The Lady and the Cowboy (15 page)

“No,” Sam sighed. “But I’d bet good money that Tobias Middleton is behind it.”

“Look, Sam, I know you and Tobias don’t see eye to eye but he’s a fine, upstand
ing citizen of our town and he’s never been in any trouble with the law. I can’t believe he’d do something like this and besides, he was with me this morning; stopped in about half nine to ask about something, so there’s no way he could have gotten out here in time to fire at your lady.”

“Sheriff Hays in the last month
, three of our horses have been poisoned, two of them have died, our barn was set on fire and now someone has taken a shot at Ruth. When are you going to realise that this isn’t random; that we’re being targeted here?”

“
I don’t deny that but chances are, it’s someone who read about Lady Adam’s antics in the paper, and don’t like the thought of her taking wages from a man who needs the work.”

“I’m not taking wages from anyone!” she argued. “It’s my horse, I paid to bring him over here and
I know him better than anyone. If I didn’t ride him, he probably wouldn’t win!”

“Be that as it may,” he tried to placate her, “most folks won’t know that.”

“So what are you saying, Sheriff?” Sam asked.

“I’m saying it’s going to be difficult to find whoever’s doing this, and we probably never will. Besides, there was no real harm done, was there?”

“No real harm done?” Ruth sounded incredulous. “My horse has been shot, my wrist is broken and I can’t work!”

Hays’
expression said that he didn’t think it was a woman’s place to work. Ruth wondered if
he
thought she had got her just desserts for taking work that could be given to a man.

“All right, if that isn’t good enough for you,
how about the fact that he tried to kill six thousand dollars’ worth of horse!”

Hays choked and took a few moments to cough before he could speak again. “Did you just say-“

“Angel is a thoroughbred, Sheriff. My father purchased him from Viscount Chaplin for over one thousand two hundred guineas, which is more than six thousand dollars and given his recent success on the race course, not to mention a pedigree longer than your arm, it wouldn’t surprise me if we could ask ten thousand dollars or more for him now! Regardless of the pain and suffering inflicted on an innocent animal, the man who tried to shoot Angel could have rendered that horse worthless. Is that worth your time?”

The sheriff’s eyes lit up. “Well,
you know, I might have a little more luck if you were willing to offer a reward for information.”

A
lthough it went against every instinct, Ruth bit back her sharp retort.

“I’m afraid that with having to
scratch Angel from the Dallas meet and losing our entrance fee, possibly more depending on when he is able to race again, we are unable to offer a financial incentive at this point in time.”

Truthfully they could easily afford something. $50 was
almost two months wages for a lot of manual workers so a $100 reward would bring in a lot of interest. Between the prize money and their bets, Sam and Ruth had a fairly decent next egg now, but Ruth wanted the sheriff to think they were in trouble. Besides, rearing horses was expensive and no matter how much money they had in the short term, they would have to be careful and think of the long term.

The sheriff left soon after
that and as soon as he had ridden off, Ruth turned to Sam.

“I have an idea,” she
told him.

Ruth
’s idea was that they walk Angel to the Dallas meet.

“If we leave
Joe behind and the horse box here, somewhere it will be visible, we can tell the hands to lie and say that we’re here but out on the trail or something, or they can say I'm on bed rest if they want. Then you and I can sneak away tonight.”

“I thought you said we were scratching the meet?” Sam asked.

“I just told the sheriff that; I get the feeling he and Tobias are friends and the longer that Tobias thinks he’s won, the better. Anyway, as I was saying, Fort Worth is a day’s ride away at a trot and Dallas is only thirty or so miles from there. The meet isn’t for another week and we can easily walk to Dallas in three days. We take two horses to ride, lead Angel and take a pack horse that can carry our things.”

“People will see us leave,” Sam told her.

“No if we don’t take the roads. We can stay away from towns near here and camp overnight.”

“Camp?”

“Then when we get to Dallas, we’ll probably have four days. We can rest Angel for a day then start training him again for the last three.”

