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Authors: Lori Copeland

Yellow Rose Bride (9 page)

BOOK: Yellow Rose Bride
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“Think we can beat the rain?” Pat called.

“It should hold off another couple of hours.” Adam stood back, running his forearm across his face to wipe away the sweat.

The men glanced up as the sound of rumbling thunder rolled over the knoll. Adam squinted toward the horizon and tried to make out the cloud of thick dust coming in their direction.

Pat came to stand beside him, his eyes fixed on the bewildering sight. “What do you think it is?”

The three men stared at the strange stampede as it drew closer. Long-necked birds covered the ground at a phenomenal speed, leaving floating bits of feathers and gouged earth in their wake as they headed straight toward the men.

Grazing cattle idly lifted their heads, their eyes widening as they spotted the bizarre entities bearing down on them. Bolting, the herd stampeded, trampling anything in their path to get out of the way.

“Get the horses!” Adam shouted.

Wild-eyed, the horses whinnied, reared, then broke into a gallop and converged on the stampeding cattle.

Joey ran after them, then quickly abandoned the pursuit as the birds approached.

Diving headfirst for cover, the three men crouched low, their eyes focused on the strange scene playing out below them. Awkward birds screeched and bellowed while leaping with their ungainly gait across the ground like crazed ballerinas.

Beef cattle, apparently unnerved by the sight, turned tail and ran bawling over the horizon, followed in hot pursuit by the birds, who were suddenly outrunning them.

“What was that!” Pat said.

Spitting dirt out of his mouth, Joey sat up. “Did you see that? Are those the Taylors' birds?”

“Whose else could they be?” Adam snapped.

“Well, that beats all I've ever seen.” Pat sat up, reaching for his hat.

Rolling to his feet, Adam settled his Stetson low on his forehead. “Come on, we have to get those birds away from the cattle before they run them to death.”

“The cattle are in Africa by now,” Pat guessed.

“Then we'll have to go to Africa and get them.”

Pat and Joey grumbled as they got up, smacking their hats against their thighs to knock a layer of dust off both.

“We're going to have to run down our horses first.”

“Great.”

“Beats all I've ever seen.”

“Why would anyone want to raise those crazy things?”

The three men struck off on foot. It promised to be a long morning.

Hours later, Adam rode into the Taylor farmyard. Swinging out of the saddle, he strode across the front porch and knocked on the solid door. He waited, about to assault the door again when it opened. Jane Bennett stood in the doorway.

“Where's Vonnie?”

“Hello, Adam. What are you doing here?”

Dispensing with pleasantries, he repeated. “Where's Vonnie?”

Jane's amazed gaze shifted from his dirt-streaked face to his dusty clothes. “I—I don't know. She was out at the pens a little while ago. There's been an incident with the birds. I'm staying with Mrs. Taylor. She—she's in her room and—”

Whirling, Adam leaped off the porch and rounded the corner of the house, striding angrily toward the ostrich
pens. There was an ominous silence about the place this afternoon.

At the barn, he saw the empty pens, and the gaping hole in the fence.

“Vonnie!” he shouted.

The sound of chickens clucking near the henhouse came to him.

“Vonnie!”

“Stop shouting, please.”

Glancing around, he didn't see her anywhere. Then he saw a wriggling form trying to extricate itself from a broken piece of fence on which a dress was firmly snagged.

Anger momentarily drained out of him, then returned. They were her birds. She had insisted on keeping them so she could take care of them.

“Of all the rotten luck!”

Adam's lips curved into an unwilling smile as he heard her muttering.

Tipping his hat back on his forehead, he grinned. “Something wrong?”

“Yes, there is something wrong, and you're going to get an earful if you don't get me out of here!”

“Yeah, looks like you might have a little problem there.” He bent to help.

“My back is about to break, Adam! Get me loose!”

“I don't know. Maybe I'll just leave you here to stew.”

“Adam!”

Stepping to the fence, he extricated her from the
snare. “You wouldn't have been in that fix if you'd used the gate instead of climbing the fence.”

“I don't need your advice, thank you.”

“I wasn't giving you my advice—I was stating a fact.”

She stepped clear, swiping hair out of her eyes. “For your information, I was trying to repair the fence, not climb it.”

He glanced toward the barn. “Where are Roel and Genaro?”

“They went into town—I haven't seen them since early this morning.”

Straightening, she refused to look at him as she pinned back her falling hair.

Leaning against the fence, his blue eyes skimmed her lightly. “Having a bad day?”

She sighed. “A bad life.”

“What happened?”

“I've lost the entire herd of birds.”

