Roz Denny Fox (21 page)

“But…but…” Hayley stuttered. Gripping the chair arms, she heaved herself up. She made her way to the fire and stirred what was in the pot. “How long did I sleep? The stew is sticking. Give me a minute to make biscuits. I won’t hear of you leaving without my feeding you first.”

“Believe me, I’d rather stay.” Jake meant it. “But I have the midnight shift riding circle on the herd. If I leave now, maybe I’ll be able to snag an hour’s sack time before I trade places with Dillon.”

It dawned on Hayley, the sacrifices he was making for her. It was
why
he put himself out that worried her. Frowning, she moved the pot off the center of the heat. “Then by all means, don’t let me keep you. You’ve done far too much already. It’s silly for you to ride back and forth every day. There’s simply no need, Jake.”

“There
is
need,” he said, removing his hat to rake his fingers through sweat-matted hair. “You have no idea how my gut churns and burns at the thought of you out here alone while I’m doing nothing but rousting the same stupid steers again. The thunder stampeded them. Regrouping set us back two weeks or more.”

“All the more reason you should stay there and tend to your own affairs.”

“You may not want to be my affair, Hayley,” Jake said, walking up behind her and gently pulling her back against his chest, “but you are.” When she stiffened, so did he. “A poor choice of words,” he acknowledged, brushing light kisses over her temple. “Nothing you say will make me stay away. You may as well save your breath.”

“Why, Jake?” She pushed ineffectually at his grasp. “Look at me. I’m big as a barn with another man’s child. I’m virtually homeless. This mining claim is all I have that someone like you could possibly want. Well, I won’t abandon it, Jacob. I won’t, and that’s final.”

Jake tried hard not to let her accusation wipe the hope from his heart. The hope that she’d take a second look at herself and revise her opinion. She might be technically correct in what she’d said—except the part about the mine being all she had of value. To him, her mine was irrelevant. It was
her.
And her baby.

Turning her to face him, he stood quietly until she was forced to lift her eyes. Jake did his best to pour everything he was feeling into the loving look he bestowed. He eased her toward him by inches. The minute their bellies bumped, he leaned forward and put everything left inside him into a goodbye kiss. How could she not want this forever and ever?

“I promise we could have a good life together, Hayley,” he said.

Hayley blinked at him. Her heart beat madly like an orchestra of kettledrums. It annoyed her that the shame she wanted to feel wasn’t there, even though by now it couldn’t be a secret that Jacob’s kisses made her totally forget her own rules. There were people in Tombstone who would claim she’d done the same with Joe. It wasn’t true, of course. Joe’s kisses didn’t compare to Jake’s.

Joe had sabotaged her with promises she’d naively believed.

But she was no longer naive. At least she shouldn’t be, Hayley reminded herself as Jake released her. Crossing her arms, she rubbed away the goose bumps peppering her bare skin. She willed her voice to be cool, her words methodical. “According to my booklet, during pregnancy women sometimes start to dislike kissing, touching and the like.” She moved out of his reach. “I think it’s obvious. A woman in this shape isn’t exactly desirable. I’m sorry, Jake. I don’t feel anything when you kiss me. Now, please leave and take Charcoal with you. Our goodbye tonight is final. I tried to tell you earlier. There’s nothing here for you, Jake.”

He scooped up his hat, which had fallen off without his knowing, and settled it far enough down his forehead to hide the firestorm of determination his eyes must surely reveal. It cost him dearly to keep his tone as flat as hers. “The pooch stays. And I’ll be back tomorrow.” He hoisted the heavy saddle and cinched it solidly around his horse. Hayley’s back remained toward him as he cantered off. She’d delivered a nice little speech. One that might have discouraged another man, a man who could ride out of sight and put her out of his mind. That wasn’t him. He saw Hayley’s face every minute of every hour, whether or not she was around.

For some time after the clip-clop of Mojave’s hoofbeats faded, Hayley did her best to feel bad that she’d failed to convince Jake to stay away. But some rebellious portion of her heart refused to fall in line and insisted on looking forward to seeing him tomorrow. “Where is my backbone?” she asked Charcoal as she fed him. He tilted his head, wagged his tail and whined. His empathy, if that was what his actions meant, was short-lived. He almost knocked her down diving for his bowl.

She watched him wolf his kibble and lick the bowl clean after she’d dished up her own stew and sat toying listlessly with her spoon.

