Again she found herself wondering what would make a man willing to risk his life for others.
As the horses and riders drew near, Ruby saw Quent suddenly holster his gun. She chanced a quick look around the tree and let out the breath she’d been unconsciously holding.
“It’s Diamond and Adam,” she said on a rush of relief. “Riding with the wranglers.”
As the party drew abreast of them, Diamond glanced from her sister to the marshal with a frown of concern. “We didn’t expect to see you out here, Quent. Has there been some more trouble?”
“It’s not what you’re thinking.” Quent gave her a reassuring smile. He didn’t want to be the cause of any trouble between these two sisters. And he could see that everyone was willing to jump to conclusions about Ruby after her “incident.” “I was just accompanying Ruby, since I’m on my way to Widow’s Peak.”
Diamond was instantly alert. “You looking for anything in particular?”
His tone was guarded. “I don’t know yet. Just thought I’d look around. See if there’s any kind of familiar pattern to the tracks. If you’d like, I can stop by your ranch on the way back and let you know what I find.”
“I’d appreciate it,” Diamond said. “If there’s any sign of trouble, we’ll post extra wranglers around the herd. But instead of our ranch, stop by Pa’s.” Though each of her sisters, as well as foreman Cal McCabe, owned a share of the huge spread, she still referred to the Jewel ranch as her father’s. “Carmelita is fixing supper. If you don’t mind stopping there, we’ll see that Carmelita saves you some food.”
“You just said the magic word.” Quent walked to the rear of the rig and began untying his horse. “Wild mustangs couldn’t make me miss a chance to enjoy Carmelita’s cooking.”
Before he could swing into the saddle, Ruby stopped him with a hand on his arm. “You almost forgot your jacket.”
“Keep it.” He closed a hand over hers. “You still have a way to go. And it doesn’t look like the sun is coming back.”
She couldn’t resist teasing. “Are you sure you can trust me, Marshal?”
“I wouldn’t worry about it. I know where you live if I have to come after you.”
Ruby’s smile grew. Though his words could have stung, she had detected an underlying warmth in them.
He helped her into the rig and watched as she flicked the reins and followed behind the party of horsemen. He continued to watch until they disappeared over a ridge.
The silence of the day closed around him as he pulled himself into the saddle and started off at a fast clip.
Though the air had grown cooler, he was unaware of anything except the warmth he felt at the simple touch of Ruby. A warmth that lingered as his horse ate up the miles.
“You’d better set another place, Carmelita.” As soon as Diamond warmly embraced the housekeeper, she added, “I invited Quent Regan to stop by.”
“Ah, the marshal. That is good.” Carmelita removed a tray of corn bread from the oven and turned away before Diamond could help herself to a sample. “The more men the better. I grow weary of trying to cook for this one.” She pointed a wooden spoon at Ruby. “These last few days she has hardly eaten a thing. I think I am losing my touch.”
“It isn’t you, Carmelita,” Ruby assured her. “I’ve just had more important things on my mind than eating.”
“You see?” The housekeeper frowned. “What can be more important than food? What I miss the most is having men around. Men with hearty appetites.” She sighed as she stirred a pot of venison stew. “At least when Cal lived here, he could eat almost as much as your father.”
“But then he had to go and fall in love with Pearl and set up housekeeping miles from here,” Diamond said.
“Sí. But at least while he was here, and Adam began courting you, I had two hungry men to feed.” She glanced around. “By the way, where is Adam?”
“He’s with the wranglers at the bunkhouse.” Diamond managed to break off a piece of steaming corn bread before Carmelita’s spoon came down on her knuckles. “He noticed Cal was still here. He wanted to talk to him before Cookie called the wranglers to supper and Cal headed home to Pearl.” She turned away, stuffing the morsel into her mouth before she could be stopped.
“You will sit over there,” Carmelita said stemly, pointing to the far side of the room. “Or there will be nothing left for supper.”
Diamond’s antics had Ruby bursting into gales of laughter. The two sisters were still giggling when the back door opened and Adam came in, followed by Quent Regan.
