Cowboy Pride Page 7

  He doffed his hat and then looked back at Liza.

  "If I might call on you tonight, perhaps we could talk more then?"

  She couldn't help being flattered at his interest, especially after Rob Darcy's indifference. What could a simple walk around town hurt?

  * * *

  "He said he was close with Rob and Danna's grandfather before the man died."

  Liza ran her hairbrush through locks that fell almost to her waist. She and Janie shared a bed in the room that faced Main Street in the family's quarters above their shop. The room was small, and a second bed, one that Lydia and Kitty shared, was crowded against the opposite wall, leaving the girls little space to maneuver.

  And even less for private conversations.

  Janie sat huddled with her knees up beneath her blanket, braiding her hair down her back. The doctor had agreed that her lingering cough wasn't life-threatening and she should resume regular activities unless she felt fatigued.

  She'd spent hours in the minuscule reading nook, which they’d built beside the window above Main Street, since they'd returned from the Bingleys' ranch. Liza didn't know what to make of it. She'd thought Janie and Nathan made a good match, had thought Nathan was sweet on Janie. But Janie seemed more withdrawn than happy.

  Lydia and Kitty whispered and giggled from their bed, but that didn't mean they weren't listening. They'd certainly been interested in Mr. Wickham when he'd visited the shop earlier, asking Liza what he'd had to say and watching out the window when he'd called for her to take a turn about town on his arm.

  Liza remembered the conversation they’d had on their way. "He was supposed to have received an inheritance, but Rob cheated him out of it."

  "What?” Janie shook her head. “Rob doesn't seem like the kind of man who'd do something like that."

  Liza had to smile at Janie's quick defense. "You never like to see the bad in anyone, Janie-girl."

  Janie wrinkled her nose. "I don't think Nathan would be friends with someone who would be so unkind, do you?"

  That was more like the Janie Liza knew. The one who would filter her perception of Rob Darcy's character through the man who'd rescued her.

  "You didn't see the way Rob looked at him," Liza murmured. She shivered just thinking about the black look Rob had delivered the other man. "There was definitely bad blood between them."

  And didn't she know how difficult Rob could be? He'd been highhanded and bossy during Janie's ordeal and plenty stern when he hadn't agreed with her about the saddles during the fire.

  "Hmm."

  Janie's noncommittal hum did nothing but spark her temper. She strove to push it down. She'd been attracted to Rob initially, and he'd insulted her. But she wasn't one to think the worst of someone just because he didn't like her. Was she?

  She didn't know George Wickham either, but he'd charmed her with his compliments—less effusive and more believable in private—and stories of his mother and sister back home in St. Louis.

  "The Bingleys' barn raising is Saturday. Should I ask Nathan about it?"

  "No." Liza raised her chin. "If Rob has a defense against the accusations, he can tell me directly."

  Which she couldn't imagine happening. Rob didn't care one whit what she thought. No doubt he'd soon be returning to his own ranch, and they'd never see each other again. That was fine with her. She was plenty busy with the store.

  And George... he'd taken a job on a nearby spread. Perhaps they could get to know each other better.

  "Girls!" Mama burst into the room, startling Liza into dropping her brush on the wood floor. She bent to pick it up.

  "Your father just shared some exciting news," Mama bubbled.

  Liza stifled a groan as she straightened. She and Janie shared a glance. Everything got Mama excited.

  "Do you remember Mr. Collins? He's your father's second cousin, once removed. Or... I can't remember, exactly. A very distant relation."

  Kitty and Lydia sat up in bed, attentive to Mama's every word.

  "Apparently, he's the proprietor of a very successful store in Sheridan, and he's coming to visit Papa and the store."

  Liza's stomach churned. "What is the purpose of his visit?" Was he here to convince Papa to sell the store? She'd seen a notation in one of Papa's ledgers about an offer to purchase the store, something she hadn't heard Papa or Mama mention before.

  "Something about the store, but really, Liza, the more important thing is that I believe he is single."