She was nothing more than kibble to the whole Cooper clan. Or rather, opals to Eden. An avenue to the springwater for Jake and his dad. Nell was still a puzzle.

Hayley performed her nightly chores and went to bed, unable to get a fix on what Jake’s mother wanted from her. Eventually, she guessed it would become clear. Meanwhile the analogy she’d drawn put Jake’s persistence into perspective. Hayley drifted off to sleep feeling stronger and more able to rebuff his many charms.

T
HREE MEN RODE
into her clearing the next morning while Hayley tidied her breakfast dishes. This time she didn’t question Charcoal’s loyalty when he edged between her and the riders, and bared his teeth. Grateful for his presence, she kept a hand on his furry head.

John Westin climbed off a long-legged palomino.

Hayley tensed when she recognized him. His last visit had been to represent the cattlemen’s concerns. She supposed he’d come here now to give her dates and instructions on opening the valves for his roundup.

Westin tipped his hat before introducing his companions. “Little lady, the tall drink of water is Marshall Rogers, owner of the Rocking R ranch that sits due east of my spread. The shy dude is Tully Mack. He owns the Eagle’s Nest, directly south as the crow flies.” Westin laughed at his own joke.

Hayley noticed the other men seemed nervous. They barely cracked smiles. “I’m Hayley Ryan,” she said. “I don’t own anything but the claim you’re standing on.”

Westin’s laughter cooled. His ice-blue eyes honed in on Hayley’s protruding stomach. “Now, me and the boys want to discuss your claim. It appears to me that your mining days are about over.”

“I’ll be pulling out after Thanksgiving. Expect to be back next July.”

The man confronting her exchanged an unreadable look with his pals. Slapping his reins against a gloved palm, Westin took a couple of steps closer to Hayley. Charcoal checked his forward motion by nipping at his ankles.

“Ouch! That dog bit me! Say, is that pup kin to Jacob Cooper’s cow dog? The two look enough alike to be from the same litter.”

While Westin was distracted, Hayley walked over to a log and picked up Jake’s deer rifle, which she’d left there earlier. She threw a shell in the chamber. “He’s a guard dog, Mr. Westin. Prospectors have to be careful. Why don’t you gentlemen state your business?”

“Put that down before you shoot somebody, little lady.” Westin scowled, but he moved out of range.

Marshall Rogers nudged him with a foot. “Tell her our deal, John. I don’t mind saying a woman with a gun makes me skittish.”

Westin snatched off his hat, a high-crowned, broad-brimmed monstrosity like Hayley had seen Hoss Cartwright wear in TV reruns of
Bonanza.
She wanted to laugh, which wasn’t a good idea when faced with three men who had no legal right to try to pitch her any kind of a deal.

“I’ll get right to the point,” Westin said. “You need money or you wouldn’t be out here, alone, pregnant and scratching for nothing in this dried-up land.”

In Hayley’s opinion, he paused a little too long on the words
alone
and
pregnant.
Obviously news of her opal discovery hadn’t yet reached the ears of this trio. She could make a couple of deductions from that. One, the Coopers kept their own counsel, and two, Joe and Shad weren’t behind Westin’s deal, whatever it was.

“Last offer I made you was fifteen grand. We’re prepared to fork over eighteen right this minute. All you have to do is stop by the county recorder’s office on your way out of town and rescind your current claim. We’ll even help you hitch up the trailer. A woman in your condition shouldn’t be lifting that heavy trailer tongue.”

“Eighteen thousand dollars?” Hayley smiled at that.

Westin pulled out a wallet he had chained to one of his belt loops. “Twenty-one, then. Come on, Mrs. Ryan,” he snapped, when the increase didn’t appear to move Hayley. “Twenty-one thousand dollars is a lot of money for nothing. If you’re frugal, it should get you through confinement and maybe give you time to find a sitter and a job.”

“I have a job,” Hayley said mildly. “Mining. And you’re trespassing.” She didn’t exactly threaten them with the gun, but her hold on the rifle tightened, and she might have shifted and brought the barrel in line with John Westin’s heart. If he had a heart.

Hayley would never know if her show of bravado could have dissuaded the men from turning surly because that was when Nell Cooper appeared. She bounced and jounced into the clearing in her dusty Range Rover. Westin’s wallet disappeared into his pocket, and he’d mounted up by the time Nell set her brake and climbed out of her vehicle.

