Jodi's Journey (3 page)

She eased back on the gun, but she still held
it almost at his nose. He didn't blink, nor did he bother acting
afraid. However, he did act as though she had aroused his
attention.

She expected him to blink, show
fear—something. But she got nothing.

His eyes never left hers, and she thought she
saw a spark of admiration twitch at his expression. “But you didn't
come willing, did you?” His voice held bitterness that she far from
understood. “You must be pretty desperate to come asking the scum
of Esser Crossing for help.”

“I am...”

He nodded. “Cattle drive?” he ventured,
obviously amused at her gall.

“That's right.” She gritted her teeth to
admit it. She hated dealing with such an irascible sort of man.

He nodded again. “Put the gun down. You won't
need it.” His voice wore an arrogance she refused to
acknowledge.

She drew her brows together and firmed her
jaw. “I came to offer you work, that's all.”

“You know who I am?” he questioned, giving
her another glance, his long, dark lashes veiling his thoughts.

There was more to the question than he asked.
He didn't realize he was dealing with honesty. “I know.” Her voice
lowered with disgust.

“You'd trust me with your cows?” he asked,
turning his head first one way, then the other, as though trying to
figure her out.

“No sir, but I got no choice,” she said
flatly, her honesty blatantly making him aware of her.

He nodded, and his look narrowed as though he
needed time to assimilate her words and actions. Then he looked at
her, not like most men look at a woman, but like she was a puzzle
he needed to put together.

“What's your name?” He sat up in the hay, not
paying her much attention as he continued to drink his coffee.

“Jodi Parker.”

“Frank Parker's kid?” He frowned for a
minute, as though thinking about what that might mean.

“That's correct,” With new dawning, she
realized for the first time that she and this misfit man had one
thing in common, and that was for sure, her name wasn't any better
than his in this state.

His expression grew serious. He straightened
himself. Raking his hair back, he set his hat on his head. “How
many men you got?”

Jodi relaxed and faced him again, shocked by
his sudden interest. “Six.”

“That's not enough. How many head of cattle
you got?”

“Got a thousand two-year-olds, and 1,500
three and four-year-olds.” She met his cold-eyed gaze. “Not
counting the yearlings.”

“Yearlings,” he scoffed. “They'll have to be
put to sleep; they just cause trouble along the way. And
Remuda?”

“About fifty.”

“Not enough.”

Exasperated, Jodi fumed; holding her temper
in was painful. “It's all we got!” she huffed, angered by his lack
of understanding. “The soldiers came and took some of our best
until we got wise and hid them out. Wasn't enough to take our men
and boys, they had to have our horses and cattle too.”

“Yeah, the unfortunate war…” Hunter nodded
and got to his feet, pacing the small space. Disgust lingered in
his dark, brooding eyes.

There was a silence as he seemed to size her
up. “I'll get us four more men, and we can pick some horses up on
the way. What's the pay?”

“Hundred a month.” She was groping for
answers to his fast line questions.

“Abilene or Baxter Springs?” His eyes never
left hers.

“Abilene…less trouble that way. One of the
soldiers came back from the war said Missouri wasn't too friendly
to cattle drives from Texas because of the Tick Fever.” Jodi let
down a few defenses since he was talking cow talk now. She felt she
could deal with him on this level. He wasn't a greenhorn, that was
for sure. He had asked every right question.

“He's right about that.” Hunter shuffled and
stood straight. He stared into her eyes till she nearly backed
away. Never had a man looked at her the way he was. “You'd be stuck
in Missouri if they even let you through the state line. They are
quarantining them these days, passing laws to keep us out, like we
can prevent the disease.”

Jodi eyed him closely. Despite her dread of
being here and her personal feeling towards this man, she knew
instinctively that he was a cow man, and suddenly understood why
Clem had sent her here. Perhaps he was the only man for this
job.

“Fair enough. When you want to leave?” Hunter
flopped back down on the hay, his glance scrutinizing her.

Jodi realized he was accepting and felt a
small relief run through her. She wouldn't give him the pleasure of
knowing it, though. “Meet you at Round Rock in four days.”

