“You weren’t upset about it when you came in here,” he said, surprised.
“You took my mind off it for a time,” she admitted. “But the fact is, what’s done is done, and there’s no point in crying over it. All I can do now is see that I don’t lose any more of the herd.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s none of your concern,” she said. “So I guess this is good-bye.”
“Why?” he asked quickly.
“I won’t be getting back to the house even for a change of clothes, not for a while. And you’ve got no reason to stay anymore.”
“But you could use my help.”
“I’m not asking for it. And Rachel won’t want you around.”
“Whose ranch is this, anyway?” Chase said angrily.
“Oh, so now it’s up to me? But when I wanted you gone, it was Rachel’s place to make decisions.”
“There’s real trouble involved this time, not just the threat of trouble. Do you think it was Bowdre? He wasn’t pleased that I won that note back from him.”
“I’m sure he wasn’t. But there’s no way in hell I can prove it. Poisoning cattle is pure vindictiveness, though. I didn’t think even he would destroy something just because he couldn’t get his hands on it.”
“You’re wrong, Jessie, he’d do just that. And if it is Bowdre the trouble won’t end now. You’ll need all the help you can get.”
“If there’s going to be worse trouble, what I’ll need is a gunfighter, not a gambler.”
There was no contempt in her tone, so he didn’t take exception. “I don’t carry an Army revolver just for ornament, you know. I do know how to use it.”
“But have you ever killed anyone?”
“Have you?”
Jessie didn’t like the idea of his sticking around, not when she had it resolved in her mind that she wouldn’t see him again. It had been hard enough, seeing him every day this week. She didn’t understand the things he made her feel, and he had been at his charming best all week, which made it worse.
“You’re in no condition to help anyone, Chase. And this isn’t your fight anyway.”
“Look,” he said impatiently, “until the rest of your men get back, you can use my help and you know it. I’ll be as good as new in a few days, and in the meantime, I wouldn’t be overdoing it to stand guard over the herd, would I?”
“Why do you want to help me?”
He thought quickly. “Well, by winning that note, I figure I got you into this mess. It’s only fair—”
She cut him short. “Bowdre never wanted the money, you know he wanted the ranch. If I’d paid him, he still would have turned vindictive.” She sighed. “Oh, what the hell, suit yourself. But don’t blame me if you have a relapse.”
She left the room, and Chase grinned. He was ridiculously delighted.
Chapter 31
CHASE woke to the sounds of pots clanging as someone put coffee on and started breakfast. He stared in vexation at the still-black sky. Three mornings ago, when he’d been awakened in a similar manner for the first time, he’d been angry enough to voice his objections, but had received only laughter and jesting from the others. They were used to rising before dawn for a day’s hard work. He was not. They called him a greenhorn. Hell, he was a greenhorn.
But he’d gotten himself into this, had insisted on it, so it did no good to complain. He’d like to think he was only being gallant, coming to a lady’s rescue and all that, but that was far from the truth.
Actually, he had seen less of Jessie in the three days since he’d followed her out to the range than he’d expected. He had been given the easy task of guarding the water hole where the cattle were being brought and seeing that the herd didn’t wander too far off. He saw Jessie once, maybe twice, a day, when she brought in the stragglers from the hills. At night, she was so tired that they exchanged no more than a few words before she bedded down close to the fire with the others. He never saw her alone. In the mornings, no one saw her, not even the cook, who was the first to rise.
Chase sat up and shivered in the predawn cold. It must be thirty degrees or lower, he thought. His blanket was sodden and covered by a thin layer of frost. But it was only the first week in November.
Why would anyone want to start a ranch in such cold country? But Thomas Blair had, and the cattle had survived it. The men were used to working in freezing weather.
A cup of hot coffee would help, he decided, shivering at the prospect of having to get up to get it. He glanced over to where Jessie had bedded down last night, but the spot was empty. There was only the frostless outline where her blanket had been. Gone, the same as every other morning. Why? At least the sun was coming up by the time the men finished their breakfast and headed out, but Jessie took off while it was still pitch dark. He’d asked her where she went so early, but she had shrugged evasively.
He shook his head, his mind going back to what had happened the night before last. She had taken the new calamity better than most would, after her initial burst of outrage. The last thing she’d expected to hear from Mitch Faber when he rode into their small camp that night was that every single head of cattle he had taken north had been stolen, stolen the day before they were due to deliver the herd.
The men were set upon at night, while they slept, the man standing guard over the herd disappearing altogether.
“Knocked us clean out,” Mitch said. “I didn’t even know what hit me. We weren’t hurt worse than that, though. They weren’t out to kill us, just take the herd.”
It hadn’t been necessary to kill them, Jessie learned. By the time Mitch and the men with him reached the first mining town on their list, so they could report the theft to the sheriff, it was all pointless. The cattle thieves had their timing perfect. The thieves had every cow sold before Mitch and his men woke up. And the most galling part was that the herd would be sold to the very miners Jessie had contracted with. An agent had bought the whole herd and divided it and had the cattle ready to be driven on to the surrounding towns. He had a receipt. He’d paid in cash, dealing through the bank, which was his witness. There wasn’t a damn thing the sheriff could do.
There wasn’t a damn thing Mitch could do, either. The agent could not be blamed for assuming the men who brought the herd into town were from the Rocky Valley Ranch. They sold him the contracts, which had been stolen from Mitch while he was knocked out. Jessie had never dealt with an agent before, so he didn’t know her or Mitch.
“How could they know about the contracts?” Jessie had demanded.
She took the news hard, her face ashen, her eyes disbelieving. Chase understood. He knew of the outstanding loan she had at the bank. She would have no money coming in now to put toward the debt, and no money to pay her men with, either.
Jessie turned furious when she heard of the disappearance of the man who had been standing guard. Blue Parker. Mitch confessed that Blue had been acting strangely during the drive. Yes, Blue knew of the contracts. And he had been surly and discontent for a month before the drive. Chase realized that was about the time he’d arrived at the Rocky Valley. Jessie realized it, too, and gave him a withering look, as if it were all his fault. Chase didn’t even know Blue Parker, but he found out later that he was the young man he had discovered with Jessie that first day. That was all Jessie told him, explaining who Blue was. But it was obvious she thought Parker was in with the cattle thieves, and it was obvious who they were.
She was too angry that night to explain any more to Chase, cursing Parker, cursing Laton Bowdre. By the time she had calmed down, Chase didn’t have the heart to bring the subject up again. But he was damn well curious about Parker. Remembering that scene he had come upon, finding them together, gave him little sleep that night.