Bonds of Matrimony (30 page)

“Chase!” Marcus called
angrily as he swept into the stables.
 
“We’ve got problems.”
 
His
face was red with frustration and anger.
 
But his eyes still held the worry and concern that he’d shown since
first hearing about Stockton.
 

“Is it Tom?” she asked.

“I haven’t even been to the
house yet.
 
It’s my cow.
 
She’s getting worse.
 
We need a doctor immediately.
 
Bells is already on his way to Midland
to get Dr. Burns.
 
He might have
medications that would help her, but that’s not a chance I can take.
 
I can’t afford to wait for him to get
here before I send for a veterinarian.
 
With two of my men already out, I can’t send a third.”

“You need me to go?” she
asked him.

“You can ride faster than
most of my men anyway.
 
I can tell
you how to get there.”

“Of course,” she agreed,
shoving aside the fear of running into Stockton.
 

***

Webb was still struggling to
get Chase Fairfax out of his mind when her brother came racing across his
fields.
 
Terror immediately took
control of his body.
 
Something had
happened to her, he was sure of it.
 
He ran to meet him.

Fairfax was breathless and
didn’t even bother to dismount.
 
“I
need your help, Webb, and Elisa says I can trust you.”

“What’s happened?” he asked,
preparing himself for the bad news.

“Lawson has had an
accident.
 
Bells has gone for Dr.
Burns.
 
And a cow of mine has an
infection.
 
I sent Chase to Midland
to get a veterinarian to treat the cow.”

“Why wouldn’t Bells take
care of that?”

“He had already left.
 
I didn’t have any other choice, I
thought.
 
But it was a stupid
decision.
 
Elisa has reminded me of
that.
 
As strong as Chase pretends
to be, she is a woman.
 
I don’t
know how safe she’ll be riding into town alone.”

“When did she leave?” Webb
asked, already running toward his stables.
 

“Not long ago.
 
Elisa ran out yelling at me as soon as
she left.
 
I came here
immediately.
 
I didn’t know what
else to do.
 
Elisa told me you
would help.
 
I don’t know why you
should lift a finger to help me, but Elisa thinks you’re a decent man,” Fairfax
explained, riding beside Webb as he ran.

“Get back to your
ranch.
 
My men can take care of my
place.
 
I’ll catch up to her,” Webb
promised him.
 
He wondered if
Marcus Fairfax had any idea that he wasn’t the one he was lifting a finger to
help.

“Hurry.
 
You’ve seen her ride,” he
reminded.
 
And then he was gone.

Elisa had been right.
 
Slaughter was a small town with mostly
good people.
 
But Midland was a
bigger city with bigger problems.
 
No woman should be wandering around town by herself, much less one as
naïve and beautiful as Chase Fairfax.
 
He didn’t even know if she’d been to Midland before.
 

He practically hugged his
horse, riding fast and low through fields, taking shortcuts that Chase wouldn’t
know about.
 
He weighed the chances
of him catching up to her.
 
Marcus
hadn’t told him which route she was taking.
 
And as he’d pointed out, Webb had seen her ride.
 
She was an incredible rider…and not
just for a woman.

He squinted against the
sweat dropping from his brow into his eyes, feeling the dreaded certainty that he
would not find her in time.
 
He
kicked his heels into his horse harder than he’d intended, trying not to
imagine what dangers lay ahead for her.
 

And then she was in front of
him.
 
Granted, she was far in front
of him, but he could see her.
 
Actually, he could see a dust cloud trailing behind someone on horse; he
assumed it was Chase.

Webb called out to her
repeatedly, pushing his horse yet harder.
 
“Chastity!” he yelled, growing angry at her inability to hear him.
 
She definitely wasn’t slowing down, and
as far as he could see, he wasn’t closing the distance very quickly.

He waited until he drew a
bit closer before trying again.
 
“Cochrane!” Webb called out, coughing on the dust that caught in his
throat.

She looked over her shoulder
a few times before she reigned in her horse and waited for him to catch
her.
 
Her big eyes were determined
when she greeted him.

“What are you doing here?”
she asked.

“Your brother decided he
didn’t want you to ride alone,” Webb explained, trying to catch his
breath.
 
He was more than a bit
irritated to see that she didn’t even appear to be slightly winded.
 
“Elisa told him to send me.”

“We must hurry,” she
instructed formally.

***

Until Webb had caught up to her,
she had thought of nothing other than Jett Stockton, and what she would do if she
ran into him.
 
Fortunately, Chase
had made it through town without incident and was well on her way to Midland
before Webb caught up with her.
 
For the rest of the ride, she could think of nothing other than whether
or not Marcus had told Colton about her betrothal.
 
But he didn’t mention it, and she certainly wasn’t going to
bring it up.

They rode in silence for a
bit, focusing more on keeping their pace brisk.
 
She reveled in the feel of the dry wind on her face and the
scent of the country in the air.
 
Never before would she have imagined that the smell of cattle ranches
would appeal to her.
 
But it
represented nature to her now and life…and freedom.

“Marcus has explained to me
that he breeds the cattle and raises them.
 
