Texas Pride: Night Riders (10 page)

“Why should he show it to Sadie?”

“She said you were coming to her store to buy a dress for the dance. Mr. Thompson said that could not be true because you had already bought some material. When the widow Lowell did not believe him, Mr. Thompson took out the bolt and showed her. I thought it was very nice material and would make a beautiful dress, but I did not feel it was my place to say so.”

“You’ve never been slow to offer your opinion before,” Carla snapped. “Why should I believe you are now?” She burst into unexpected laughter. “What a fool I am. You’ve found a way to give your opinion even while protesting you didn’t have the right.” She shook her head. “If the rest of your family is like you, I’m surprised they haven’t hornswoggled the Russians out of everything but their underwear.”

“What is this
hornswoggle
? I think you make up words to confuse me.”

Carla chuckled. “It means to swindle, to cheat.”

“A Stanislas does not cheat. It would violate our honor.”

Carla gave him a sharp look. “You said your name was Ivan Nikolai.”

Ivan drew himself up. “I was born Ivan Nikolai Augustus Stanislas. At my father’s death, I became Prince Poniatowski. When I came to America, I decided to shorten my name. I do not want anything I do to reflect badly on my family.”

They rode for a few moments in silence. The sun was already three quarters of the way across the horizon, but it beat down on their backs with undiminished intensity. They crossed an arroyo, which would stay dry except during the heaviest rainstorm. Their horses avoided cactuses without needing guidance. The stock they passed appeared well-fed despite the withering heat and extended dryness.

“Your family means a lot to you.” It was a statement rather than a question.

“Just as your family means a lot to you,” Ivan replied.

“It’s not the same,” Carla said. “I love Danny and my parents because they were part of my life. You love people you’ve never seen, people who’ve been dead hundreds of years.”

“It is not love I feel for those people so long dead. It is respect for what they have done that I value. They have done much for the good of Poland.”

“My family hasn’t done anything for anybody but themselves.” Carla seemed to say that more to herself than Ivan.

“They have helped develop this country. They built a ranch where none was before.”

“And Danny lost half of it because he gambled when he was drunk.”

“There have been drunks and gamblers in my family as well.” Ivan had heard many stories about the sad endings of those who had besmirched the family name. They had been turned into cautionary tales to scare younger family members into a making sure such a fate didn’t overtake them.

“He doesn’t drink because he knows what it will do to him, but your friend Mr. diViere knew just how to needle him. Danny has been teased about his looks his whole life. Even girls do it. They don’t mean anything by it, but it hurts him.”

“Laveau is not my friend.”

“Then why did he give you his half of the ranch?”

“Laveau is not safe in Texas. He has many enemies.”

“Why didn’t he just sell? Somebody would buy half a ranch, especially if it was being sold cheaply.”

“Laveau has enough money to live well, but he likes to make trouble. I think he is angry at me for surviving his treachery. He is most angry at Cade for marrying his sister and making successful a ranch Laveau would have driven into ruin.”

“Do you think he’s trying to cause trouble by letting Riley set up his camp here?”

“I have no reason to distrust Riley. I will never trust Laveau again.”

Their aristocratic backgrounds had made them outsiders in a troop made up of farmers, ranchers, and a few misfits. In a group that slept in concealment by day and rode in silence by night, there was little chance to develop friendships. It had been Laveau’s ability to speak French, the only language Ivan knew besides Polish, that had been the real basis for the bond between them. Because it had been so difficult to learn English, Ivan had depended heavily on Laveau.

“I don’t trust Mr. diViere or the Reconstruction government,” Carla said, “but if Riley can stop the bandits, he can use any part of my ranch he wants. As soon as the other ranchers find out, they’ll probably offer him the use of their land as well.”

“Perhaps you should mention it to Mr. Hardin.”

“Why?” Carla looked suspicious.

“You said his land was closer to the border.”

“You don’t trust Riley, do you?”

“I would like it better if his camp was not on our ranch.”

“It’s not
our
ranch,” Carla reminded him. “As far as I’m concerned, every foot of it still belongs to me and Danny.”

Ivan figured that was how she would react. He just wanted to make sure. “What are you going to do if the judge does not rule in your favor, and you do not have the money to buy Laveau’s half at the end of a year?”

“I’ll worry about that when the time comes.”

