The Iron Horseman (14 page)

Levi
extended his hand for the basket. “You’re not going to let her have the
advantage, are you now, Mrs. Gordon? See,” he said, standing up straight and
waving his arms in front of him, “no apron.”

Mrs.
Gordon laughed heartily. “Why, I’ve never been so spoiled in all my life.” She
handed over the basket. “You’d better git. She’s already a half-dozen eggs
ahead.

Levi
grabbed the basket and ran toward the coop. “Oh, no you don’t.”

Cadence
giggled, but he could see the concentration on her face as she worked to keep
her bundle of eggs steady within the confines of the material at her waist. If
she collected too many more, she wouldn’t be able to carry them into the house
without breaking them.

“Sorry,
Redbourne, I’m afraid I’ve gotten the rest.” She smiled haughtily at him as she
ducked out of the coop and walked with care toward the house. “I beat you,” she
called back.

Levi
laughed heartily. Sure enough, she’d been able to collect all but four eggs.
She continued to amaze him.

The
Gordon’s were kind enough to offer for Cadence to stay with them while Levi
rode around to the surrounding farms and into town to band together enough men
and wagons to head out to the wreck and collect the supplies, but she would
hear nothing of it. She seemed to have a keen desire to go back to the train.
Most women would dread the long ride, but Cadence Walker was not most women.

She’d
claimed to be headed to Bryan to be with her father and start up a life there,
but if Levi’s hunch was correct, he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of mission
the woman was on or what else she was up to. He’d have to keep his eye on her.
Something he didn’t think would be too difficult.

“Well,
I think that’s the last of it.”

Huge
lodge poles extended bulkily from the wagon at the back of the line. Levi
didn’t know if he’d ever seen James, the conductor, break a sweat before. He
certainly didn’t think he’d even ever seen the man without his hat.

“Nice
work.” Levi clapped James on the shoulder.

They’d
been able to round up a total of eight wagons, mostly from the surrounding
farms, to help transport the cargo. They’d been traveling back and forth
between the train and town all day. It went much faster this time.

Wagons
full of grain, tools, cloth, and other building supplies had been loaded to the
hilt, emptied in town, and refilled again. While there were two armed men for
every load, Levi had kept all of the buckboards together to diminish the chance
of a raid on the route. This was the last trip and Levi was hopeful they’d make
it without incident.

“Only
a few more things to be loaded and we’ll be on our way,” Levi said casually to
the couple of men still here from the small rail crew.

Levi
glanced over to the make-shift corral where he’d housed Apollo with the other
horses from the train. The wrangler had been able to round up all but two of
the horses. All other livestock had been gathered, driven into town with the
first load, and corralled in the large pasture behind the livery.

“Any
trouble last night? Coyotes?” he asked the men.

“No,
sir. We think two of the horses are running with a wild herd that ran near here
last night, but they didn’t bother us.”

A
wild herd?
Levi thought of home and smiled. He looked down the line to see Cadence climb
out of the coach that housed his sleeping compartment, with the help of four or
five of the men standing above the door.

What
was she up to?

“How
long before you think Dodge will have a crew out to patch the tracks?”

“Depends.
Has there been any word from the others?” Levi asked.

James
shook his head.

“If
they were able to deliver their message, then I know Gren will have another
crew here before nightfall,” Levi said dismissively as he continued to watch as
a man raised his hands and clasped them around Cadence’s waist, helping her
down from the top of the side-turned train car. Her laughter floated on the air
and Levi felt his insides grind.

You
don’t have a claim on the woman, Redbourne.

He
looked away, rubbed his hands together, and scanned the remainder of the goods to
be loaded. A few barrels of salted meat, nails, and flour had been set upright
and stacked. Butter churns and crates of milk tins still awaited pickup. Amazed
that only a limited number of the barrels and crates had been damaged in the
wreck, Levi motioned for one of the wagons to back up to the stacked goods.