His anger would have been easier to maintain if she hadn't looked so charming with her hair falling down, a streak of dirt across her sweaty face, her dress soiled and torn from the experience. To this day, she could reduce him to a mooning, callow boy. The sight of her filled him with memories best forgotten.

Crossing his arms, he eyed her sternly. “I found them.”

“You know where the birds are?”

“I believe I do.”

“Thank you, dear Lord.” Relief filled her face. “Where are they?”

“Africa.”

“Oh, dear.” Her heart sank. She knew they weren't in Africa but they'd probably run twenty miles.

“Yes. Oh, dear.”

“I…I don't know what happened. They suddenly started running as if they were scared to death, and before I knew it, they were beating themselves against the fence…. Since I didn't work with them, I…you know, my father—”

His features hardened. “Those birds are a menace. If you can't take care of them, then you'd better get rid of them.”

Her hands fisted at her waist, and blood rushed to her cheeks. “Is that why you're here? You came all the way over here just to tell me to get rid of my birds?”

“Your birds stampeded my beef!”

“Oh…really?”

“It took me, Joey and Pat all morning, Vonnie, half a day to round them up!”

“I'm sorry. I have no idea what spooked them.”

“Could it be the dog?” he mocked. Suki barked.

“Nonsense! The birds are used to Suki. It wasn't the dog.”

He stabbed the air in front of her with his forefinger. “I don't care what spooked them. Don't let it happen again!”

“Well, pardon me!”

“You keep those birds in their pen!”

“You don't tell me what to do, Adam Baldwin!” She kicked dirt on his boots.

Slamming his hat back on his head, he turned and stalked off, rounding the pen in angry strides.

“Come back when you can't stay so long!” she shouted at his fading back.

“Keep those birds in their pens or I'll have ostrich and dumplin's on my dinner table!”

“Ooh!” Kicking a clump of dirt, she stomped back to the house.

Chapter Eight

“K
eep those birds together, Joe!”

Adam's brother urged his horse forward as another ostrich decided to take a right turn out of the group.

“There goes another one!” Pat shouted.

Adam kicked his horse and galloped after a bird who had his eye on the far horizon. Galloping ahead of it, he cut it off, turning it back toward the Taylor ranch.

“If we had to herd these pests another mile, she'd get them back in tow sacks,” he muttered.

“I don't know why Teague wanted the birds anyway,” Pat complained, pulling his mount abreast of Adam's.

“Could be because they made him a lot of money.”

“Maybe so, but boy they're big.” Pat's eyes traveled the full height of the African male, whose size was stupefying. “I wouldn't cross one.”

“I don't know how Vonnie's going to handle them,” Adam said.

An ostrich suddenly leaned forward to pluck the hat off Adam's head. For a moment, a game of hat tag ensued among the birds until one fumbled, and the hat hit the dust. Chaos broke out as the three men scrambled to retrieve it.

The hat was flattened. The ostriches fled.

Climbing off his horse, Adam picked up the Stetson and dusted it on his pants leg. Settling it back on his head, his eyes studied the birds, which were, at least momentarily, moving in the right direction.

How did Vonnie think she was going to handle the nuisances with Teague gone?

From what he had heard, she had her hands full with her mother. Alma had mentioned the gossip in town—Cammy Taylor wasn't doing well. She had practically taken to her bed since Teague's death and was hardly responding to anyone.

Vonnie was capable, but with her dressmaking business doing so well, he didn't see how she could oversee the birds, too.

“Joe,” he shouted suddenly, “that one's making a break for it!”

Swinging back into the saddle, he spurred his black into a full gallop as a female flapped her short wings and made a dash for freedom.

The sudden ruckus launched the other birds into a faster gait, and their awkward lope began to carry them across the ground at an alarming rate.

It took over thirty minutes to cover the final five hundred yards to the pens.

Leaving Joey and Pat to settle the birds, Adam rode on to the main house.

Swinging down from the saddle, he stepped upon the porch. Pulling off his hat and running his fingers through his damp hair, he rapped on the door, then wiped his sweaty face on his shirtsleeve.

Vonnie opened on the first knock, her wide violet eyes mirroring surprise when she saw him. Her welcome expression cooled immediately. “Yes?”

“Your birds are back.”

Her attention slipped to the pens, where Joey and Pat were herding the birds into the runs.

“Well, I haven't gone looking for them because they're territorial, you know.” Her nose tilted a notch higher. “I knew they'd come back on their own.”

At his dubious look, she added, “And if they didn't, then I was going to send someone to look for them.”

She looked tired. It was obvious she'd been sewing. Wisps of hair had strayed from the loose knot at the nape of her neck. Curling strands framed her face. Bits of lace dotted her dress. Deep circles shadowed her eyes. Adam's gut twisted with admiration. Life was difficult for her right now.