“You’re forgetting that both you and Angel are injured.”

“I know but we both have a week to heal.”

“Bones don’t heal in a week!” H
e dashed a hand through his hair in frustration.

“I
only need one hand on the reins, and I never properly use the crop on Angel; he doesn’t need it, just a tap which I'm sure I can do with the splint on.”

“And what if you fall? You could make things a hundred times worse.”

“I won’t.”

“And what if Angel’s woun
d reopens?”

“Well obviously we’ll have to see how he goes but the last race of the meet, the one with the bi
ggest prize, is 12 days away; he’ll surely be mostly healed by then.”

“It’s a foolish idea,” he told her.

“No it’s not! We need that prize money to build the business!”

“I care about you, not the business!”

“You can care about both,” she insisted.

“Look, when we prove Tobias is behind this, we can r
e-enter other races next year.”

“Angel will be six next year and he’s already past his prime.” She didn’t add that she could be pregnant next year. She didn’t know that she would be,
they hadn’t discussed it yet, and she hoped that they would carry on using the sponge or douche for a while, so they could enjoy each other before having a family. She was aware though, that neither method was perfect and when they began having sex regularly, she could conceive a child and as much as she loved racing, she wouldn’t risk their baby.

They argued for
another two hours. He told her that she had never camped before and wasn’t prepared for it. She assured him she was and wouldn’t hear otherwise.

He explained that the pack horse couldn’t carry all her belongings as well as food, water and necessities. She assured him that she was happy to only take breeches, shirts, camisoles and a toothbrush.

He told her that it was dangerous out here and with her right wrist broken, she couldn’t even shoot to protect herself. She reminded him that someone had shot at her that morning on his supposedly ‘safe’ ranch.

He told her that as soon as Angel won a race, people in
Midridge would hear about it within a day. Ruth told him they’d sleep at the stable with a gun if they had to, she wasn’t being kept prisoner by some bully who thought he could frighten her into quitting.

Around and around in circles they went, snapping at anyone who tried to make peace
between them.

Finally Ruth played her last card.

“If we don’t win at Dallas, we can’t get married,” she reminded him of the condition she had imposed when she agreed. They had both been taking it more seriously than they should

Finally Sam gave in. If nothing else, a few nights living outdoors should cure her of this dumb plan.
Hopefully they’d be heading home by lunchtime tomorrow.

***

They set off from the farm at ten that evening, heading north for two miles before turning east, walking (they hoped) parallel to the main roads. They walked for four hours, passing Midridge soon after the first hour.

They didn’t talk, mainly because Sam still thought this was a foolish idea and he didn’t want to encourage Ruth any more than he had
already.

At two a.m. Sam thought that they had put enough distance between the town
and themselves to risk camping.

They unsaddled the horses, tying them to nearby trees and
whilst Sam got the bedrolls out, Ruth checked Angel’s wound but it hadn’t begun bleeding again. They had eaten a full dinner, so they didn’t break into the food that Mamma had packed for them.

With the horses settled, Ruth sat down on her bedroll, very aware of the fact that Sam had left at least three feet between
them when he had laid them out. Ruth had been hoping that with some privacy, they could be a bit more intimate. She didn’t expect them to have sex again, now was neither the time nor the place, but it would just be nice to kiss him without worrying about being caught. Apparently, Sam had other ideas.

Despite the late hour, Ruth was feeling unsettled by the sounds of
wildlife around them. She heard exactly the same things at the ranch but now she felt as if she was in their domain, at their mercy, rather than they being at hers.

She had quickly gotten used to snakes and they were easy enough to avoid, especially on horseback as the animals seemed to have a sixth sense about them. She always wore tall boots as a precaution but so far, givin
g the few she had seen a wide berth had proven effective.

Tonight though, she could swear that every breeze in the trees was a rattlesnake.

Sam was lying down already, his Stetson over his eyes, oblivious to her discomfort. Ruth decided to do the same and got into her bedroll, keeping her slicker on as it was a cool night, but she didn’t put her hat over her face. Lethargy was finally overcoming her imagination when she heard something roar.

