Читать книгу The Express Rider's Lady - Stacy Henrie - Страница 11
ОглавлениеMyles pushed his eggs around his plate, his appetite not its usual hearty self. Sleep had eluded him for several hours last night, as it had after Cynthia’s betrayal two months earlier. He kept thinking of Delsie’s soulful eyes filled with disappointment and grief when he’d conveyed the impossibility of her plans. She was clearly disheartened, but she hadn’t raged at him or laid blame at his feet as he might’ve been tempted to do.
Her quiet acceptance of defeat wasn’t the only thing that had kept him awake. He’d had a difficult time erasing the image of her unbound hair and cream-colored skin from his memory, too.
So she’s pretty, Myles thought, scowling at his half-eaten breakfast. Any man would say the same.
Not for the first time since meeting Delsie the day before, he felt some relief at the knowledge that they would be parting company very, very soon. She kept surprising him, acting in ways that contradicted his opinions about rich folk, and he didn’t like it one bit. He liked routine, consistency and taking risks only when he knew for certain what the outcome would be.
Funny that she’d all but admitted to being the same way on the boat yesterday. Except this harebrained scheme of hers clearly meant she’d thrown her normal caution out the window.
“Thank you for the breakfast, Mrs. Guittard.” He stood, hoping she didn’t take offense to him not finishing everything.
The woman smiled. “You’re welcome, Mr. Patton.”
Myles glanced at the kitchen doorway. “Should I let Miss Radford know it’s time to eat?”
“She’s already had her breakfast.”
“Oh.” He’d suspected she would sleep in, especially knowing how sore she’d be today.
“I believe she’s in the stables,” Mrs. Guittard added over her shoulder from where she was working over a pot of something at the stove.
Myles put on his hat and let himself out the back door. Apparently Delsie was as anxious to get back to Saint Joseph as he was. The thought erased some of his guilt over frustrating her plans, however unintentionally.
Good thing he hadn’t let Amos in on her notion to reach California before the twenty-second—the man would have tried to make it work, no matter the foolhardiness of the venture. Amos hated to see a woman in distress. Myles suspected it was the fatherly nature in him, one he hadn’t been able to practice on with his own children. Amos and his wife, who had passed away seven years earlier, had remained childless, despite a strong desire for a family.
The lightening sky overhead promised to be as clear and blue as the day before. The sight brought a whistle to Myles’s lips, a tune he’d heard Amos play plenty of times on the harmonica. Elijah swooped down over the stable roof and landed on his shoulder.
“You get breakfast, boy?” He ran his hand over the bird’s head, his gaze on the western horizon.
For one brief moment, he considered what it would’ve been like to travel farther than he’d ever been, all the way to California. His stepfather used to tell him a place like that, so far west, would have enough room for a horse ranch.
Someday.
Myles turned toward the stables. It was time to return to Saint Joseph and his current life. The longer he stayed with the Pony Express, the more money he’d make—money he could use to purchase that sprawling horse ranch in the future. Now that Cynthia no longer wanted to marry him, the ranch was his only dream and focus. It was the reason he’d considered Delsie’s proposal to take her to California in the first place. But he’d just have to be content with earning the money slow and steady instead.
The whistle returned to his lips as he entered the nearest stable. Inside Delsie stood talking quietly to Amos, but she closed her mouth the moment Myles walked up. She had on a different dress than yesterday, her hair pinned up again beneath her ridiculous flowered hat. He looked past them and spied one, two...three?...saddled horses. His merry tune ended on a sour note. Something was afoot.
“You planning a trip to Saint Joe?” he asked Amos with an attitude of nonchalance, despite the wariness churning inside him. Delsie avoided his gaze.
“Nope,” Amos answered. The glitter in the man’s blue-gray eyes only heightened Myles’s suspicion.
“What’s with the third horse, then?”
“Can’t very well walk to California, can we?”
We? Myles scowled at Delsie’s bent head. Sure enough she’d convinced Amos to go along with her wild scheme, just as he’d feared last night. Well, he’d put a stop to all this nonsense right now. “Miss Radford, we talked about this last night. It can’t be done.”
“But you said if we had our own horses—”
Myles tightened his jaw in exasperation. Had the woman heard the rest of his explanation? “I said even if we had our own horses, it still wouldn’t work. They can’t go fast enough.”
