Brave the Wild Wind

Chapter 31

CHASE woke to the sounds of pots clanging as someone put coffee on and started breakfast. He stared in vexation at the still-black sky. Three mornings ago, when he’d been awakened in a similar manner for the first time, he’d been angry enough to voice his objections, but had received only laughter and jesting from the others. They were used to rising before dawn for a day’s hard work. He was not. They called him a greenhorn. Hell, he was a greenhorn.

But he’d gotten himself into this, had insisted on it, so it did no good to complain. He’d like to think he was only being gallant, coming to a lady’s rescue and all that, but that was far from the truth.

Actually, he had seen less of Jessie in the three days since he’d followed her out to the range than he’d expected. He had been given the easy task of guarding the water hole where the cattle were being brought and seeing that the herd didn’t wander too far off. He saw Jessie once, maybe twice, a day, when she brought in the stragglers from the hills. At night, she was so tired that they exchanged no more than a few words before she bedded down close to the fire with the others. He never saw her alone. In the mornings, no one saw her, not even the cook, who was the first to rise.

Chase sat up and shivered in the predawn cold. It must be thirty degrees or lower, he thought. His blanket was sodden and covered by a thin layer of frost. But it was only the first week in November.

Why would anyone want to start a ranch in such cold country? But Thomas Blair had, and the cattle had survived it. The men were used to working in freezing weather.

A cup of hot coffee would help, he decided, shivering at the prospect of having to get up to get it. He glanced over to where Jessie had bedded down last night, but the spot was empty. There was only the frostless outline where her blanket had been. Gone, the same as every other morning. Why? At least the sun was coming up by the time the men finished their breakfast and headed out, but Jessie took off while it was still pitch dark. He’d asked her where she went so early, but she had shrugged evasively.

He shook his head, his mind going back to what had happened the night before last. She had taken the new calamity better than most would, after her initial burst of outrage. The last thing she’d expected to hear from Mitch Faber when he rode into their small camp that night was that every single head of cattle he had taken north had been stolen, stolen the day before they were due to deliver the herd.

The men were set upon at night, while they slept, the man standing guard over the herd disappearing altogether.

“Knocked us clean out,” Mitch said. “I didn’t even know what hit me. We weren’t hurt worse than that, though. They weren’t out to kill us, just take the herd.”

It hadn’t been necessary to kill them, Jessie learned. By the time Mitch and the men with him reached the first mining town on their list, so they could report the theft to the sheriff, it was all pointless. The cattle thieves had their timing perfect. The thieves had every cow sold before Mitch and his men woke up. And the most galling part was that the herd would be sold to the very miners Jessie had contracted with. An agent had bought the whole herd and divided it and had the cattle ready to be driven on to the surrounding towns. He had a receipt. He’d paid in cash, dealing through the bank, which was his witness. There wasn’t a damn thing the sheriff could do.

There wasn’t a damn thing Mitch could do, either. The agent could not be blamed for assuming the men who brought the herd into town were from the Rocky Valley Ranch. They sold him the contracts, which had been stolen from Mitch while he was knocked out. Jessie had never dealt with an agent before, so he didn’t know her or Mitch.

“How could they know about the contracts?” Jessie had demanded.

She took the news hard, her face ashen, her eyes disbelieving. Chase understood. He knew of the outstanding loan she had at the bank. She would have no money coming in now to put toward the debt, and no money to pay her men with, either.

Jessie turned furious when she heard of the disappearance of the man who had been standing guard. Blue Parker. Mitch confessed that Blue had been acting strangely during the drive. Yes, Blue knew of the contracts. And he had been surly and discontent for a month before the drive. Chase realized that was about the time he’d arrived at the Rocky Valley. Jessie realized it, too, and gave him a withering look, as if it were all his fault. Chase didn’t even know Blue Parker, but he found out later that he was the young man he had discovered with Jessie that first day. That was all Jessie told him, explaining who Blue was. But it was obvious she thought Parker was in with the cattle thieves, and it was obvious who they were.

She was too angry that night to explain any more to Chase, cursing Parker, cursing Laton Bowdre. By the time she had calmed down, Chase didn’t have the heart to bring the subject up again. But he was damn well curious about Parker. Remembering that scene he had come upon, finding them together, gave him little sleep that night.

Chase finally braved the cold and put his bedding away. What a difference a month made! It hadn’t been nearly so cold when he’d camped out under the stars on his search for Jessie, and that had been only late September.

He took a cup of coffee, clasping it tightly to warm his hands. The other two men who sat near the fire eating fried steak and eggs grinned at him as he stood there shaking.

“You’ll get used to it, Summers, if you stick around long enough,” Ramsey offered.

“Gonna get worse, friend,” the middle-aged cowpuncher called Baldy told him, chuckling. “Looks like we’ll be havin‘ us some snow any day now.”

Chase grunted, and both men laughed. It was only the three of them, as it had been from the start, for they were the only two hands Jessie had besides Jeb and the two others who had gone on the drive with Mitch and Blue. Jessie had sent Mitch and one of the men to Ft. Laramie to try to sell some beef there, enough to pay her men. The second man had quit when she refused to give him time off for a little revelry. She had had to ride back to the ranch with him in order to scrape up enough money to pay him off. Chase had wanted to clobber the bastard, but it was Jessie’s business, and he knew she wouldn’t appreciate his interfering.

He wanted desperately to help her out of this new trouble. Hell, he would give her every cent he had if she would just take it.

“Either of you get a chance to talk to Jessie before she left this morning?” Chase asked casually as he took a plate and filled it.

Baldy shook his head without looking up from his breakfast. “Her ridin‘ out was what woke me. Didn’t see nothin’ but the tail end of her horse.”

“Which way did she go?” Chase ventured.

Ramsey answered, “She told me last night she’d be riding west today, up into the foothills. Said not to expect her back for a few days.”

Baldy shrugged. “If she’s goin‘ that far afield, she’s probably gonna stop by the supply shack. She should’ve said somethin’ to me. I was by there yesterday and stocked up good. I could’ve saved her the trip.”

Chase was feeling more and more miserable. The thought of not seeing her for several days...

“Switch places with me today, Ramsey?” Chase said impulsively.

Ramsey looked at him in surprise. Both men knew that he had recently been wounded.

“You sure you’re up to it?”

“Some of them older cows can get pretty testy about bein‘ herded in when they’re used to roamin’ free,” Baldy added.

“I think I can manage,” Chase said firmly. “And I need the exercise. I’ve been resting up too long as it is.”

“Sure thing then,” Ramsey agreed.