Adam, Devils on Horseback: Generations, Book 1 (2 page)

Chapter Two

Ada
m’s anger had dissipated hours ago, but he kept ignoring the woman who tromped along behind him. He had food, water and a bedroll, not to mention a horse to carry all of it. She had nothing but a bag and a pair of shoes that had holes in at least three places. Not that he’d noticed.

Twilight had transformed the road into a nest of purple shadows. He’d traveled this area half a dozen times before, but never in this type of situation. The night creatures were stirring in the woods on either side of them, and a bat had already swooped past him.

She hadn’t complained. She’d not even asked for a drink of water. He shouldn’t feel guilty about that. It wasn’t his fault she was walking along a dark road. It was her fault that
he
was walking along a dark road.

Adam should have stopped an hour ago but sheer stubbornness kept his feet moving. Farina plodded along without complaining. Hell, he’d probably walk all the way to Louisiana if he had regular food and water.

“I’m, uh, going to make camp soon.” He cleared his throat, wondering how to ask this strange woman to spend the night with him.

She didn’t reply but kept on walking as though her little legs hadn’t been taking two steps for every one of his. She had the stamina of someone twice her size. The woman had grit.

The situation was stranger than anything he’d ever encountered. He didn’t know her. She didn’t know him. They were stranded together for the night. Unmarried and virtual strangers.

Adam wasn’t the charmer his father was, but he’d had his fair share of encounters with the fairer sex. None of them involved lying on cold, damp ground with an ancient gelding for a chaperone.

He spotted a likely spot to camp ahead. A small copse of trees with a large rock on one side set back about twenty feet from the road. He walked toward it, expecting the woman to follow.

She didn’t.

No, sir, she kept on walking down the road until the darkness had almost swallowed her.

He tied Farina to the tree and put his hands on his hips with a frown. “Hey!”

She didn’t respond.

“Well, shit.” He ran to catch up to her. He’d been right before—she marched like a soldier. “Ma’am, are you planning to stop?”

“No.” She kept going, her arms swinging, the right one loaded down by the bag she carried.

“I can’t let you go on by yourself. As a gentleman, it’s my duty to protect you.”

That stopped her in her tracks. She peered up at him, her blue eyes dark pools in the near darkness.

“It’s your duty to protect me?” She threw her arms out. “From what? Crickets?”

Just then a coyote howled, followed by another, then another. She pursed her lips and blew out a breath.

“I don’t expect you to protect me or think I’m a duty. I’ll stop for the night because I need to rest.” She walked back to the clearing with her shoulders back and head held high. The woman had pride, that was for sure.

Who was he to cast stones? His pride and general stupidity caused plenty of accidents, situations and chaos for everyone around him. There was nothing more difficult to overcome than him.

She chose a lichen-covered rock and sat, spreading her skirt as though she were sitting down to tea. Adam hadn’t forgiven her for the wagon accident, but he could be a gentleman. Conversation seemed to be vanishing along with the sun.

He gathered kindling and some branches for firewood. When he arrived, he found the woman murmuring to his horse as Farina rested his great head on her shoulder.

Traitor.

Adam squatted down and started the fire. As the small blaze began to grow, it dispelled the gloom of the deepening darkness. She hadn’t moved nor had she spoken. The awkwardness grew with each passing moment.

He had the basket of food his sister Bella had packed for him, including her tasty biscuits. What he should do was share with this woman he barely knew. Adam always had trouble doing what he should do rather than what he wanted to do.

He pulled the basket close to him and leaned against a rock. The food sat there like a guilty conscience, staring at him with the salty goodness he knew awaited him. His stomach whimpered at the thought.

The silence stretched on until Adam was reduced to counting his heartbeats as the seconds passed. This woman had cost him enough—she wouldn’t cost him the foodstuffs he had left. He’d convinced himself he was the injured party and she was the villain.

Then her stomach howled like a starving animal.

“Damn it.” He held out the basket to her. “Eat something before you faint.”

She frowned. “I won’t faint. I’ve gone longer than half a day without food.”