“This
is the last one, boys. Let’s get her loaded quickly and we can be on our way,”
Levi called out to the few men who’d scattered about the wreckage, but were still
within earshot. He picked up one of the crates of milk tins and headed for the
back of the wagon.

Laughter.

He
glanced up to see Cadence smiling brightly at one of the young cowboys from
town.

CRASH!

Everything
went quiet and all eyes turned on him.

“Ouch,”
Levi growled.

He’d
run into the back of the wagon and dropped the crate on his foot. At least the
crate hadn’t broken apart, but he wasn’t so sure about his pride. He caught
Cadence’s eyes. She smiled warmly.

Are
you all right?
she mouthed at him.

He
nodded gruffly.

Something
warm filled Levi’s belly and he reached down for the now splintered crate. It
looked like there was plenty of straw and packing on the inside that he didn’t
think there would be any damage to the milk tins either.

“You
should keep your eyes on your destination, Redbourne,” one of the men said with
a laugh as he clapped his new friend on the shoulder.

He
locked eyes with Cadence again as she made her way toward him.

“Maybe
I am,” he whispered under his breath. “Maybe I am.”

“Race
you,” Cadence called as she passed Levi, already at a gallop.

They’d
just crossed the Overland Bridge and only had another ten minutes until they
reached town.

“Come
on, boy,” she heard Levi urge his mount. “We can catch her.”

She
leaned forward in the saddle and looked straight ahead—sure the mare she rode
could feel her excitement. It had seemed that over the last couple of days she
had turned everything with Levi into a competition. It was fun that way, and
helped avoid the dangers of getting too close.

She
jumped over a rock, but when the horse landed, something was off. She felt as
if her saddle was sliding, rubbing back and forth across the horse’s back.
Immediately, she pulled on the reins. It wasn’t enough. The saddle had come
completely loose, the strap now flapping around with each step. She was going
down either way, but this time she wanted a little dignity. Rather than fall on
her rump and embarrass herself like she had earlier, she let go of the reins,
swung a leg over the back of the mare—not an easy feat in this blasted skirt,
and did her best to jump away.

The
ground came a lot faster than she’d expected and the planned roll turned into
something of a thud and scrape followed by another thud.

Not
as graceful as she’d hoped.

Her
hands stung from where she’d tried to catch herself. Multiple cuts and
scratches once again bloodied her hands. Her shoulder had hit the ground pretty
hard, but she’d learned over the years to walk it off. Her mount now pranced
around her excitedly in circles, but she hadn’t bolted. For that, Cadence was
grateful.

People
were going to start to think she was an abused woman.

She
pulled herself up off the ground. She’d been worse off, but to add insult to
injury, her saddle sore legs protested every step. Cadence finally reached her
saddle and heaved it up to have a look. It was still fully intact.

“You
and horses just don’t seem to mix,” Levi said, an edge of concern lacing his
voice. “Are you all right?” he asked as he stepped in front of her horse and calmed
the mare down enough to collect her reins. He walked the horse over to where
Cadence stood.

“Everything
okay?” A big, red-headed burly man asked as he pulled the first wagon in the
little wagon train to a stop.

“Elvin,
can your boy maybe ride the mare back to the livery?”

The
youngster jumped down off the wagon seat and was at Levi’s side in moments. The
youth seemed very anxious to be on horseback instead of riding along in the
wagon.

Levi
handed him the mare’s reins.

“You’re
quite a man already I see. You can saddle a horse I expect?” Levi asked.

“Yes,
sir,” the youth said proudly.

Levi
took the saddle from Cadence, handed it to the kid—who strained slightly under
its weight—and placed her face between his hands, lifting her chin enough so he
could look at her face.

“Wasn’t
me. Or the horse,” she said, finding it a little difficult to speak with her
chin cupped in Levi’s hands. She reached up, wrapped her hand around his wrist,
and tugged lightly.