“Get someone on that broken fence as soon as possible. Pat and Joey will repair it enough to hold the birds tonight, but it's only a temporary fix.”

“I'll have Roel mend the hole immediately.”

“They're in the pens,” Pat said, riding up to join
them. Joey followed close behind. “Don't know if they're in the right ones, but they're all there.”

“I'll sort them out,” Vonnie smiled. “Thank you for bringing them back.”

“Finding them wasn't too hard.” Joey laughed, settling his hat more firmly on his head. He immediately sobered.

Suki rounded the corner of the house in a trot and decided to investigate Adam's boot.

Vonnie seemed anxious to get back to her work.

“Well, again, thank you.” Glancing at the dog, she frowned. The animal was worrying the hem of Adam's trousers.

“Suki, stop that,” she admonished as Adam pushed the dog aside with his boot.

He tried to distract Suki by throwing a stick.

The dog wasn't interested in a stick.

“Could I get you gentlemen some lemonade?” she asked. The group ignored Suki's persistent fascination with Adam's boot.

“Sounds good to me,” Pat said, starting to dismount.

“We don't have time.” Adam nudged Suki aside for the fourth time and gave the dog a hard look.

Pat climbed back into the saddle.

“Anything else we can do for you, Vonnie?”

“Thank you, Joey. You've all done quite enough already.”

“Well, Alma will be waiting supper for us. You coming, Adam?”

“I'll be along in a minute.”

Tipping the brims of their hats, the boys reined in their horses and rode off. Suki resumed her busy exploration. The dog still had Adam cornered.

“What is wrong with your dog?” The pet was making a real bid for Adam's attention now, dipping in front of him, then jumping to paw his leg, tail wagging, tongue hanging out.

“She's female.” Vonnie grinned, leaning against the door frame. “I'd think you would be used to females trying to get your attention.”

Their eyes met and held in silent challenge.

“Suki, stop it!” She opened the door, nudging the dog into the house. “I know you don't want my gratitude, Adam, but you have it. Thank you anyway for bringing the birds home.”

“You'd better sell them—”

“No.” Years ago the sun rose and set on this man. Now he wanted her birds, not her. Her
birds. Well, thank you, Lord, for making this easier.
The day she sold Adam and Beth the birds would be the day she ate dirt.

When she looked up, she caught him staring at her. “Was there something else?”

“No, that's it.”

She swallowed against the dryness in her throat. Wasn't this what she'd wanted? It was over once and for all. No ties, no thoughts of Adam Baldwin. Not ever again.

“Vonnie.”

“Yes?”

“I don't know much about birds, but a couple of
yours seemed a little droopy. They were acting strange. A few looked sickly.”

“I'll have Genaro check them.”

Nodding, he put his hat on, then fit it more snugly on his head. “Take care.”

“Yes…you too.”

“Good night.”

She leaned against the door frame, watching him ride away. A sob caught in her throat and she closed her eyes against the aching emptiness inside her.

After a while, she straightened. The ostriches. He said a couple were acting strange.

Exactly what did strange mean? She glanced in the direction he had just ridden.

Strange to him?

Stepping off the porch, she walked to the pens. Dusk had fallen. The ranch hands were settling in for the night. After their daylong adventure, the birds were exhausted. They should be separated, but it was more than she could cope with tonight. Tomorrow she would separate the pairs from the young ones and…

She paused, peering closer through the fence. One or two did look a bit under the weather.

Her heart hammered; she stepped closer to examine a midsize chick standing closest to the fence. The bird stared back at her with large expressive eyes.

Please,
she silently prayed,
don't let any of the birds get sick. They're too expensive to lose. Especially now.

“Vonnie?”

She whirled in response to her mother's voice.

“Yes, Mother?”

“Why are you out there in that heat? And you without a bonnet on your head. Get into the house, child, before you have sunstroke!”

Frowning, Vonnie moved away from the pens. “It's all right, Momma. It's getting dark.”

“Dark? Why, child, it's broad daylight! You come on in now—and tell your daddy I'm waiting supper on him! That man—he doesn't know when to stop. Tell him to come in here and get washed up. Hurry now!”

Vonnie watched as she closed the back door, then through the open window, Vonnie saw her shuffling back through the kitchen.

“Oh, Mother,” she murmured. Self-pity overwhelmed her. Her life was falling apart, and she didn't have a shoulder to cry on. If only Cammy was in her right mind. She couldn't tell her about Adam and the marriage, but she could cry on her shoulder. And she could feel safe again.

Safe and loved.

It was starting to feel like a long time since she'd felt either.

BOOK: Yellow Rose Bride
13.68Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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