Frontier Courtship Part 5

Ab and another outrider were the first to notice Faith astride a horse while someone else managed her team. She saw Ab's shocked, nervous expression as the two men wheeled their mounts and rode rapidly away.

Pulling abreast of Connell, she called out, "I think we're about to have trouble."

"I saw. Ab, I recognize. Who's the other man?"

"Calls himself Indiana. That's all I know."

Connell nodded. "When Tucker gets here, let me do the talking."

"In a pig's eye. That's my rig. You work for me, remember?"

With a grin, Connell c.o.c.ked one eyebrow and pulled his hat lower over his eyes. "Yes, ma'am."

"And you needn't pretend to be subservient, either. We both know you don't feel that way, so stop taunting me."

His resultant laugh was deep and mellow. "You're a hard one to please, Miss Beal. Do you want me to be your equal or your slave? Make up your mind."

Faith had only a few moments in which to send Connell a warning glance before Ramsey Tucker reined his lathered horse up beside the wagon. It made no difference whether or not her new driver had permission to speak for her. As far as Tucker was concerned, she may as well have been invisible.

He glared at Connell. "Who the blazes are you?"

Deferring, Connell nodded toward Faith. "Miss Beal has engaged me as her driver. Seems all her usual a.s.sistance is unavailable."

Tucker snorted and spit. "You talk pretty fancy for a drover. Where you from?"

"Around."

"Oh, yeah? Well, you're not welcome here. Get on your horse and scat."

"Nope."

"What'd you say?" Shouting, Tucker was reaching for the coiled bullwhip tied to his saddle by a leather thong.

Connell's eyes met Faith's, their message clear. While Tucker was distracted, she let the canelo fall back a bit, quietly slid the plainsman's heavy Hawken rifle out of its scabbard and held it ready in both hands. At Connell's nod, she tossed it to him.

His left hand closed around the barrel. He swung the long gun around in one fluid motion, laying it across his knees with the business end pointed toward Ramsey Tucker.

"No," Connell repeated. "I'm staying."

Faith saw terrible anger in Tucker's face, vitriol in his eyes. She also sensed raw fear. He'd met his match in the rough-edged stranger and he knew it.

The captain's nervous mount danced beneath him and he jerked hard on its bridle. "What'd you say your name was?"

"Folks call me Hawk," Connell offered. "I rode night hawk for Fremont out in California. The moniker stuck."

"We could use a good hand with the stock." Tucker's voice was filled with false bravado. "You take your turn as a wrangler with the other single men and you can stay."

"Mighty neighborly of you." Connell smiled over at him, his steady regard a warning he'd not be deterred. It wasn't until Tucker had ridden off that the smile became truly genuine.

Faith was grinning broadly. "You'll do."

"I thank you, ma'am."

"And quit with that false politeness, will you? If I'm going to call you Hawk, you'd just as well call me Faith."

"The other respectable ladies would have my hide if I did that, and you know it. Think of all the loose talk that kind of familiarity would cause."

"Let them talk. It's gotten so I don't give a fig what they say." Faith was warming to her subject. "Every one of them has stood by while Ramsey Tucker abused my animals and ordered me around like some worthless chattel. The way I see it, you've earned the right to call me anything you like." She giggled. "Did you see the look on his despicable face when I tossed you that rifle?"

"That, I did." Connell sobered. "I should have thought to strap on my forty-four again once I left town. Did it hurt you to lift the Hawken?"

"Honestly? A bit. But it was worth every twinge to see Tucker running off like a mangy cur with his tail twixt his legs."

"Do you have a pistol of your own?"

"Papa's Colt Walker. Why?"

"Because I intend to drive, eat and sleep with my revolver. I want you to begin wearing yours, too, right out where everybody can see it." With a grin he added, "I a.s.sume you have extra cap, ball and powder and know how to shoot."

"Of course I do. What's so funny? Did you figure I couldn't handle a gun?"

"Not at all. I was just marveling at the fact I knew you'd say you could. I a.s.sume you're a good shot, too."

"You'd better believe it!"

She nudged her heels against the horse's side to keep him in line with the front of the wagon. Whether Hawk McClain was teasing her or was dead serious, at least he'd quit a.s.suming she was totally helpless. For a man like him, that was pretty good progress, considering they barely knew each other.

"I never shoot animals for sport," she warned. "Only when we need food."

There was genuine admiration in his tone when he said, "You'd make a good Indian. Little Rabbit Woman would have liked you a lot."

"Who?"

"Little Rabbit Woman. She was my Arapaho wife," Connell said quietly. "In another life. She died a long time ago."

Empathy flooded Faith's heart. "I'm so sorry."

"I believe you actually mean that."

"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"

"Because she was an Indian and I'm not. Lots of folks would hold that against me."

"Do you think Irene will?"

Connell shook his head, a look of benevolence and calm on his face. "No. Not Irene. We haven't seen each other in years, but I wrote and told her all about my past with the Arapaho before she made the final decision to travel to California to finally marry me."

"I'm glad," Faith said. "That speaks well of her."

"Yes," he said with a lopsided smile that made his eyes sparkle. "It speaks well of you, too, Faith Beal."

Chapter Five.

The tight bindings around Faith's midsection were chafing in the heat something fierce by the time the wagons stopped for nooning. Normally, she and Charity shared a cooking fire with the Ledbetters and the Johnsons, but this afternoon the reception she received from the others when she approached was decidedly unfriendly.