“Not necessarily. I’ve figured out—”
“The supplies you’d need to travel that far will weigh them down. At that slow pace you wouldn’t reach California until—”
“Myles?” Amos said, quietly but firmly.
“What?” he growled. Elijah ruffled his wings as if startled.
“Let the lady finish. She’s come up with a plan that might work.”
Myles took a moment to swallow back his irritation, then through ground teeth he managed to ask, “What do you propose, Miss Radford?”
Delsie glanced between him and Amos and back to him before her chin rose a notch. “I calculated everything out last night.” She lifted her hand and showed him a piece of paper with numbers scrawled all over the back of it. “We can average a hundred miles a day, if we rest the horses for an hour about every fifteen miles. If we start at six in the morning, we could reach one of the Express stations, at that pace, by eight o’clock that evening.”
“And supplies?” he countered, mostly in an attempt to hide how impressed he was with her calculations. Clearly Delsie Radford was more than a pretty face with a sudden penchant for adventure. She’d managed to come up with a fairly logical plan...so far.
“Instead of paying to use the stations’ horses, I’ll pay them for room and board and feed for the animals for the single night we stay there.”
Myles scrubbed a hand over the stubble on his face. He hadn’t bothered to trim his beard this morning in his anticipation of getting Delsie back to Missouri. “What about water or feed for the horses during breaks?”
Delsie slid a glance at Amos. “That’s where Mr....I mean, Amos comes in. He’s familiar with the route. He knows most of the rivers and creeks along the way, as well as the Express stations.”
A sardonic laugh nearly escaped Myles’s lips. She’d clearly thought of everything, the little conspirator. While he’d lain in his bed awake last night, feeling guilty as he’d imagined her heartbroken and weeping in her room upstairs, Delsie had actually been scheming behind his back. And doing a decent job of it as evidenced by her clever equations and her solicitation of Amos’s help as a guide.
“What do you need me for, then?” He crossed his arms over his chest as a feeling he couldn’t quite name settled there, tight and uncomfortable. It reminded him of the taunts he’d experienced as a child at school, about being an orphan, about how Charles wasn’t his real pa. He’d quit going at age ten.
“Because I promised to pay you first...” Myles frowned, ready to argue with her. While the money would be nice, even if he got less than she’d originally offered after she paid the station owners and Amos, he wouldn’t be pitied. “And because you know the most about horses,” she added before he could protest. “Amos told me you worked for years at a livery stable. You know better than either of us when to rest the animals, when to push them. So you see, I need you...”
An attractive blush stained her cheeks at her words. The image of her long hair and exposed collarbone from last night entered Myles’s mind again. “What I mean is we need you. Me, Amos and my sister.”
Myles blew out his breath and absently rubbed Elijah’s feathers. Did he still want to help her? A good portion of him preferred climbing into the saddle and heading east, never to see Miss Delsie Radford again. But the other part of him, growing more insistent the longer the silence stretched between them, wanted to see if she—if they—could really do this.
Could they reach California in seventeen more days? The challenge, and the chance to earn more money for his future ranch, was as alluring as the woman watching him with those dark blue eyes. Eyes framed with long lashes, above a slightly pink nose. If anything the sunburn only added to her beauty.
Careful, Myles, he warned himself.
He’d fallen for a pretty face once before, only to be spurned. Clever and attractive as Delsie might be, Myles knew all too well the impossibility of their two worlds ever coexisting. It had been that way with Cynthia and it would be no different with any other spoiled rich girl who came along.
“All right, Miss Radford. I’ll send word to Saint Joe that I’ll be gone for a few weeks. But mind you, if I lose my job over this, I’ll hunt you down and demand more money.” He regarded her with a level look. “Got it?”
A slight smile toyed with her mouth. “Yes, Mr. Patton.”
He tugged his hat lower onto his head. “What do you want to do now?”
“Now,” she said, smiling fully, “we ride.”
* * *
If she’d thought she was sore after her first day of riding more than a hundred miles, Delsie knew better now. Nothing could compare to the pain and stiffness of a second day in the saddle. Her limbs felt as heavy as logs and as hard and unyielding as granite. Every rise and fall of the prairie ground seemed to radiate from her mare’s hooves up through her back and all the way to her stiff neck. Sheer determination, coupled with the constant memory of her sister’s tearstained face on the day Lillie had left, kept her from begging Myles and Amos to turn around.