He didn’t want to know why. That would make her someone to feel sorry for and he did
not
feel sorry for her. “My sister always packs too much. A couple of the biscuits hit the dirt, but I brushed ’em off.”

She didn’t move to take the food. He sighed and inched closer. “My mama would have my hide if I didn’t make sure you ate.” Adam forcibly pushed aside his childish response to the accident. “I’m sorry I yelled at you.” He picked up a rock from the ground. Nice piece of quartz. He tucked it in his pocket.

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” She petted the gelding’s neck and Adam would swear the horse smiled. “I always like to think that everything happens for a reason. Perhaps I was supposed to run into you. Literally.”

Then she smiled and he forgot what he was going to say. In fact, he forgot all the words in his head.

She looked up at the sky. “Every night when the stars come out, they wink and twinkle at those of us on Earth. As though they were watching the show and we were the performers.”

“Uh.” Adam wasn’t a scintillating conversationalist, but this was ridiculous.

“I used to lie on the ground and stare at the stars when I was a girl.” She sighed. “Now here I am, an adult under the same stars. They are the same, but I’m not.” Her tone had turned melancholy.

So did Adam, foolishly enough. “I’m gonna eat. You should too. We have another eight hours of walking tomorrow.” He handed her a biscuit. “I promise this is the best biscuit you will ever eat.”

With obvious reluctance she took it from his hand, then broke it in two and handed half to him. “We should make this last.” She smiled at him.

Adam didn’t want to like her, or respect her, but it was sneaking up on him.

“Thanks.” He forced the word out of his mouth.

She nodded. “Interesting coincidence that we are named Adam and Eve. Some would say that it was foretold we would meet.” She took a bite of her biscuit, leaving a hundred questions floating on the air between them.

Who was this woman?

Eve’s stomach danced with uncertainty. The darkness had closed around them like a cocoon. She didn’t know this man but inexplicably, she didn’t feel threatened. There were few times in her life she had been in a situation where she couldn’t protect herself. This wasn’t one of them.

He had a rifle, but she had her knife strapped to her thigh. Sleeping would be a necessity, but she wasn’t sure it was a good idea. There was no one and nothing to keep her safe. She’d gotten used to sleeping beneath the wagon with the Roma. While she was only there as a servant, she’d been under their protection.

Now she was alone again and she had to keep her armor up. Adam hadn’t shown any signs of aggressiveness towards her, but she was always on her guard.

As the night creatures settled into their symphony, Adam started a fire, dispelling some of the gloom. As the blaze built, he fed it larger branches until it was a respectable size to keep them warm through the night.

Her stomach yowled into the quiet and his brows shot up. “Do you have any food in that bag?”

She had nothing but a few possessions and a change of clothes. The biscuit he’d given her earlier had been the only food she’d eaten since early morning. Eve didn’t answer him because she didn’t want his pity. She knew how to find food, but she wouldn’t finagle anything from this man. He’d been, if not kind, considerate of her well-being.

“What are you doing out here?” He changed his tactic.

“Sitting by a fire in the dark with a strange man.” She pointed at the woods beyond them. “Hoping none of the creatures of the night decide I’m a tasty meal.”

His mouth twisted. “You don’t like to answer questions about yourself, do you?”

She shrugged. “Will you answer questions about you?”

“I’ve got nothing to hide. Ask me anything.” He stretched his long legs out in front of him and crossed his ankles and arms.

“You didn’t see me in the road and blamed the accident on me.”

“That’s not a question.”

She had seen him coming, but he was looking away from the road, nearly on the edge of it. “You weren’t looking where you were going.”

“Not true. You jumped out into the road.” His voice had lost some of its vigor.

“No, I stopped because I thought you were going to hit me and I didn’t know which way to move.” She captured his gaze and didn’t blink until he did. “Why didn’t you want to be there, driving that wagon of flour?”

“No reason.” He avoided the question and glanced away with a sigh. “I’m glad I didn’t hit you.”

“As am I.” She leaned back against the stump behind her. “It would have ruined my day.” Eve had already had her day ruined, but Adam didn’t need to know that.