In pain and more than a little put out, she returned to the solitude of her wagon.

Connell had finished putting the mules with the other stock being herded out to graze and was about to remove his horse's saddle. The dejected look on Faith's face made him stop what he was doing and go to her.

Gently, he touched her shoulder, then quickly stepped away and apologized for the undue familiarity.

"No need to worry," Faith said with a shrug. "Thanks to the captain's lies, everybody thinks I'm a soiled dove already."

"A sporting woman?" Connell laughed aloud. "You?"

"You think I'm not pretty enough? I don't blame you."

"Hey. Hold your horses. I never meant anything of the kind. It's simply obvious to me that you're one of the most honest, upright women I've ever met. I can't imagine how anyone would believe such idiotic rumors."

Faith held herself proud in spite of the lingering soreness around her middle. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now that we have that settled, what's for dinner? I'm starved."

She sighed and made a disgusted face. "We'll have to kindle our own fire. I'm afraid I'm no longer welcome at the others' camps."

"Their loss," Connell said. He glanced at the calf-hide "possum belly" strung under the wagon to make sure it contained enough kindling and dry buffalo chips for Faith to start a fire without having to go out gathering. "So, what do you fancy? Rabbit, antelope or sage grouse?"

Raising an eyebrow, she began to smile. "You're going hunting? Now?"

"Unless you've figured out a way to get the critters to jump into the pot on their own."

"Very funny. Just bring back whatever you see and I'll cook it, no questions asked."

"That could be dangerous."

She laughed. "Not with you eating out of the same kettle. Now, skedaddle. I'm hungry, too."

Watching him mount up and ride away, she sent a silent prayer of thanks heavenward, adding a postscript plea for his missing bride's safety. If Tucker was truly involved in the woman's disappearance, no telling what had become of her. Faith hoped, for Hawk's sake, that he was wrong about that possibility. Perhaps Irene had simply found herself a husband among the emigrants on her train and gone off to wherever that man was bound.

But what if Tucker had been her choice? Faith thought the idea quite discomfiting. And what of Charity? If there was even the slightest chance that the captain was guilty of purposeful harm, how was she going to protect someone as innocent and gullible-and stubborn-as her sister?

Faith glanced at the communal fire where Charity was a.s.sisting in the preparation of the large noon meal. It was no great surprise to see Ramsey Tucker's horse tied to a nearby wagon.

Angry that she'd been rendered powerless by circ.u.mstances beyond her control, Faith began to lay a separate cooking fire. Her mind was whirling and darting like the eddies in a fast-moving mountain stream. Too bad she couldn't really tie Charity up till they reached their destination, the way Anna had jokingly suggested.

Other than doing exactly that, she had no idea how she was going to save her from herself. None at all.

While her new boon companion was away, Faith managed to bake corn bread in the Dutch oven and also boil a pot of beans using side-pork for flavoring. When Connell returned, they added a spit and roasted the hare he'd bagged. All in all, the meal was as tasty as any she'd eaten in a long time, due in part, she was sure, to the good company.

Hoisting the nearly full bean pot by its wire handle, Connell stored it in a box packed with straw in the rear of the Beal wagon. Thus secured, it would ride safely and continue to cook from its own internal heat for some time, making it easy to fix supper after the long day of travel still ahead of them.

When he saw Faith grimace as she bent to clean their dishes, he went to her and crouched down by her side. "Let me do that."

Wide-eyed, she looked at him as if he'd handed her a poke full of gold nuggets. "You? Why?"

"Because it pains you."

"It's woman's work," she said.

"A man learns to do lots of things when he's on his own in the wilderness. Let's make a bargain. You go hunting next time and I'll help with your ch.o.r.es now."

"Don't be silly." She scrubbed harder, her hands flying over the gray surface of the tinware.

"I'm not. You claim you can shoot straight."

"I can, but..."

"But, what?" Taking the dish from her hand, he looked it over carefully. "If you rub this any cleaner, it's liable to end up so shiny it'll start a prairie fire."

Faith wasn't about to admit how much his close presence had dithered her. "Cleanliness is next to G.o.dliness."

He drew a hand slowly over his beard, bringing his fingers together at his chin. "While we're speaking of such things, do you happen to have shears and a looking gla.s.s I can borrow?"

"In my trunk in the wagon," she said. "I'll get them for you presently." Hawk had fallen into the rhythm of her work and was relieving her of each piece as she finished with it. Since there had been just the two of them for dinner, there wasn't much left to clean up. "I can trim your hair for you, if you like," she offered. "I used to cut Papa's."

He eyed her mischievously. "I trust he had hair to cut?"

"Of course, he did!" Straightening stiffly, she batted him with the corner of her ap.r.o.n, then used it to wipe her hands.

With one eyebrow raised, he warned, "Just a trim, mind you. It's been ten years since I had a city haircut. The back of my neck is real used to the shade." Seeing her heading for the wagon, he followed, reaching out to stop her. "Let me get the shears for you so you don't strain."

Faith halted and wheeled to face him, her hands planted firmly on her hips. "Look, mister. I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but you're being so solicitous you're driving me crazy. I've been hurt before. I've healed. And I'll do it again, with or without you."

He tried to look chagrined when, in truth, her fort.i.tude pleased him greatly. "Yes, ma'am."

Catching the wry humor in his reply, she hoisted herself into the wagon and looked down at him with a smirk. "You'd best not tease me, sir. Not when you're about to turn your barbering over to me."

"Is that a threat, Miss Beal?"