Ride With Me (A Quaking Heart Novel - Book One)

  * * *

  Clint stood there, dumbfounded, holding his end of the cot. Johnnie seemed to have the same reaction. Feeling foolish, Clint finally dropped his end, and walked off after the women.

  Johnnie's boots crunched broken ground behind him. "What the heck's up with you?"

  "Me?" Clint swiveled to a stop and glared at Johnnie. "What's wrong with you?"

  "What were you trying to prove? That you're stronger? Tougher?"

  "Like you were slowing down any," Clint snarled.

  "You were showing off for Jessica!"

  Furious, Clint planted a forearm to Johnnie's neck. Johnnie wrenched it away and twisted Clint's arm behind his back. Clint bent and flipped Johnnie over his head. But rather than let go of Clint's arm, Johnnie hung on. This time, Clint flipped head over heels and crashed down beside Johnnie. His shoulder burned something fierce, and he just knew Johnnie had torn something in there. "How the devil'd you learn to do that?" Clint panted.

  Johnnie sat up slowly, looking much like Clint felt. Johnnie bent his knees and planted his heels in the dirt. Drying his face with a sleeve, he took a few more breaths before he looked over at Clint. Between breaths, he said, "Since the girls are out of ear-shot, we need to talk."

  Clint hadn't budged yet, since his body was still screaming at him. "I agree. So what's going on with you and Rose Marie anyway?"

  Raking his fingers through his hair, Johnnie said, "That's not what I wanted to talk to you about, but okay, let's start there. There's nothing between Rose Marie and me. I've seen a different side of her, that's all. Something you're not willing to see."

  Clint sat up much the same way Johnnie had to face him. "I don't want to see any side of her. Do you know the grief that girl's given me? I mean, you're judging me and you don't even know anything about what she's done."

  "Fine, tell me what she's done."

  Surprised by Johnnie's words, Clint took a moment to consider how to answer, and then realized it wasn't something he'd ever share with another man.

  Johnnie's fury seemed to be rising. "Well, I'm waiting. What horrific thing did that little wisp of a girl do to the almighty Clint Wilkins that you can't even be civil to her?"

  Clint winced. He was right. What harm had she done to him that he hadn't allowed? A new conviction tore through him, getting a stronghold on his heart. What is this new feeling? From You God?

  "Well?"

  Clint cleared his throat. Hands dangling between his knees, he spoke with resignation. "You're right." Though he'd had no control over what she'd done, somehow he knew it was payback for his own bad choices in life. "If I can accept Christ's forgiveness, I guess it's time I try to forgive, huh?" Clint said, surprised at his own admission. He glanced sideways at Johnnie and saw the man's perplexed look.

  "Where'd that come from?" Johnnie asked.

  "From here." Clint tapped his chest. "Trying to condemn Rose Marie and I'm suddenly reminded of my own faults."

  Johnnie's eyebrows shot up.

  "Don't look at me like that. I'm amazed too." He choked out a laugh. "Besides, don't expect miracles. It's just a start."

  Clint struggled to his feet, grabbed his hat out of the dirt, and dusted off his pants with it. He offered a hand to Johnnie.

  Slapping his hand in Clint's, Johnnie stood. "There's something else I need to talk to you about."

  Clint braced himself. "What now?"

  "Do you remember when I came to the ranch a year ago?"

  "You were quite the greenhorn back then."

  Johnnie bit the side of his lip.

  They didn't have time for this. "We've got to catch up to the girls." Clint turned his back on Johnnie and headed downhill.

  Johnnie trudged along behind him. "Did you ever wonder where I came from and why I came here?"

  What was this all about? A headache started to grab hold at Clint's temples. He slowed up, waited until Johnnie was beside him. "No. Lots of men come here looking for work. Not my business to ask about their lives. Work hard, stay honest, that's all I ask." He ventured a glance in Johnnie's direction. "You're not thinking of confessing anything, are you?"

  "No. Well, yeah, sort of, but it pertains to you."

  "What're you talking about? You're starting to get on my nerves."

  "What the heck are you getting so riled up about?"

  "Spit it out, Williams, or shut the heck up."

  Johnnie stopped so short Clint felt the rubble he'd freed sting the backs of his legs. Clint whipped around. Johnnie met him with silence.

  "What is wrong with you? Just tell me what's on your mind."

  Johnnie scrubbed a hand up and down his chest. He looked away, convincing Clint he was guilty of some diddly-dang thing.

  Clint swiped at the sweat dripping off his face and held his tongue. Fine. He could out-wait this cowpoke till the cows came home.

