Within the Heart Page 6

  “You are sending me?” Ina balked.

  “You are the oldest. What did you expect? As it is the men working that ranch will not like having a woman in charge, so you know neither Tommy nor Beth could handle it. You are tough-nosed and can use a firm hand.”

  “I don’t want to run a ranch. I don’t like Cooper. There is something about him that rubs me the wrong way. He has cruel eyes. It makes me think I understand why Mother wouldn’t go visit Mr. Pritchard at his ranch after he hired Cooper.”

  “We can’t get rid of him, unless he doesn’t want to work there, or doesn’t do a proper job. I don’t want mother making her visit short by worrying about all of this, so I told her we would take care of everything. I didn’t tell her about Cooper having to stay on. She can deal with that when she gets back. I am going to see if Avonaco has any friends we can use on the two ranches. I will mail the letter to Mother on my way to the reservation, so you are going to have to hold down the fort…however long that may be.”

  “I do not like this. How can I hold everything down here, if I have to go over there?” Ina moaned.

  “Cooper can run the Pritchard’s spread until I get back with more help. You just focus on this place. It will only be you, three girls and Mr. Daniels. Don’t do anything stupid while I am away.”

  “Don’t you trust me?” Ina frowned.

  “I don’t believe you have had to run a ranch before. Therefore, just do the regular chores like taking care of the cattle, and making sure they stay on our land. There aren’t any more Indian raids, but other ranchers have a tendency to grab cattle and change their brands if they find them wandering around. I think that may have happened to Mr. Pritchard’s cattle, the last few years when he was getting up in age. He told Mother his herd had been dwindling, and Cooper couldn’t give a reason why.”

  “So now I am going to have to deal with rustlers?” Ina exclaimed.

  “I sure hope not. That is why I am going to get some willing Comanche to work on both ranches. They have a tendency to scare the bad hombres away,” Connor laughed. “Maybe if we import Comanche workers onto the Pritchard spread, Cooper will leave, the same way the ranch hands left when they discovered Mother made Chayton her friend. It was Cooper who told them about Chayton, and even though Chayton was not at the ranch at the time, just having him as a friend turned all her ranch hands against her. Even Mr. Pritchard would not help her on the cattle drive because all his help hated the Comanche too.”

  “I am sure there will be plenty of young braves on the reservation who would be happy to roam on their horses as they take care of our cattle, and then go on a cattle drive to the stockyards for us. If we take Pritchard’s cattle on the drive, there is going to be a huge amount of steers to handle.”

  “Yeah, I’ll see how many I can get to help us. Seeing as how no one will be here to watch the ranch when we go on the drive, a couple of you girls will have to stay behind when we leave.”

  “We will have to draw straws,” Ina laughed. “Maybe by then, we could leave the cousins to watch the ranches.”

  “Not on your life. I don’t trust Hudson, and that pampered sister of his, wouldn’t know what to do.”

  “You may be right,” Ina smiled. “It would probably work out better if you took Hudson on the drive, so you can keep an eye on him.”

  “Sure, if he lasts long enough to be here, by then. They both may turn tail and run when they discover being on a ranch is more work than they are used to. It seems like their father must have thought that, considering he turned his back on the ranch. I don’t plan on babysitting them!”

  “So, you’re leaving right away?” Ina asked.

  “Within the hour, I’ll try to make it quick.”

  “We’ll all miss you. You just got back, and now you’re taking off again.”

  “You will probably be glad to have me out of your hair telling you what to do,” Connor laughed.

  “Yes, and that too,” Ina laughed back.

  Connor gave Ina a quick hug. All the new responsibility was starting to weigh on him already, but he had to prove to both Callie and Chayton that he was up to it. After all, he had been a rancher since he learned to walk, so it should all come naturally to him, he kept telling himself.

  Ina, Tommy, and Beth waved from the porch, as Connor rode away. It seemed lonely already, considering half of the family was gone and now only the girls were left behind to hold the ranch together.

