Chapter 31
Cora’s stomach wobbled as she drove the wagon through the ranch’s open palisade gate.
According to Mr. Dawson at the livery stables, Ben had returned to Weatherford with forty or fifty head of cattle.
Where were the other three hundred he’d written about?
She pulled the horses to a halt in front of the open stable.
Maybe Ben had run into some of Goodnight’s men on the trail and sold them the cattle?
But if that was the case, why the glum look, and why had he been so quick-tempered at the café? Something was wrong. She set the brake.
Charlie scrambled out of the wagon back. “I’m going to see Ben.”
“No.” Her voice cut sharp. “I need to talk to Ben, and you need to rest after everything you’ve been through with your arm.”
“I’m not tired.” He groaned. “It’s not even close to dinner time yet. I haven’t seen Ben in a long time.” He edged toward the door.
“I said no.”
He made a face, then brightened. “I could unharness the horses and feed them while you talk.” So he could be right there in the stable overhearing what was said. He ran over to Sandy, his hand already on the bridle.
Cora hopped out of the wagon. “Charlie, listen to me.” She walked over and slid her hand under his chin, drawing his gaze upward.
“Ben and I have things to discuss. Grownup things. If you want to help, you can unharness the horses here and now with my assistance. Then you take them to the well, give them a drink, and walk them to the far field to graze. And you stay put. If I see you any nearer to the stables than the well, you’ll go to bed without supper, and you won’t see Ben until the morning. You hear me?”
“The well is all the way across the yard.”
Not nearly far enough. “I asked if you heard me.”
He squirmed and frowned. “I hear you.”
“Then do as I say.” She released his chin and started loosening the harness.
“Everything is going to be all right, isn’t it?” He gazed up at her.
“Of course.” It sure wasn’t all right at the moment.
Ben had been quick-tempered, thought the worst, refused to listen, and Arthur had been an incendiary, fueling the fire until it exploded in his face.
Worst of all, he’d besmirched all of their reputations, himself included, with his breach of patient confidentiality.
She’d ride to the next county before she went to see that man again.
Horses unharnessed and Charlie headed for the well, Cora climbed the stairs to the loft and knocked.
Rustling and movement whispered through the hardwood, but no voice. The odors of manure and hay wafted up from the horse stalls below.
“Ben.” She knocked again. “We need to talk.”
No answer. She banged. “You’re not being fair. I did nothing wrong.”
The door swung open. “Never said you did.” He stalked across the room, pulling his suspenders over the shoulders of his silkaline undershirt.
A pile of dirty clothes lay on the floor by the chair. Trousers, underclothes, stockings…it looked as if he’d stripped off every filthy garment he’d worn on the trail. A dirty washcloth dripped from a hook by the basin. Murky water filled the porcelain bowl.
She exhaled. How should she even begin? “You had no right to storm into the café and yell at me. You gave me no chance to explain—”
“I’ve never yelled at you.” A deep red streak stretched across his cheekbone just beneath his eyes, but no black and blue yet.
“Your look did.”
He snorted. “I was supposed to be pleased that you were keeping company with the man who’s been chasing after you? You told me you’d end things with him.”
“I did end them. The first and only time he called while you were away, I gave his gifts back and told him not to call anymore.”
“But there you were having the noon meal with him.”
“Charlie broke his arm. He needed a doctor—”
“That didn’t explain the smile.” His lower lip puckered around a gash.
“What smile?”
“The one on your face when you were chatting away with him at the café.” He grabbed a clean cotton shirt from a pile on his bed and stuffed his arms into the sleeves. It was about time he covered up his snug undershirt that clung to his muscles and scattered her thoughts.
“I…we… He probably said something about Charlie. I don’t remember. It was probably the only time I smiled in his presence the whole two days I was in town.”
“Two days.”
“Charlie’s arm was too swollen for the cast. We had to wait. We ate in the café once—”
“The man is a snake in the grass, Cora. I’ve heard it from others. It’s not just me.” He spread his arms wide. “But you’re free to do as you see fit.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He knelt and dragged his carpetbag from under the bed.
“You’re not being fair.” She rubbed her hands over her arms. “I agreed to one last meal as a friend after he refused to accept payment for Charlie’s care.”
“You don’t need his charity.” He plunked the royal-blue carpetbag with a black-and-gold diamond pattern on top of his quilt and opened the trunk at the foot of the bed. “I’ll leave payment at his office when I’m in town.”
