Authors: Sandra Cuppett
“This is your
home. How could you be an intruder? Besides, you fed us steak,
remember?” He said softly, a smile tilting the corners of his lips
upward.
She pulled up
short and wondered how a man she didn’t even know could have such a powerful
pull on her. No wonder her dog liked him. She swallowed and looked
back at Feather to avoid looking up at him. Then she nodded. “How
can I argue with that?”
She crossed to
the side of the fire where Feather was settling on a short campstool.
Another stool was now sitting beside her and Jordan sat down on it. Wolf
handed both of them a plate and filled one for himself, then he sat on a stool
across from them.
Jordan ate
eagerly after the first tentative taste. It was delicious!
They had
scrambled eggs, and the buffalo was cooked in a white sauce that was served
over home-made flat bread. When she finished she looked up to see them
watching her. She smiled and felt her face glow red. “Okay,” she
confessed. “It smelled so good I was hoping you’d invite me. I’m
always in a hurry, so I eat fast too.”
They both
chuckled and continued with their breakfasts. After a moment, Daniel said
something in what must have been the Lakota language.
Then Feather
scolded quickly. “Speak English. It’s rude to talk in a way that
our guest can’t understand.”
Her brother
looked at the fire for a moment, then up at Jordan, his pale eyes capturing
hers again, a glint of mischief sparking briefly. “I asked my sister if
she thought you made up your mind about people as fast as you do about food?”
Jordan didn’t
look away as she answered him. “Yes, I think I must. I knew Feather
and I would be friends when I spoke to her on the phone the first time.”
Feather
laughed deeply at Jordan’s answer. She knew that in his way, Wolf had
asked Jordan how she felt about him and like any wise Indian woman accustomed
to dealing with men, Jordan had answered the question without giving the answer
he sought.
Knowing he had
been bested, Wolf chuckled too. This woman might be worth several good
ponies as her bride price. She was beautiful, strong, brave and
bright. How often did a woman meet all those objectives?
“Now, my
contribution to breakfast is that I will wash the dishes,” Jordan said as they
finished and began to stack the dishes.
“No.”
Feather spoke firmly. “When we camp, Wolf cooks, I wash dishes.
It’s a law of our camp,” she added with a smile. “We have a sink with
running water in the camper part of the trailer. It’s taken us a few
years, but Wolf has installed most modern conveniences except air conditioning,
and a shower.”
Jordan looked
from the girl to her brother. “Well, this is just March. It’s none
of my business, but if y’all plan to use it for camping very much, you’ll
definitely want that air conditioner. Summers here are very hot and the
humidity is just as bad.”
“It gets hot
in the northwest, too.” Feather said.
Jordan shook
her head, her braids bobbing across her shoulders. “Not like here, and as
hot as it gets, the humidity is much worse.
Sometimes you feel like you’re trying to breathe through a thick, wet
sponge. I don’t take in colts to ride during June, July and August.
The only time I ride my own is early in the mornings. We spend a lot of
time trying to stay cool. Usually by noon time, it’ll be so hot the
horses just stand in the shade and even then they’ll be wet with sweat.”
Feather looked
at her brother. “And it was my idea to move down here? What was I
thinking?”
He shrugged,
taking his eyes off Jordan for a minute and looking at his sister. “We’ll
get used to it. Remember how we hated the cold when we moved to the ranch
with Grandfather?” He looked back at Jordan. “We were born in
Texas.”
She
nodded. “That explains the southern drawl. But Feather doesn’t have
the same accent.”
“I was so
little. I hardly remember our parents at all. Wolf was older so his
accent stuck with him. You have a real drawl too.”
Jordan nodded
and laughed softly. “My husband used to tease me about it. It’s
funny how people in the same country, speaking the same language can sound so
different.”
Again she
smiled, more to herself than anyone else. “That’s the most pleasant
memory I’ve had of David, since he died. Usually all I remember is the
night he got killed.”