  “I’m riding over to the other ranch and talk to Cooper,” Ina told her two sisters. “He will have to run that place on his own until Conner gets back. Since Connor is putting me in charge there once he gets back, Cooper needs to know who is going to be the boss!”

  “Good luck with that,” Tommy grunted. “I don’t think Cooper is going to be easy to push around. Considering the will gives him the right to remain there, you may be in for a rough ride!”

  “Yeah, that is what I am afraid of. I don’t like Cooper. I don’t like the way he looks at us. Mother never liked him either. He must have done something that got her so angry she still won’t put it behind her.”

  “Just be careful, is all I can say,” Tommy mumbled.

  “I won’t be long, and meanwhile, you two need to go out and look for strays. Connor claims that the Pritchard cattle have been disappearing, and he thinks it might be rustlers.”

  “All right, see you later, then.”

  All three girls went out to mount their horses. Ina heading out away from the ranch, while Tommy and Beth rode out across the grasslands stretching over the prairie in all directions.

  As the two sisters, rode out beyond where the main herd was grazing, they noticed a small bunch of cattle in the distance and headed in that direction.

  “Funny a whole group would be off on their own,” Tommy muttered. “Usually it is just a few here and there.”

  “Looks like someone on a horse is with them,” Beth pointed out.

  “I hope it isn’t a rustler, but usually they run in groups, from what I hear.”

  “Might as well find out,” Beth said, flipping the safety leather off the hammer of her gun, and keeping her hand on the grip.

  “Well, look at that,” Tommy stated, as they got closer. “It’s Cooper!”

  “What are you doing out here, Cooper?” Tommy called as they approached.

  “I found these strays, heading to our side, and decided to bring them back to your herd. You may have heard a lot of the Pritchard cattle have been disappearing, so I was just being cautious and trying to help out.”

  “We were out looking for strays, so you don’t have to worry,” Beth said stiffly. “You should take care of the other ranch and stop worrying about our cattle.”

  “Ina is on her way to the Pritchard spread to talk to you, so I suggest you head back if you want to be there when she arrives,” Tommy suggested.

  “Fine, take care of your herd. I was only trying to help.”

  Cooper touched the brim of his hat but didn’t bother to smile, as his eyes appraised the sisters. Then he shrugged, and the girls watched as he turned his horse and galloped away.

  “I don’t trust that man any farther than I can throw him,” Beth muttered. “I don’t think he was telling us the truth, cause he was heading away from our ranch with the cattle when we first spotted him. He must think because Pritchard is dead and our parents are away, he can do what he dang pleases! Only taking our cattle over to the other ranch doesn’t make any sense, considering we own all the cattle on this ranch and the other one too.”

  “We should tell Conner when he gets back,” Tommy suggested, as they started driving the small group of Longhorns back to the rest of the herd. “I’m telling Ina to keep a close eye on Cooper when she starts working at the other ranch.”

  “She doesn’t like him, so I bet she will whether we tell her to or not,” Beth laughed.

  Ina rode through the Pritchard ranch gate, beneath the rod iron arch, boldly displaying a circle with a P in the center. Pritch
ard’s ranch was known to the ranchers in the area as the Circle P Ranch. When she made her way to the house, she saw Cooper riding up toward her.

  “Your sisters said you were coming over to see me,” he told her as he pulled his horse alongside hers.

  “When did you see my sisters?” she asked, raising her eyebrows while brushing a lock of hair from her forehead.

  Cooper smiled. Ina was as pretty as Callie had been when he first met her. He had played his cards wrong back then, but it seemed he may have a second chance now. He remembered how scrawny Ina was as a child, but she had certainly grown up to be a nice-looking woman. He wasn’t that much older than her, he justified. Only ten or twelve years her senior, he figured.

  “I was bringing in some of your strays when your sisters rode out to find them. That’s why I headed back here when they told me you were coming to see me. So what would a pretty little thing like you, want to talk to me about?”