“I'll be there then.”

“So will I.” She stood up to leave and saw
him staring at her intently again.

He was tall, lean, and dangerous looking, but
his expression was entirely sober. She had expected to find a
drunk. Instead, she found a man who was completely sober and ready
to accept her offer.

It shocked her that he was sober. She
certainly hadn't expected that. But to live in a place like
this…what manner of man was he?

“You won't be there,” he bellowed. “I'll meet
your men there.” He said it like a command.

“I'll be there.” Meeting the steel flint of
his gaze steadily, she squared her shoulders. She realized she was
in for a battle, and was prepared.

“No ma'am, you won't.”

“Look.” She moved to face him again. If he'd
had been a bear, she wouldn't have cared. She knew being a woman in
the cattle business was a hard pair of boots to fill, but she had
filled them since her folks had gone to war, and she aimed to keep
on doing it. “I just lost my foreman. He got thrown and broke his
back. He'll be laid up for a long time. He can't sit the saddle.
And no one's taking that herd north without me, understood? This
town…what's left of it, is depending on me to get that herd
through. It could mean the life or death of this entire town.”

She was facing him like some gunslinger.

Admiration, or surprise, flickered in his
eyes. She couldn't be sure which, not knowing the man. When he
smiled, his face dimpled, making her more aware of him. She felt
that smile to her toes.

“This town is a lost cause, lady. Just like
the war. And I won't herd cattle with a female.” His voice held
little respect. “No man I know would. Women on a trail drive are
bad luck, lest you have a man to go along with you.”

“I have no man, and if that's the way you
feel, then you won't herd my cattle, mister.” She turned with a
decided slump and started marching out the shed door. No laughter
followed her like she expected. Instead, he stood staring at her
backside.

But he caught up to her as she entered the
saloon the way she came, and he whirled her around and shook his
head. Knowing he now had an audience, he pulled her by the arm all
the way back to a table and practically threw her in a chair. Then,
he turned a chair around and straddled it as he watched her and
stared disbelievingly. For long, silent moments he said nothing, as
though he was measuring every word she had said.

“What the heck you want to drag yourself
through unsettling territory with a bunch of rangy men for? You
don't look like an idiot.” His eyes held no humor.

His words made her flinch inwardly, but she
swallowed them nonetheless.

“I got people depending on me. They trusted
me with that herd. You understand that. They worked and scrimped
for those cows. Been most the late winter and early spring rounding
them up and putting road brands on them. We even got them
inspected. There's a market, a good market now, if we can get them
there. I'm not going to let some low down scum steal them away from
me. They are mine, and I'm taking them to Abilene.” Her voice held
strong determination.

He stared, his brows knitting in anger, mixed
with something close to admiration. It was an expression she
couldn't read.

Suddenly, he nodded and with cool
indifference, muttered lowly, “On one condition.”

“I'm listening.” She couldn't hold the
contempt from her voice.

“We get married.”

Never in all her twenty years had anyone said
such a thing to her. But to come from this man's mouth was more
than she could tolerate. A man who lived in a shed like an animal,
who left the war before it was over, who…

“I loathe you, sir.” Her voice became a low
whisper, her gaze taking in the saloon, once more, with
disgust.

He sneered. “I can see that.” He nodded
again.

“Then why...?”

“I got my reasons.”

“Would you mind sharing them with me then,
because I see no point to this kind of talk?”

He shook his head in exasperation. “Nope! But
it's the only way I'll take that herd through with you in the
saddle.”

She stood up again, scraping the floor with
her chair and shaking her head. “I might have known you wouldn't be
a gentleman about it, a coward like you.”

If her words stung him, he didn't let on.

“On the contrary, I just asked you to
marry...that's pretty gentlemanly of me...don't you think?” The
laughter in his voice surprised her again.

Angered by his nonsense, she turned to leave
again. She straightened her shoulders, held her head high, and
walked out the door. This time, there was no laughter.