“You could always marry Mr. Hardin. I am sure he would give you the money.”

Carla reacted like he’d slapped her. “I would never marry Kesney—or any other man for that matter—just for the money to buy back the land Mr. diViere won by cheating.”

“I did not think you would.”

“Then why did you ask?”

Angry with him, Carla kicked her horse into a fast canter and left him behind. That didn’t bother Ivan. In fact, he smiled. He found out what he
really
wanted to know. Carla wasn’t in love with Kesney Hardin.

***

“Laveau’s letter looks valid to me,” Lukey said to Carla two days later. “Even if it wasn’t, Governor Davis has the power to do just about anything he wants. Do you have any reason to think something is wrong?”

Carla glanced at Ivan. “He can explain better than I can.”

Lukey looked slightly baffled. “You two seem to be getting along a lot better. What happened?”

Carla felt the heat rise in her neck. She resolutely refused to blush. “I’m still angry about why Ivan’s here, but he’s given me no reason to dislike him personally.”

“Myrtle is still singing his praises,” Lukey said with a chuckle. “Half the town thinks she’s set her sights on him. But give her time. She’ll soon find something to dislike. But that’s not answering your question about Riley. Is he bothering you in any way?”

“No.”

“People in town are glad to have him here. We’ve been lucky to lose so few cows, but even a few cows can make a big difference for some ranchers.”

“I know that, but Ivan has known Mr. diViere for a long time. He says he can’t be trusted.”

“What does he have to do with Riley’s troop?” Lukey asked Ivan.

“That is what I do not know,” Ivan said. “Laveau diViere is a very bad man. If he can do a thing in a way to hurt someone, he will.”

“Maybe,” Lukey said, “but I don’t see how he can have anything to do with Riley going after Mexican bandits.”

“Laveau never does anything without expecting a profit in return.”

“Maybe he’s being paid for the use of his land.”

“
My
land,” Carla corrected.

“That is possible,” Ivan said, “but I do not think so. It is too respectable.”

“I don’t like diViere any more than you do,” Lukey said. “Even if he was involved in Riley’s operation, there’s nothing I could do. I doubt a judge would say any different. Riley has his authorization directly from the governor.”

“That’s pretty much what I figured Lukey would say,” Carla told Ivan when they were outside once again. “Maybe diViere is charging Riley rent for the use of my land.”

“Maybe,” Ivan agreed, “but it is not like Laveau to be honest, even in small things.”

“Stop worrying until you have something to worry about,” Carla advised. “Now I need to buy some extra supplies if I’m going to be feeding you.”

“I can feed myself.”

“You’ll be working with me and Danny. It only makes sense for all of us to eat together.”

It felt like she was telling a lie. She wasn’t. She just wasn’t telling the whole truth. She hadn’t realized, when she had watched Ivan dance with Beth, that her attraction was more than physical. She’d ignored the feeling at first, deciding it was irritation at being forced to play the piano for his dance lesson. After she had allowed Ivan to handle the situation with Riley, a concession she wouldn’t have allowed Danny, she couldn’t pretend any longer.

She still couldn’t say why she’d done it. She didn’t trust Ivan’s judgment more than she trusted her own. She hadn’t conceded that Laveau owned half of her ranch or that Ivan had the right to decide what happened on it. Ever since her parents died, she’d vigorously maintained her independence in managing the ranch as well as her personal life. She’d tried to make it clear to everyone in Overlin that neither Kesney Hardin nor any other man had a claim on her. So why had she allowed Riley to think Ivan was her husband? Why was she treating Ivan differently? Being forced to accept him temporarily may have been what brought them together, but it was no reason for her growing feeling that Ivan was unlike any man she’d ever known, a difference she found more appealing than she would have ever believed.

And it wasn’t his charming accent, his devastating smile, or his amusing, yet frustrating, trouble with the English language. If she hadn’t been able to come up with a satisfactory answer last night even though she’d lain in bed for at least an hour trying to do so, she couldn’t reasonably expect to do so in the short walk from Lukey’s office to the mercantile.

“I wonder if Mr. Thompson found a tent for you,” she said to Ivan.

“I should tell him I have no need of it now,” Ivan said. “I will do that when we finish your shopping.”

“I can do that myself.”

“You will need me to carry everything to the buggy.”

Carla laughed. “Ivan, I did the shopping by myself before you came.”