“What was that?” she asked, sitting up.

“Mountain lion,” Sam said, not sounding at all fazed.

The big cat roared again and Ruth whimpered a little as it sounded closer.

Sam casually removed his hat, a smile on his face until he noticed that Ruth was pale and shaking. Any pleasure he had thought to derive at her fear of the wildlife fled, as he remembered that she actually had every reason to be frightened. Someone
had
shot at her this morning, so she was entitled to be a little spooked.

He shim
mied closer in his bedroll and put his arms around her.

“It’s not close,” he said. “The hills around here distort the noise. We’re perfectly safe.”

Ruth slowly relaxed back into him, soothed more by his presence than his words.

“Come on,”
he said, lying down again. He tucked Ruth into his side and kept his arm around her, remaining awake until she had drifted off to sleep.

They awoke early the next m
orning, shortly after sunrise, despite it still being only a little after seven a.m. and with only five hours sleep.

They saw to the horses, shared two of
Mamma’s unflavoured biscuits with jam then saddled up and continued. Ruth tucked her hair into her Stetson so that, at first glance at least, she would look like a boy. Whilst Ruth had yet to run into any outlaws, desperados, Indians, Redcoats or other unsavoury people, the local paper left her in little doubt that the dangers were real and a woman was just too easy a target.

Sam had
shrugged off his bad mood from last night and kept the conversation going. Considering that Ruth had slept outside for the first time ever, been forced to pee in the bushes this morning, brushed her teeth in stale water from the canteen and had only one good hand, she was holding up reasonably well. Far better than the timid creature who had arrived here would have.

They stopped for lunch near a stream
, so that they could top their water up and give the horses a rest.

“You seem to know this area well,” Ruth commented as they shared beef
jerky, preserved peppers and biscuits.

“I’ve ridden these trails all my life,” he explained. “Then during the war, it wa
s wise to avoid the main routes as you were less likely to encounter soldiers.”

“Surely you’d only encounter Confederate soldiers though.”

“They could be just as bad as the Union boys. The Union didn’t like us because we’re Southern, the Confederacy didn’t like us because we freed our slaves. It was easier all round to just keep our heads down.”

Remembering his father, Ruth felt awful.

“I’m sorry, that was insensitive of me.”

“No harm in asking questions,” he assured her with a smile. “Besides, it’s ancient history now.”

Ruth didn’t believe him but instead of contradicting him, she just put her plate down and took his hand. Sam leaned over and kissed her on the lips. He meant it to be chaste but it quickly developed into more. Only the presence of others in the vicinity had stopped him since their encounter at the stream but here, they were completely alone again. His hand went to the button on her shirt.

Whilst
their time at the stream had been romantic, this was different, this was need. Quick and passionate sex had its place within a marriage, but it was too soon for him to even consider using her to satisfy his need to forget bad memories. One good experience didn’t make up for the trauma Ivor had inflicted. She was like a spooked horse and needed gentle handling.

Besides, he hadn’t brought the sponges or the douche with him.

With some effort he pulled away, leaving Ruth looking confused, and perhaps a little hurt.

“Not here, not like this,” he said, cupping her face between his hands.

Ruth nodded her understanding.

For the next hour, Sam shared stories of his childhood with her to pass the time, then they saddled up and moved on. They camped earlier that night and far enough away from the trail that Sam
could light a fire to warm them.

The next day they
felt that they were far enough away from Midridge that they could travel the main roads. Ruth hid her hair under her hat again and they both kept their Stetsons low over their eyes. They still hadn’t washed the blood off Angel’s leg so they muddied his front legs up, carefully avoiding the wound, which helped disguise the now rust-coloured bloodstains. They had also put a few light saddle bags over his racing saddle to disguise it.

T
hey should reach Dallas late tonight and when they were alone on the road, they discussed their options. Finally they decided to book into a hotel away from the racetrack and stable all the horses there until race day. They could take Angel out of town to exercise him and on the day before the race, they would go to the hotel that they had booked, closer to the track.

