Texas Pride: Night Riders (22 page)

The mingled smells of coffee and bacon greeted her before she went three steps. She hurried to the kitchen believing Danny was back, but it was Ivan she found standing at the stove.

“I was just about to wake you,” he said. “The bacon is fried, the coffee is boiling, and the eggs are almost ready. I wanted to make biscuits, but Cade says my biscuits are not fit for even the dogs.”

“Why am I always surprised you can cook?” Why did she ask that when all she wanted to know was if he still loved her, if he regretted making love to her, and if he would do it again?

“Soldiers and cowhands learn to cook, or they starve.” He patted his stomach and flashed the smile that told her everything was right in their world. “I do not like to starve.”

Carla walked up behind him and put her arms around his waist. “I should be the one fixing your breakfast. Why didn’t you wake me?”

“You were sleeping so peacefully I could not make myself disturb you.”

Carla released Ivan and moved to pour the coffee. “I don’t want you to spoil me. I intend to carry my weight around here.”

Ivan turned and tipped her chin up so he could kiss her. “I like to spoil you, but I do not like to cook. And I like it when I can have biscuits with jam.”

Carla laughed. “I promise you biscuits for supper. Now what do we need to do today?”

As they ate breakfast and planned their day, Carla realized she’d never felt such contentment. It didn’t matter where she lived. As long as she could be with Ivan, nothing else was truly important.

***

“You knew people in town were going to be angry with you,” Kesney said to Carla. “Riley and his men spend a lot of money.”

“It’s not just that,” Maxwell Dodge added. “They felt they should have been consulted. Riley was guarding their herds, too.”

Six of them were having lunch in Maxwell’s favorite restaurant. He had sent a message out to the ranch that they needed to discuss the simmering anger in Overlin over what Carla had done.

“Are money and cows more important than their wives and children?” Ivan asked.

“Of course not,” Maxwell said. “But their wives and children are safe now, so they can afford to think of cows and money.”

Every time Carla had come into town during the last week, she’d been accosted by at least one person who was angry she’d told Riley and his men to leave. Ivan tried to make it clear it had been his decision, that they had been camped on the part of the ranch that was his responsibility, but the sheriff had already told everyone it was Carla’s doing.

“Some of it is driven by jealousy and fear,” Myrtle said. Having learned the purpose of the meeting by the mysterious communication system that exists in every small town, she had insisted that both she and Lukey be present.

“How is that possible?” Carla asked.

“Some of the men are angry that you’ve been allowed to run your ranch without any male advice. They’re even more upset that you’ve succeeded. You’ve got them worried their wives may start to think they can accomplish similar things on their own.”

“The sheriff’s annoyed he wasn’t here when the Mexicans came,” Lukey added. “Everybody’s been telling him how well Ivan handled the confrontation and search. There’s even some talk about him running for sheriff next year.”

“I will not be here next year,” Ivan said.

“That’s an excellent idea,” Myrtle exclaimed, ignoring Ivan’s objection. “I’m ashamed I didn’t think of it myself. It’s about time Overlin had a sheriff who thought more of his duty than his breakfast.”

Maxwell cleared his throat twice, an ineffectual method of curtailing the discussion as it turned out.

“You can stop that silly noise right now, Maxwell,” Myrtle scolded. “Everyone knows the only reason that man is sheriff is that he’s the only one who will make even a pretense of going after rustlers. Ivan is not such a coward.”

“How do you know?” Kesney challenged.

“He fought in the war,” Myrtle said, “which is more than can be said for either of you.”

Carla found it amusing that Ivan’s growing reputation should cause both men to be so defensive. Myrtle had said it didn’t surprise her for any fool could see Ivan was more of a man than either Kesney or Maxwell.

“I’m sure Ivan’s everything you say he is,” Maxwell said to Myrtle, “but the people of Overlin would feel more comfortable with one of their own as sheriff.”

“I wasn’t proposing that he be appointed,” Myrtle said. “Have him run against the sheriff, and let the town decide who they prefer.”

“That’s not why we’re here,” Kesney said. “We need to decide what to do about Riley and his men.”

“Where are they?” Ivan asked.

“No one seems quite sure,” Maxwell said. “I guess he hasn’t found a place he likes well enough to ask about it.”

“He is still here,” Ivan said.

“How do you know?”

“He came here with a purpose. He will not leave until it is accomplished.”

“Since you know so much,” Maxwell sneered, “maybe you can share his purpose with us.”

“To make as much money as possible.”

“That’s ridiculous.” Maxwell insisted.