Their pace nearly matched that of yesterday’s, except for the rests that, according to Amos’s fancy pocket watch and Myles’s knowledge of horses, they were taking every hour and a half. Even Amos, riding behind her, didn’t look the least bit uncomfortable, though he had to be in his early fifties. Perhaps by the time they reached her sister, Delsie would be just as seasoned on a horse.
She shifted in the saddle, hoping to find a position that didn’t chafe her legs or add to her pain. Up ahead, Myles remained silent and alert as he had the day before, his bird perched on his shoulder. Delsie had fully expected him to refuse to accompany her any farther, despite her new and improved plan. But then he’d surprised her by agreeing.
Why is he really here? she wondered, not for the first time since they’d set out. Why hadn’t Myles left her and Amos to fend for themselves?
Amos had told her his reasons for coming—the promise of adventure and a soft spot for helping women. She’d found herself telling him more about her sister, and why she had to reach her, than she’d confessed to Myles. Not that she trusted Amos more. But the older man seemed to grasp—and appreciate—her willingness to face whatever obstacles to help Lillie and her family by keeping her promise. It was something she sensed Myles didn’t quite understand. Delsie could still visualize his hardened expression when he’d declared he had no family. The memory filled her with the same measure of sadness his words had on the boat.
Was it this pain and loneliness that made him hide behind a mask of curtness and annoyance? For it surely was a mask. She’d seen a glimpse here and there in the past twenty-four hours of a different man. One who possessed integrity and determination but also kindness and compassion. At other times, though, she could almost believe she’d imagined this different side to Myles. He hadn’t spoken more than a handful of words to her since they’d begun riding. If he disliked her company so, why wasn’t he headed straight back to Missouri?
With an amused sniff, she realized her questions had come full circle again.
“The horses need to stop soon,” Myles called over his shoulder.
“Let’s rest by those trees there,” Amos answered.
In the distance Delsie spied a patch of trees alongside the river they’d been riding beside—according to Amos it was called the Little Blue. She sighed with relief at the thought of a rest. Perhaps some walking would ease the continued agony of riding.
Amos drew alongside her and examined his pocket watch. Shaking his head, he grinned. “Look at that. An hour and a half almost to the minute. The man’s got a way with horses.”
Just not with people. She instantly regretted the unkind thought. “How long have you known Mr. Patton, Amos?”
The older man squinted up at the blue sky. “Let’s see, it’s been about seven years now. Right after my wife died, God rest her soul.”
“I’m sorry...about your wife. Did you have any children?”
“No.” A wistful look passed over his weathered face. “Not for wanting, that’s for sure. We hoped and prayed for a family, but we came to realize that God had other plans.” His gaze traveled from her to Myles. “Myles is the closest thing I have to family now. He’s the one who encouraged me to hire on with the Pony Express, despite my being up there in years—as he likes to remind me.” His mouth curved up in a broad smile.
Delsie rubbed at the back of her neck. As soon as they stopped, she’d wet her handkerchief, as Myles had done yesterday, to help prevent a sunburn. The longer she rode, the more she realized the impracticality of her stylish riding hat. Maybe she could trade it somewhere for a wide-brimmed one like the two men wore.
“Has he always been...um...” She searched for the right word.
“Hard-edged?” Amos supplied with a chuckle.
She bit back a smile and nodded.
“No, he hasn’t.” Amos wiped at his brow with his sleeve, then tugged his hat lower. “His folks died when he was real young, but he was raised by a good and godly man—his stepfather, Charles Patton. Myles took his stepfather’s death pretty hard.” He glanced at Delsie. She’d told him last night about her mother dying when she was thirteen. “But things really turned bad for him two months ago when his girl, this rich young lady from Saint Joe, refused to marry him after stringing him along for six years.”
Delsie turned her attention to the man in front of them, riding tall and straight in his saddle. What had the man at the hotel in Saint Joseph said yesterday? Didn’t know you had yourself a new girl, Patton. No wonder Myles had looked ready to pummel him.
