Chapter Fourteen
“Are you sure you should be working, Anna?” Connor asked as Anna heaved a saddle onto the rack. “You’re still sore from the other night, aren’t you?”
“It’s been a week since my fall, Connor,” Anna pointed out, rolling her shoulders. “My muscles are tight from working, not from the accident. All the bruises are pretty much gone.”
Connor shook his head. “You were very lucky that you weren’t seriously injured or killed. What if Travis hadn’t been there to help?”
Anna glared at him.
“You’ve made your point very clear, Connor, but you don’t need to fuss. I’m perfectly fine.”
He didn’t need to be so concerned, but Anna understood. She’d done something silly and gone out on her own. It was nothing short of a miracle that she hadn’t been trampled by the cows as she tried to get up.
Before the incident, she thought that she was more than capable of handling things herself. She could get out to the field, round up the herd, and come back shortly after. Instead, she’d almost ended up being part of the mud. If Travis hadn’t been there…
Anna didn’t want to think about it. But she was glad that he had been.
Travis was more helpful than she had originally thought.
And after their talk that night about him wanting to help and support her, she felt like she had something of an ally in him.
Things were still a little tenuous between them, and they had the arrangement at the forefront of their minds, but Anna could feel her resolve melting a little regarding Travis.
She found herself looking around for him whenever she was working, wondering what he was doing.
They would have meals together in the main house, spend time talking in front of the fire, or just sit there reading.
Sometimes, Travis would be at the writing desk composing letters.
Anna wanted to ask who he was writing to, but guessed it would be to his beloved Peggy, and she didn’t want to find out more about the woman who had Travis’s attention.
Even so, she found herself wondering why a man like Travis would agree to a marriage of convenience. Most people married for affection, companionship, or the hope of building a family. There was something she couldn't quite reconcile about a man willingly entering such an arrangement.
“At least you weren’t alone this time,” Connor grunted. “Travis does seem to have his uses.”
“Where is he now?”
“He’s just checking on the well. The contraption on it is broken, so he’s mending it.”
Anna frowned. “It’s broken? How long has it been like that?”
“We only noticed it this morning. We’ve managed to get some water out, but we need for it to be up and running. Travis offered to fix it.” Connor shrugged. “It probably broke after being battered during the storm last week.”
“But it should’ve broken down last week, not days later,” Anna pointed out.
When she’d been to the well for water the day before, it looked perfectly fine with no indications of any cracks or signs of breakage. Now it was being mended? Something didn’t feel right with that. Could someone have tampered with it?
That was ridiculous, though. Who would tamper with a well to stop it from having water?
“Anyway,” Connor went on, brushing down one of the horses. “It should be done soon. Travis was confident he could get it done quickly.”
“He’s pretty good when it comes to woodwork,” Anna admitted.
“I can see that. He knows how to prove his worth as well. I’ve seen him working at everything on the ranch.” Connor wiped sweat off his forehead. “He seems to have stepped up a bit. I think he’s beginning to feel like he actually belongs here.”
Anna couldn’t argue with that. From the beginning, Travis had been trying to prove that he could work on the ranch alongside everyone else.
It was clear he had no experience, but his enthusiasm had made up for it.
There were times when Anna felt a little guilty for treating him so harshly in the beginning.
He wasn’t that bad, and he was an extra pair of hands.
He did well enough that Anna could see his contributions.
And she couldn’t deny the fluttering of her heart whenever he was around.
He gave her a lopsided smile, and Anna felt like she wanted to swoon.
Whenever he worked with his sleeves rolled up, showing the muscular bulges of his arms, she had the urge to run her fingers over them to see how solid they were.
He was strong, she knew that much, but so were the rest of the employees.
So why did he fascinate her so much?
Anna wondered if she was coming down with something.
She shouldn’t be thinking like this about him, even though they were married.
This wasn’t a romantic attachment. They’d laid out the ground rules in the beginning, and Anna wasn’t about to change them because her opinions were beginning to get skewed.
Travis helped her out of a tricky mess, and she made sure he had a home and a job that wasn’t where he was before.
“Anna?”
“Hmm?”
