Texas Blue

chapter 15



EM WATCHED THE SMALL GATHERING AROUND A BLAZING fire. It never should have been that big, she thought, but Boyd Sinclair kept tossing extra wood on it like he thought there’d be a snowstorm before their afternoon was over. They were laughing and picnicking.

She waited in the trees as they spread blankets and relaxed in the cool afternoon sun. Finally she got bored and circled around them, heading for the summit. She’d planned to check to make sure the fire was out on her way home, when they would have been long gone.

Only when she returned, no one was there but Lewt. It crossed her mind that maybe they had run off and left him, but his horse was tied twenty feet from the fire. He could have left if he’d wanted to.

Riding in, she watched him trying to shovel dirt on the blaze. The wind caught more dirt than landed on the fire. The breeze also caught him swearing at his efforts.

“Evening,” she said from five feet behind him.

He jerked around and frowned. “Rose told me to make sure the fire was out. I dumped all the water I had on it, and I even went down to the creek a couple of times and refilled the canteens, but every time I get back the fire seems bigger. At this rate I’ll burn the whole ranch down by nightfall.”

She fought down a laugh. “Want some help?”

“Are you offering?”

“I am, but you’ll have to ask me nice.”

He raised an eyebrow as if suspecting a trap. “Please give me a hand?”

She turned and rode off toward the creek.

A few minutes later she found him sitting on a rock waiting. “I guess there’s no need to tell you I’ve never camped out more than a few times in my life. You probably already figured it out.”

She tossed a dripping wet blanket toward him. Swinging off her horse, she took one end of the blanket while he held the other. “Follow me,” she said.

They walked on either side of the fire and lowered the blanket all at once, smothering the flames. Steam rose, creating a fog between them for a minute before she tossed him her corner and said, “Go wet it again. One more time should do it.”

He used her horse as he headed to the creek.

Em took his seat on the rock and tried to figure out this strange man. Apparently his rich, now dead, mole family never let him camp out. The only places they let him go seemed to be cheap restaurants without menu boards and parlor houses where women were rented by the hour. He didn’t know how to dress or ride, but he’d learned to throw a knife with deadly accuracy while attending church.

She decided someone should put Lewton under glass and study him. He was definitely some kind of freak of nature. Shaking her head, she knew she’d have to stay out here with him until the fire was out. She couldn’t leave him. She’d seen headless chickens running around with more sense of direction.

He returned with the blanket dripping with cold water. They repeated their walk on either side of the fire. This time when they pulled the blanket free, the fire was low, scattered among coals.

“You really should stay here awhile to make sure it’s out, or cover it with dirt.” She moved to her horse, wondering if he’d try to stop her from going.

“What are you going to do?” He didn’t look like he thought much of the idea of staying out here alone.

“I’m hoping to get back to the barn before dark,” she said.

“Em, if I asked you to stay, would you?”

“Why?”

“Because we’re friends.”

“So you’re asking me for a favor?”

“Yes.”

She pulled her saddlebags and rifle off her horse. “I’ll stay. Not because I want to be your friend or because I’m worried about you, but because one of these days I might want the favor back and you’ve got to swear you’ll do it.”

“I swear. No matter how mad I’ll probably be at you when it happens, if you call in the favor, you’ll have it.”

They sat down on the rocks close enough to the dying fire to feel the last of its warmth. She opened her saddlebag. “Rose packed me a sandwich and some cookies when she packed the picnic. I didn’t have time to eat it.”

He watched her unwrap the sandwich but didn’t say a word.

“You want some?”

“No thanks, you must be hungry.”

“Not really. Most days I don’t stop to eat lunch.”

“Afraid you’ll get fat?” he asked.

“No, I just don’t take the time. There’s always a handful of things I don’t get done every day.” She offered him half.

He took the sandwich slowly, as if he expected strings to come with it. When she didn’t say anything, he ate.

They sat watching the smoke drift up from the dying fire for a while, and then she asked, “How’d the courting go today?”

“Better, I think.” He stretched his long legs in front of him almost touching her. “I’m learning women are not near as easy to figure out as I thought.”

“You mean it’s simpler if you tell them what you want and they tell you how much it’ll be?”

“Yes, that would be nice. Then I could save up for just the right kind of wife.”

“So, Lewt, what do you want?”

“I want a good woman; you know, someone who doesn’t drink or swear or yell. Someone who’ll be home when I get there with a hot meal waiting. Someone who will keep the kids and will—”

“Stop right there.” She laughed. “If you want kids they cost extra.”

“All right. I’ll take two. A boy and a girl.”

“What about in the bedroom?”

“We’ll have the bedroom. That’s just the way it is when folks are married. She won’t mind the bedroom, she might even like it, but of course she’ll pretend she doesn’t because I think that’s what proper ladies do.”

“They do?”

He swore under his breath. “I can’t believe I’m even talking about this with you. If it weren’t dark I don’t think we’d be having this conversation. But since we are, if I could just go to the store and buy a proper wife, what do you think she’d cost?”

“Would she have to love you?”

“I don’t care. It’s not important. I’ve been living without love all my life, and from what I see, the emotion causes more pain than joy.” He thought about it a minute and added, “I’d tell her I loved her if she needed to hear it. I’d want her to be happy.”

Em handed him two cookies, ate two, and then gave him the last one.

He broke it in two and gave her half.

She stared down at the half, thinking that he was thoughtful even when he wasn’t trying to impress anyone. He’d also told her something very strange. His rich mole family hadn’t loved him.

“Do you know what it takes to make a woman happy?”

He laughed. “I thought I did. Money, a solid house, a man who comes home every night and never beats her. That should be enough to make any woman happy, don’t you think?”

“I think it’s a lot more than that, Lewt.” She stood and picked up her gear. “We’d better be getting back.”

They rode halfway back before the cloudy night grew so dark that Lewt had trouble following.

She stopped and pulled up close. “Turn your horse loose. She’ll go back to the barn eventually. You’d better ride double with me or we’ll be out here all night. There’s a shortcut through the trees and I’m not sure you’ll be able to keep up with me.”

He climbed down, looped his reins over the saddle horn, and slapped his horse hard enough on the rump to send her along. Then he felt for the stirrup and climbed up behind Em. Their hats bumped, along with knees. He spooned his long leg behind hers and removed both their hats and handed them to her so she could string them over the saddle.

She stiffened as he settled in behind her.

He let out a frustrated breath. “I know you don’t like it, but do you mind if I circle my arm around you? I feel like I could fall off without anything to hang on to.”

“All right,” she said. “I’ll just pretend you’re not there.”

“Fair enough,” he said, close to her ear.

They rode through the shadows of the trees. She’d crossed this way a hundred times in daylight, but never in darkness. Probably for fear he’d touch the wrong thing, he put one hand on the saddle horn and the other at her belt buckle. In the blackness, she laid her hand over his.

He seemed to understand. He turned his palm up and held her gloved hand tightly in his.