“What’s so funny?” Adam asked as he brushed a kiss over the housekeeper’s cheek.
“Some things do not change.” Though Carmelita’s words were terse, there was a twinkle in her eye. “I can see that marriage has not changed your wife. She is still that naughty child I was always scolding.”
“And if she ever changes,” Adam said with a wink in his wife’s direction, “I’ll find myself hunting the world over for the naughty woman I fell in love with.”
Carmelita wiped her hands on her apron as she greeted Quent. “Welcome, Marshal. I am pleased that you could come for supper.”
“Not half as pleased as I am, Carmelita. There’s nothing I like better than good home cooking.”
“And, according to Carmelita, nothing she likes better than working her fingers to the bone for some ungrateful man,” Diamond said with mock sarcasm.
“My kind of woman.” Quent followed Adam’s lead by hanging his hat on a peg and washing his hands in a basin by the door.
“You will sit,” the housekeeper said as she removed the first platter from the stove.
Within minutes the table was laden with steaming bowls of venison stew, a platter of beef lavished with red and green chilis, and corn bread still warm from the oven.
As they dug in to their meal, Diamond asked, “So we’ve been talking about Boyd Barlow. Did you see any sign of him up on Widow’s Peak, Quent?”
He shook his head. “No trail. Nothing to make me think he’s still in the area. But on the way back I stopped by to see Frank and Nellie Cooper. Frank thought he spotted a horseman up in the foothills a couple of days ago.”
“It could have been one of our wranglers,” Diamond said logically.
“That’s what I thought. But Frank said this man was a stranger. And the horse he described sounded a lot like one stolen from a nearby ranch.” Quent shook his head. “Still, Nellie thinks it’s just Frank’s age catching up with him. Says his eyes aren’t what they once were.”
“Pa used to say ranching’s for the young and the hungry,” Diamond muttered.
Adam grinned at his wife across the table. “I guess that’d describe us. Young and hungry.”
“Or at least hungry,” Quent said, filling his plate a second time. “Carmelita, this is the best venison stew I’ve ever tasted.”
She set a cup of hot black coffee beside him. “What you need is a wife to cook for you.”
“No, thanks. After spending days on end listening to Arlo’s complaints about his wife, that’s the last thing I want. Still, I’d be willing to settle for a housekeeper. But only if she can cook like you.”
“Wives can be good for other things,” Adam said, causing Diamond’s cheeks to turn scarlet.
To hide her embarrassment, she sputtered, “Arlo’s wife is a fool. And ever since being befriended by Lavinia Thurlong and Gladys Witherspoon, she’s become impossible. Sharing secrets, spreading gossip. They’re only happy if they’re making someone else miserable.”
Adam chuckled. “Now, don’t get started on your favorite subject.”
Ruby began moving the food around her plate. Recalling the scene at Durfee’s Mercantile, she discovered she wasn’t very hungry. Though she had reacted with indifference, the truth was, she’d been stung by Lavinia’s words. She’d felt as she had when she’d been a child, listening to the cruel gibes and mocking laughter of the prim-and-proper girls at Notre Dame du Bayou.
&n
bsp; Across the table Quent studied Ruby, lost in thought, and realized she’d been more deeply affected by those silly women in town than she’d let on. Though it was none of his business, he searched for a way to bring her out of her painful reverie.
“You’d have been proud of your sister today, Diamond,” he said suddenly. “Did she tell you she managed to snag her first customer?”
“Who?” Diamond asked.
“Millie Potter.” Quent watched as Ruby’s little frown was gradually replaced with a smile. “Ruby had her talked into a new lace table cover before she’d even finished with lunch.”
“Oh, Ruby, that’s wonderful.” Diamond closed her hand over her sister’s. “Millie’s boardinghouse is the perfect place to display your work.”
Ruby nodded. “That’s what I’ve been thinking. If I can get just one or two women to admire some of my handiwork, the others will come around.”
“So you won’t be making just gowns now,” Diamond said.
Ruby shrugged. “I guess only time will tell. Sewing is sewing. I can make a gown, a hat, a rug, or a man’s shirt. It matters not to me.”
