A Bride for Noah (24 page)

Noah was sitting in the command tent, rechecking his calculations and feeling guilty that he wasn't at the cutting site lending a hand, when the light from the doorway dimmed. He looked up to find Big Dog's massive form filling the entrance.

Caution zipped through Noah when he caught sight of the glower on the man's face. “Is something wrong?”

Big Dog stepped inside, followed by Red, Squinty, and Mills. The confines of the tent shrank alarmingly, filled as it was with
mountains of lumberjack muscle, all of them wearing scowls. With slow movements Noah laid his pencil down and closed the ledger, gathering his composure around him as he did so. When he spoke, he was able to do so in an even tone.

“What seems to be the problem, gentlemen?”

“It's them females,” said Squinty.

Noah suppressed a shudder. What had Evie done now?

Big Dog placed a ham-sized fist on the surface of the plank that served as a desk and leaned over it toward Noah. “Did you know they've hired themselves some o' them natives to put up a building for them?”

Judging from the stern look on the man's face, the wisest course of action would be to deny any knowledge. But Noah had always followed a policy of honesty. Lies always caught a man out eventually.

“Yes.” He held the man's eyes as he answered. “I took their request to Chief Seattle and negotiated the arrangement.”

Mills swore under his breath while Big Dog threw his hand in the air in disgust. “You're letting that gal
pay
them Indians? You know we'd've done it for free.”

“I know you would have.” Noah tried to be unobtrusive about leaning back on the stump that served him as a stool, out of arm's reach. “But she's paying in foodstuffs, not money. Besides, I tried to convince her to wait until we finished this contract, but she's as stubborn a woman as any I've ever met.”

Red grinned. “I love a spitfire woman.”

Noah could contribute a few comments about working with a spitfire like Evie, but deemed it wiser to hold his tongue.

Squinty pounded on the board. “We outta be the ones to build that restaurant. Who ever heard of women clearing land themselves and hiring Indians to do work when there's able-bodied men like us willing to do it for them? 'Sides, we could do a better job.”

“Yeah,” agreed Mills. “Have you seen that hovel they're putting up?”

“Not in a few days,” admitted Noah. “But I'm sure they're doing a fine job. Have they started on the second level yet?”

“Second level?” Big Dog's eyes bulged. “That building can't support any second level. It's flimsy, I tell you. It'll cave in for sure.”

“We can't let that happen,” said Squinty.

Noah rubbed a hand across his chin, noting absently that he needed to shave sometime soon. “I've never seen a hut in the Duwamish village with a second floor,” he admitted. “Maybe that's stretching their abilities a little. If I could think of a way to convince Evie to wait until after we've finished this contract…”

The men exchanged a look, and Noah had the uncomfortable idea that a silent agreement had just been reached.

Sure enough, Big Dog caught his gaze with a stern look. “We're gonna build that restaurant for them, and we're gonna do it now.”

Alarm zipped through Noah's frame with a shudder and sent him to his feet. “No, you can't. You have a job to do.”

“So dock our pay,” said Red with a shrug. “We don't care.”

The others nodded.

“But you committed. Arthur will have my hide if he finds out you're skipping out to work on Evie's restaurant.”

“Look here. Relax.” Mills stepped around the side of the desk and, placing hands on Noah's shoulders, forced him to be seated on the stump. “We can do both. First of all, it won't take but a few days to put up that building, and that's with only us four working on it.”

Big Dog and the others nodded.

The man continued, his voice pitched to a reasonable tone. “And when we finish, we'll get back to logging like you ain't ever seen before. There's almost three weeks before the
Leonesa'
s due to transport those piles. Plenty of time to put up a building and fill that shipment. We won't be found short.”

Squinty added with a grin, “And we'll get to see them purty women all the while.”

Noah looked at each of the other three men, and each of them nodded in agreement with Mills's words.

Hope flickered to life. They seemed certain they could do both. And besides, what choice did he have? If he disagreed, they might very well walk off the job. The draw of a pretty woman in this male-dominated country was stronger than he could battle.

“All right,” he finally agreed, and then straightened and delivered his own stern glare to each of the four. “But you'll have to work with the Duwamish. We can't afford to offend them.”

They conferred silently, and then Big Dog nodded. “If we hafta, we will.”

Noah sagged on the stump. Somehow he would have to convince Arthur that this was the best course of action.

The next morning, the sight that met Evie when she stepped off the path into her clearing brought her to an abrupt halt. This time the area was filled with lumberjacks. Not only that, but the carefully constructed walls of which she was so fiercely proud were gone. Gone!

“What happened?” Louisa's face reflected the same shock that Evie felt. “Two days ago there was a building here.”

Ethel's mouth fell open, but no sound came out.

A shout went up in a strong male voice. “They're here!”

A moment later the three ladies were surrounded by smiling men.

Evie fixed a pleading look on Big Dog's face. “Where's my restaurant?”

“Gone.” He flashed a wide grin around the circle, and the men all nodded. “We tore it down this morning.”

Her vision blurred as tears sprang to her eyes. What had she done
to upset them to the point they would do such a horrible thing? “But why? Why would you do this to me?”