“Morning John, Marsh and Tully,” she said cheerfully. “Guess you three are about to wind up your tallies and are heading into roundup. I suppose you stopped by to coordinate the valve-release schedule with Hayley.”

Hayley wondered if she was the only one there, except for maybe Charcoal, to notice that Nell’s easy banter belied her tension.

John leaned an elbow on his saddle horn. “Is that why you’re here? Did Wade and the boys send you to release water? Tell ’em I said shame on them. That old valve wheel is rusty. Too tough for a lady to unscrew. Lucky for you I happened to be around to help.” John started again to swing out of the saddle.

“Actually Jacob’s been handling our water needs.” The look she shot Hayley asked her to play along. “Wade suffered a setback. Thunder from that last storm caused a stampede. I came to tell Hayley they’re running a few days behind the schedule they’d originally planned.”

“They wouldn’t cut into
my
water schedule, would they?” Westin danced his big palomino across the clearing until he loomed over Nell. “Tell Wade I said this parceling out the water is crazy.” He shook a ham-size fist at Hayley. “And while you’re here, Nell, convince this little lady it’s dangerous to think she can turn back ranchers with that peashooter.” Dragging on the reins, he wheeled the palomino around. Then he gestured to his companions and the lot of them disappeared up and over the ridge.

It was several minutes before either of the women moved or relaxed her guard. Nell did first. Walking toward Hayley, she wore a smile on her face, even though she never took her eyes off the grip Hayley maintained on the rifle. “Whew. What was that all about?”

“One-upmanship. Your husband’s friends offered me cash again to clear out.”

Nell gave a subtle shrug. “Unfortunately they’re friends no longer. John, Marshall and, I suppose, Tully, since he was here, are undercutting the Cattlemen’s Association. They want this spring so they can sell out to developers. You need to be careful of them, Hayley. Wade doesn’t know what they might do to gain their objective.”

“Ah, but your menfolk were prepared to have the state revoke my mining permit.”

Nell’s lips parted. “That was before you found opals.”

“Which Eden wants. So now I’m supposed to believe the Triple C no longer cares to purchase this property? Did your cattle stop drinking water?”

“Of course not. But you agreed to give us access to the spring, the same as your grandfather did.” Nell smiled easily again. “By the way, Jake rang through on the mobile unit. He asked me to deliver a wagon. It’s in the back of the Range Rover. Let me open the tailgate, and I’ll trade the wagon for your latest batch of ore.”

“You and Jake are making all these trips to my site out of the goodness of your hearts? Neither of you expects a payback?” Hayley felt nasty saying it, but once the words were out, there was nothing she could do.

Nell wrestled the cumbersome wagon over the tailgate and set it on the ground, the friendly light extinguished from her eyes. “My son with the big heart has it in his head that you’re a nice young woman who needs rescuing. Period.”

“I’m not. I don’t. I
am
nice,” Hayley sputtered, “but I don’t need rescuing. Why would he choose me? A man like Jake must have an oceanful of women to choose from.”

Nell looked startled, then tipped back her head and laughed. “I must remember that to tell Eden. I suppose if you’re likening women to fish in the sea, I’d have to say that while many swam by, both my sons are picky fishermen.”

Hayley realized she still had a tight grip on the rifle. She pumped the shell out of the chamber and returned the gun to its place on the log. Mulling over Nell’s comments, she carried the first box of ore to the pickup.

“Let me do that,” Nell demanded. “Honestly, Hayley, I can see why Jacob worries. If I didn’t think you’d accuse me of having an ulterior motive, I’d invite you again to come stay at the ranch. Pregnancies aren’t always smooth. Unpredictable things happen. When they do, you need to be within reach of a phone.”

“I’m sorry if I sounded rude, Nell.” Hayley hugged the older woman. “I don’t want you to worry. After my experience with Joe Ryan, it’s hard to trust anyone. I can’t even trust my own judgment. I’ll work on the attitude, okay?”

Nell brushed Hayley’s hair back from her face. “I confess that before I dragged Eden over here to meet you, my biggest concern was that you’d break Jake’s heart. Now…I’m just as concerned about you and the baby.”

Tears seeped from Hayley’s eyes. “I’ve been as honest as I know how to be with Jake. I’m feeling well—really I am. I promise that in approximately two months I’ll be out of here, and Jacob will forget all about me.”