Noah (7 page)

Noah closed his eyes at the news of yet another
suitor come to call on Kate. He couldn’t force himself to look up at her.
They’d had a connection, he knew they had, so why was he so concerned about
these other fellas?

“Who is he?” Kate asked Dell in disbelief.

“He said his name is a Mr. Gregory Stiles. From
Boston.”

“Boston?” Several of them repeated at the same
time.

“That’s what he said.” Dell spat. “Boston.”

“I got here first,” Mr. Thomas announced, one
finger in the air as if holding a place in line.

Everyone ignored him.

No, I got here first,
Noah thought. But that
didn’t matter. What mattered was Kate. What she wanted. What she needed.

Noah could feel her eyes boring into the top of
his head.

Maybe the man needed to see just what he was up
against. He reached down for one of the dry towels that Fannie had brought in
with her and gently lifted Kate’s injured foot from the cold water he’d laced
with chunks of ice he’d purchased in town this morning. He patted the limb dry,
then got to his feet and reached down to pick her up off the chair.

“Let’s go meet him,” he said enthusiastically
and started for the door. “Come on, Thomas.”

“Wait! What?” Kate protested. “Put me down,
Noah Deardon. Look at me.”

He did as she asked before he could think
better of it. Her eyes were wide, her expression worried.

Stop looking at me like that.

He liked the feel of her in his arms. Liked the
way her chin jutted out defiantly. But when she looked at him with those eyes
the color of honey, he would give her the world. Kate Callahan didn’t know how
beautiful she was and that endeared her to him even more.

“I can’t meet a man in my parlor looking like
this. I’d like to at least appear to be respectable. My hair must look like a
bird’s nest and I am hardly presentable in my da’s button down shirt and men’s
trousers.”

“I think you look downright appealing, Miss Callahan,”
Noah said as he gently set her down onto the bed, careful not to agitate her
injury. “But, I’ll do as you ask.” He stood up tall and motioned toward the
other two. “Levi, Mr. Thomas here, and I can go out and introduce ourselves, if
you’d like.”

Kate’s face drained of color.

“Not without me, you won’t!” she said, pushing
herself to the edge of the bed and staring up at him defiantly.

He leaned down, his hands on his knees, his
face so close to hers he could claim her lips with another inch. She didn’t
move, but her breaths became uneven, ragged.

“I wouldn’t,” he whispered, then stood up. “No
matter how tempted I may be.”

He liked seeing her a bit flustered.

Stop it, Deardon.

Jealousy never became a man. Though, it was
nice to know he had some effect on her.

Noah was accustomed to being in control
of…well, everything in his life. He could hear his Aunt Leah’s voice now just
as the last time he’d visited Redbourne Ranch.

The only person you can control is yourself, Noah
Deardon. Do that well, and the rest will all work out as it should.

Levi’s mama was a wise woman, the only mother
figure Noah or his brothers had ever known.

“I’ll just need a minute,” Kate told him.

“Of course,” he raised a brow and strode to the
other end of the room. “We’ll give you a moment.”

Kate’s exhale was audible. He glanced back at
her and winked.

“Fannie,” Kate called to the older woman, “would
you stay and help me please?”

The men all stepped into the hallway, while Kate
did whatever she needed to do in order to feel presentable.

Dell headed back out to the living area,
presumably to tell the unsuspecting suitor that Miss Callahan would be out to
greet him shortly.

Noah didn’t move from his place in the hall.

“Well,” Mr. Thomas slapped him on the shoulder,
“this might prove to be more of a competition than I originally thought.” He turned
to follow Dell. “Time to step it up a notch, eh, Deardon?” he said with a
haughty smirk.

Noah shoved his hands through his hair, rooted
to his spot.

“Aren’t you even the least bit curious?” Levi
asked.

Noah had heard about wealthy businessmen back East
who were looking to invest in or purchase successful ranches. He wanted to see
this Mr. Stiles and vet him properly as much as anyone, maybe more, but
something gave him pause.

“Of course, I am,” he whispered louder than
he’d intended. “But I gave her my word.”

All this rigmarole complicated everything, not
that he was afraid of a little competition. He needed to go about things a
little differently.”

“There is nothing for me to do except show Kate
who I am. To prove to her that I am the right man.” He knew it sounded strange
to want to be with a woman he’d barely met, but he wanted to spend the rest of
his life getting to know her.

“How are you going to do that?”

Noah had been thinking long and hard about his
plans.

What am I doing?

“This isn’t me, Levi. If I am going to do this,
I am going to do it my way.”

He needed to show Kate that he was a man worth
taking a risk over. He needed to court her, yes, but he also needed to convince
her he was everything she’d asked for—

Hardworking? Check.

Knowledgeable of how to run a successful cattle
ranch? Check.

Young and able-bodied. Mostly check. To some,
his thirty years didn’t qualify him as young, but he was still able-bodied.

Kind? Faithful? He tried. And check. To the end.

Now, Noah just needed Kate to get to know the
real him and not the concocted version brought out by a trivial competition
with several other potential suitors.

“I like the sound of that. What is your way?”
Levi asked, leaning against the wall in the corridor.

“For starters, I’m going to work.” Noah turned
the opposite direction, heading for the back door.

There was a lot to be done. A ranch this size
needed several more hired hands. Virg, Cal, and Oscar, along with Dell and
Kate, had been doing a great job at maintaining some of the necessities, but a
lot of the property had already started falling into disrepair, and it was
simply too much for just the five of them to handle. At least with several
potential suitors, more work would get done around the place.

Maybe.

