Texas Tender (24 page)

“I've survived this long without being married against my will. I think I can make it a while longer.”

“I don't know what to do with this china,” she said, aware that her tongue was running away. “I'm not used to being the object of a man's attentions, certainly not a man like you.”

“Damn it!”

The explosion was so sudden, so forceful, she jumped. “I didn't mean to—”

“It's not your fault,” he said, instantly regaining his composure. “I keep hoping that some day I'll find a woman who can look at me and see a normal man who's no different from anyone else.
Just once
I want a woman to look at me and not think about my face.”

“It's not going to be easy.”

Wealth and influence she could understand, but she'd never been utterly beautiful, and she had no idea how it affected a person. She wondered if Junie Mae felt the same way as Will, if her beauty had played a significant part in her present difficulty.

“Could you try?” Will asked. “Even if you only like me a little, can you try to see me as a man and not just a face?”

Her life had been so chaotic over the past several years, Idalou hadn't had the chance or the inclination to look at the world from anyone's perspective but her own, so it wasn't easy when she tried to see things the way Will saw them. She wasn't rich, didn't have the security of a large and loving family behind her, or have people falling over themselves to please her. She didn't know what it was like to be a man and have people automatically respect you just because you wore pants and your voice was a resonant baritone.

“You don't understand, do you?” he said. “You think I'm like a spoiled child who cries because he has so many toys he doesn't know which to play with first.”

“I don't think you're spoiled. It's just that I've never thought of what it must be like to have people not bother to find out what you're really like.”

But that wasn't true. People didn't know what she was like or care to find out, because she was a woman. Sometimes that made her so angry she felt
like fighting. “Maybe I do,” she said, a feeling of kinship beginning to grow inside her. “In fact, I think I know exactly how you feel.”

“You do?”

It seemed incredible that she could give a man like Will something he hadn't been able to find anywhere else. “The situation isn't the same, but it's similar. For you, it's your looks. For me, it's being a woman.”

The smile that transformed his face made his incredibly blue eyes glow from within. She ought to tell him that looking as he did right now would destroy all her efforts to ignore his appearance, but she was so glad she could make him smile that she didn't say aword.

“Let's make a promise to each other,” Will said. “You'll never let my face influence anything between us, and I won't let your being female influence me.” He appeared to have been stopped by some inner thought that caused him to burst out laughing. “Hell, I can't do that. If you weren't female, I wouldn't give a damn what you thought about me.”

“I think we understand—”

The door to his office burst open and Carl rushed in. “Rustlers!” he said, barely able to get the words out. “They drove off half our cows.”

“Do you have any idea who did it?” Idalou asked her brother.

“Yeah. Newt Mandrin. I recognized his horse's shoe prints.”

“Are you sure?” Will asked.

“It was definitely Newt's horse. If you ask me, he left the prints intentionally. He probably thinks everybody will be too scared to go after him.”

Will thought Carl was probably right. “Let's go over to the Swinging Door. I need to gather a posse.”

Will's mind started spinning, and he didn't like the thoughts it was throwing out. Newt was a bully and a gunman, but Will figured he was too lazy to put together a scheme to steal cows, and not smart enough to sell them without being caught. Most important, Will didn't like the fact that Newt had made certain Carl knew who'd stolen the cows. Rustlers survived by being anonymous.

Will could come to only one conclusion. Someone else was behind this and was using Newt as a pawn.
Probably the same person who was behind the dynamiting of the dam. Will hoped it wasn't Jordan. He didn't approve of the man's ethics, but he didn't think the rancher would go this far just to get some land.

“I'm going with you,” Idalou announced as they approached the Swinging Door.

“You can't,” Carl said. “You lost all of your riding skirts.”

“I'll split a dress down the front and back before I'll sit around waiting for you to get back, wondering what might have happened to you.”

“I can take care of myself, Lou,” Carl said. “You've got to stop looking over my shoulder.”

