You’ve got to stay here to take care of Carla,” he said to Ivan. “You’re the only man who didn’t become half-witted the minute he clapped eyes on her. If you weren’t set on going back to Poland, I’d try to talk you into marrying her.”

Ivan’s stomach seemed to rise up in his chest making him short of breath. “Why would you do that?”

“Because you’d be the kind of husband she needs.” Danny swung into the saddle. “She’ll probably marry Kesney and lead him around by the nose.”

Ivan despaired of ever understanding half of what was said to him. “I am not the husband for your sister.”

“No. She’s too bossy.” He rode his horse out of the corral. Ivan put the rails up behind him.

“When will you be back?” Ivan asked. “What can I tell Carla?”

“Nothing except I’ll take care of myself.”

“You must. She has no one but you.”

Danny leveled a measuring look at Ivan. “I’m not so sure.”

Ivan watched the boy ride away, his thoughts divided between what Danny meant by that last remark, and worry that Danny was about to get involved in something that was not what it seemed.

***

It had been Carla’s worst day since she learned Danny had lost his half of the ranch. Every time she heard a sound, even those she knew had nothing to do with a horse, she would rush to a window to see if Danny had returned. In between, she’d wandered about the house, starting one task after another. Half the time she would forget what she had intended to do. Other times she would decide the task could wait until later. She gave up trying to cook. Her concentration was so shattered she wasn’t able to remember whether she’d used one egg or two… or any eggs at all. She wanted someone to talk to, had even started to dress for a ride into town, but didn’t know what she’d do when she got there.

To keep herself from pacing senselessly from one room to another, she settled on the sofa in the front room. She needed to dust—one always needed to dust in Texas—but she would do that later. Maybe.

After telling her what Danny intended to do, Ivan had offered to stay with her. She was sorely tempted, but this was something she had to deal with alone. She had been brokenhearted when her parents died, but taking over management of the ranch had helped her get through her grief. She resented the struggle to get everybody in Overlin to stop thinking of her as a girl and start thinking of her as a woman capable of managing a successful ranch, but she had known what she wanted and how to get it. She even had two handsome and successful men courting her.

Then Danny lost that card game, and everything changed.

Now her life was filled with things she couldn’t control. To make matters worse, she was no longer sure of what she wanted. She was falling in love with a man who didn’t love her and was planning to sell half of her ranch so he could go back to Poland. She had tried to deny that she was doing anything so foolish, but she found herself turning to Ivan, certain he could make everything right, wanting him to be there to do the same thing in the future. She’d sent him away when what she really wanted to do was lean against his broad chest and cry in frustration.

She knew what she would have answered if either Kesney Hardin or Maxwell Dodge had asked to marry her. She could see herself being the wife of either man, but she felt no desire to change her situation. She was only nineteen, and she liked her freedom.