“Why?” Myrtle asked. “That’s what everybody tries to do. Why should Riley be any different?”

“He was sent here by the governor.”

“Who’s as big a thief as anyone in Texas,” Carla stated.

“Don’t try to deny it,” Myrtle told Maxwell. “Every honest man in Texas knows it.”

“That still doesn’t answer the question of—” He broke off, suddenly aware of an uproar in the street.

“Something’s wrong.” Maxwell pushed away from the table in preparation for getting up. “I’d better go see about it.”

“Stay where you are,” Myrtle commanded. “We still have a sheriff even if he is nearly worthless.”

“The people depend upon me to—”

“The people put up with you because you’re harmless,” Myrtle said. “Now be quiet. I expect they’ll find us soon enough if we’re needed.”

Myrtle had hardly finished speaking when a man rushed into the restaurant, looked around until he spotted them, then rushed over to their table.

“It’s rustlers!” he shouted. “They stole from every ranch around here.” He pointed an accusing finger at Carla, his face twisting with rage. “All except your ranch. Some people are saying you really didn’t get rid of Riley at all, that you only pretended, so he could steal our cows and split the money with you. What have you got to say to that?”

Carla didn’t know what shocked her more: that rustlers had stolen from every ranch except hers, or that people she had known most of her life believed she could be dishonest. She had angered several men in the community by insisting they treat her as an equal, but she had never had any reason to believe they doubted her integrity. Now she only had to look in the rancher’s angry face to know he was ready to believe the worst.

“I’m ashamed of you, Monty Narrows,” Myrtle said. “You know Carla would never do anything to hurt anyone in Overlin.”

“Then how does she explain why her herd wasn’t hit?”

“How do you know it was not hit?” Ivan asked. “Did you see all the cows that were taken?”

“If I’d seen ’em, I’d have stopped ’em,” Monty sputtered. “That’s what Frank Bass said.”

“Did he see them?”

“I don’t know.”

Ivan didn’t let up. “Why would anyone suppose Carla’s herd was spared?”

“Ask Frank.”

“Is anyone going after the rustlers?”

“They’re getting together right now.”

“I will go with them. You should go back to the ranch,” Ivan said to Carla.

“I’m going, too. Even if my herd wasn’t hit, I’m as interested as anyone else in putting a stop to this rustling.”

But when she and Ivan caught up with the gathered ranchers, it was clear that not everyone believed her.

“What are you doing here?” Frank Bass asked.

“We’re here to go after the rustlers.”

“You can’t drive your buggy through the Rio Grande.”

“I can ride.”

“We don’t want you. Go home, and watch over your herd. They might decide to come back after it.”

“How do you know Carla lost no cows?” Ivan asked.

“Because none of the tracks came from the direction of her ranch. Or from Kesney’s for that matter,” he said, turning on Kesney who had come up after Carla. “You two got some special deal?”

“Don’t be stupid, Frank,” Myrtle said. “You know Kesney was hit a couple months ago.”

“He got a warning, but we didn’t. Now we don’t have time for any more jawing. We got to be riding.”

“I will go with you,” Ivan said.

“We don’t need a foreigner to help us take care of our business,” Frank said. “You can hold Carla’s hand so she won’t be scared.”

Carla was furious. It was another slap in the face by men who didn’t want to think of her as their equal. Her first impulse was to declare that she would ride with them whether they wanted her or not. She would prove she wasn’t afraid of danger. Ivan must have sensed what she was thinking.

“We should go back to the ranch,” he said. “Something is not right.”

“I know that. Rustlers have hit nearly every ranch in the area.”

“I think it was planned.”

“Of course it was. You don’t think—” She stopped when she realized what Ivan meant. “You mean you think Riley has something to do with it?”

“Riley would have stopped it if you hadn’t run him off,” Frank shouted. “It should have been your herd, not ours.”

The clamor of angry voices indicated the other ranchers agreed. “Let’s be going,” the irate rancher bellowed. “No point in giving them any more time.”

It made Carla furious to see the men ride off and leave her behind, but it was painfully clear they didn’t want her with them. That hurt, but it hurt even more that they could believe she would have anything to do with rustlers.

“Go check on your herd,” Myrtle said to Carla. “Just because Frank didn’t find any tracks coming from the direction of your ranch doesn’t mean you didn’t lose cows.”

“That could be true for me, too,” Kesney said.

“Both of you might as well go home,” Maxwell said. “The way people are feeling, your hanging around will just cause trouble.”