“But I am here now.”

That seemed as good an answer as she was going to get. Ivan was here now, and everything was different. She wondered if every man in Poland was like Ivan. Her attention was drawn to a man galloping into town. No one rode a horse at a gallop down Overlin’s narrow, often crowded streets.

“I wonder what’s happened to Wilbur,” Carla said to Ivan.

“He seems upset,” Ivan said.

“I hope nothing has happened to Laurie or the children.” She moved to the edge of the boardwalk intending to call out to Wilbur, but he shouted to her as he rode past.

“Bandits! I’m wiped out.”

Danny and Ivan rode down a dry wash, lined with chaparral thickets, that stretched hundreds of feet on each side. The soft sand absorbed the force of each step with a muffled whoosh. The afternoon sun boiled down on them, causing perspiration to run down their backs and soak through their shirts. Danny had tied his bandana around his forehead to keep the sweat out of his eyes.

“I don’t know why you’re so reluctant for me to contact Riley,” Danny said to Ivan. “Chasing down bandits and finding stolen cows is why he’s here.”

Ivan had given up trying to justify his distrust of Riley’s stated reason for setting up a camp on Reece land. Not everyone believed Laveau had cheated, but Ivan knew him as no one in Overlin did. The man took pleasure in causing pain and suffering, especially to the survivors of his treason and those they loved. Ivan didn’t know how Riley having a camp on Carla’s land could hurt him, but he’d been suspicious from the moment Laveau promised him ownership of the land after one year. Laveau didn’t give anything away without expecting more in return.

“I’m going to ask Riley to let me ride with him,” Danny said.

Ivan had been afraid of that. Danny was restless, eager for a way to restore his pride. “He already has his troop.”

“There’s only six of them. I’m sure he could use an extra man.”

“Have you told your sister?”

“I told her when we were looking for a place for his camp.”

“What did she say?”

“Exactly what you’d expect. I’m too young, too inexperienced. That it’ll be too dangerous.”

All of which was true. “What about your work on the ranch?”

“What work? I don’t have any land anymore.”

“That is not a reason to desert your sister.”

Danny drove his horse out of the streambed through a break in the chaparral. The soft sand gave way to a crusty surface that supported a thin crop of curly mesquite grass. Cactus and yucca dotted the open plain between clumps of huisache. Each plant seemed to be holding its breath, conserving every precious drop of moisture until the fall rains started. On this blazingly hot day, that seemed very far off.

“I’m not deserting her. I probably won’t be gone more than a day or two. Besides, doing this will help protect the ranch. If the bandits know they can’t steal from us without us taking the cows right back, they’ll stop bothering us.”

There was some logic in what Danny said, but Ivan was certain his sister wouldn’t care about that.

Danny patted his saddlebags and pointed to his rifle in its scabbard. “I came prepared. I can show Riley the quickest and easiest way to Wilbur’s ranch. Time is important.”

Ivan knew that better than Danny. During the war, their ability to get far away quickly had been their best defense against reprisals.

“Why don’t you come with us?” Danny asked.

“Someone has to stay here.”

“Well, it won’t be me. Carla likes you better than she likes me just now.”

“I hope Carla has come to think of me as a friend, but she loves you.”

Danny chuckled. “And I have the bruises to prove it.”

Ivan advanced several more arguments during the time it took to reach Riley’s camp, but he was unable to change Danny’s mind.

Riley’s camp was compact and tightly organized. It was almost completely enclosed by the chaparral thicket. The horses were picketed a distance away so they could graze when they weren’t needed. Riley came out of his tent to meet them.

“Come to check up on me?” he asked Ivan.

“No,” Danny answered. “We’ve come to tell you bandits hit Wilbur Joiner’s ranch last night and drove off nearly every cow he owned.”

Riley turned to face the small cluster of tents. “Fall out,” he shouted. “Be ready to ride in ten minutes.”

Five men burst from their tents and headed off at a run.

“How can they be ready that fast?” Danny asked.

Riley favored Danny with a fatherly smile. “We’re always ready to ride at a minute’s notice. It’s the only way to catch bandits before they get so far south it’s too dangerous to go after them.”

“I want to ride with you,” Danny said.

Riley looked hesitant.

“Wilbur is going,” Danny said. “I don’t see why I can’t.”