Sam figured that whether Ruth won or not, they had one day after
her first race race before the inhabitants of Midridge discovered that she was racing. It would take Tobias (or anyone else) at least a day to travel to Dallas themselves but there was always the possibility that Tobias could send a telegram. It was unlikely as the post office sent the messages, so he wouldn’t send anything incriminating but it was a possibility they had to consider.

They arrived
after seven that evening and booked into the Crutchfield House, a two-storey plantation style hotel that Ruth thought charming. It was nice enough to not be considered somewhere that Sam would usually stay but it was no Claridge’s.

Ruth was surprised
to find that she wasn’t too bothered by that anymore, and it was certainly nicer than the hotels she had stayed in on her journey to Texas.

They booked two adjoining rooms and Ruth stayed quiet, worried that if they knew she was a woman, they would insist on ho
using her in another wing or something. She didn’t know if they did that here but some of the hotels she had stayed at had men and women floors, so she didn’t want to take the risk.

They took their horses to the stable, wanting to make sure Angel wasn’t upset by his new accommodation, but he seemed fine. The
hotel seemed well equipped to look after horses and people.

Back in the
lobby, they asked for hot water to wash with and some kind of snack or meal to be sent up. The manager assured them that he would send the water up, then something hot to eat half an hour later.

Ruth was pleased to find that
her room had a water closet and although it still wasn’t exactly easy with her splinted wrist, at least she didn’t have to worry about snakes indoors.

She put on a deep voice as
she thanked the maid who brought the water then had a through wash, although she left her hat on, unwilling to stuff the hair all back in when the food came. She had just finished dressing when the dinner trays arrived, along with Sam, who apparently had the idea of eating together. The girl unloaded her tray on the desk and departed.

With apparent relief, Ruth tore her hat off and
dug through her hair with her fingers, scratching her scalp.

“Oh, that feels good,” she said, shaking her head to loosen the curls
, then heading over to the desk. She sat at the desk to eat (Sam had already cut her food up for her) whilst Sam sat on the edge of the desk, plate balanced on one hand and fork in the other.

“So, what did you want to do tomorrow?” Sam asked as they ate. Angel would be resting so they had all day to themselves.

“I hadn’t given it much thought,” Ruth admitted.

“Well, how about we look around, maybe see if we can find you a wedding dress?”

“Oh no!” Ruth held her finger up. “That’s a sure fire jinx if ever I heard one.”

“You believe in jinxes?” Sam sounded amused.

“I didn’t used to but suddenly, now that I'm in a competitive sport, I want every edge I can get, real or imagined.”

“Okay but surely there’s no harm in looking
, right? If we win this weekend, we can go back and buy the dress before we leave.”

Ruth considered it for a moment. “I suppose there’s no harm in looking.” She agreed.

They chatted amiably for a while, until Ruth yawned.

“I guess we should get some sleep,” Sam said. “Camping isn’t exac
tly restful.”

He pushed off the desk but Ruth caught his hand. She had slept in his arms each night
whilst camping and didn’t want that to end now.

“Don’t go?” she asked.

Sam sighed. “Ruth, as much as I would love to stay, I’m not sure that I can leave you alone if I stay.”

Ruth smiled
; those had been her exact thoughts.

“I brought the douche,” she said.

The shock must have shown on Sam’s face as she hurried on.

“I didn’t know that anything would happen but… well I think I love you, Sam and I wanted to be prepared, just in case…” She was looking down at her hands, unwilling to look as him as she tried to tell him how she felt. “I'm sorry, I don’t know how to explain why I b
rought it with me.”

Sam put one finger under her chin and tilted her head up.
Her expression was so guileless that it warmed his heart.

“You love me?” he asked.

Her cheeks flamed an even darker shade of red but she didn’t look away. “I do.”

Sam gave her the biggest smile that she had ever seen.

