McKettrick's Choice - Linda Lael Miller [102]
“Get your horse saddled, Rafe,” Holt commanded gruffly. “We’ve got things to do.”
Rafe smiled and shook his head. “He’s a contrary cuss, isn’t he?” he asked, in a tone meant to carry across to the other stall.
“You won’t get an argument from me,” Lorelei said sweetly.
“Not unless you say something sensible,” Holt threw in, leading his horse out of the barn into the heavy sunlight of another hot Texas day.
“I hope you don’t think we’re all like him,” Rafe said, with a grin. “Us McKettricks, I mean.”
“Rafe!” Holt yelled, from outside.
Rafe rolled his eyes, but he headed for Chief’s stall and saddled him up.
Lorelei waited until they’d ridden out of Heddy’s dooryard before she left Seesaw to nibble contently on his hay and stepped outside his stall. Rafe’s gold piece felt heavy in the pocket of her trousers; she wondered what the other McKettricks were like. Surely not as stubborn and stiff-necked as Holt.
Leaving the barn, she nearly collided with the Captain.
He smiled as he gripped her shoulders to steady her. “There’s another poker game tonight,” he said. “Right after supper. You care to give me a chance to win back some of that money I lost at the mission?”
The reminder of the mission sent a chill trembling down Lorelei’s spine—she didn’t know which had been more unnerving, the Comanche visitors or the invisible monks—but she soon shook off the feeling. Best not to think about Comanches, with so much time on the trail still ahead, though she rather enjoyed puzzling over the padres.
She laughed. “I might be willing to put some of my winnings at risk,” she said. “Provided Heddy allows gambling in her establishment.”
“Heddy,” the Captain said pleasantly, “allows most everything, I suspect.”
Lorelei was distracted as Heddy came out of the kitchen door and set a pan of scraps on the step for Sorrowful. The dog shot across the yard like a streak of wildfire. “When I first met her,” Lorelei mused, “I thought she must be the meanest woman on earth.”
“Can’t always count on a first impression,” the Captain replied, and now his voice was quiet.
Lorelei met the older man’s eyes. “That’s the second time I’ve felt as if there was a lot more behind what you say than just the words themselves. Is it my imagination, or are you trying to tell me something?”
The old Ranger sighed. “I reckon it would be better if I waited for you to figure it out on your own,” he said, with some reluctance. “Now, I’d better get my horse saddled and ride. Holt gave me a list of errands as long as the barrel of a Colt .45.” With that, he walked on into the barn and left Lorelei standing there, wondering again.
Tillie, the baby and Heddy were in the kitchen when she went inside, but there was no sign of Melina. On the trail, she’d always risen with the rest of the party, and Lorelei was worried.
“That girl needs to rest,” Heddy said. Apparently, she’d read Lorelei’s thoughts in her face. “It’s a trial to a body, keeping up with a bunch of wranglers traveling through Indian country.”
Again, Lorelei felt a whisper of dread, and it had nothing to do with Melina’s failure to come downstairs for breakfast. “I’d better take her something to eat,” she said.
“I’ve already done that,” Heddy told her. “Tillie-girl, knead that bread dough like you mean it. It won’t rise any higher’n a flapjack if you don’t.”
Tillie was a fine cook, but she didn’t take offense at Heddy’s instruction. In fact, she seemed to like it. “Yes, ma’am,” she said.
Upstairs, Lorelei opened the bedroom door quietly, in case Melina was sleeping, and was relieved to find her friend sitting in a rocking chair by the window, fully dressed. Her dark hair gleamed, freshly brushed, and she’d pinned it into a loose knot at the back of her neck.
She smiled at Lorelei’s expression. “Don’t fret about me,” she said. “I’m just being a lazybones while I can.”
Lorelei found her calico dress rolled up inside her valise, and shook it out. “Tillie and the baby are going to stay here,” she said easily, “at least until we get back from Mexico. Maybe you should, too.”
“And leave you