“We don’t usually take civilians with us,” Riley said.

“If you think you’re riding without Wilbur, you don’t know him,” Danny said. “Those were his cows. He’d go all the way to Mexico City to get them back.”

“We don’t have time for you to get ready,” Riley said.

Danny grinned broadly. “I figured that, so I came ready to go.” He pointed to his saddlebags. “I even brought my own grub.”

“Will you come, too?” Riley asked Ivan.

“No.”

“I could use a man with your experience.”

“My experience is needed here.”

“Suit yourself,” Riley said before turning to Danny. “We really do ride out in ten minutes. Now I have to get ready.”

“Be careful,” Ivan said to Danny. “Going after men who will try to kill you is a serious business.”

“I know that,” Danny said, impatiently. “I’m not stupid.”

“I know, but you have never done anything like this. I have.”

“I’m tired of being the only one who’s
never
done
anything
like
this
,” Danny complained. “I’m seventeen, but everybody acts like I’m twelve. It’s time everybody started treating me like a man.”

Ivan could understand Danny’s frustration. His family had acted the same way when he decided to come to America. Danny had to have his chance to prove he had grown up, that he was worthy of the responsibilities of a man. Ivan just hoped he could make his sister understand.

***

“Why didn’t you stop him?” Carla demanded. “He doesn’t know anything about chasing bandits.”

“I am not his father,” Ivan said. “I cannot tell him what to do.”

“You’re bigger than he is.”

“So you think I should have tied him up and returned him to his sister? Is that the kind of humiliation you wish for your brother?”

“Of course not,” Carla shot back, “but I don’t want him returned to me across his horse’s saddle.”

Carla had been about to start supper when Ivan returned. She’d greeted him with a smile so warm, so welcoming that he wished he could have found a way to put off telling her about Danny. He would have enjoyed, even for a few minutes, being treated as a friend rather than as a hostile invader. But he couldn’t wait for her to ask why Danny would miss supper.

Carla thrust the last piece of wood into the stove and slammed the door. “I can’t believe he would leave without saying anything to me.”

“He said he mentioned yesterday that he wanted to ride with Riley.”

Carla took a match out of a box but didn’t strike it. “Saying he wanted to ride with Riley and actually doing it are two different things.” She looked around, appeared not to find what she was looking for, and put the match back in the box with a hiss of irritation. “Didn’t you even
try
to stop him?”

Ivan related his several arguments.

“I don’t know why I thought he would listen to you,” she said when he had finished. “He probably wouldn’t have listened to me, either.”

“Riley tried to discourage him, but he would not change his mind.”

Carla moved to the table and dropped into a chair. “I don’t understand why he was so determined to go.”

Ivan hesitated a moment before joining Carla at the table. “He said everybody still treats him as a child. He wants to prove he is now a man.”

“That’s stupid! Nobody treats him like a child.”

“Did you not hit him when he lost the ranch? I think you kicked him, too. I know you shouted at him because you told me. Is that what you would have done to Lukey?”

“If Lukey had done anything that stupid, I’d have shot him!” Carla declared.

“See. You do not treat Danny as a man. You did not try to shoot him.”

Carla choked off a spurt of laughter. “I wouldn’t shoot my brother no matter what he had done.”

“No, but you should have tried.”

Carla lost all desire to laugh. “You can’t be serious.”

“I know you would not shoot Danny. He would take the gun away, or you would only threaten, but by threatening to shoot him, you face him with a man’s punishment. Hitting him is what you would do to a misbehaving child.”

Carla stared at Ivan. “Either you’re crazy, or I am.”

Ivan laughed. “You have never been a young boy trying to become a man. Because he is so handsome and so nice, everybody has treated him like a pet. You make decisions for him. You do not let him do things you expect other boys to do. You protect him from danger.”

“He’s my little brother. What would you expect me to do?”

“He is not such a little brother. Maybe it is time you let him protect
you
.”

Carla started to say something. Instead, she cast Ivan an angry look then turned away. “I have my father’s temper,” she said in a subdued voice. “I also have his certainty that I’m the only one who can make the right decisions.” She raised her gaze to Ivan. “After what Danny did, do you think I could trust him to make any important decision?”

“You could invite him to make decisions
with
you. That way he could learn why you think as you do.”