  Mama's eyes were shining in her excitement, but all Liza could think about was the store. If he was here to buy it, where did that leave their family? They'd had to leave everything behind once before—Liza's fault. Could the family bear it again?

  Mama seemed to be waiting for some response, her avid gaze fixed on Liza.

  "I'm certain we will all be glad to get to know a distant relation." She was careful to encompass all three of her sisters with the sweep of her arm.

  "I'm certain Liza hopes he isn't ugly," Lydia said before hiding wild giggles in her pillow.

  Mama propped her fists on her hips. "Really, Liza. You aren't getting any younger, you know. And you've turned away every eligible man in Calvin."

  "And most of the neighboring ranches," Kitty pointed out.

  Liza bit her tongue to keep from directing Mama's criticism toward Janie. She well knew how sensitive Janie was—all of them did—and so she allowed herself to be the one Mama harangued about the necessity of getting married.

  Since Nathan's daring rescue, Mama seemed to be fixed on a match between Mr. Bingley and Janie.

  "I see no rush to get married," Liza said. "While Papa needs my help at the store."

  "Pish," Mama said. "Your father has me and the younger girls to help him keep shop."

  Yes, but Mama was too often flitting around town on social calls to be of much help in the store, and Lydia and Kitty were no help at all.

  Mama leveled a finger toward Liza. "I want you to think about catching Mr. Collins's fancy."

  She left the room in a swirl of her nightrail, and Lydia and Kitty subsided into more giggles and whispers as Janie doused the lamp.

  But when Liza stared into the darkness as the other girls fell off to sleep, it wasn't the unknown Mr. Collins or even Mr. Wickham's smiling eyes that kept her awake.

  It was Rob and the look of utter contempt she'd last seen on his face.

  Chapter 11

  Mr. Collins was not single, much to Mama's chagrin.

  His wife, Charlotte, was petite with blond hair. And very pregnant.

  "Don't worry so much," Charlotte Collins whispered to Liza from the back of the shop.

  Right now, her husband stood with Papa, pointing at the window display that Liza had spent hours meticulously arranging. He was frowning and shaking his head.

  Liza felt sick. Was it that bad?

  "William is very good at managing his Sheridan store," Charlotte said.

  Liza shifted her attention to the customer who stood nearby, fiddling with an arrangement of belt buckles atop the counter.

  Liza tried to find a smile, but it was difficult. "I'm sure he is. But this is Calvin, not Sheridan. And this is our store."

  Charlotte's eyes twinkled. "It certainly isn't Sheridan. Our accommodations at the boardinghouse are—never mind that." She stopped the complaint before she finished.

  "Does your William intend to buy Papa's store?" Liza asked.

  No matter how slyly she'd asked, she hadn't been able to get a straight answer from Papa since Mama had announced Mr. Collins's visit.

  Charlotte shrugged. "He hasn't said. He's invested in two other stores—one in Idaho and one in Denver, Colorado, and has made quite a pretty profit." She smiled sweetly. "But that doesn't mean your store would be a good investment for him."

  Lydia and Kitty stormed into the storeroom, arguing animatedly about a pair of gloves.

  "Girls!"

  Kitty gave a convincing pout. "You always shush us."

  Lydia was
quick to join in. "You used to play games with us, help us with our hair ribbons, and now all you think about is Papa's shop!"

  Heat filled Liza's face. She felt the weight of Charlotte's curious stare.

  "Can we talk about this later?" she asked.

  Lydia huffed and shrugged, but then she saw a friend passing on the boardwalk outside the store. Both girls rushed out to say hello.

  "Please excuse my sisters," Liza said to Charlotte, who watched them with an amused expression. "They are single-minded in their pursuit of matrimony." Same as Mama. "If we could harness only a fraction of their energy toward making the store a success..."

  Charlotte smiled, one hand rubbing the bump of her belly. She shrugged. "Perhaps the problem isn't the store at all. Perhaps the town is too small to sustain it."

  The thought sent turmoil roiling through Liza. It must've shown on her face, because Charlotte hurried on. "Or perhaps that's not it at all. If William can help your papa, he will."