“You need to stay away from him and his office.”
“I’m paying him.” He shoved a handful of drawers and undershirts into the bag. “I won’t have you beholden to him for a single penny.”
“What are you doing?” She crossed the room to the bunk.
He jerked the bag open wider and tossed his socks in.
Packing. He was packing. Her stomach dropped to her feet.
He layered the shirts in next.
Acid rose up in her throat. He couldn’t just up and leave. “Ben.” She touched his arm.
He glared at her and shrugged off her hand.
She grabbed one side of the heavy cloth bag. “Why are you packing?” Her voice faltered. “Because I went to dinner with Arthur? You have or had a betrothed. How dare you? You’re the most hard-headed, quick-tempered man—”
“It’s nothing to do with you and Arthur.” He yanked the bag from her grip.
“There is no me and Arthur. You’re the one I want to keep company with. You’re the one who has stolen my heart. The one—” I want to spend the rest of my life with.
His gaze locked onto hers for the first time since she’d entered the room. A bruise had deepened along his jawline. “I’m going back to Pennsylvania.”
“What?” She stumbled back a step.
“I made the decision before I ran across you and that scum. I don’t regret whipping him.
He deserved it. But I’m thankful you saved me from that last blow, when I already had him down.
Goodness knows I wanted to break his nose after…
” His jaw clenched. “But for your sake, I’m sorry I fought in front of the town. ”
For her sake? Her reputation was tarnished. The whole town now probably thought she and Ben were out here carrying on. But that wasn’t what mattered most. “You can’t leave.”
He rolled up his extra pair of clean trousers and stuck them in the yawning mouth of his luggage.
What if he’d decided he still had feelings for his betrothed? Her heart contracted. “Is it Olivia?”
He jerked to a halt. “It’d suit me fine if I never saw her again.
” He drove his fingers through damp hair, revealing the shadow of a bruise on his temple.
“I gave my word to Jeb that I’d look after you and provide for you, and that’s what I aim to do.
” He retrieved his toiletry pouch from the table and stuffed his comb in, followed by his toothbrush.
“I’m going to accept the editor position at my father’s paper and earn real money. ”
“Why?” She yanked the carpetbag from his grasp and sat on it as he reached for it. “You promised you’d stay and provide for us. Protect us. And now you’re leaving? What about Wolf Heart? LeBeau? What about your big talk about ranching?”
He flinched as if she’d slapped him.
Forty to fifty cattle, not three hundred and fifty. She bit her lip. “What happened? Mr. Cleary at the livery stable said—”
“What did he say, Cora?” He tossed his toiletry case toward the bed, but it bumped against the post and bounced off. “Did he tell you how I failed?”
Air seeped from her lungs. “No, he didn’t say any such thing.”
“Well, I did. I failed.” He paced. His bare feet struck the worn boards like the slap of a clothes paddle against wet clothes.
“I’m no rancher. I was only fooling myself.
I know how to live rough. I did well enough as an army officer.
I survived the hell of Andersonville. But I don’t know cattle.
I know words and news and business. I’m an editor.
I’m going back to Pennsylvania where I can earn a good living. I’ll send you money.”
He was giving up? “It’s you I care about, not your money.” She sprang off the case. “I want you here.”
He jerked to a halt in front of her. Deep crevices formed across his brow and at the corners of his eyes. “I lost everything, Cora.” He cupped his hands around her shoulders as if to steady himself. “I lost it all.” His voice trailed off.
“What do you mean?” Her eyebrows shot upward.
His hands dropped away. “I lost the cattle.” He scrubbed his hand down the length of his face and sank onto the hardback chair.
“How?” Her voice faltered. “Were…you attacked? Comanche? Bandits?”
He shrugged and threw one arm wide. “I wish it were the Comanche or bandits. Instead of…” He shoved his fingers through his hair with such force that it tugged on his scalp. “Instead of over two hundred and fifty of them lying hooves up a mile from the Pecos.”
She dropped to her knees in front of him. “H…how?” Their hopes and plans for the ranch? All of Ben’s money? Gone?
Ben’s tongue clung to the roof of his mouth.
The longhorns died because of his stupidity and impatience.
If he’d waited for Goodnight. If he’d stuck with what he knew best. If he hadn’t wanted to impress Cora…
“Alkaline water. Most of them. The rest shot because they’d injured a leg in a mad rush down a plateau. ”