Emma's Blaze (Fires of Cricket Bend Book 2) (13 page)

“I’ll help you,” she answered.

She followed him, and they led the nervous horses back into the fray and tied them.

The cows who had hung back from the rush were still roaming in all directions around them, and dust filled the air. Emma nearly choked.

Most of the cows were gone, along with most of the McKenzie men. They’d charged ahead through the pass, and god alone knew how far they had gone.

Bill would be up there, in the middle of all the greatest danger. Everyone else would be with him. In all likelihood, one or more of the men would be hurt, or worse. Emma’s hands started to shake at the thought of death being upon them. Josiah had thought she was a bad omen, and maybe she was after all.

“You can’t help,” Saul said.

She knew it was the truth.

“They’ll handle it,” he said. “Let them. Come on. There’s plenty of work to be done here and now.”

With a glance in the direction Bill would be, Emma realized he was right. She didn’t even have a saddle. She certainly wasn’t an experienced cattleman. All she could do, if she went charging in to the madness, was cause more trouble. Staying back was best. This was where she could be of use.

Bill knew what he was doing. All of them would know what to do.

She had to believe that.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Bill

Josiah McKenzie’s premonition of bad luck had come true.

The cows went every direction, loud and heavy and not stopping for anything. Bill and Pete met up, and Blue came up after them, and they headed up toward the front of the herd.

As they circled the herd, the men would need to all ride in one direction, pushing the cows into a smaller and smaller circle until they couldn’t move anymore. That was the only way to slow the herd and stop them from being lost in the pass. Edges and drop-offs were everywhere, and they could surprise a man or cow who wasn’t paying close attention.

Bill looked around for the rest of his men. He saw most of them.

Jess should have been on patrol, but he was still unaccounted for. Bill’s heart wouldn’t beat again until he laid eyes on his brother alive and well. He refused to think Jess might be lying somewhere in the dirt, already a pulp beneath their hooves. He rode on, fast as wind. Nick picked up his trail and fell into line, circling cows and stopping them from moving forward until they reached around the area where Jess should have been.

Josiah had arrived a moment earlier, and they met him at the point where the cows had stopped. They simply wouldn’t go further ahead.

“God damn,” Pete exclaimed, as they learned why.

King lay in a pool of dark blood, which was swirling to mud in the dirt.

The imposing longhorn, the leader of the rest, had been taken down with one bullet and a slit throat. His nearly pure white coat was stained with the red of gore and death, and his large eyes were still open. Thanks to his big horns, his head couldn’t lie flat, so it stayed at a strange angle.

Bill smelled the blood. A bitter taste came to his mouth.

“Jess!” Pete pointed to a shape on the ground in the distance.

Everyone rushed toward him, the collective hope that Jess still lived consuming all their thoughts and prayers.

As the men got close, Jess stirred.

“Hot damn.” Pete dropped to his knees by his brother’s side. He helped Jess sit up as the rest of the men reached him.

“What in the hell?” Josiah exclaimed as he leapt from his horse. “Are you hurt, son?”

Jess held his head as Pete got him up to his feet. “I’ll live. Son of a bitch.”

“Did you see who hit you?” Josiah asked.

Jess was dazed, but rose to standing. “No. There was no one around but the cows. It was dead quiet. They were fine. Nick was on watch with me, but I sent him back early, it was so quiet.” Jess noticed King laying in the dirt. “Poor choice of words, I reckon.”

“Lucky you didn’t get trampled,” Bill said.

“What in the hell happened to him?” Jess asked.

They all stared at the corpse of the bull, the leader of their herd. No one had an answer for Jess’ question.

“Where’s everyone else?” Jess asked.

“Don’t know,” Pete said. “I saw Appie with the wagon, and Hiram and Ollie went off that way to grab some scatterers.”

“Saul.” Josiah realized who wasn’t with them. “He’d have stayed with the horses.”

All the horses. Nearly a hundred scared horses ready to run for their lives, and Saul left alone to handle them. Bill hoped his little brother had the smarts to not try and keep them calm. Letting them all run wild and getting them later would make more work, but it’d more likely keep him alive.

“Where’s Sparrow?” Jess looked at Bill.

Emma. Bill’s eyes grew wide as he realized she wasn’t there. In all the madness of the stampede, he’d pushed everything but the drive from his mind. Surely she’d have fled either on foot or horseback as far from the drive and danger as possible. The woman’s instinct to run might have kept her alive yet again.

But if she’d stayed? She might have, mightn’t she? If she cared for him as she’d claimed to, she might have stayed and come looking for him.

Regardless of what had happened between them, she adored Saul and Appie and the other men, as well as Maggie and the rest of the horses. She might have been alone in the night, surrounded by cows and horses and men gone wild. Any number of things could have happened to her.

And someone had murdered King.