At the mention of a shirt, Quent glanced down at his own. “I’ve been meaning to mend these holes, but I never seem to find time. Think you could whip me up another shirt like this one?”
Ruby smiled. “Yours is a simple enough request, Marshal. But I would have to take your measurements.”
“All right.” He lifted his cup to his lips and studied her over the rim. “How about after supper?”
“After supper will be fine.”
Carmelita approached the table with bowls of peach cobbler, topped off with heavy sweetened cream. While the others dug in to their dessert, Ruby nibbled hers and wondered why she suddenly felt too warm.
It was not the thought of measuring Quent Regan’s chest and shoulders, she told herself sternly. It was merely the heat of the kitchen. And the result of all this food. But when the meal was over, Ruby insisted on helping Carnelita clear the table.
“Go,” the housekeeper said, shooing her aside. “I do not want your help, Senorita Ruby.”
“But the dishes...”
“Are my job, and I’m almost through with them. Go.” Carmelita turned her around and gave her a shove.
“Come on.” Diamond linked her arm with Ruby’s. “You know Carmelita is going to have her way.”
They walked to the parlor, where a fire already blazed on the grate. Adam and Quent were standing in front of the fireplace, smoking cigars, talking in low tones.
“You going to check out Frank Cooper’s story?”
Quent nodded. “I’ve been thinking it’s time I took a long, leisurely tour of the territory.”
“That’d take weeks.”
“Maybe, but...” Seeing the two women crossing the room, he let the words he’d been about to say die on his lips. Instead, he made a move to toss his cigar into the fire. “sorry,” he muttered. “I should have saved this for the ride home.”
“Not at all.” Ruby stopped him with a hand on his arm. “I like the smell of tobacco. Probably because the only time I smelled it in my house was when my papa came to visit. And that was always such a happy time for Mama and me.”
Quent tried not to stare at her hand. But he could feel the heat of her touch clear through his sleeve. “It’s nice that your ma didn’t object. My father had to do his smoking in the barn. I guess I’ve always associated it with something that shouldn’t be done in front of ladies.”
“And when did you ever think of me as a lady?” Diamond asked as she glanced down at her buckskins and boots.
Quent grinned. “You’d be surprised how many men in Hanging Tree noticed you, Diamond, buckskins or not. The only trouble was, your father was a formidable obstacle. There weren’t too many men who would have risked Onyx Jewel’s temper. Or his gun.”
As the others laughed, Ruby said softly, “It must have made you feel very safe to have your father always here to watch out for you.”
Diamond dropped an arm around her sister. “I did feel safe. And loved. I only wish I’d known about you. And Pearl. And Jade. It makes me sad to know that while I was enjoying Pa’s love, you and the others were denied so much.”
Ruby’s hand went to the gold rope at her throat, and her fingers closed over the two stones, one onyx, one ruby. Beside her, Diamond touched a hand to the matching one at her own throat, containing an onyx and a diamond.
“Don’t be sad for me,” Ruby whispered. “Papa loved all of us. And he is, as he promised, with us still.”
The two sisters touched cheeks in an intimate gesture, before stepping apart.
“I have brought some refreshments.” Carmelita entered with a tray containing several glasses and decanters. “And I will say good-night now. Rosario is here to take me home.”
“Thanks for the dinner,” Diamond said as she pressed a kiss to the older woman’s cheek. “It’s the best food Adam and I have had in ages.”
“Oh. You don’t like my cooking?” Adam teased. He kissed the housekeeper and added, “I appreciate this meal even more than Diamond. It gave me a break from my own cooking.”
“And I would have eaten cold beans and dried beef along the trail,” Quent said as he brushed yet another kiss to Carmelita’s cheek.
“Then you must come back often.” Carmelita was blushing at all the compliments. Especially from such handsome men. “I like to cook. But I like even more to see someone enjoy my cooking.”
With a swirl of skirts, she was gone.
Diamond filled two tumblers with whiskey and handed them to the men. Then, pouring tea into small fragile cups, she handed one to Ruby and sipped the other.