  “This pretty little thing, as you put it, came to tell you I will start being your boss, as soon as Connor gets back from the reservation. He’s headed out there to hire some Comanche friends to work on both the ranches. We believe there are rustlers in the area and want to make sure we have trustworthy workers to take care of the problem if it arises.”

  “Hell, it is probably Comanche’s that are stealing the cattle in the first place,” Cooper bellowed. “I’m not having any Indians working on this spread!”

  “You don’t have much say, Cooper. You are merely the foreman. We can hire who we please, so you better not start trouble over it.”

  “What’ll you do if I do put up a stink? You can’t kick me off the ranch. It’s stated in the will I can remain.”

  “Don’t push your luck, Cooper. It only said you could stay on as foreman if you chose, but it didn’t say you couldn’t be let go if you refused to follow orders. A foreman is only as good as his performance in his job. Otherwise, he is no longer foreman material!”

  “I don’t want to argue with you,” Cooper said, deciding he didn’t want to make enemies with Ina right off the bat. He wanted to convince her he was on her side.

  “I suppose Callie’s Indian friend did a good job with her ranch over the years. I’m just not used to having to deal with Indians. I hear they are lazy and drunk all the time. They may try to scalp me in my sleep!”

  “Conner will make sure he doesn’t hire any drunks,” Ina smiled. “If they scalp you…well, we will just have to trust that they won’t…” she laughed, thinking it wouldn’t bother her in the least if they did.

  “Is that all you wanted to tell me? I kinda like the idea that you are going to be my boss, as long as you don’t interfere with my way of handling the cattle.”

  “Sorry, Cooper. I know you used to work for my father, and that you believe you know everything there is to know about cattle. You just have to remember you are our foreman. If any of us don’t like the way you are running things, we have the authority to step in. Maybe Pritchard was losing his cattle because he didn’t bother to question what you did around here!”

  “Are you accusing me of…”

  “I’m just saying, as long as we start making a profit, instead of losing cattle, you will work out just fine. And our Indian cowpokes are going to make sure no one on the outside steps in and thinks they can start stealing cattle from us.”

  Cooper narrowed his eyes. He was beginning to think that Ina was just like Callie, and he wasn’t sure he liked it!

  “Hello,” a voice called, and Ina turned to see Hudson walking up to the two. “You come for a visit?” he asked, as he reached her horse.

  “I just stopped by to let Cooper know I will be running the ranch, once Conner returns with some new hired hands.

  “You planning on moving in?” Hudson asked, smiling up at her.

  “How else am I going to be able to keep an eye on things?” she asked.

  She had to admit to herself that even though Hudson may be useless as far as knowing anything about cattle, he certainly was a good-looking man. Her eyes scanned over him, all dressed up in his cowpoke clothes, pretending to play the part.

  “Carrabelle will be pleased to have female company,” he told her as he peered up at her with those dark, piercing eyes from under the brim of his hat. “I fear she is missing city life already.”

  Ina gave a light laugh.

  “Well, this sure isn’t city life, so I hope she gets used to it. She is going to have to learn to do something to make herself useful on the ranch. If not here, she can do something on the Double C ranch. Then she would have my sisters as female counterparts. However, regardless, she may not see anyone of us for any length of time since we keep pretty busy doing cowboy activities,” she smiled.

  “You looked nicer in a dress,” Hudson, commented.

  Ina smiled at his handsome face.

  “Get used to seeing me in britches. That dress will probably not see the light of day until someone else dies,” she laughed.

  “I’ll try to deal with it,” Hudson drawled. “I can see why my father chose to raise us around civilized people. I hope you don’t expect my sister to put on britches too.”

  “Not unless she wants to wrangle cattle,” Ina responded.

  “She would probably do better in the kitchen, not that she is a proficient cook.”

  “Mr. Daniels can teach her, or maybe the cook here would instruct her,” Ina suggested.