“I’ve tried, but Danny doesn’t want to make decisions. He just wants to ride his horse and play cards.”

“I think losing his part of the ranch has changed him.”

“I should hope so,” Carla said emphatically. “It certainly has changed me.”

“How?” Maybe he shouldn’t have asked that question, but he wanted to know what Carla was really like. The longer he was around her, the stronger his attraction to her grew. She had a temper and didn’t try to hide it. She was brusque, opinionated, and strong-willed. She was as ready to spend a day in the saddle as she was to cook a supper of bacon, beans, and cornbread. She considered herself the equal of any man and disdained the use of the usual feminine arts to make herself more attractive. She was about as different as possible from the women he knew growing up in Poland.

Despite all that, she possessed a feminine allure that nothing could disguise.

“I thought good would always triumph over bad,” Carla said. “Silly of me, wasn’t it?”

“No.”

Carla got up, walked over to the window above her working area, and looked out. “I never used to be afraid of tomorrow. Now it scares me silly.”

“Why?”

Carla just shook her head then turned away from the window. “I’d better get started on supper before you starve.”

Even though Carla wasn’t like the women he’d known growing up, Ivan had been around Cade’s wife long enough to know that a strong woman occasionally needed comforting. He rose from his chair and intercepted Carla on her way to the stove. When he took her hands in his, she tried to pull away but stopped resisting when he wouldn’t release her. “What frightens you?”

She shook her head and refused to meet Ivan’s gaze.

“You can tell me. I will help.”

Carla pulled her hands from Ivan’s grasp and turned away from him. “How can you help when you’re part of the problem?”

“I do not understand.”

“As soon as you get what you want, you’re going back to Poland.”

“Do you care that I go to Poland?”

“Of course not. You can go now for all I care. In fact, it would be better if you leave now.”

“Why? I would not have any money.”

“Men!” Carla exclaimed. “Why are you all so stupid?”

“You think I am stupid?”

“You can fix all the doors and gate latches you want, but you don’t know a thing about people.”

“What people?”

“Me!”

Before Ivan could think of a response, Carla turned and ran from the kitchen. A moment later he heard the door to her bedroom close. He stood there, poised between hope and despair. Was she upset with him because he had let Danny ride off with Riley, or was she upset with him because she liked him and didn’t want him to leave? He was certain it was the first, but he hoped that didn’t mean the second was impossible. Once he sold his land, he didn’t mean to stay in Texas a minute longer than it took to pack his saddlebags. He hoped Carla would be able to find the money to buy back Danny’s half. Breaking up her ranch would take a lot of the pleasure out of going home.

He looked at the room around him. It was completely different from the way a Polish prince would live. In Poland he would never see the inside of a kitchen. Food was brought by servants to the family dining room that could seat a dozen. A dining room that could seat fifty was used for special occasions. Their home was built of stone and marble, not logs and rough-hewn timbers. Rooms were measured in meters rather than feet. Walls were covered with hand-painted wallpaper and intricately carved wood. Life-sized portraits of ancestors long dead lined the halls and galleries. Women wore silks and satins, a fortune in jewels around their necks and in their powdered hair. They spoke French. And no one
worked
. That was left to the lower classes.

Much to his surprise, that world seemed more foreign to him than Carla’s kitchen with its wood-burning stove, rough-topped table, and wooden cupboard. The plain food she prepared each day was as satisfying as anything that could be prepared by the three chefs his family used to employ. Getting dressed and undressed here was a matter of minutes, not hours. Here no one criticized what he wore or valued him according to their estimate of his wealth. Here he didn’t have to spend his days in unproductive activity and his evenings in search of entertainment.

But life here was foreign to him. The language was a continual mystery. Before he came to Texas, he wouldn’t have believed humans could survive such heat. And that didn’t take into account the insects or the snakes. Or Longhorns that would rather gore you than be branded and driven to market. And only Texans could drink what commonly passed for whiskey without ending up dead, or nearly so. Just about the worst thing he could do would be to develop feelings for Carla.

She might not actually dislike him, but she came close enough. In any case, no matter how she felt about him, she would never forgive him for selling half her ranch. There was no chance she would consider going back to Poland with him—or that he would ask her. Just thinking about the reaction of his family and friends to her independent ways would be enough to give him nightmares. They’d probably be ostracized. Even if he wasn’t miserable, Carla would be.