She pushed up
from the stool. “Well, since you won’t let me wash dishes, let me make
the dishwasher available. Just put your things in a pan and take them to
the house. That dishwasher doesn’t get much use. It’s a shame for
it to just sit there.
Feather
smiled. She really liked Jordan Lanier. “Maybe when there’s more to
wash. There isn’t much this morning.”
Jordan thanked
them for breakfast and went on to the barn, Bhrandii trotting along beside her.
She began
scooping feed into buckets and when she finished, she turned to find Daniel
lifting the buckets and stacking them in one another in a wheelbarrow.
“What a good idea!” She exclaimed. “I’ve been doing it the same way
for so long, it never occurred to me that there was a better way.”
“When I
watched you make so many trips deliverin’ all the feed last night, I thought
you might like usin’ the wheelbarrow.” He carefully backed the loaded
wheelbarrow out of the feed room into the isle of the barn. He pushed it
along while she removed the buckets and hung them in the stalls as they came to
each one.
When they
finished that, he loaded two bales of hay and helped her take it out and
distribute it into the different paddocks that the horses would be moved to for
the day.
Once that was
done, Feather joined them and the three of them moved the horses to the
different paddocks as they finished eating, then they made short work of
cleaning the stalls and putting down fresh wood shavings. Jordan looked around
and smiled at them. “Wow that went fast! It’s not even noon yet and
the hard part is finished.”
Feather shook
her head negatively. “Do you usually do this by yourself?”
Nodding,
Jordan led them toward the office and opened the door. “Come on in and
let’s have a soft drink. I keep some in here in this old fridge that my
mom used to have at the house. When she had the kitchen remodeled, she
let dad bring it down here. It’s almost as old as I am, but it still
works.”
“What’s your
day usually like, Jordan?” Daniel Cetan leaned back in the chair he
occupied. “I would like to know as much as I can about how you do things
so I can make sure I’m…looking out for intruders.” He hated to put a
damper on the pleasant day that they had been enjoying, but he needed to be
informed.
She
shrugged. “You’ve pretty much seen it. I still have two colts that
I need to ride sometime today. I’ve just sent two home and I don’t think
I’ll be accepting any more until fall. I just feed, clean and ride.
That’s most of my time.”
“What’s your
social life like? We need to work around that too.”
Her face
flushed warmly. “I don’t have a social life. Well, I do go to
church regularly, but I don’t exactly fit in well socially. I think
people are uncomfortable around me.”
His black
brows arched and he lifted the soft drink bottle to his lips and sipped from
it. “I can’t imagine you not havin’ half the men in town followin’ you
around.”
She was a
little uncomfortable talking to him like this and was glad that his sister was
there with them. “I was an emotional wreck for some time after I came
home. And when I started living again, I wasn’t exactly looking for a
relationship. I guess I’ve discouraged any who might have been
interested.”
One corner of
his mouth lifted in an almost smile. He could feel her discomfort and
regretted having made her feel that way, but he certainly liked knowing that
there was no special man in her life.
“I guess the
best way to explain me bein’ with you all the time is to let people believe
that I am at least puttin’ the make on you. That will account for me bein’
attentive about who approaches you.”
Jordan
shrugged. “I guess you know best, but I truly feel I can take care of
myself.”
“Trust me,
Jordan. I will make sure you’re safe.” He assured her.
She
smiled. “I could have shot you a dozen times already, this morning, if
you were Lambert, and stabbed you at least twice. Really, I think this is
all unnecessary.”
“You haven’t
been close enough to stab me, even with that knife hidden in the rafter of the
feed room and if I were goin’ to do you harm, I would have unloaded the pistol
in the pocket of the raincoat at the entrance of the first stall and the 38 in
the drawer in front of you, as well as the one in the cabinet behind you, and
I’ve only looked around briefly. If a man was plannin’ to attack you, the
first thin’ he’d do is case this barn and disable all of your weapons.”
Surprised that
he had located the two guns and the knife, she felt somewhat shaken. She
thought she was being clever, hiding the three pistols and the long bladed
knife.
