Seven Brides: Daisy Part 5

"The lost Indian mines?"

He nodded.

Daisy felt like she'd had the breath knocked out of her. Here she was on the verge of becoming rhapsodic because Tyler had endangered his life for her and he was a victim of gold fever just like her father.

She actually felt unwell. She dropped her gaze to the blanket covering her. She hadn't realized until now how much she had counted on his being a sensible, dependable man.

"If you don't feel like getting up, you can eat your breakfast in bed," Tyler offered.

"No, I'm all right," Daisy said, throwing off the covers. The cool air was a relief from the scorching heat of embarra.s.sment and shock. She wouldn't have minded splinters. Anything to take her mind off her thoughts.

Daisy stared out the window at the huge snowflakes floated down to the earth like pieces of heavenly confetti. The whole world seemed to be white -- the ground, the trees, the mountains in the distance, even the air itself. The wind had finally stopped. Nothing moved now. She heard no sound, not even the snap and pop of pines and firs as they adjusted to the bitter cold. Only Tyler's footsteps in the snow showed evidence of any living creature outside the cabin.

Tyler was the reason she was staring out the window. She was trying to understand why learning he was searching for gold had devastated her so. She didn't know him well enough to be so strongly affected.

He was the first man who had ever made her feel she was special, not just someone to do the cooking and cleaning. He seemed unaffected by her size, her freckles, the dreadful bandage, or the danger that surrounded her. He had taken everything in stride, even her crying.

He had risked his life for her, continued to risk it, without expecting anything in return. That made her feel important. She had placed a great value on that importance. It made her feel worthy in a way nothing else ever had.

Only now it wasn't worth anything at all. She couldn't value the opinion of a man who would waste his life looking for gold. But even as she told herself to put Tyler out of her mind, that she didn't want to know anything more about him, have any more to do with him, doubts began to appear.

He had rescued her. He had taken her to his cabin knowing the killers were still after her, that they were likely to be after him as well. Maybe he wasn't as consumed by the search for gold as her father had been. Maybe he bossed people around out of habit, not out of an inbred certainty he knew best for everyone.

She told herself not to be a fool. She was probably reading too much into his acts of kindness. Any decent man would have done what he did. She'd better get herself down this mountain before her imagination got her into trouble.

She sighed deeply. "The weather's clearing," she said to Zac. "The sun might come out. Maybe I can leave tomorrow."

Tyler had left her alone with Zac for most of the morning. He was avoiding her. She was tempted to tell him he was jumping at shadows. She had no desire to live on this mountaintop with a taciturn, bearded prospector who had no money and did his best to appear unlikable.

"Why are you so anxious to leave?" Zac asked. "You'd think you were afraid of us."

"I'm not afraid, not anymore, but I'm sure your brother would like his bed back. And quite frankly, I'd feel better at home."

"But you don't have a home. It burned."

Stupid of her to forget. She still couldn't get used to it. "I meant at my friend's home." The lump in her throat made the words difficult. "Besides, he can't be used to having a female about."

"He's not used to having anybody about."

Zac had been dealing cards all morning. Daisy wondered what a nearly grown man could find in cards to interest him so much.

"He was fit to be tied when I showed up."

"You don't stay here with him?"

"Good G.o.d, no. I've been at school, but I ran away."

"Why?" Daisy had always wanted to go to school. Her father had told her of the colleges for women that had begun to appear after the end of the War between the States, but she had always known there was no chance she might actually go to one. Zac had been given that wonderful opportunity and he had thrown it away.

"It's boring. I hated it. I like action and excitement."

"Then why did you come here?"

"Because I'm hiding from George."

"Who's George?"

"My oldest brother. He fancies himself the head of the family," Zac said, aggrieved. "He let everybody else do what they wanted, but he sent me to college."

"Everybody else?"

"Yeah, I've got six brothers."

"Six!"

"Not a one of them went to college except Madison. You couldn't get Monty or Hen inside one with a gun. Maybe Jeff, but n.o.body else."

"Well I think you're a great fool to run way. Just think of all you're missing?"

"I know what I'm missing. That's why I left." Zac stopped dealing his cards and glared at her. "Why do you care?"

"I don't care exactly, but I think you should have stayed at school."

Daisy turned back to the window to escape Zac's indignant gaze. She considered going for a walk just to get a few minutes to herself. She needed some privacy. She missed her own room. It was hard always being in the presence of someone else, especially when that someone wasn't the least bit pleased about it.

She looked out the window again. The sun hadn't come out, but it had stopped snowing. It was clear enough for her to see the snow was far too deep to even consider trying to make it home. She turned and surveyed the cabin. It was smaller than her home had been. It had a wood floor but no loft and was dominated by the most elaborate cooking stoves she had ever seen.

It was obvious the cabin was very well made. The doors and windows fitted without cracks. Everything looked smooth and square. Even the logs in the walls had been planed, the mud between them worked smooth until it gave the walls a finished look. The floorboards fitted without cracks, splits, or warping.

The cabin was surprisingly well furnished. In addition to the bed, there was a table with four chairs, a chest of drawers, and a large trunk. A double row of pegs lined the wall on either side of the door for coats, slickers, and hats. Shelves below that for shoes. The shelves covering the far side of the cabin contained the books, a wide selection of tools, and the largest collection of ingredients, seasonings, and cooking utensils Daisy had ever seen.

She looked around, but she could see no sign a woman had ever lived in the cabin. It was without decoration.

There was plenty of room for her to mark off a small corner for herself.

"Does your brother have any cord or rope?"

Zac's reply was surly. "What do you want it for?"

"To put a curtain across that corner," she said, pointing to the window she had just left. "I need some privacy."

"I don't see why."