“I'm not looking over your shoulder.”

“You're always doing it. The only reason you haven't been plaguing me every day is because I made Will swear he wouldn't tell you where I set up camp.”

Will braced for what he knew was coming next. Idalou turned on him. “You told me he didn't have a camp, that you had to run him down each day.”

“Now isn't the time to hash this out,” Will said. “Once we find the cows, you can have your say.”

Will expected Idalou to give him a tongue lashing right then, but they'd reached the Swinging Door and Carl marched in without hesitating. Though it was just past noon, the place was bustling.

“Newt Mandrin and a bunch of rustlers hit my herd last night,” Carl announced in a voice strong enough to cut through the noise of conversation, laughter, and a sad tune from the piano player. “The sheriff and I are putting together a posse to go after them.”

The room fell silent. Then Jordan McGloughlin stepped forward. “Are you sure it was Newt?”

“He left his calling card,” Carl said. “There's not a
man here who doesn't recognize the peculiar shoe his horse wears.”

“That doesn't make any sense. Newt's never taken to rustling,” Jordan said.

“It doesn't make sense that someone would blow up our dam when we've never cut off the water,” Idalou pointed out, “but it happened.”

Before the old tension between Idalou and Jordan could escalate, Will said, “None of this matters right now. Double-L cows have been rustled. Who will ride with me?” An ominous quiet greeted his question. “It's in everybody's interest to stop rustling before it gets a foothold,” he said, turning to Jordan. “You and Sonnenberg have the most to lose.”

“He's afraid of Newt.” Idalou cast a scornful glance around the room. “All of them are.”

“I'll ride with you,” Van Sonnenberg said, stepping forward. “Dad wouldn't want me to ignore our responsibility to our neighbors.”

He smiled so warmly at Idalou, Will wanted to plant a fist in the man's lying mouth and knock that smile off his deceitful face. Instead, he controlled his anger and turned to McGloughlin. “It's up to you, Jordan.”

It was obvious Jordan was angry at being put in a position where it was impossible to refuse. Will was beginning to think Mara had come by her willfulness and streak of stupidity fair and square.

“Come on, Jordan,” Lloyd Severns said. “If you wanted that ranch so badly, you could have paid off the loan.”

Will was relieved that someone else had put the matter squarely on the table.

“That's not what's holding me back,” Jordan said. “I was just trying to figure out how many men I could spare and still protect my own herd.”

It was a valiant effort at recovery, but Will was certain every man in the room saw through it for the simple reason they were all afraid of being caught in a showdown with Newt Mandrin. Gradually more men volunteered. Will thought it was ironic that Van had led the way.

“Let's meet in an hour at Carl and Idalou's place,” Will said. “That's central for everybody. Carl can lead the way from there.”

“I'm going with you,” Idalou said to her brother, “and not because I want to look over your shoulder. They're my cows as much as they are yours. If I hadn't been staying safely in town, this might not have happened.”

“Nobody could expect you to stay out there in the brush,” Will said.

“I wouldn't have let you,” Carl added.

“It's pointless to get into an argument over what's done and can't be changed,” Idalou said. “I have to tell Ella I can't go back to work in the shop this afternoon. I'll meet both of you at the livery stable. Have a horse saddled and ready for me.”

“You have one determined sister,” Will said to Carl as Idalou turned and marched out of the saloon.

“Don't you want to take her off my hands?” Carl's question seemed to be a mix of frustration and curiosity.

Will laughed to cover his discomfort at Carl's blunt question. “I'm not sure I'm man enough. Besides, I don't think she likes me all that much.”

“She likes you a lot,” Carl said, grinning and matching strides with Will. “She wouldn't get so mad at you if she didn't.”

Will returned his grin. “I'm not sure I consider that a good sign.”

Carl's grin disappeared. “She hasn't had much to
be happy about since our parents died. I was hoping

you could do something to change that.”

“You believe in getting right to the point, don't you?”

