Part 20 (2/2)
The hint of a smile was back in his eyes. He'd let her sit there squirming, ready to abase herself, beg . . .
”You mean you let me sit here worrying about what I'd do if you refused?”
”I would have told you earlier, but I didn't want to take you away from Sydney.”
Melody's sense of outrage continued to grow. ”You didn't think any such thing! You wanted to see me grovel.”
”No, but if you were going to, I wouldn't mind watching.”
He was laughing at her now. Those incredibly blue eyes were practically dancing. ”Why, you” She couldn't think of a polite word that would do justice to her feelings. ”I've a good mind to”
”Careful. You don't want to make me so angry I'll quit. Then you'll have to get down on your knees and really beg to get me to come back.”
”I wouldn't get on my knees to you if” She stopped abruptly. He was teasing her. What did he mean by having a sense of humor when she was near desperation? She took refuge in rigid formality. ”My stepmother and I are deeply appreciative of what you've done for us, Mr. Attmore. We realize money can't compensate you for the dangers you've been exposed to, but you'll have our eternal grat.i.tude.”
”I liked you better when you were thinking profane thoughts and being frustrated because you were too ladylike to utter any of them.”
He was still laughing at her. ”A gentleman would never say anything so ungallant.”
The sparkle disappeared from his eyes.
”I'm not a gentleman. I'm a gunfighter, remember? We can do anything we like.”
She hadn't meant to hurt his feelings. ”Despite your dependence on guns, I suspect you're as much a gentleman as any man I've ever known.”
”Don't stretch your definitions too wide,” he said with a wintry smile. ”You'll find yourself having to be civil to all kinds of undesirable characters.”
The door closed behind Chet, leaving Melody feeling vaguely dissatisfied. She had the feeling nothing had gone right, but she couldn't put her finger on the trouble. He'd agreed to stay. He hadn't asked for more money than they could pay. He'd gone right to work with no fuss or fanfare. He'd been polite and cooperative. He'd practically apologized for getting them into trouble with Lantz. Things couldn't have gone better if she'd been able to choose the words he spoke, yet the feeling of disquiet wouldn't go away.
She felt he'd come out of this sounding n.o.ble, her looking as though she thought only of herself. He'd also put more distance between them. She'd lost her control; he'd kept his. He'd laughed at her, and that made her angry.
It was probably vanity. She liked feeling Chet was in love with her. It gave her a wonderful sense of power. It also allowed her to admit she liked him far more than she had suspected.
That was okay as long as she could believe he loved her. She was still in control. But he had outguessed her, which left her feeling at a disadvantage again. Maybe he didn't love her, but she couldn't take back her admission to herself. She liked him a great deal and not just because he was handsome and had a great body and the most kissable lips she'd ever seen.
Melody was shocked at herself. She couldn't ever remember having a thought like that. Ladies didn't in Richmond. At least not grown-up, mature ladies, not after they turned sixteen and stopped being silly girls. But his lips were kissable, and it was pointless to deny that she had thought about kissing them. And that was something else. Decent women didn't kiss men.
But Chet Attmore had confused her thinking, first by being so handsome she couldn't help being attracted to him. Next by being so nice it would be impossible not to like him. And finally by stepping in to help when she was so obviously out of her depth. And all he asked of her was that she not condemn him because he had been a gunfighter.
Little did he know that if she wasn't very careful, she would find herself in love with him.
Chet had guessed the horses would still be in the canyon, and that proved to be the case. He figured Blade hadn't taken the horses so much to steal them as to draw the Spring Water hands into his ambush. Chet directed the men to take the horses back to the ranch, but he decided to ride farther up the canyon. He kept Speers with him.
”What are you looking for?” the young man asked.
”I'm not sure,” Chet replied, ”but there's a lot I don't understand about this situation. Lantz Royal wants this ranch because he's greedy. I guess he wants to marry Melody for pretty much the same reason.”
”That, or to keep his son from marrying her.”
Chet nodded thoughtfully. ”What exactly happened between her and Blade?”
They had entered a long, deep canyon that ran along the north boundary of the Spring Water Ranch. Down its center flowed a stream of cold, sweet water that never dried up even in the hottest and driest summers. A ribbon of trees provided abundant shade in summer and protection from fierce winds in the winter.
”It was quite a story at one time. Blade took one look at Melody and was lost. He made a right fool of himself over her. But Miss Jordan turned him down. Things might have died out in a natural way if Lantz Royal hadn't decided he wanted to marry her. Ordered his son to forget about her, said he should start thinking about her as his mother, not his wife.”
”What did Blade do?”
”I heard him and his pa had a terrible fight, though I don't know how that could be. Lantz stands a foot taller and must weigh twice as much. He could have tossed the boy through a window without even trying.”
Chet pulled his horse to a halt. He leaned out of the saddle to study some tracks in the sandy bottom of the canyon. Cows had made those tracks, not horses, and a lot of them seemed to be going in the same direction.
”Was Blade angry at Melody for turning him down?”
”I don't know, but that kind of man never likes not getting what he wants. He's the kind to do something about it.”
Chet had reached the same conclusion himself, but trying to kill off most of the Spring Water cowhands seemed a little extreme, even for someone as unbalanced as Blade Royal.
”What about this rustling?” Chet asked.
”That's got me puzzled,” Speers said.
”When did it start?”
”About a year ago. At first we thought it was Lantz trying to force Mr. Jordan to sell out to him, but they've been hitting Lantz worse then they hit us.”
”Have other ranchers lost cows?”
”Yes, but not as many as us and Royal.”
”Is that why Lantz hired a gunfighter?” ”Yes, but he doesn't seem to be making any progress. Those rustlers seem to know more about what we're doing than we do. We're never anywhere near where they strike. And they've been getting the cows out of the area without anybody seeing them.”
”This might be part of the reason,” Chet said, pointing to the tracks. ”n.o.body would see them in this canyon. Since the canyon walls are a natural fence, I imagine Tom didn't have you patrol it on a regular basis.”
”We never came in here until roundup,” Speers confirmed.
It was just as Chet had guessed. He, too, might have thought Lantz was doing the rustling if he hadn't gone to the expense of hiring Luke to put a stop to it. No, Lantz wanted the canyon because it was a dependable source of water, gra.s.s, and shelter. But who was doing the rustling, and where were they taking the cattle?
”Where does this canyon go?” Chet asked Speers.
”I don't know. It's more than a hundred miles long. It goes through three counties.”
”Where does the water come from?”
”Lots of springs. The biggest I know of is on Spring Water land. That's what gives the place its name.”
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