Connor shook his head. He was now leaning against the door of the stall, watching her closely.
“Did you hear me?”
“You mean about him looking like he belongs here?”
He raised his eyebrows. “After that.”
Anna felt her face getting warm. She glowered at him.
“What were you saying, then? Remind me.”
“I just remarked that it was strange that we’ve been having issues more than usual since he arrived.”
Anna frowned. “What do you mean by that?”
“Well, the fences are constantly collapsing even after being fixed. The cows are getting spooked and threatening to stampede. And we’ve had horses escape the fields because someone left the gate open.
I even found the grain in the grain shed had been tampered with.
” Connor’s expression was grim. “Two of the bags had been opened, and broken glass had been put in with the grain.”
Anna stared, stunned by what she was hearing.
“What? Why wasn’t I told about this?”
“You knew about the cattle…”
“What about everything else?”
“Because I handled it. We got it sorted before it escalated.” Connor sighed. “I also knew you had a lot on your plate, and I didn’t want you to worry.”
“And you believe this has been happening since Travis arrived?”
“They didn’t start until he turned up. Either it’s a big coincidence or…”
He didn’t continue, but he didn’t need to. Anna could see where he was going with it. If these things had only happened since Travis arrived, then there had to be a chance he was sabotaging her from the inside. Which might mean he was in league with Edwin.
But Edwin had looked genuinely shocked when she told him about getting married.
He didn’t have a clue what she’d been up to.
Had he gotten to Travis after the marriage, and they made a deal?
Anna didn’t know, but the thought of not being able to trust her husband after their conversation a week ago made her feel nauseous.
She didn’t want to believe it. There was a chance, though, and that was what made her pause.
Even so, she shook her head.
“I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation. Someone else must be doing it.”
“Like who?”
“Edwin, for example. He’s the one who wants me to fail, after all.”
“But often Edwin is in clear sight? I think it has to be someone else.” Connor pursed his lips. “Unless he’s got an accomplice. Which wouldn’t rule out Travis, either.”
That was what Anna was afraid of. She thought about what Travis had said to her about wanting to help and be an equal partner. She had thought they could do it, that they could look out for each other. But had that been a ploy to get into her good graces?
She still didn’t really know much about him at all. Whenever Anna asked him about his past, she got brief answers. He talked about memories, but he avoided discussing anything remotely personal. As soon as he started, he clammed up. That was enough to make her suspicious.
Anna didn’t want to suspect her own husband of being a part of this mess, but with the way he behaved, she wasn’t given much of an option.
“Can you spare one of the ranch hands?” she asked.
“What for?”
“I want them to shadow Travis for a while. See what he does.” Anna put a finger to her lips. “Quietly, of course. I don’t want anyone to know what’s going on.”
“Of course. I can sort that out.” Connor frowned. “You suspect him, too, don’t you?”
“No… not really.” Anna shook herself. “I’m married to him, and I trust him. I just want us to be doubly sure that he’s not the one causing the sabotage.”
Why was she defending him? Anna had never done that with anyone else in the past, with the exception of Emily, Connor, and her father. And she had every reason not to trust Travis. So why was she defending him? From the look on his face, Connor was just as bemused by it.
“Anyway, I’ll go and see how he’s getting on with the well.” She headed toward the door. “Just find someone who can get around without being spotted and see what you can find. If he’s got nothing to do with it, perfect. If he does…”
“We’ll deal with him accordingly,” Connor promised.
Anna didn’t want to think about what that meant.
She hurried from the stables and made her way across the courtyard to where the well was.
The device built to lower the bucket into the water and bring it back up had been taken apart, leaving the well looking like a walled hole in the ground.
Travis was kneeling on the ground, hammering nails into the side of the little roof.
His shirt was sticking to him with sweat, and his face was shiny in the sun.
Anna momentarily wondered if she should go and get him something to drink. He looked worn out.
“Don’t you think you should rest a moment?” she asked.
Travis looked up, brushing sweat off his forehead.
“The sooner I get this sorted, the sooner we can get back to normal with retrieving our water,” he panted. “Someone’s broken the axle in two places and sawed through one of the posts. They all need to be replaced.”