  Mama demanded they break for lunch upstairs, and Charlotte was quickly distracted by the mention of food.

  Liza was not so easily deterred. She sat on the stairs as Mama and Papa disappeared with the Collinses.

  Was Charlotte right? Was the town of Calvin too small to support their family's business?

  How could that be, when father had made a good profit in the beginning? Had the demand for leather goods really diminished that much in such a short period of time?

  Should they just give up?

  She couldn't think that. She'd set her mind to fixing everything she'd ruined when they'd had to leave Cottonwood Cove. She couldn't give up now.

  Lydia's complaint popped to the forefront of her thoughts. It was true Kitty and Lydia's preoccupation with fashion and friends and men annoyed her. It was also true that she spent most of her time devising ways to help the store.

  But she hadn't known her sisters wished for her company, her opinions.

  * * *

  Nate spied Janie across Calvin's dusty Main Street and found himself crossing the lane before he'd even realized he intended to. He hadn't seen her in ten days, not since she'd urged him to speak carefully around her mother.

  He hadn't known what to make of that. Was she embarrassed because of the situation they'd found themselves in? Surely that must have been it.

  That uncertainty about Janie and the ranch had kept him from town. He and Rob had cleared away the rubble of the burned-out barn, cut and hauled new beams, and ordered supplies for the barn raising tomorrow. Everything was ready.

  Would Janie be there?

  Right now, she wore a simple navy dress and jaunty bonnet of the same color that made her blond hair stand out.

  She was talking with another young woman outside the milliner's shop, and both ladies turned to him with surprise as his boots hit the boardwalk on their side of the street.

  "Miss Bennett." He tipped his hat, unable to keep from smiling at the flash of her blue eyes.

  "Nath—I mean, Mr. Bingley." She stumbled over the greeting, and her friend noticed, staring between them with a curious gaze.

  Janie's cheeks pinked. "Mr. Bingley, may I present my friend Merritt Harding?"

  He tipped his hat. "Hello." To Janie, "Are you on your way home? May I walk with you?"

  "I won't keep you, Janie dear," the woman said. "We'll catch up soon." She departed with an arch look that he couldn't interpret.

  And then he was alone with Janie. Sort of alone, as they were in plain sight on the boardwalk.

  He fell into step beside her, jutting out his elbow so she might hold onto him. But her hands stayed folded over a small brown-wrapped package held against her midsection. Her bonnet hid her eyes, and he couldn't tell whether she'd seen his gesture or not. Was she shy, or did she simply not want to hold onto him?

  His thoughts flashed to Hildy and the disdainful look she'd worn as she'd looked at him that last time.

  He straightened his shoulders against the pain of it and cast about for a neutral topic.

  She coughed once into her gloved hand, the sound a reminder of what she'd suffered that one terrible night.

  "How is your health?" he asked.

  "I am much improved." The pink in her cheeks seemed to prove the statement.

  "I'm glad." He couldn't keep the warmth from his voice, and she glanced at him, her bonnet tilting to give him a glimpse of her eyes.

  "How is your sister?" she asked.

  "She is... much the same." His disappointment was keen, and she must've heard it in his voice because her face turned toward him again, her eyes warm and curious.

  "I wanted… I had hoped for a close relationship," he explained. "But it seems hopeless now." They were too different, he and Mindy. She hadn't come out and said that she judged him for being his father's illegitimate offspring, but perhaps that's where part of her animosity stemmed from. "I suppose it shouldn't matter. I've been on my own for a long time."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I suppose Liza told you about—about my parentage." He stumbled over the word as hot shame, old as it was, rose up to choke him.

  They approached a broken step where the boardwalk dropped them into a side street, and he reached out to support her elbow as they crossed it. For a moment, she was turned toward him, and he glimpsed such warmth in her eyes that a responding emotion rose in his chest, quick and sure.

  A horse blew from nearby, clopping hoofbeats approaching, and he ushered her across the side street to the next patch of boardwalk.

