Pete (The Cowboys) (10 page)

“I don’t see why you should have to wait,” Anne said.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Pete said. “I don’t mind.”

“You’re tricking us,” Belser said.

“How could I be doing that?” Pete asked, beginning to get irritated.

“I don’t know, but you’re not Peter. You know you can’t prove you are. So if you’re willing to wait, there must be a trick somewhere.”

Pete lost patience. “The only
trick
is pretending I don’t mind putting up with you. I
do
mind, and I’m not going to continue doing it. If you can’t stop throwing up your crazy theories every time you see me, you can move into the bunkhouse and eat with the crew. If you still insist on running your mouth, you can clear off the place.”

“You saying you’ll fire me?”

“I don’t know why the old man put up with you, but you’re not related to me. I don’t owe you anything.”

“Peter would never call Uncle Carl
the old man.”

“I’ve done a lot of things different since I left here.”

“Like going broke,” Belser added, sneering.

“Not quite, but that needn’t concern you. Just remember what I said. Now, if you’ll excuse us, ladies, Eddie and I have plans to make.”

“When are you planning to send for those papers?” Belser asked.

“Anne and I are going into Big Bend tomorrow. I’ll send off a telegram then.”

“You didn’t say anything about going into town,” Anne said. She looked surprised but pleased.

“What with having to close down that windbag,” Pete said, scowling at Belser, “I haven’t had a chance. You don’t mind, do you? I’m depending on you to show me around, introduce me to people, warn me who to watch out for.”

“How would she know that?” Belser asked. “She doesn’t have any more sense than a goose.”

“You have a very short memory. I guess I’m going to have to help you lengthen it a bit.”

“What are you talking about?” Belser asked, looking uneasy.

“I told you to be careful what you said about my wife. Comparing her to a goose is not my idea of being careful.”

“Everybody’s always saying something like that.”

“I don’t like it. Neither does Anne. Don’t do it again.”

Pete pushed back his chair. He wanted to get out of the room before he had another conflict with Belser. “You ready?” he said to Eddie.

“Sure.”

“How about dessert?” Dolores asked.

“Sounds good,” Pete said. “How about bringing some with coffee in about an hour?”

“You really going to throw Belser off the place?” Eddie asked as they left the dining room.

“If he keeps up this nonsense about me being an imposter.”

“He’s angry he didn’t get the place. He’s just trying to make trouble.”

“He’s trying to do more than that. After being nearly killed once, I don’t mean to set myself up for a second try. If he doesn’t stop, he leaves.”

“You can’t think Belser shot you.”

“Somebody did. Who had more reason to want me dead?”

“He never left the ranch.”

“It was a hired thing. Two men came after me.”

“You never said that.”

“Nobody asked.”

“Did you see them?”

“They shot me from the dark. I didn’t regain consciousness until the next day.”

“Then how do you know—”

“I followed their trail.”

“Do you know where they went?”

“I know they came this way. Their trail disappeared after that.”

Eddie looked stunned. “Nobody here would do a thing like that.”

“Not even for money?”

“No. That’d be cold-blooded murder.”

“It almost was. Or do you doubt I was shot?”

“No. You didn’t get the scar on your forehead falling off a horse.”

“Keep that in mind when you defend Belser. Now, let’s see about organizing this roundup.”

Anne was sitting up in bed when Pete entered the bedroom. Almost immediately she put her arms under the covers, pulled the covers up to her shoulders, and slid down in the bed until she was barely visible. Obviously she wanted to draw as little attention to herself as possible.

Pete had no intention of mistreating a woman who not only wasn’t his wife but whom he would leave before long. However, her acting like he was the closest thing to a marauding savage left a sour taste in his mouth. Why was she so reluctant even to come close to her husband in the bedroom? She hadn’t seemed frightened of him downstairs. He wished she’d stop looking at him as if she expected him to ravish her on the spot. He didn’t know what she knew of men, but if Belser and old Clyde were examples of the available men, she probably had good reason to expect just that.

“You sure you don’t mind going into town with me tomorrow?” he asked as he started to undress. He might not take advantage of her, but he refused to hide in the bathroom. She might as well get used to what a man looked like, at least in his underwear. Then when she finally did get married, maybe she wouldn’t act like a scared rabbit.

But there was no denying she was a pretty woman. He’d always had a weakness for women with dark hair and black eyes. It made them seem mysterious, dangerous. Not that Anne was either mysterious or dangerous. But you never knew what was going on in a woman’s mind.

“No. I’d like to go to town,” she said.

“We’ll have to get up early.”

“I don’t mind.”

“Before dawn.”

“I know.”

“I forgot to ask if you can ride.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Uncle Carl said ladies don’t ride horses.”

Hell, they’d have to use the buckboard. That would take all day. “Do people know I was coming, that we were married by proxy? Belser’s bound to have told somebody I’m an imposter. It won’t be nice for you if people believe him.”

“I told everybody we were married. It was the only way to keep Uncle Frank from forcing me to go with Cyrus.”

“We’re not going to be expected to go to parties or anything like that, are we?” He’d just thought of that. The prospect was unnerving.

“No.”

He was relieved, but she might as well have been talking about buying a horse or a new blanket for all the emotion she showed. Being shy and nervous and unsure about what to do with a new husband was one thing. Appearing to have no emotional involvement with him was quite another. Why should she defend him so fiercely against Belser’s accusations unless she was more worried about her position on the ranch than she was about whether he was Peter or an imposter? Could she have married Peter for his money and position without loving him at all?