“Aw, ma'am, don't take on so.” George, the one they called Pig Face, patted her awkwardly on the shoulder. “We're gonna build you a new one, and it'll be better than that old lean-to you had before.”

Hope flickered in the darkness of her thoughts and she looked up into Big Dog's face. “You are?”

He laid a hand over his chest. “On my honor. You're gonna have the finest restaurant in all of the Oregon Territory, you wait and see.”

Deep lines carved into Louisa's smooth forehead. “Arthur won't like this at all.”

“Nah, he don't mind none.” Perkins cocked his head and corrected himself. “At least, not much. Noah done cleared it with him.”

Evie couldn't believe her ears. “
Noah
spoke to Arthur about this?”

“That's right.” Big Dog nodded. “And don't you worry any about your Indian friends, either. David talked to that chief and they're all right with us taking over for a while, and they're even gonna work with us. They already helped us pull down the old stuff this morning.”

Louisa's eyes went wide. “My David did that?”

“Yes, ma'am. If you don't believe us, you can ask him yourself. He's right over there.”

The wall of men parted and Big Dog pointed to a place on the other side of the clearing where David and Noah stood beside Miles, examining a paper. Louisa's face lit and, gathering her skirts, she took off toward him at a run. Still unable to make sense of what was happening, Evie followed at a more subdued pace.

“There you are, my dear.” Miles snatched the paper out of Noah's hands and wadded it in a ball. “Would you be so kind as to let us examine your excellent sketch? I'm afraid my skills with a pen are reserved to letters, not drawings.”

Numbly, Evie pulled the sketch from her apron pocket and handed it to Noah.

“I don't understand.” She peered into his face, trying to make sense of this confusing turn of events. “What about the lumber shipment?”

“They took a vow.” His eyes fixed on the men behind her, shaking his head. “After they finish here they'll work days and nights both if that's what it takes, but they insist we'll be ready by the time the brig arrives.” He turned his gaze on her, and a tender smile softened his lips. “You've made quite an impression on them.” The smile disappeared and he straightened, resuming a businesslike manner. “And the other ladies too, of course.”

Evie didn't dare speak, but merely nodded and turned to watch the men, white and Indian alike, begin work on her new restaurant. Her emotions rode high, too close to the surface to trust to words. Not only because of the men, but also because of the gentle look she had seen in Noah's eyes a moment before. Was it her imagination, or was some of that tenderness meant for her alone?

Thirteen

O
h, Lester!”

Sarah's voice, pitched even higher than usual, drew Evie's attention away from counting. She looked up from her list to see the girl holding a pitcher and a cup, her head thrown back and her gaze fixed on a trio of men up on the roof. Once Sarah heard the men were working on the building, she'd once again begun accompanying Evie and the others on their daily treks to the clearing. In fact, she was usually the first up in the morning, urging the others to hurry with breakfast so they could go.

“Are you thirsty, hon?” With a flirty tilt to her head she lifted the cup toward him. Lester descended the ladder faster than a cat chasing a mouse, grinning like an idiot.

A few days ago Evie would have spoken sternly to Sarah and the others about distracting the men from their work. It amused her to realize she had stepped into Noah's role. Now, however, she didn't feel she had any reason. The restaurant was almost finished, and the jacks had only begun four days ago.

She surveyed the building with more than a little satisfaction. Four sturdy log walls, their surfaces stripped of bark to display smooth red wood, stood in the center of the glade where Mary's clothesline had once marked the boundaries. Lester and his partners were busy applying tight cedar shakes to half of the second floor
roof, while a handful of men, both lumberjacks and Duwamish, completed the walls of the other half. The wooden slats the Indians had used initially had not been wasted, but were deemed by Big Dog and his men to be plenty sturdy for the second floor, where Evie and the other ladies would live. Men's voices floated through the first floor windows, where they worked inside laying stone for the hearth. At the rate the men were going, they would be finished enough tomorrow that Evie could move in.

“Hey, Noah, how's the count today?”

The call from the roof drew Evie's attention from her musings. She looked up to see Noah striding across the path toward her.

“Improving, but we're still down,” he called back. “We need you.”

Evie busied herself with her inventory. Since the morning he and the others had showed up and announced their intention to build her restaurant, she'd felt shy around him. Since the moment they met, their relationship had consisted of one clash of wills after another. She'd grown accustomed to that. Now that they were in accord, she wasn't sure how to proceed. Nor was she sure of her feelings concerning Noah, or his for her. He treated her with the same courtesy he accorded Louisa and Ethel and the Burrows sisters, but she sensed something different in his dealings with her. Restraint, maybe?

Of course, they were not merely acquaintances. They were business partners. Their relationship
should
have a tone of formality, the same as with Miles.

So why did most conversations with Noah leave her feeling slightly dissatisfied?

“It's looking good,” he observed as he came to a stop and turned to survey the building.

“Yes, it is,” she agreed. “I knew they would be quick, but I had no idea how quick. If they had started a week before, I could be open for business by now.”

When he gave her a sharp sideways look, she realized what she'd
said. Given their previous clashes, the comment sounded very close to
I told you so.
Warmth crept up her neck toward her cheeks. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean that the way it sounded.”