Would Flynn feel the same, angry and bitter, if she returned home and told him she couldn’t marry him? She couldn’t picture him acting that way, but then again, did Flynn truly love her as it seemed Myles had this wealthy woman?
Flynn had told her she was the most beautiful woman in the world and would make him the happiest man alive she if agreed to marry him. But was it her that he truly looked forward to having or was it her inheritance? She’d been asking herself that question ever since she’d left Pennsylvania to visit Aunt Cissy in Saint Louis.
Now that Lillie had been struck from their father’s will, Delsie stood to gain a great deal of money. Some she would inherit when she married, the rest she would receive upon her father’s death, and Flynn knew the particulars. Despite her father’s encouragement of the match, the thought that Flynn might be more interested in her wealth than in Delsie herself brought a mixture of unease and confusion to her stomach.
When they reached the trees Amos had indicated, the older man helped Delsie off her mare. She stumbled forward and braced herself against a nearby tree trunk as she waited for her legs to work properly again. Myles led the three horses to the riverbank and let them drink.
“Shall we eat the food Mrs. Guittard gave us?” Delsie asked. She didn’t know if it was time for lunch, but the hunger in her middle could no longer be ignored.
“Fine by me,” Amos said, taking a seat in the shade.
Myles gave a grunt of approval as he looped the horses’ reins around several low-hanging branches. He removed the simple meal of bread, cheese and apples from one of the saddlebags.
Delsie eyed the ground, trying to decide if she preferred sitting or standing at the moment.
“You’re going to get dirty, Miss Radford,” Myles said with a shake of his head, “so you might as well start now.”
“But I wasn’t...” She pressed her lips over her defense and glared at his bent head as he set out the lunch things. The man could truly be insufferable, even if he had good reason to be.
Chin up, she stepped away from the tree and plopped right onto the dirt as unladylike as possible. A cry barreled up her throat as pain shot through her spine, but she swallowed it back when she saw Myles quirk an eyebrow at her. Was that amusement or admiration glittering in his dark eyes?
She accepted the food he handed her, then waited until he and Amos had their portions before she spoke up. “May I say grace?”
Myles leaned back against the tree trunk and scowled in response.
Maybe he needed an explanation. “I’d like to give thanks for the food...and for a safe journey so far.”
“Let her pray, if she wants, Myles.” Amos removed his hat and nodded at Delsie.
She looked at the younger man, waiting for him to take off his hat, as well. They locked glares for a moment before he removed his hat and dipped his head. Fighting a small smile of victory, she bowed her head, as well. “Thank You, Lord, for this good food. And thank You for keeping us in Thy watchful care. Please bless Lillie and help us reach her in time. Amen.”
Amos echoed her amen. Myles remained silent as he jammed his hat back on and started in on their meal. At least he hadn’t put up too much protest about her praying. She bit into the homemade bread with relish. Quiet descended over their group, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. A nice breeze gently swayed the trees and cooled her sunburned face.
Elijah, who’d flown off earlier, landed beside Myles. Something small and limp dropped onto the ground in front of him. As she watched, the bird began tearing into the rodent with its beak. Delsie’s stomach twisted at the sight, robbing her of the rest of her appetite.
“I think I’ll walk a bit.” She stood and managed to get beyond the trees without limping.
Out of sight, though, Delsie slowed her steps to a faltering walk as she massaged the backs of her legs. She followed the river, enjoying the chance, however painful, to move on her own.
The blue sky and rolling prairie were so vast, so endless. Myles might scoff at her for thinking so, at least out loud, but she saw the hand of the Lord in the beauty of it. Something inside her stirred and responded to this new open world—something she didn’t feel at home within the confines of her family’s elaborate parlor or in the midst of a grand party.
Was it this restlessness that had come over Lillie, prompting her to leave her family and home behind and strike out after her beau, Clay Weeks? Delsie hadn’t understood at the time why Lillie would defy their father’s wishes or ignore his threats to disown her if she ran off to find that farmer. Her older sister had confessed she loved Clay, and if the rigidness of their society life and their father’s disapproval wouldn’t allow her to be with the man she loved, then she’d go West with him. And so she had.
Now looking over this wide country, Delsie felt for the first time a piece of what Lillie must have felt. Her life at home suddenly felt a bit stale and narrow when compared to what she’d seen and experienced in the past two days.