Myrtle had a few well-chosen words for Maxwell that sent him scurrying back to his office, but Carla took no pleasure in the rout of that self-important man. Her neighbors and friends thought she was in league with rustlers. She lost half her ranch and fell in love with a man she’d promised to follow to Poland. For a woman who considered herself as capable as any man, she’d stumbled from one disaster to another.

“Take Carla home,” Myrtle said to Ivan. “And see if you can give her something else to think about.”

By now Carla was too used to Myrtle’s provocative comments to be embarrassed, but it amused her to see Ivan squirm under the old woman’s penetrating gaze. Kesney rode out of town with them. Since he spent most of the ride worrying about his herd and his daughter, Carla had little chance to say anything to Ivan until Kesney turned off on the trail toward his ranch.

“He hasn’t been in Texas long enough to know rustlers don’t kidnap daughters,” Carla said to Ivan when Kesney rode off.

“He worries about Beth. She is still young.”

“So is Danny, but it didn’t seem to occur to him that I might be worried that he’s off somewhere with Riley. I hope you’re wrong about Riley having something to do with the rustling. Danny could be in trouble.”

“I doubt Danny is in danger. I believe Riley ran off the cows so he could be a hero by bringing them back. That way no one will ever ask him to leave.”

“Frank and the others don’t believe that. As soon as they find their cows, they’ll start shooting.”

“I am sure Riley has thought of a way around that. He is a careful man.”

“I wish Danny was at home.”

Carla got her wish sooner than she expected. She walked into the kitchen to find her brother sitting at the table and eating the ham she had planned for supper. Both her joy at seeing Danny and her irritation at him for eating their supper were forgotten when she noticed the bloody bandage around his arm. They both spoke at the same time.

“What happened to you?”

“I thought you’d never get home.”

“How did you get hurt?” Ivan asked.

“That’s what I came to tell you,” Danny said around the piece of ham he was chewing. He swallowed, drank some water, and then turned to Ivan. “You were right about Riley. He’s a thief. I think he killed a few people, too.”

“You’re bleeding,” Carla said.

“It’s just a flesh wound. I owe Bricker a punch in the face for it.”

“Let me look at it,” Carla said.

“It’s not important. You got to listen to what I have to tell you.”

The story came out in bits and pieces, but it transpired that Danny had been assigned to the group looking for stolen cows. He wondered why only half the men were riding with him, but he had been told they could find more cows if they split up. Since that meant he might be paid more money, he was content to follow Riley’s orders.

“I started thinking something was wrong when I heard Americans were robbing villages. My Spanish isn’t great, but I could understand enough to know people were upset about more than cows.”

“What did you do?” Ivan asked.

“I went to Riley with what I’d heard. I thought we ought to try to catch the thieves.”

“What did he say?”

“He said that was for the army to worry about, that we were to stick with finding stolen herds.”

“What changed?”

“It was Bricker. He never wanted me in the group. He pretty much stayed away from me, but after I spoke to Riley, he was everywhere I turned, glaring at me with his sour scowl, complaining that I was too pretty to be any good. I ignored him until I noticed a gold chain around his neck. He didn’t have one when I joined because I’d seen him naked to the waist. I didn’t have to see it really close to know it was worth a lot more than we made from the herd we brought back.”

“You didn’t face him down, did you?” his sister asked.

“Do you think I’m a coward?” her brother demanded.

“No, but I don’t trust Bricker.”

“I don’t trust him either, especially after he tried to put a bullet in me.”

“How did that happen?” Ivan asked.

“Bricker never rode with us when we went looking for cows so I started to wonder if he might have been the one doing the robbing. When he was gone, I took a look in his tent.”

“What did you find?” Carla asked.

“Nothing, but Bricker saw me coming out. We practically killed each other before they pulled us apart. I told Riley what I suspected. He said Bricker had had that chain for a long time but didn’t wear it much. There was nothing I could say after that. Bricker threatened to do something terrible to you or Beth if I started telling people he was a thief, but I figured I was wrong, so I told him I was sorry about what I’d done and wouldn’t say anything. That would have been the end of it, only the next time we went looking for cows, Bricker rode with us. We found a stolen herd, but there was a little shooting before we got away with the cows. That’s when I got shot. The only person close enough was Bricker. I didn’t need to see the expression on his face to know he was going to try again. I used the excuse of taking care of my wound to drop back, saying I’d catch up later. Instead I decided to come back here and tell Ivan what I suspected.”

“I’m glad you did,” Carla said.

“I haven’t finished,” Danny said. “I haven’t told you about Riley.”