Levi caught up to him as he stepped down off
the back steps. “I’ll do everything I can while I’m here.” He stopped Noah and
turned to face him. “I’m leaving at the end of next week. I’ve already been
gone too long and the railroad needs me in Green River to oversee the men I
sent ahead from Oregon.”

“You recruited men from Oregon?”

“You didn’t think you were the only one, did
you?” Levi laughed. “What’s the saying? Two birds, one stone. You were the one
I wanted for Laramie. The only one.” He clapped Noah on the shoulder. “Eamon’s
coming too. He’s bought a place there and is trying to convince his daughter to
join him. We’ll head out on the seventh.”

Noah knew the time would come when he’d have to
say goodbye to his cousin. The man was key to the successful founding and
civilization of several of the fledgling towns along the transcontinental
route. Rather than encouraging the growth of the Hell on Wheels towns that
plagued the growing railway, he brought respectability to the west by finding
good folks to settle down and build their lives.

“Then, we’d better get to work.”

Several days had passed since her accident, and
Kate was itching to get out of the house. Since she couldn’t walk the property,
she figured she’d go for a ride to get some fresh air on this unusually warm
November morning. Her foot still pained her, but the discoloration and swelling
had all but disappeared except for some lingering stiffness. Noah had been
faithful about making her soak it every night in the chilly water before she
retired and so far, it seemed to be working.

She waited by the window until she saw the men
leave for the hills with a few wagonloads of hay and wood to fix some of the
broken fences, then grabbed the walking stick Noah had so kindly fashioned for
her—most likely from a branch of the big white willow tree in the yard—and she made
her way out to the stables. She’d heard the reports of what the small crew had
been able to accomplish in the last few days, but she wanted to see it for
herself. And to see each of the men who vied for her hand at work.

The extra help around the ranch had been a
welcomed blessing, though she felt guilty that some would leave without getting
what they’d come for.

A few of the outbuildings she’d wanted to have
in place before spring had already been completed, as had several wind fences
and snow barriers that would help protect the cattle from harsh winter storms.
And a giant open air barn, with only a roof, but no walls, now towered over a
good section of the pasture just outside of the main corrals.

Many of the broken fences had been mended and
three new corrals had been erected in preparation of the new herd. She’d only
just received word yesterday that the drive had been halted in Denver due to
the imposing weather through the wintery mountain passes.

A couple of the ranch hands had been left
behind this morning to repair tools, rebuild saddles, and tend to the milk cows,
for which Kate was grateful as she was able to convince one of them to saddle
her horse and help her mount.

“Thank you, Cal,” she said with a smile.

The gruff old hand mumbled something back at
her that she didn’t understand and walked away, shaking his head. She guessed
he didn’t much care for being left behind. Well, she understood that sentiment
completely.

As she rode toward the east pasture, Kate
looked up at the beautiful mountainside that encompassed a good portion of her
property. The Callahans had been blessed to be some of the first to settle the
Laramie valley. Her father had chosen his land well, with a large spring
running through it and mountainous terrain with an abundance of trees as well
as thick hearty meadows. She loved this land. Its beauty. She even loved the
smell of it—well, most of it. When she was away from the vast numbers of
cattle, the fresh scent of pine trees and the crispness of the air renewed her.
She pulled her mount to a stop where she could glance over and appreciate the
wide expanse of her home.

Kate imagined that her herd from the last drive
was being auctioned off in Denver. She’d have to find another way to secure the
funds to purchase a few thousand more acres that bordered her land if she was
to expand her operations.

After a few awe-inspiring minutes, she shook
out the reins and started moving again, riding along the ridgeline. She stopped
a little ways up the trail when she noticed that one of the fences she and Cal
had mended just last week had been knocked down again.

How had the others missed it? Kate made a
mental note to have Dell swing back around and get it fixed before half the
east herd escaped onto the open range.

She kept riding until she reached the corrals
near the stone well in the northeast corner of her land where the men were
supposed to be herding in and checking the health and well-being of the cattle
that had come down to the low country a few days ago looking for food. She was
pleased to see several more wind fences, a snow barrier, and a large slanted
shelter had been constructed.

Bundles of hay had been strewn across the
ground and a good hundred head had already been driven into the corral, but the
men were nowhere to be seen. Either they were the fastest drovers she’d ever
known or these cows had been here at least overnight.

Kate had been told of several sections of fence
that were in need of mending along the property. Maybe the small, mismatched
crew had already finished up here and moved along—though she doubted they’d
been here at all or they would have fixed the downed section of fence a ways
back. It was more likely they had started on the west side and were working
their way east. She tugged her reins lightly to the left and leaned forward, nudging
her mount toward the north side of the property.

It wasn’t long before the sound of deep, male
voices could be heard in the distance. She was close. As she curved around the
little bend of the mountainside, the men came into view, but there were only
three of them—Noah, Levi, and Mr. Stiles. There was no sign of Dell or Mr.
Thomas.

Kate kept her distance, not wanting them to
know she was there. A trail had been carved into the base of the mountain,
leading up to an overhead lookout, hidden by trees. From that position, she may
not be able to hear the conversation, but would be able to watch the men working
and get a better feel for those who’d come to White Willow for the chance to
own a part of it.

Luckily, she made it to the lookout without too
much noise. She hadn’t anticipated that the trees would block most of her view.
The consequence for getting down from the horse would be that she wouldn’t be
able to get back up again, and without her walking stick, she’d either be stuck
up here all night or have to tell them that she’d been spying. She opted to
stay put and just make out what she could from behind the trees.