“It saves time.”

“You're just like Jake. No wonder she's like Isabelle.”

“Don't you love your parents?”

“I adore them, but I don't want to marry them. Would you have wanted to marry yours?”

“God, no.” They turned the corner and headed down the alley toward the livery stable. “Dad was always dreaming of a way to be a bigger success, and Mom was afraid of any animal bigger than a small dog.”

“Then where did your sister get her courage and her no-nonsense attitude?”

“From having to try to fix the mess our parents made and take care of me at the same time.”

“Looks like she did a pretty good job.”

“But it cost her Webb. I used to be unhappy about that. Now I realize you're just what she needs. You're calm, you like to think things through before you act, and you get things done. Lou respects that.”

The ground was feeling a little shaky under Will's feet. “When did you turn into a matchmaker?”

“When you first asked Lou to walk with you. She was going to accept until she saw you kissing Junie Mae.”

“Junie Mae kissing me!”
Will corrected emphatically.

“Why was she kissing you? You're not two-timing my sister, are you?”

Will heaved a sigh. “First, let me point out that despite my attempts to have it otherwise, your sister has done little more than talk to me. I could be seeing half the women in Texas and you still couldn't accuse me of two-timing Idalou. Second, I'm not
seeing
Junie Mae. I accidentally became aware of a situation that has caused her great distress and I'm trying to help
her. I've already explained that to your sister.” They'd reached the livery stable. “Now help me pick out a suitable horse for Idalou.”

“She'll have more faith in your decision than mine,” Carl said.

“That would be a first.”

“I'm sure they'd head for the Clear Fork canyon,” Van said. “There's plenty of grass and water for a small herd.”

“I'd think they'd want to sell them in San Angelo as soon as possible,” Idalou said.

“Only a really stupid rustler would take your cows to San Angelo,” Van argued. “Everybody knows your brand.”

Will saw the logic in Van's thinking, but he was more intrigued by the fact that Van was eager to lead the search. They'd lost the trail twice, and twice Van had found it. Will was ready to bow before Van's superior knowledge of the land, but some of the other men probably knew the surroundings just as well. In light of that, Van's success seemed noteworthy.

“I think we ought to follow Van's suggestion,” Will said.

“I disagree,” Idalou said.

“If Van's wrong, we won't have lost much time,” Will said to Idalou, hoping she could tell from the deliberate way he spoke that he had something in mind.

While several of the men in the posse argued with Van, Will took the opportunity to speak softly to Idalou. “Trust me. I'll explain later. Tell Carl, too.”

While Idalou pulled Carl aside and whispered her message to him, Jordan was insisting that Van was leading them in the wrong direction.

“Van has twice found the tracks after we lost them,”
Will said when Jordan seemed ready to throw down the gauntlet. “I'm inclined to go along with him.”

“We'll just be wasting time.”

“We'd have wasted a lot more if Van hadn't found the trail,” Will reminded him.

Jordan agreed to go along, but he continued to object. Van pulled alongside Idalou and busied himself explaining his idea all over again. Idalou listened attentively, but from time to time she cast a questioning glance over at Will. He smiled encouragingly while listening to Carl muttering.

“If the rustlers get away with this, Idalou and I will have to leave Dunmore. Then there wouldn't be anything to stop Van from marrying Mara.”

Will had already considered that. It was part of the reason he found Van's actions so intriguing. Aside from his apparent friendship with Idalou, Van was a cruel, selfish man motivated entirely by self-interest. Since everyone knew he intended to marry Mara, Will found his friendship with Idalou suspect.

They hadn't ridden more than a mile when a shout up ahead told Will that Van had found more tracks. The fifty cows the rustlers had taken weren't broken to trail so they ambled in a confused jumble rather than an orderly line. That had made it hard to distinguish their trail from the footprints of cows already headed toward the water of Clear Fork. Will and Carl urged their horses forward until they were alongside Van and Idalou.