A low whistle sounded from behind. She turned to see Myles motioning for her. It was time to ride again. A loud sigh fell from her lips. Too bad she couldn’t walk just as quickly to California. Even the thought of climbing back into that saddle sent tremors of fresh pain shooting through her legs and back.
“Only for you, Lillie,” she murmured. “And for Mother.”
When she reached the grove of trees where they’d stopped, she allowed Amos to assist her back onto her mare. Being the first to mount, she decided to move away from the trees to the open prairie, where she’d wait for the two men.
Delsie nudged the horse forward, dodging tree branches to keep from getting smacked in the face. One particularly long branch she pushed aside as far as she could while she passed by. But instead of swinging harmlessly through the air when she let go, the branch swung back and struck the rump of her horse with a loud thwack. The poor creature reared in fear. Delsie yelped and clung to the reins, her heart crashing hard against her ribs. The mare landed back onto all fours, then charged from the trees at a full run. From behind someone shouted, but she couldn’t make out the words.
Squeezing her knees as tightly as she could, she managed to stay in the saddle, despite the horse’s wild dash across the grass. The skin on her inner thighs stung with the effort. She tried to slow the mare by pulling back on the reins, but the frightened beast would have none of it. If anything, their careening pace increased.
Delsie held on, her fingers and hands aching, her pulse pounding as hard and as fast as the hooves below her. Would the horse eventually slow down or would she be forced to jump off in order to save herself? She peeked at the ground rushing dizzyingly beneath her and gulped. If she broke a bone, or worse, how would she manage to keep riding for the next seventeen days?
Oh please, Lord.
It was the shortest prayer she’d ever prayed, but she figured God understood why and what she was asking.
Off to her right, huge brown masses began turning tail and running at the approach of the runaway mare. Buffalo! Delsie managed only a quick look at their giant wooly frames, dozens of them, before they fled over a rise in the prairie. At least she could say she’d seen them, before it was too late.
The buffalo interrupted the mare’s path of retreat, causing it to angle back toward the river instead of the open plains. Ahead Delsie spied another thick grove of trees. If the horse made a dash through them, she’d surely be knocked off or struck in the head.
Time to jump, then. She eyed the ground again. The thought of striking the earth at this intense speed made her want to vomit with fear. But it couldn’t be helped.
She pressed her eyes shut, hoping the temporary blindness might squelch her nausea and ignite some confidence. She took a deep breath and leaned to the side. If she lived through this, she planned to share a few choice words with Lillie, though she instinctively knew her predicament was no one’s fault but her own.
Just as she was about to release the reins and leap to safety, or to her death, something jerked the mare hard to the right. Delsie scrambled to keep hold of the reins and opened her eyes. Myles rode next to her, his hand gripping her horse’s bridle in a firm fist. He didn’t let go, even as the mare tried to shake off his grasp. Eventually the scared creature was forced to slow its pace in order to follow Myles and his mount.
When her horse, at last, came to a shuttering halt, Delsie realized she was shaking.
“Are you all right?” Myles asked, still keeping a hand on the animal’s bridle.
Her teeth were chattering too much to speak, so she settled for a quick nod. When had it gotten so cold? She shivered and forced her fingers to release the reins. They would hardly uncurl from their clawlike grasp.
“Let’s get you down.” Myles finally released the mare’s bridle and dismounted. He talked soothingly to the horse, all the while rubbing its nose and patting the side of its head, before he circled around to help Delsie off.
For some unknown reason the sight of him calming the mare, instead of her, sparked anger inside her. His next words didn’t help. “You’re shaking, Miss Radford,” he said as he set her on her feet.
The tiny flame of anger roared to life. She’d come so close to being maimed or nearly killed. Her legs and skin hurt horribly from hours and hours in the saddle, and her face and neck were tender from the hot sun. And now this man had the audacity to turn his nose up at a little shivering after all she’d been through?
“Yes, I am, Mr. Patton,” she snapped. “Unlike you, I’m not accustomed to riding a hundred miles a day or dealing with frightened horses or having my skin clawed by that uncomfortable saddle.” Her voice hitched with unshed tears and she swallowed hard.