"I'll need it when I take a bath."

Zac's eyes widened. "I don't think Tyler will let you."

"Why not? He takes baths himself."

"How do you know?"

"Every prospector I ever met smelled worse than a cow yard. Your brother doesn't."

"Look for yourself," Zac said, pointing to the shelves on the wall between the door and the fireplace.

Daisy found several coils of rope. They were all too thick for her purposes, but she found nothing else. "Will you put some nails in the wall for me?"

"Not on your life. I don't want Tyler breaking my head."

"You think he won't like it?"

"Tyler never likes anybody messing with his things. I used to think he'd rather wear dirty clothes than have Rose get her hands on them."

"You keep talking about so many people," Daisy said, "that I hardly know what you're talking about."

"Rose is George's wife. She practically brought me up."

Daisy was of the opinion Rose hadn't done a very good job of it, but she thought it better not to say so.

"Where's your brother? Since you think he might disapprove, I'd better ask him."

"Stick your head out the door and yell," Zac said. "He shouldn't be too far away."

"He's probably busy," Daisy said. "I'll wait."

"If you wait for Tyler to stop working, you'll be a year older."

Daisy felt like telling Zac that working too much was better than wasting his morning playing with a deck of cards, but she didn't say so. She decided he wasn't used to being taken to task by a female, especially one he didn't know very well.

Frank entered the adobe. The wind whistled through cracks around the ill-fitted door. There were at least a dozen small piles of snow under the eves where the wind had driven the powdery flakes through the cracks.

"It's slacked off," Frank said. "I expect we can get up into those hills now."

"h.e.l.l, Frank," Ed cursed, "it's cold as a bear's b.u.t.t out there." Ed wore all his clothes, yet he hovered next to the stove for warmth.

"No colder than it'll be in your grave if that female makes it to Albuquerque."

"Maybe they died in that blizzard," Toby said. He lay in his bunk, the covers up to his nose. "The whole d.a.m.ned mountain is covered in at least six feet of snow."

"I ain't taking no chances," Frank said. "She wasn't supposed to be alive after I shot her. n.o.body was supposed to see the house before it burned. Then that man came back just as I was about to plug her. That female is shot full of luck."

"What are you going to do when you find her?" Ed asked.

"Kill her, dammit. What did you think?"

"And the two men?"

"They're mine," Toby said, the dullness leaving his eyes.

"Sure," Frank said. It made him nervous when Toby's eyes glowed. It usually meant he was itching to kill somebody.

"I don't like all this killing," Ed said, uneasily.

"We don't got no choice," Frank said. "If we do this job right, people like that G.o.d-d.a.m.ned Regis Cochrane will start respecting us. If we don't, we're just some two-bit cowhands n.o.body wants anymore."

Tyler returned along the high ridge. He paused to study the landscape through powerful binoculars, but he could detect no sign of human life. He had spent the morning looking for any indication the killers had followed them into the mountains. He hadn't found any, but he was still uneasy. A gut feeling told him any man who'd tried twice wasn't going to give up easily.

Now the blizzard had stopped and the killers could travel, he would have to check again tomorrow. They could move quickly. They didn't have a wounded woman to worry about. He had to take Daisy to Albuquerque as soon as possible. If they were caught in the cabin, they'd be like sitting ducks.

His steps lagged as he approached the cabin. He'd stayed outside because he was uneasy around Daisy. If her blushes and hiding in the corner were any indication, she was just as uncomfortable around him.

Tyler paused to look back at the spectacular view before him, a series of mountain peaks covered with snow-laden trees. Against the stark white of the snow, the green of the firs and pines seemed even deeper and richer. There was a hazy look to the air, like it might snow again any minute.

He looked up at the crest. The high pa.s.s was the only way down to Albuquerque for miles in either direction. It must be under a dozen feet of snow. It would be impossible to cross for days. The trip would be twice as long if they had to go around the mountain. If the snow melted all at once, every stream would be out of its banks. Like it or not, the wisest choice would be for Daisy to stay here until all danger of snow, cold, and flooding was past.

Tyler felt the tension in his chest tighten another notch. Every day the snow stayed on the ground brought him a day closer to the seventeenth of June, his twenty-sixth birthday. He had promised George he'd quit if he hadn't made a substantial strike by then. Just thinking about giving up caused the tension to twist a little tighter. He had to get back into the hills. He was close. He knew it. But there was no point in blaming Daisy or Zac for tying him down. He couldn't go prospecting now even if he were here by himself.

He had stayed outside for another reason. He wanted to escape the way Daisy looked at him ever since she heard about the gold. He had seen the shock and disgust in her eyes. He shouldn't have expected anything else. Nearly everybody reacted that way.

For as long as he could remember, he had been indifferent to people's opinions. That's the way he survived being the ugly Randolph, the one his father said was too tall and skinny to be a natural athlete like his brothers. It hadn't bothered him his brothers thought his search for gold was crazy, so he couldn't understand why he should care what Daisy thought. But he did.

Well he might as well stop. It was a waste of time. She would be gone in a few days. She didn't want anything to do with a man like him, and he had no desire for a permanent relationship with any woman. He might as well begin putting her out of his mind right now. That was more easily said than done. Cursing his luck, he picked up a load of wood and headed for the cabin.

The wind blew the door out of his grasp. Daisy and Zac jumped like two people caught doing something they shouldn't.

Chapter Five.

"She wants to put a lot of nails in the wall," Zac announced without preamble. "She's gotten modest all of a sudden."

Tyler closed the door and put his wood down before turning to Daisy. She looked upset. Not surprising since nearly every word out of Zac's mouth seemed calculated to distress her.

"I just need two nails," she said.

"What for?"