“What about him?” Carla asked.

“I found him and some of the others with a whole bunch of cows that weren’t stolen from Mexico. They were stolen from the ranches around Overlin.”

“We know. A dozen men are out looking for them now. Ivan said he thought Riley stole the cows so he could bring them back and be a hero,” Carla said.

“He’s planning to bring the cows back tomorrow. He said the ranchers will be so thankful they’ll let him set up his camp anywhere he wants. Or as many camps as he wants. After that, it would be easy to raid about a dozen more villages in Mexico before moving to a new location.”

“So Riley is behind the thefts,” Ivan said.

“Not just that. You know those stolen herds I thought he was returning to their owners? He’s selling them to anybody who’ll pay his price. Looks like he means to make as much money as possible before clearing out.”

“How did you hear all of this?” Carla asked.

“I was caught behind a log half the night before it was safe to get away. I came straight here. Now I’m going to Kesney’s to warn him about Beth. I’d have gone there first, but Kesney has given his men orders not to let me set foot on his land. You’ve got to come with me,” he said to Ivan. “He won’t believe anything I say.”

“I’m coming, too,” Carla announced, “and you’re riding with me in the buggy. You’ve already put enough strain on that wound.”

Danny argued, but when Ivan supported her, he gave in. When he agreed to let her drive, Carla decided his wound was more serious than he was letting on. The old Danny would rather walk the whole way in his boots than let his sister drive him.

“What do you think the sheriff is going to do after I tell him what I know?” Danny asked.

“Maybe you should ask what Maxwell Dodge is going to do,” Carla responded. “He’s taken to making all the decisions for the town.” She glanced at Ivan. “Myrtle says Ivan ought to run for sheriff. After the way he handled the hostage situation and the search, she’s sure he’d win.”

“That’s a great idea,” Danny said to Ivan. “Everybody would vote for you. The sheriff never does a thing if he can help it.”

“I do not want to be a sheriff,” Ivan said.

“Why not? You need money to go back to Poland. You get paid for being sheriff.”

“I will not be here long.”

“You’d be here long enough to show people what a real sheriff is like.” Danny was still trying to convince Ivan to run for sheriff when they reached the turnoff for Kesney’s ranch. “You can practice how to convince people to vote for you by convincing Kesney that Riley is a crook. I don’t have any proof, so he’ll never believe me.”

Ivan was outlining all the incriminating circumstances that pointed to Riley’s involvement when he suddenly broke off. “There is a horse ahead without a rider.” He immediately put his horse into a fast canter.

“Catch up with him,” Danny said to Carla. “That could be Beth’s horse.”

Carla cracked the whip to send her horse into a slow gallop. “It can’t be. Her father won’t let her use anything but a buggy.”

Up ahead, Ivan passed the riderless horse without slowing down. “Why didn’t he stop?” Danny asked. “What’s he doing?”

“Looking for the rider.” There was no sign of a man trying to catch the horse that had thrown him, so the rider must be down. “I think someone’s hurt.”

She was sure of it when she saw Ivan pull his horse to an abrupt stop and hurriedly dismount. He bent over a dark shape on the ground. She hoped the man wasn’t dead. She knew virtually everyone who lived in and around Overlin. It would be like losing a friend. She was relieved when she saw the man sit up.

“That’s Kesney.” Danny’s eyesight had always been better than hers. “Something must have happened to Beth.” He jerked the whip from Carla’s grasp and cracked it repeatedly over their horse. The frightened animal went into a hard gallop.

“Stop it!” Carla snatched the whip back from Danny. “You won’t help anybody by getting us killed or the horse lamed.”

“I know something has happened to Beth.”

“You don’t know any such thing. Kesney rode from town with us. Something could have happened to spook his horse, and it threw him. He’s not half the rider Ivan is, and he’s a poor judge of horses to boot.”

Danny didn’t seem convinced, but she was certain Kesney had not been attacked. She changed her mind when she got close enough to see the blood on his shirt. Danny was out of the buggy before she brought it to a complete stop.

“What happened?” Danny asked.

“We must get him to a doctor quickly.” Ivan picked up Kesney, carried him to the buggy, and settled him on the seat. “You must hold him in the seat,” he said to Danny. “He is wounded badly.”

“Did he tell you what happened?” Carla asked.

“Kesney was stopped by a man who asked his name then shot him.”

“Was it Bricker?” Danny asked. “I know it was Bricker.”

“The description fits only one man I know.”

“Who?” Danny and Carla asked together.

“Laveau diViere.”