He pulled a few rocks from his pocket and lined them up on the ground in size order. Odd for a grown man. “Losing that flour is not going to be good news for the mill.” Adam poked the fire with a branch, sending sparks up toward the sky.

“But no one was hurt.”

He glanced up at her. “No. I suppose not.”

“I told you I’d pay you for the flour.”

“I expect you don’t have two nickels to rub together, much less fifty dollars.”

Hearing the number surprised her again. She had no idea the bulk price of wheat flour. Perhaps the near accident had brought her to a place where she could start anew. She didn’t know anything about a mill or flour, but she could learn. It sounded safe enough, other than delivering the product in a wagon.

“I could work off the cost.” She moved to a more supine position, exhaustion creeping up on her.

He snorted. “Family works at the mill. We don’t pay anyone.”

“Maybe I could work somewhere else in town?” She needed to know everything she could about where he came from, before tomorrow.

“Tanger has a few businesses that might need help. My mother can find out. She knows everybody in town.” Adam yawned. “She tends to speak her mind.”

“I like her already.” Eve’s eyes began to close. “I have a knife.”

His blue eyes popped open. “Pardon?”

“Just in case you’re not who you say you are. I have a knife and I know how to use it. A girl has to protect herself.” Eve waited while he absorbed her confession. She didn’t want to have to use her weapon, but she would. And with accuracy.

“You’ve got nothing to fear from me. The only thing I want to do is sleep, since we’ve got more miles to walk tomorrow and my feet are already barking.” He pulled his hat down over his face.

Well then. When she was left by the Roma, she didn’t know what she would do, but she knew she’d survive. What manner of strangeness had brought her to this red giant, she didn’t know. He struck her as someone she didn’t need to fear. Stupid, but that’s what her gut told her.

Tomorrow she would find out if she was right about him. And perhaps she would have a new place to live and a new person to be.

* * * * *

Eve expected to be looked down upon by the people in Adam’s town, as she had been the last few years she traveled with the Roma. Their manner of dress, their choice of lifestyle and their caravans didn’t conform to what folks considered normal. She had felt a certain freedom with them because no one noticed her. Now everyone in this town did.

Other people’s opinions never bothered Eve. People stopped and stared as they walked past. She put her shoulders back, unwilling to be shamed because she was dirty and had flour stuck in various places all over her, no doubt stank, and she walked with a stranger in this strange place.

She hummed under her breath as they walked through the sleepy little town. The familiar melody soothed her somewhat. She wasn’t usually this out of sorts when she had to begin anew. The man beside her might have something to do with that.

“Adam Jacob Sheridan!” The voice echoed across the grassy square in the center of town.

The red giant muttered, “Shit.”

Eve turned to see a tall, curvy woman with long brown hair, walking toward them with clipped steps. Her brows were in an angry V shape and her mouth was tight.

“No wonder four people have come to tell me my son is covered in flour and wandering through town on foot, leading Farina.” The older woman threw her hands up. “Where is the wagon and, more importantly,
where is the flour
?”

This was his
mother
? He was right about her—she spoke her mind.

He scowled at the older woman. “There was an accident and the wagon was damaged.”

She took hold of his arms. “Never say! Were you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine. The back axle broke. I had to walk back.” Adam glanced at Eve. “This young lady was there, and she walked back with me.”

Mrs. Sheridan turned to Eve, her brown eyes kind. “My name is Gabrielle Sheridan.”

Eve almost didn’t know what to say. The last thing she expected was a polite greeting from anyone, least of all Adam’s mother. Then again, Eve never expected a friendly greeting unless she turned on her charm and forced one.

“Pleased to meet you. My name is Eve Tate, ma’am.”

Mrs. Sheridan took her hand in both of hers. “Welcome to Tanger, Miss Tate. Since there is flour all over you as well, why don’t we go to our home where you can clean up? Then my son can explain what happened.” Her gaze flicked to Adam. “I can’t wait to hear this story.”

Eve was doubly glad this woman wasn’t angry at her. She had no doubt the older woman was as formidable as she seemed when riled. The most interesting thing about Mrs. Sheridan was her looks. There wasn’t a shred of resemblance to her son.