“Good, because I love you too. I’ve wanted to tell you that for so long but… well you had agreed to marry me, sort of, and I guess I didn’t want to jeopardise that… Maybe you aren’t the only one who believes in jinxes.”

Ruth still held the hand she had used to s
till him and she got to her feet now, leading him over towards the bed. Sam didn’t argue. After admitting how they felt, and realising that Ruth loved him as much as he loved her, wild horses couldn’t have dragged him away from her tonight.  He slowly undressed her, placing opportunistic kisses on the skin that he exposed, then he undressed himself before joining her on the bed.

There was something different about this time and it took Sam a while to figure out what, exactly. Ruth was still a
bit shy and hesitant, and he was still a little frightened of hurting her.

It was only after they had made love and they lay sated in each other’s arms that he realised what had changed; trust. Last time she had allowed him to make love to her but she hadn’t trusted him, not completely. This time, they had made love to each other.

Somehow he had earned this woman’s faith, and it made him feel like the biggest man in all of Texas.

***

The next morning Ruth enjoyed the opportunity to wash her hair, then she tucked it under her hat as they left the hotel, only taking it down and tying it back with a ribbon once they were a few blocks away. The warm air soon dried it into ringlets that bobbed and bounded as she walked.

They had stopped into the stables to see Angel and the other horses
before leaving, who all seemed fine. They still disinfected Angel’s wound twice a day but now that it had scabbed over, he didn’t seem to mind the carbolic acid so much.

Once in the centre of town, they held hands as they walked, looking in the shops they passed for anything that caught their eye.
He noticed a few other women walking around or riding down the street in breeches but none of them carried off the look with as much aplomb as Ruth did. He knew that he was biased but he still felt that most of the men and women around would agree with him.

Sam was drawn to a leather workshop, specifically a western dress saddle, with silver decoration and
intricate patterns drawn on the leather. Sam explained that it was called pyrography and the patterns were made by burning the leather. Sam and the workshop owner chatted for a while and even although Sam couldn’t buy the saddle, the owner seemed happy to discuss his craft.

The dress shop they found had two beautiful gowns in the window which drew them inside. The seam
stress had a number of ready-made gowns which could be altered for the individual buyer.

White was becoming popular for brides now but as a wi
dow, Ruth knew that she should marry in a colour. That wasn’t the reason she didn’t pick a white dress though, it was because white was impractical. Instead her eye was drawn to a light blue/grey dress on one of the rails.

“It’s a little plain isn’t it?” Sam asked, remembering the beautiful gowns she had brought with her from England, with bustles, ribbons, lace trim and more tiny buttons than you could shake a stick at.

“It’s not plain,” she answered. “It’s simple and elegant. And it reflects my changing priorities.”

“Changing priorities?”

“You and the ranch,” she answered. “I don’t have time for impractical anymore and even if I did, I think I should find all that fussing tedious. Besides, the shade reminds me of your eyes.”

She looked into his eyes and he smiled at her reasoning. She had been so insecure and shy when she had first arrived, living her life how other people told her she should. Now she
was forthright and possessed a bravery that he admired. Even although he saw her wince in pain occasionally, she never complained about her wrist, but he knew it must be hurting her.

Ruth
explained the condition of her wedding to the owner, about the bargain they had made and her unwillingness to jink the races. She asked the woman to take down her measurements and lay the dress aside for ten days, explaining that they would return for it if her horse won his races. The seamstress agreed, explaining that once they had paid for the dress, she could alter it and post it to Ruth.

Sam
watched her as she spoke, completely at ease despite her rather odd request. The dressmaker responded to her warm demeanour, despite the fact that she was wearing men’s clothes and probably looked nothing like her usual customers. Ruth was a one in a million kind of woman. Her every movement was filled with grace and refinement, so much so that he sometimes felt rather oaf-like around her, yet underneath that refined exterior was a solid steel core. Here was a woman who would not bend or break with every passing trouble; she was here for the long haul and nothing and no one was going to keep her from what she wanted.