“I didn’t mean—”
“Please. I just need to...” She caught sight of Amos riding up. She didn’t want to dissolve into tears before them both. “I think I need to walk...”
Without waiting for Myles’s reply, she marched past them and the horses, heading west. At least if she was slowing them down, she was moving in the right direction. She walked as fast as she possibly could, in spite of the tremors that still shook her body. Folding her arms, she tried to ward off the cold inside her. A sob raced up her throat and she covered her mouth with her hand, willing the tears back. She was alive—no use wasting tears on what might have been.
Delsie spied a flat rock in the grass and sat down on it, her eyes on the western horizon. She’d only been on this portion of her journey for a day and a half, but already, it felt like months ago since she’d left Aunt Cissy’s house or her own home in Pennsylvania.
Measured footsteps approached. Delsie cut a glance in their direction, surprised to see it was Myles walking toward her and not Amos. What did he wish to say now? Probably more comments about how unsuited she was for this trip.
She turned away from him and set her jaw. If she didn’t speak, maybe he’d take the hint and leave her in peace to finish working through her earlier fear and adrenaline.
Something warm and leatherlike in smell settled over her shoulders. She recognized the buckskin jacket Myles wore. “Thank you...” she admitted begrudgingly. Her shivers began to subside as she pulled the jacket tighter around her.
He circled the rock and stood watching her from beneath his hat. “It gets easier.”
She tilted her head to give him a quizzical look.
“The riding, the soreness. You might want to get a pair of leather trousers, though.” He kicked at a clump of grass. “That’ll help with the chafing.”
Her cheeks flushed at his words, but she didn’t break eye contact. “I will not be wearing trousers, thank you.”
One side of his mouth lifted. “I meant under your dress.”
The heat on her face intensified. She ducked her chin and stared at the ground, hoping he would leave.
“Look, I didn’t mean anything unkind back there.” Myles removed his hat and ran a hand through his hair. She’d seen it mussed more times on their short journey than lying flat or slicked back like Flynn wore it.
Myles squatted down in front of her, his hat dangling between his knees. “I only mentioned the shakes because...well, because I wanted to be sure you really were all right. That horse was going mighty fast when I caught up.”
“Yes, it was.” Delsie toyed with the hem of his jacket, her anger deflating in the wake of his explanation. “Thank you...for coming to my aid. I was about to jump.” She gave a nervous laugh, grateful again she hadn’t been forced to fling herself from the mare.
His chocolate-colored eyes glinted with respect before he looked away. “You kept a level head, that’s for sure.”
“Is that another compliment, Mr. Patton?”
A deep chuckle erupted from him as he shook his head. “You are not what you seem, Miss Radford.”
“And neither are you.” She spoke the words so softly she wasn’t sure he heard, especially when he made no reply. The question she’d been asking herself all day resurfaced in her mind. “I know what you think of me and my privileged upbringing, so why are you helping me?”
He fiddled with the brim of his hat. “I need the money. For the land I want to own someday. A lot of land, out West maybe, where there’s fewer people.” His face had softened with his answer, its usual hardness transforming into earnest vulnerability for a brief moment.
Did she have a dream? Delsie wondered. Something to work toward? Right now it was reaching Lillie, of course, and continuing to fulfill her promise to her mother, but what about beyond that? Did she want to return to the sameness of her life at home? The thought brought another shiver of cold sweeping through her.
“You ready?” Myles asked as he stood and offered her his hand.
With a nod, she placed her hand in his. He pulled her gently to her feet, which brought her nearly toe-to-toe with him. Delsie peered up at his shadowed face. His gaze had lost its guard, if only for a moment. She’d thought him quite handsome before, even with his scowl, but his nearness and the glimpse at this gentler side of his had her middle erupting into flutters.
He broke contact first, releasing her hand and stepping back. “Shall we get you to that sister of yours, Miss Radford?”
She took a deep breath to steady her emotions. Clearly the horse escapade had played with her head. She wouldn’t follow in Lillie’s footsteps by choosing a man her father would never approve of. Not only would it break his heart, but it would be going against her promise to look after her papa.
“Yes, Mr. Patton.” She smiled and fell into step beside him. Only when they reached Amos and the waiting horses did she realize he hadn’t asked for his jacket back.