He didn’t want to believe that. He liked Anne even though she wasn’t his type. She was too young, too innocent, too shy. He liked a more mature type, a bold, assertive woman who knew what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to go after it. He didn’t really know what to do with a timid girl.

He didn’t want to believe she was so mercenary.

“Do you know a lot of people in this town?”

The question seemed to make her nervous. “No. I never went to town very much. Uncle Carl said a woman’s place was on the ranch.”

That didn’t make a lot of sense to Pete. Why had Carl kept her out of sight? Maybe that was why she was so shy.

“I like to see women in town,” Pete said. “I like to see them all dressed up, sashaying up and down the boardwalk, looking smart, knowing all the men are staring at them with their tongues hanging out.”

“Nobody would stare at me.”

He could tell she was hoping he’d contradict her.

“Everybody would stare at you, especially if I bought you a fancy dress.”

“Would you do that?”

Her excitement was palpable. Pete hadn’t thought a thing about dresses or parading up and down the boardwalk. He was just talking to fill up the silence, but it was clear he’d hit upon something important to Anne.

“I’ll buy you two or three dresses,” he said. Hell, he didn’t mind spending old Carl’s money, as long as he wasn’t spending it on himself.

“One would be enough,” Anne said, but the excitement in her eyes was contagious.

“We won’t stop at dresses,” Pete said. “There’s all kinds of things a female needs. I’ll ask one of the women in the store to take you under her wing. She’ll know what to do.”

“No, you’ve got to come.”

He didn’t know what he’d said that was wrong. All the brightness, the anticipation, had disappeared to be replaced by something awfully close to fear. “I’m no good with female things,” he protested.

“You’ve got to come. I won’t know what to do.”

He didn’t either, but for some reason, she was afraid to go by herself. Probably more of Uncle Carl’s belief that women weren’t worth very much. He’d have to see what he could do about that before he left. Anne was much too nice to spend the rest of her life being afraid of her shadow. She was liable to let some man walk all over her.

“Okay, but I’ll stand in the corner.”

“That’s okay. Just as long as you’re there.”

He wondered what she thought he could accomplish by his presence. Or prevent. He’d have to find out. He didn’t like the idea that she would marry Peter without feeling anything for him, but he liked it even less that she was afraid to go anywhere alone.

This might turn out to his advantage, though. He’d have even more time to talk to her, learn enough of his own history to keep from falling into trouble. Everybody knew women couldn’t think of what they were saying when they were looking at clothes. She’d be liable to say all kinds of things she’d never remember. Yes, a shopping trip with Anne just might be the thing to save his scalp.

Pete had expected Anne’s spirits to rise as they got closer to town. Instead, she got quieter, hardly speaking unless he asked her a direct question. She no longer seemed excited about the prospect of buying new dresses. Pete had never known any woman not to be interested in clothes. Even Isabelle had a distinct weakness for shopping. Jake used to say she only wanted to know how much money he made each time he sold a herd so she would know how much money she could spend.

“You not feeling good?” he asked.

She looked startled by his question. “I’m feeling fine.”

“You’re about as talkative as a corpse.”

“I don’t have anything to say.”

“You chattered like a magpie when we first started. You tired?” They’d been in the buckboard for nearly six hours. Pete was so used to working long hours in the goldfields, he didn’t realize a woman used to staying in the house all day would probably be exhausted by now. “You
are
tired, aren’t you?”

“A little.”

“You mean you’re about to keel over. Why didn’t you ask me to stop?”

“That wouldn’t help. It would just take longer to get to town, and you wouldn’t like it.”

Did he come across that ruthless? “I’m not used to being around women. I don’t know what they think, what they feel, or what they need. You’ll have to tell me.

“Is that why your store failed?”

“Huh?”

“Not understanding women. I would imagine women did most of the shopping. From what I can see, men don’t like it much.”

“Probably.” He wondered if he’d ever learn to think before he opened his mouth. This business of pretending to be somebody else was tricky. Just as soon as he could find those men and get his money back, he was going to light a shuck to anywhere south of Wyoming Territory.

Only abandoning Anne still bothered him. Getting the papers that proved she was married to Peter was the only way she’d be safe. But he couldn’t even be sure she’d be safe then. Women like Anne needed a man to take care of them, especially in a place like Wyoming. Men generally wouldn’t work for a woman. And if she found one who would, he’d probably steal from her. He ought to stay until she got proof she was Peter’s widow. Then, before he left, he could make sure she had a good foreman. Of course it meant he’d have to actually run the ranch until then. It wasn’t something he’d planned to do—he’d vowed to have nothing to do with cows when he left Texas—but it wouldn’t be hard. Jake had taught him well. He might even like it enough to stay.

What man wouldn’t like stepping into ownership of a huge ranch, becoming a wealthy man overnight? He didn’t mind the work. It couldn’t be harder than working in the goldfields. Having his own bathroom made it look even better.

A man could get used to being rich. Peter Warren was dead. Belser didn’t deserve the ranch. As far as Pete was concerned, if he decided to stay, he wouldn’t be stealing anything from anybody. His conscience tried to tell him otherwise, but he wouldn’t listen.

But even as the idea occurred to him, he knew it wouldn’t work. First, he didn’t want to be married. He liked his freedom. After a dozen years of wandering where he wanted, doing whatever he liked, he wasn’t about to give it up for the shackles of married life. Second, if he did want to get married, he didn’t want an innocent like Anne, even though she was very pretty. He liked strong women. Last of all, he wanted to find the men with his money.