Bill knew immediately who’d done it.

He got on his horse and headed back to where camp had been, his brothers following. Jess hopped on behind Pete, and they rode together, since Jess’s horse was long gone.

“Saints alive!” Nick yelled as they saw people up ahead.

Bill felt relief wash over him.

Saul and Emma were together, handling a fairly serene group of horses. Appie held three horses by their leads as well, but waved to the approaching riders. Bill let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding when he saw the three of them alive and unharmed. Saul jumped from his horse and took the leads of two more and tied them. Emma led another one over to him.

All three were covered in dust, and there was mud where they’d been sweating.

“We only lost two,” Saul told everyone. “They broke their lines.”

“They’ll turn up,” Josiah said. “Losing only two horses and King is probably the best case at this point. Everyone else accounted for? You seen Hiram?”

“A while back,” Saul offered. “He was going after the stragglers.”

“I’ll go after him,” Pete said.

“I’m coming too,” Blue volunteered.

Jess got off the back of Pete’s horse, and started to make his way to the wagon. He stumbled a bit, shaky from being attacked. He nearly fell, but Emma moved forward and helped him to sit on the back of the wagon. Pete and Blue took off.

Emma stood by Jess, barefoot and filthy with a loose mane of wild hair.

Bill rode closer to her, for the moment forgetting how mad he’d been.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“I see now why you were so eager to avoid a stampede,” she answered. “I don’t care to ever do that again.”

“What started it?” Saul asked.

“King’s dead,” Jess answered. “Someone knocked me out and cut his throat.”

“That’s horrible,” Emma breathed.

Bill spoke to the gathered group. “Whoever did this knew that Jess would be the only one on watch at that time. He knew how to sneak around the cows, and who the leader was. Two thousand head, and he went after King specifically.”

“Andrew,” Josiah stated.

Bill nodded. “He was real angry when I fired him. I didn’t think he’d do something like this.”

“This ain’t on you,” Josiah said.

“Not one bit,” Appie agreed.

“We’re heading out for Cricket Bend tomorrow once we clear the pass,” Bill announced with a nod toward Emma. “If he’s gone that way, Sheriff Anderson needs to know as quickly as possible.”

Josiah stepped back into the role of leader. “Get the herd and the horses calmed down as best you can. Once we know everyone is safe, we’ll patrol in pairs. If Andrew thinks he’s coming back to give us another scare, he’ll find himself on the business end of a gun. Even if it winds up being mine.”

Locating, calming, and turning around all the cows and horses took hours. It was past midnight when Bill came off his patrol and made his way back to where Appie had cooked beans and biscuits. He ate a bowl of food even as his eyes threatened to close on him, then trudged to his bedroll to grab a few hours’ sleep.

Every bone and muscle in his body ached. Sleep sounded like heaven.

Emma was already in her bedroll by the wagon, sleeping soundly. Or at least she wanted him to think so. He could tell from her irregular breathing that she was faking slumber. The whole day had been a tornado of emotion for both of them, and if she wanted to pretend that she was asleep for some crazy reason, he wasn’t going to stop her. In fact, he was going to join her. But he wouldn’t be faking. In less than a minute after he lay down, Bill was snoring.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Emma

When the herd was finally back together and settled for the night, and things had wound down from the furor of the slaughter and stampede, the men went out in pairs to patrol. After a long while, Bill returned to camp and fell fast asleep. It was then that Emma got out of her bedroll and slipped quietly into her boots and jacket.

Bill snored on. The poor man was so drained he hadn’t even bothered to go a far distance from her to sleep, as had been his habit in the previous days.

With a long gaze down at his handsome face, she bit her lip to hold back the tears which threatened to burst from her.

Trouble had followed her to the drive after all. She’d been the bad luck charm that Josiah had thought she was. Since she’d arrived, she’d broken the heart of a good man—a strong man with a gentle heart, who had trusted her. And she’d gone and ignited an argument between brothers, which had led to violence and chaos.

Jess had nearly died because Andrew was mad at her. King had died. She’d done enough to the kind men who’d treated her so well. She’d been a part of something wonderful, but it was time to go.

Emma told herself that she wasn’t running; she was simply protecting Bill and the rest from further pain. With her gone, Bill could begin to heal the wounds she’d left him with. He could see to taking over the McKenzie ranch without distraction. In order to leave, she’d have to steal Maggie, but she vowed that she would send money back to the ranch as repayment once she found Hank, and that would be that. Saul knew she cared for the horse, and would trust her.

She walked away from Bill, past the wagon where Appie dozed with his back against the wheel, and over to where the horses slept on their feet, some laying on the ground. Now calmed from the earlier chaos, a few of them slowly wandered and ate. Maggie was munching on some grass, and didn’t even flinch when Emma walked up to her and readied to climb on. She’d have to ride bareback. The blanket she’d used for a saddle was in the wagon, and she’d never be able to get to it without waking Appie.