  “Our cook is Chinese. He doesn’t speak English well enough to teach anyone anything,” Cooper offered.

  “Does he cook Chinese food too?” Ina wanted to know.

  Cooper laughed.

  “Oh, he knows how to cook decent food. He used to work on a chain gang putting railroad tracks down. I think he did some cooking there too.”

  “From what I have discovered, he only knows how to cook meat and beans. We are all getting mighty tired of just beans and meat, with a few Chinese fixings on the side,” Hudson put in.

  “Now that I’m coming here, we should send Carrabelle over to the Double C to get cooking lessons from Mr. Daniels, once I settle in. She could cook in the house for Connor and my sisters since Mr. Daniels will be cooking for the workers and the cattle drives. If the Chinaman doesn’t work out, when my parents come home, she could come back here to cook.”

  “When are you planning on settling in?” Hudson asked, eyeing her.

  “As soon as Connor gets back here with the help.”

  “I’ll look forward to you taking over, considering you will be the only female, other than my sister staying at the ranch. I sometimes miss female companions myself,” Hudson informed her.

  “Then you might as well head back to the city because women out here are few and far between. It just happened that my father had more girls than he wanted, and we ended up working the ranch.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” Hudson laughed. “From this vantage point, you look more like a cowpoke than a lady,” he stated.

  “You are probably right,” Ina laughed. “I gotta get back, though, just stopped by to talk to Cooper. See you both in a few days.”

  Ina turned her horse and gave it its head. Thunder kicked up dust behind him as he broke into a gallop, at the encouragement of Ina. Ina could hear the two men laughing as she rode away, and she knew she was not going to like having to go back to the Circle P Ranch.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  As the train came to a halt at the Philadelphia station, Shanny felt overjoyed to finally step down from the train. Although everything had been exciting and new, and her friendship with both Eleanor and Arnel had developed, even more, she was happy to set her foot on solid ground again. The strain between her and Joey had grown greater, because of the time she spent with Arnel. She hoped that Chayton had a good firm talk with Joey, to discourage him from ever trying to kiss her again. The way Joey often glowered at her, she was sure he had. However, she remembered Joey stating he would never kiss her again, so maybe she didn’t have anything to worry about after al
l.

  She and Joey stood on the platform, while Callie and Chayton went to see about claiming their luggage and finding a handsome cab to transport them to Callie’s mother’s house. Shanny found herself caught up in the hustle and bustle of everyone around her, going about their business and talking happily with one another. Baggage men occupied themselves with carting loads of trunks and boxes on baggage trolleys, while eager passengers looked through the carts to find their own belongings. Families and friends meeting their loved-ones were exchanging hugs and handshakes. However, there was no one there to greet them at the end of their journey since Callie had not sent word telling her mother when she would arrive.

  “There, you are,” Shanny heard Arnel’s voice saying, and turned to see him approaching them. “I was hoping I would see you before you departed. I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your company while we traveled.”

  “Thank you,” Shanny said, feeling a little shy because Joey made her feel uncomfortable by glaring at Arnel with unveiled dislike.

  “I will make a point to call on you in a few days after you are settled in,” he promised, taking her hand and kissing it.

  Then he was turning away and walking down the platform.

  “Maybe he won’t know where your grandmother lives,” Joey said hopefully.

  “I got the address from Mother and gave it to him,” Shanny told him, smiling smugly while giving Joey a satisfied look.

  “He is much too old for you, Shanny. You should be careful. He knows your mother is a cattle baroness, and your grandmother comes from high society.” Joey warned.

  “He comes from a wealthy family himself,” Shanny retorted. “Besides, I believe that Chet was much older than Mother when she married him. He had married her older sister, when Mother was only twelve, for heaven’s sake.”

  “And you well know she did not want to marry him,” Joey reminded her. “If she had remained married to your father, she may have ended up dead, the same as her sister!”