“That’s not
all of them.” She stated firmly.
“No. I’m
sure you must have a gun near your bed and probably another one in a desk or
someplace where you spend a lot of time in the house. Am I right?”
She felt her
face pale as she nodded.
“I’m good at
what I do, Jordan, and for the time bein’, that is to make sure you’re safe.”
Feather stood
up, wanting to put some time in on her horse. “I’m going to go ride
Music, but Jordan, listen to my brother. I haven’t known you long, but I
don’t want anything happening to you. I want us to be friends for a long
time.”
Realizing that
she truly wasn’t as safe as she thought she was, she nodded. “Okay.
I guess I’m not as smart as I thought I was.”
“It’s not that
you aren’t smart,” Daniel was explaining as Feather left the office. “You
just aren’t used to thinkin’ the way Lambert thinks.”
She felt
defeated and defenseless. “Alright. Tell me what I need to do to
help you.”
He sat forward
in the chair and tried to make himself seem more comforting. “I know this
is hard for you, but we’ll get through it together.”
She nodded.
“To start
with, I don’t want you goin’ anywhere without me. Not to the store, not
from here to the house, no place at all, unless I’m with you. Okay?”
Again she
nodded.
“When we go
places, we want people to think we’re a couple, so there should be some casual
touchin’, an appearance of affection.” He hoped he could manage to keep
it professional, at least until this was all over with.
He saw her
eyes stretch wide. “How affectionate?”
He
chuckled. “Just touchin’ hands, maybe my hand on your back as we walk,
holding hands. Nothin’ drastic. No heavy neckin’ or kissin’.”
He watched her eyes spark with yellow fire and wondered what she was thinking.
Jordan hoped
his special way with animals didn’t extend to the human animal. She
couldn’t help thinking of the warmth of his hand around hers when they first
met, or the way she felt captivated by the intensity of his eyes. She
hadn’t ever been so physically attracted to a man before. Even David.
They had
become friends and then fell in love, but the man across the desk from her had
such magnetism that she hoped she didn’t just fall apart at his touch.
This was not going to be easy.
Lambert pulled
his car to a stop in front of the restaurant closest to Interstate 75. He
had driven Interstate 10 from the west until it intersected with I75 then
followed that south to the exit onto US 90. He was excited to have
arrived in Lake City and wanted a little time to calm himself. He needed
to take his time and not attract any attention.
He knew he had
changed since Jordan had seen him last, and even since his prison escape.
He had never worn facial hair, but found that he was very comfortable with the
mustache and the short, tidy beard he’d grown. Since his escape, he’d
lost a little weight too and felt secure thinking that any pictures of him then
wouldn’t look much like him now.
He put change
in the box and took a local newspaper, realizing that seeing anything there
that would lead him to Jordan was not likely, but it would give him a reason to
linger over his coffee and study the area.
Two hours
later he emerged again, having read most of the paper. He got in his car
and drove east along US 90 through the town. It was still a town, not
quite a city yet, but he could see that it was growing quickly.
After he had
traversed the east, then the west sides of town to his satisfaction, he
returned to the main street and drove north. When he found the town thinning,
he turned around and drove south.
Finally he
returned to the area where Interstate 75 and US 90 crossed and took a hotel
room for a week. He backed his car into the parking space, not wanting
the out of state tag to tip anyone off, but realized quickly that an out of
state tag was the norm after noticing the tags of the other cars in the parking
area.
Looking
through the local phone book inside his comfortable room, he read what he could
about Lake City, the gateway to Florida. He learned that the cluster of
hotel/motels along the interstate where he was staying was a busy resting place
for visitors arriving from any direction. That was good for him.
He looked up
feed stores and found three, then made a list of addresses of all three.
Starting tomorrow, he would stake out each one for several days, hoping that
Jordan was a regular customer like she had been at the store in Poplar
Bluff. He hoped to spot her like that, but if that didn’t work, he would
come up with another plan.