“I knew you’d be trouble.”

Josiah stood behind her, and the sound of his voice made her jump.

As soon as she saw his face, she knew he could read her regret and shame. Emotion swelled in Emma. She’d worked so hard to earn his regard, and all he would think was that she was stealing from the drive.

“Where do you think you’re going, girl?”

Emma’s temper flared. She whirled on him before she could even think about it. “I’m sorry I’ve disrupted your drive. Believe me, none of this was my intention. But I think I’ve proven myself enough for you to at least be nice to me. I’ve worked my fingers to the bone out here, trying to prove to you that I’m not a bother, and you’ve never been anything but mean to me, and I think it’s incredibly rude of you.”

He stepped forward, nodding as he listened. “You got anything else to say to me?”

“I have plenty more to say to you.” She kept talking, wishing she could make herself shut up. “Your sons are wonderful men, and they deserve your kindness. Bill is the most capable person I’ve ever known, and would die for you and the ranch, and you don’t appreciate him nearly enough. Saul and Pete and Jess are some of the finest men I’ve ever met. They’re hard-working and loyal to you, even though you treat them terribly.”

“I suppose you’re going to tell me Andrew is worth something too.”

“No. Some people aren’t worth the air they breathe, and he’s one of them.”

“He could be out there.”

“I am aware of that. But it’s time for me to take my leave before anything else goes wrong. And you need to get the hell out of my way.”

He walked forward, wearing a scowl. She wondered if she’d gone too far, and if he was going to slap her. She braced herself for it, and told herself that even if he beat her to bloody, she wouldn’t let him see her cry. No man would see her cry ever again. It did a woman no good to show weakness.

When Josiah smiled, Emma nearly fainted.

“Never in my entire life has anyone talked to me the way you just did. Except my wife.”

“So, you’re not going to slap me?”

“Hell no, I’m not going to slap you. Glad to find someone honest. You remind me of her, you know. My wife, Maureen. Now, you can’t go charging along the plains like a tumbleweed, a woman alone. In case you missed it, there’s a low-down killer out there, and if it’s Andrew, which we all know it is, he’d kill you as soon as look at you. It ain’t safe.”

“I know,” she said. “But I can’t stay here another minute.”

“Because Bill got his heart broken.”

So, Josiah had noticed.

“I didn’t intend to break his heart. I didn’t think hearts would even be involved.”

“What happened to you, that makes you think you’re not good enough for my boy?”

“Sir?”

“What’d you do that’s so terrible?” Josiah waved a hand in dismissal before she could answer. “Never mind. That ain’t my place. Way I see it, there’s things folks do—choices they make—and then there’s things done to them. Best I can tell, something happened to you that makes you think you’re not worth a whole lot. And, from what I’ve seen, that’s not true. And I’ve never seen Bill as heartsick as he is right now. Even if you sneak off, he’ll follow you. How about you save you both some trouble, and wait until sunrise. He’d never forgive himself if something happened to you.”

The damned man was right. She’d already hurt Bill enough. Risking hurting him any further would only be cruel. Resigned, Emma stepped away from Maggie.

“My name is Emma, by the way.”

Josiah scoffed. “That’s a nonsense name, meant for a woman who does embroidery and eats those silly little cakes.”

“Petit fours?”

“That supposed to be French for silly cakes? Far as I care, you’re Sparrow.” He held up a little folded package. “And you more than earned your wages out here.”

“You saved my life and brought me here,” she replied. “I can’t take any money from you.”

“You can, and you will,” he answered, putting the package into her hand and closing his own over it. His McKenzie jaw settled into a stubborn expression she knew she couldn’t beat. “Now go back and get what little sleep you still can before Appie bangs those damned pans to wake the world. You and Bill will split ways from the rest of us in the afternoon, and it’s a full two days of riding to reach Cricket Bend. No sense falling off your horse from exhaustion.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t you thank me,” he replied, shaking a finger at her. “You fix it. Whatever the thing is that’s hurting both you and my boy, you fix it. That’s on you.”

“I’m not sure if I can do that.”

“I remember a spitfire woman who came out of the woods and gave me all kinds of sass about how she could do all sorts of things. Dancing, dynamite.”

“That seems a hundred years ago. I’m not sure I’m the same woman anymore.”

“You are.” Josiah walked off a few steps. Then he stopped, and turned himself halfway back to her. “I’ve never had a daughter, you know. Only a passel of boys. If you figure out how to patch you and Bill back together, and are so inclined, you’re welcome at McKenzie ranch whenever you choose. Wouldn’t mind having a daughter, especially if she was as tough as you. You make it right, you hear me?”

He walked off.

“I wish I knew how,” she whispered after him.