  Johnnie took a deep breath. "I'm not a true cattleman. Oh, I have a background in it from way back. But not in the last ten years."

  Clint went rigid, torn between what Johnnie was trying to say and how far away the girls were getting.

  "Clint . . ." Johnnie looked glum, like he was about to confess he'd ruined Clint's best boots. "I was hired by your mother to find you."

  It took a minute and still the words didn't fully register. "You—What did you just say?"

  Johnnie curled in his lower lip and bit down. "I'm a Pinkerton Detective. I work in the missing persons department. Your mother hired our agency to find you. She was desperate to know if you were alive and well. Wyoming didn't have a missing persons department, so our agency in San Francisco got the job."

  Sensing his knees growing weak, Clint did a quick scan of the area and plunked down hard on a boulder before they could buckle. He couldn't speak. He had tried to forget his mother, yet all these years she had been a dark influence on his life.

  Johnnie found a spot next to him and sat, waited.

  Clint's heart pounded painfully. A flurry of memories twisted together in his mind. Johnnie put a hand on Clint's shoulder. "Your stepfather passed away two years ago. It took some time before your mother could afford to hire us. Her request was for me to find you, to stay nearby for a time. She never explained your past to me, but was pleased to find out you were safe and had turned out fine."

  Clint focused on a flat rock in the road while trying to wrap his mind around each new shock. "You could bowl me over with a feather right now. I know I don't ask about the men's pasts . . ."

  "Sorry I had to deceive you, but I was doing my job. Well, actually, I started out doing my job. Once I found you, I took a leave of absence to observe you for a time. It was what your mom wanted, but couldn't afford. I liked being at the ranch so much I decided to stay on as a favor to her. We stayed in close touch. Recently, I talked her into letting me tell you, since it's past time I return to San Francisco."

  Clint blinked in disbelief. "Where is my mother? My sisters?"

  "Your mom is still in Cheyenne. Your sisters live close by. Both are married with families. You have two nieces and four nephews."

  "No kidding." Clint shook his head again. He found himself surprised that numbness had moved in where anger used to be. "Well, I'm happy my sisters are okay." He lifted his hat, scrubbed a hand through his hair, then replaced it. "And Mom—did she survive that sham of a marriage?" He swung his head back to watch Johnnie's reaction.

  Johnnie's expression remained impassive. "She's well."

  "So, you're a Pinkerton. Always knew you were a mystery, Johnnie, but this . . ." A humorless laugh escaped him.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Clint could see Johnnie eyeing him warily.

  Clint stood. Johnnie did as well. "What are you going to do now?" Clint asked.

  "Believe it or not, I had planned to stay on at the ranch and continue to work for you. That was before Jessica."

  Clint instantly saw red. "What do you mean before Jessica?"

  Johnnie stared off in the distance. "She's an amazing??
?"

  "You don't have to tell me how amazing she is!" Clint cut in. Blatant jealousy seared a path right through him. His hands made fists but he managed to control the urge to slam them into Johnnie.

  Johnnie's jaw muscles knotted. "It's about time you figure out what you've got your hands on."

  Clint swallowed hard. He had two choices. Beat the heck out of Johnnie and kick him off the ranch, or confess his feelings—ones he hadn't even told Jessie—and see if Johnnie would back off. His heart started to pound as he looked Johnnie right in the eye. "I'm in love with her."

  Johnnie's shoulders slumped. "Yeah. I figured. Question is: What're you going to do about it?"

  And therein lay the problem. What was he planning to do? Johnnie wouldn't hesitate. He'd marry her. The thought made Clint violent. He growled. "That's none of your business."

  Johnnie gave him a sobering look. "Guess you still have a lot to think about. Just don't take too long." With that Johnnie strode down the road after the women.

  Clint was livid. He wanted to pummel the man and leave him for the animals to clean up. Instead, he clamped his jaw and followed in silence.

  When he'd successfully squelched his desire to punch Johnnie, he asked, "You've been at the ranch quite a while. Why'd you delay telling my mom and me for so long?"

  "I didn't want to tell your mom you've never married and were going through women like our bulls go through the herd."

  Clint cringed.

  Johnnie caught the look and shrugged. "Anyway, I did tell her that you were the foreman of a prosperous cattle ranch, so she knows you're successful in your work."

  Clint's gaze drifted off where the girls had gone around a curve in the road. He still heard their voices. No matter what turbulence had just ripped through his insides, the dangers of the outside world were doubly real and at least partially under his control. He picked up his pace to close the gap.

  "Let's just keep this bit of information between us," Clint said.

  Johnnie eyed him with a mixture of cynicism and respect. He nodded his agreement.