  "Liza only mentioned that you'd lost your parents."

  Bless her. He hadn't expected that, had thought surely Liza would tell Janie his family legacy that had spilled on the dining table like so much horse manure.

  And now he wondered if he could back away from this conversation he'd introduced. Janie didn't know that he was the product of an affair, didn't know about his mother or the childhood that had been so difficult.

  Would she look at him differently, if she knew?

  Rob would know how to get out of this situation, to tell her part of it without revealing the entirety of his shame. But he wasn't Rob.

  He was only Nathan. A man who couldn't spin a lie to save his life.

  They were approaching her family's store, but she slowed her steps.

  And he remembered Hildy's disdain, but what could he do?

  He ducked his head, letting his Stetson shade his eyes and maybe hide part of the shame. "My mother met my father when she was seventeen. He charmed her and he—and they..." He couldn't say the words, hoped she understood. "He was already married."

  She inhaled softly. Surprised.

  "When I was conceived, he sent my mother West, and we never heard from him again. My mother worked her fingers to the bone to put food on the table and clothes on our backs."

  She drew him to a stop with a gentle hand on his arm.

  She'd reached for him!

  She looked up at him. In her expressive eyes, he saw... compassion.

  "You must've loved her very much."

  He nodded, words clogging in his throat in a hot knot. He cleared it away. "She died when I was sixteen, and I've been cowboying ever since. Then Mindy arrived at Rob's ranch with news of an inheritance and." He exhaled noisily, laughing a little at the disbelief he still felt. "I didn't even know I had a half-sister."

  Someone passed on the boardwalk, and Janie took a self-conscious step back, her hand falling away. She turned her head, her bonnet hiding her eyes from him again.

  But he wouldn't soon forget the way she'd looked at him. Touched him.

  "Mindy's father—my father—left her a goodly part of the inheritance, but she won't receive it until her twenty-first birthday. She's angry with him... and with me. She finds life here difficult and boring."

  He wanted to ask whether Janie thought she'd find life on the ranch difficult. But that was certainly a presumptuous question. He liked her. But did she return his affection?

  "Maybe...” Janie s
tarted. She considered the issue, and a few too many heartbeats passed while he waited to hear what she would say. “Maybe I could speak with her tomorrow. At the barn raising."

  She lifted her eyes to him, and he couldn't help the warm smile that suffused his face. "That would be… I would welcome it."

  She nodded, shyly turning away again.

  He walked with her the final few steps to her family's store, and she went inside with a demure "goodbye."

  He hadn't intended to seek Janie out in town—their meeting had been serendipitous. And he left with his spirits lightened, not even thinking about the work ahead.

  Chapter 12

  The morning of the barn raising dawned clear and mild, the perfect weather for a workday.

  Riding in the wagon, Liza couldn't help but notice that Janie was a bundle of nerves. She'd been fidgety and even cross with Lydia as they'd readied to leave town this morning, a rarity for her usually-even-tempered sister.

  Mr. Collins and his Charlotte had begged to come along for the event, eager to attend for reasons Liza couldn't fathom. Riding in a wagon for an hour and a half couldn't be comfortable for someone in Charlotte's condition, though the journey was almost over now.

  With Charlotte beside her and Lydia and Kitty giggling across the wagon, she couldn't find out what was bothering Janie.

  Mr. Collins rode on horseback beside the wagon, talking with Papa.

  "I've never been to a barn raising before," Charlotte said. She swept one hand across her cheek, catching several strands of hair that had escaped her bun. "How many people will be there?"

  Judging from the line of wagons throwing up dust before and after the Bennetts' wagon, it would be a good turnout.

  "Most of the town. The men will do most of the work," Liza said. "We'll have plenty of time to visit. Then we'll spend the afternoon preparing a big meal. If there's enough progress made and if the mayor brought his banjo, we might even get to enjoy some dancing before the evening is over."

  Charlotte's eyes danced. "I love dancing, although I don't move as quickly as I used to." She inclined her head to include Janie in the conversation. "Will you introduce me to your beau?"