Once she was clear of the vermin inside, she
felt herself weaken and nearly fall. She needed to throw up, but
she squashed the distaste in her mouth and kept moving,
momentarily, at least. Then, she paused and leaned against the side
of the building, feeling a roaring in her stomach. She pitched her
dinner on the side of the road, wiped her mouth, and looked about.
A few watched and snickered, but said nothing when she glared at
them.

She wanted to scream her annoyance of the
man. He was everything her cousin Susan had said he was. He made no
sense to her at all. She wasn't even sure he was human.

She grimaced inwardly; she was in the biggest
trouble of her life and had no way out.

About to untether her horse, Hershel Walker
strode up to her. “Jodi?” he called to her.

Jodi whipped about to see another piece of
dirt littering the street. She spat and climbed on her horse as he
jerked the reins from her hands.

She stared down into his handsome young face
and kicked him with her boot. She took the reins and tried to whip
at him. He laughed.

“Now wait a minute, honey. We got things to
talk about. I told you I was coming back for a visit. It might as
well be now.” He grabbed the reins from her hands again.

“Take your hands off me, Hershel, before I
blow your head off.” She raised her voice to an almost screaming
pitch.

“Now, honey,” he cajoled sarcastically. “Is
that a way to talk to your fella? I know what you been hiding under
all them clothes, don't I, honey? Yes sir, and I like what you been
hiding, too.” He came closer and whispered the words with a
sneer.

“You come near me again and I'll kill you,
Hershel!” She spit in the road and tried to grab the reins from his
hands. Ready to gun him down in broad daylight, she reached for her
shotgun. She wouldn't wrestle him, she'd kill him. If facing Hunter
Johnson was bad, facing Hershel, after what he'd done to her, was
even worse.

But suddenly, a low and dangerous sounding
voice yelled, “Take your hands off my woman.”

“Your woman?” Hershel yelled with laughter as
he twisted about to see who he was talking to. Hershel seemed
surprised when he saw Hunter. And when he recognized him, he
laughed aloud.

Hunter stood in the doorway of the saloon,
his legs spread, and his gun hand ready. “That's right, Jodi Parker
and I are going to be married.”

“Married?” Hershel shouted again with
laughter in his voice.

Jodi's mouth moved to rebuke his words, but
something in Hunter's expression seemed to warn her not to say a
word. She held her tongue. Two snakes fighting it out, maybe they
would kill each other, she pondered as she watched them.

“Well now, I wouldn't think any man would
want used goods, but then come to think of it, a man like you
probably wouldn't care.” Hershel laughed lowly.

“That's right,” Hunter said as though totally
ignoring what Hershel had just said. “She's my woman. But if I hear
you utter one ill word about my intended, I'll kill you before the
sun sets.” Hunter's hand edged toward his gun.

Hershel stood very still, and then glanced up
at her. His smile broadened. “Well, she ain't worth...” he began to
shout so everyone in town would hear.

“One more word...” Then came the cock of a
gun.

Hershel glanced up at Jodi, then swiping the
sweat from his chin, he shot Hunter another disbelieving glance.
“We'll take this up later,” he laughed and walked down the street,
not looking back.

Tears sprang in Jodi's eyes, but she forced
them not to fall as she stared at the man who had taken complete
control of her life. If she hadn't hated him, she might have
thanked him, but pride kept her from it.

“Go home. I'll meet you at Round Rock in four
days,” Hunter said, and went back into the saloon.

Unable to voice her feelings at the moment,
Jodi nudged her horse into a slow gallop.

It was a long ride home.

CHAPTER THREE

Hunter stretched himself just before getting
out of bed, and then as he struggled awake, he stood and washed his
face in the basin, noticing the chip in the top of the bowl and
fingering it for a second. It reminded him of better days, days
he'd nearly forgotten. He smiled for a second. He'd traded his deer
hide coat for the room for the night.

He shook himself. He didn't dry off. Instead,
he held his head for a minute as the sun filtered through the
room.

He thought seriously about the little lady
that had offered him a job. She had startled him with her sharp
tongue and offer of work. The last thing he thought he'd hear, a
job…driving cattle!