“Sorry,”
he said and quickly released her. But the moment he saw the streaks of blood on
his cuff, he grabbed her wrists and lifted them, palms up.

Scrapes
lined the fleshy part of her hands.

“Haven’t
we already done this twice before?” Levi asked.

Cadence
couldn’t tell whether he was teasing or annoyed, but she kept a keen eye on the
kid as he attempted to saddle the mare.

She
hadn’t had a chance to inspect the straps and worried that they might be
damaged.

“Wait,”
she said as the kid was about to climb up into the stirrups.

Levi
looked at her, his brows knit together. She felt the cinch and visually
inspected it along with the rest of the straps and pieces on the saddle tack.
Everything looked perfectly in order.

“I
wasn’t joshing with you when I said that it wasn’t my fault, or the horse’s. I
made sure the saddle was nice and tight right before we left the wreckage site.
Someone had to have messed with the buckle when we stopped for water at the
creek’s edge. It’s the only time I was away from her.”

“That’s
a pretty serious accusation, Miss Walker,” Levi said. “Did you see someone near
the mare?”

She
hadn’t seen anything suspicious, but it was the only explanation. She knew
she’d secured the tack properly.

Levi
walked around the mare and inspected the tack on his own.

“Give
this to the liveryman,” he told the boy, apparently satisfied that the saddle
was fit for riding. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pouch.
Coins jingled inside and Levi removed four bits and placed it in the young
boy’s hand. “And this is for you.” He retrieved another dime and the boy
grinned with excitement.

“Now,
git.” He helped the boy up into the saddle and lightly tapped the mare’s flank.
The kid’s father was quick to get the wagon back on the road and moving again.

Levi’s
horse, Apollo, appeared to be content and not nearly as restless as Cadence
felt.

“I
believe you,” Levi whispered as he moved to retrieve something from his saddle
bags.

When
he returned, he scooped her hands back up into his.

Cadence
couldn’t tell from his expression if he was upset with her. She tried several
tricks to get him to meet her eyes. To smile.

“Good
thing for you my mama taught us to always keep this with us.” He held up a
bottle that looked like it had been filled with a white poultice of some sort.
“Probably because we’ve all gotten ourselves into this exact type of trouble. A
lot.” He smiled.

Finally.

“You
must miss her.” She wanted to know more about him.

“Of
course. But my work here is important.” The boyish almost-grin she’d seen mere
moments ago seemed to melt away with her pain.

Levi
applied generous amounts of the white substance on her hand. She winced as the
cool liquid stung her torn flesh. He pulled a neatly folded handkerchief from
his bag and gently worked to clean the area. He was quiet for the next few
minutes as he tore the cloth into strips and wrapped them around her hands,
tying the last bit into a knot.

“It’s
not much, but it will have to do until we get back to Doc’s.”

She
didn’t know what to say. It was nice for the Gordon’s to give them a place to sleep
and all, but she was itching to get back on the road. As much as she’d tried to
curtail her anxiety over her father, she had to be careful not to obsess over
him and her assignment. However, as much as she liked being around Mr.
Redbourne, her father and her job had to come first. Maybe when this mission
was over…

Stop.
It’s not the time to even think about such things.

Levi
turned to put the bottle of liquid away. Cadence reached out and placed a hand
on his forearm and he stopped. As much as she reveled in the feel of his strong
flesh, she let go.

“Thank
you.”

He
nodded and closed the leather satchel.

“Levi?”
she called his name.

“Hmmmm?”

“Why
do you believe me?”

“Why
would you make it up? To save face? Somehow, that doesn’t seem like something
you would do.” He lifted her up and sat her sidesaddle. “Give me a look at that
leg.”

She
knew he just wanted to see her burns. “What makes you think so?”

“Well,
you’re a Pinkerton, aren’t you? The Pinkertons I know wouldn’t lie about
something like that. The burn looks like it’s healing nicely.”