But he doesn’t actually drive his cattle to market,” Chase
nearly shouted to be heard over the pounding of their horses’ hooves.

Colton glanced over at her
without comment.
 

“Is that how you manage your
ranch, as well?”

“Yes.
 
There is a man from Midland who I
contract to take my cattle to Denison, where they are slaughtered and shipped
North.
 
Is there a reason we’re
riding like madmen?” he asked.

She grinned and tugged on
Artemis’s reins, encouraging her to slow her pace.
 
Colton did the same.
 
Once they were both slowed to a light gallop, Colton spoke up
again.
 
"Did you have a
question about that?”

“I’m surprised that you
don’t drive your own cattle.
 
You
don’t strike me as one who easily trusts others to take care of his
business.
 
And besides, I hear that
the cattle drive is quite an adventure.”

“It is,” he answered with a
nod and a raised eyebrow.
 
“And
thank you for the analysis of my apparently brooding character.”

“I didn’t say you were
brooding,” she corrected with a slight smile.
 

“The cattle drive used to be
a great adventure.
 
Dangerous,
too.
 
And not nearly as profitable
as shipping the already slaughtered stock.”

“What was dangerous about
driving cattle?”

He laughed.
 
“What
wasn’t
dangerous?” he answered dryly.
 
“Fifty years ago, even more recently than that, drovers used
to take their cattle from their ranches here in Texas all the way North.
 
Southern Kansas and Missouri were
notorious at that time for being home to a number of lawless mobs.
 
They would go to any length to take the
stock of cattle from the drover.
 
Some drovers were fortunate and escaped with their lives, even though they
lost their stock.
 
Others weren’t
so fortunate.”

“They murdered them?” She
was surprised that she had never heard how vicious some of these adventurous
cattle drives turned out.

“Only after they had tied
them up and whipped them brutally.
 
Some cowboys would deliberately add hundreds of miles to their drive to
avoid those particular areas.”
 
Her
silence encouraged him to continue.
 
“Eventually, the railways realized the money that was to be made through
shipping livestock to the northern markets.
 
A stockyard was built in Abilene, which was a considerably
shorter drive.
 
And for a number of
years, Abilene’s stockyard was a great success.
 
Many ranchers made their fortunes in Abilene, but more of
them lost their fortunes.
 
Disease
struck the cattle in the North, especially those shipped from Texas, so many
northern markets decided not to buy the Texan cattle.
 
Then the railway company broke the contract they had made
with the shippers, which cost a number of men even more money.
 
So drovers took their business to other
cities and other stockyards who used other railways.
 
Over time, the market picked up again, and eventually, the
railway and stockyard was built in Denison.
 
It’s not as close as Abilene was, but it’s been a profitable
stockyard for me, and your brother, too, I imagine,” he added.
 
“And since Denison started using their
refrigerated cars twenty or thirty years ago, it’s been especially convenient.”

“How is that?”

“Think of what it took to
drive those cattle hundreds of miles.
 
It wasn’t uncommon for a drover to take nearly a month to get to the
desired stockyard.
 
Naturally, it
didn’t take that long to get to Abilene.
 
But it took almost that long to get to Kansas City, where a number of
drovers used to ship the stock.
 
In
that month’s time, some cattle die, some wander off or are stolen, and most of
them lose weight.
 
The better
fattened your stock, the better your profits,” he explained.
 
“Once you get your cattle to Kansas
City, you find a buyer and ship them further north.
 
Train travel isn’t much easier on these animals than driving
is.
 
They lose more weight and can
become even more sickly.
 
Now
imagine that you only need to drive your cattle a hundred miles or two.
 
Once there, your cattle are
slaughtered, the meat refrigerated and shipped north.
 
No sick or bruised cattle.
 
No thinning of the stock.
 
No months lost.
 
It’s a great improvement in a mere forty or fifty years, when you think
about it.
 
And the beef industry in
the north has become much improved, which increases our profits down here.”

“I had no idea,” Chase
answered, in awe of the amount of work and risk that ranchers had endured for
so many years.
 

They rode the rest of the
way in silence.
 
They slowed their
horses to a trot as they approached the veterinarian’s farm.

“Why did you agree to ride
by yourself?” he asked, breaking the silence.

“Nobody else could go,” she
answered simply.
 
“Marcus needed me
to go.”

“Do you understand it’s not
safe for a lady to be wandering around Midland by herself?
 
Most of the people are good people, but
not all of them are.”

“I didn’t have time to
consider that, Colton.
 
I just was
worrying about getting the medication for Marcus’s cow.”

“I had time to consider
it.
 
That was all I was considering
until I saw your dust cloud ahead of me.
 
Scared the hell out of me,” he muttered sourly.

“I’m sure it would have
scared the hell out of me, too, had it occurred to me.
 
But I’m fine.
 
And I am grateful that you are here with me,” she offered
with a small smile.

“Even with those blasted
trousers on and that hat shoved down over your hair, even with all the dirt and
sweat on your face you’re beautiful.”
 
The compliment came out sounding like a curse.

She studied the buildings to
her right in order to hide her grin of satisfaction from him.
 
“Thank you,” she answered quietly.