“Here’s to your first customer,” Diamond said, lifting her cup and clinking it against Ruby’s. “To Millie Potter. May she be the first of many.”
Everyone touched glasses and cups, then settled themselves comfortably around the fire, Adam and Diamond on a love seat, Quent and Ruby in nearby chairs.
“Tell me about the shop,” Diamond urged.
“It will be small,” Ruby said, “but adequate for my needs. Shelves along one wall to hold an assortment of fabrics. Windows, to display goods.” As she spoke, she became more animated. Her eyes took on a liveliness, a light that hadn’t been there moments before. “And a little room in back where the ladies can try on their gowns in private, if they wish, and where I can keep my accounts.”
Diamond studied her while she spoke, then shook her head. “It’s still hard for me to think of you as a businesswoman, Ruby. But it sounds as though you know exactly what you want.”
“All I want is to feel useful here in Hanging Tree. To belong,” Ruby said softly. “It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
Quent’s eyes narrowed slightly. Did she realize how much she’d just revealed? He tipped his glass and drained it. Standing, he said, “I’d better get going. It’s a long ride back to town. And I’m sure Arlo’s been asleep at my desk for hours.”
“You can’t leave until Ruby measures you for a new shirt,” Diamond reminded him.
Quent looked distinctly uncomfortable. “Maybe we’d better leave that for another time.”
“Don’t be silly.” Diamond took the empty glass from him and refilled it before handing it back. Turning to Ruby. she said, “Go get whatever you need, while we visit with Quent.”
Ruby left the room and returned minutes later with a small pouch. Dumping the contents on a table, she rummaged through them until she located a measuring tape and slate and chalk.
Turning to Quent, she said, “I’m afraid you’re too tall, Marshal. Would you mind kneeling here on the hearth?”
Kneel? Hell, Quent thought, he’d lie down and die as long as she asked him in that cool, breathless voice.
He did as he was told, and had to swallow back a smile when Ruby stood in front of him. If she knew what he was looking at, and just where his thoughts were right now, she’d lay him flat with a few well-chosen curses in that
exotic mix of French, Cajun and English that she used so expressively.
He thought about closing his eyes and trying to concentrate on horse thieves. But there was no way in hell he was going to try anything noble right now. He was enjoying himself far too much. He kept his gaze fixed on the darkened cleft between those lush breasts. Damned if he wasn’t near drowning in the smell of her, the touch of her.
Ruby wound a length of tape around Quent’s shoulders. As her hand brushed his upper arm, she felt the strength in him. And felt, too, the way he reacted to her touch. Like a horse, quivering. It should have given her a sense of power. But instead, it only added to her feelings of inadequacy. Mon Dieu, could he hear the beating of her heart? Or the way her breath caught in her throat?
When she was assured that she had the right size, she stepped away to mark it down, grateful for the chance to move a little away and calm her labored breathing.
Quent, too, seemed deeply affected by this encounter. He stood, lifted the tumbler and took several long drinks of whiskey.
“Now your chest,” she said.
He set the tumbler on the mantel and moved his arms out stiffly at his sides.
Ruby had never felt so unnerved in her life. With Adam and Diamond standing to one side watching, and Quent staring down at her in that quiet, watchful way he had, she became aware of the fact that she was the center of attention. Like an actress overcome with stage fright, she found herself momentarily paralyzed. Then, forcing herself to move, she reached around his back and drew the tape firmly about his chest.
“My. You are...” She could feel her mouth going dry. Could feel her heart beating like a bird caught in a trap. She swallowed. Loudly. Her voice sounded unusually loud in her ears. “A very big man, Marshal.”
Her fingertips brushed his nipple, and he thought he’d die from the pleasure. If Adam and Diamond weren’t here... Oh, the thought of what he’d like to do was driving him around the bend.
Nerves had Ruby letting go of the tape. For a moment she couldn’t believe what she’d done. Then, biting back a curse, she dropped to the floor and fumbled around until she located it. She stood. And was forced to start over.