CHAPTER 13
Cal didn’t say much on the way back to the ranch house, and Denny didn’t go out of her way to make conversation. He probably didn’t know what to say and wanted to stay out of whatever ruckus developed between Denny and her parents. Cal might have been impulsive when he was young, even reckless at times, but he had grown into a sensible man.
Hearing Pearlie and Steve Markham talking behind them, Denny looked over her shoulder and saw that Markham was riding double with the former foreman. He had offered to let her ride with him, but she wouldn’t have done that even if his horse hadn’t been exhausted. She was glad to see that he was leading the valiant animal instead of riding.
Pearlie also had hold of a lead rope tied to Rocket’s reins. The mustang came along peacefully, as if he’d never wanted anything other than to be docile and cooperative. Damn devil was snickering at her, thought Denny. She wanted to take a two-by-four and wallop him between the eyes just to get his attention and let him know that what he’d done wasn’t the least bit funny.
She wouldn’t do that, of course. She loved animals and had never mistreated one.
A lot of cheering and applause came from the crowd gathered at the house. Cal said, “Smoke must be congratulating the winner of the race. I know he planned to do that.” He turned his head a little toward Denny. “You figured that would be you, didn’t you?”
“It would have been,” she said through clenched teeth, “if that mustang hadn’t gone loco.”
“He didn’t go loco. He always has been. Rafael told you that.”
“I thought he liked me. I thought he’d be willing to cooperate with me.”
“Horses have minds of their own. Every day’s a new day for them, too.”
She knew what he meant by that. The way a horse behaved one day might not be the way he acted the next day—at all.
“I’m just glad you weren’t hurt,” Cal went on. “It’s a good thing that fella Markham was around.”
“I’d have been fine without him,” Denny snapped.
“Uh-huh.”
Her jaw clenched angrily at that dry retort, but she didn’t say anything. She had enough to worry about knowing that in a few minutes she’d be facing her parents.
The crowd had spread out some by the time Cal rode up to the porch. Smoke and Sally had seen them coming and were standing there with Louis and Brad. Denny could tell by her mother’s expression that Sally was angry.
With Smoke, it was harder to tell. He wasn’t happy, Denny decided, but maybe he wasn’t all that upset, either.
“Young lady, what were you thinking?” Sally demanded as Cal reined to a stop and Denny slid down to the ground.
Her chin jutted out defiantly as she replied, “That I’m just as good a rider—or better—than anybody else in that race, and I deserved a shot at winning it.”
“By taking a chance on getting yourself killed?”
Smoke said, “What happened, Denny? Did Rocket run away with you?”
She hesitated but knew there was no point in lying. “That’s right. He had run a really good race up to that point. He’d done everything I asked of him. Then all of a sudden he . . . he . . .”
“Did what he wanted to do,” Smoke finished for her. “The mustang blood is strong in him. He may act like he’s tamed sometimes, but he’s not. He’s just biding his time until he gets a chance to go wild again.”
Denny frowned. “He had the chance today. After I was off of him, he could have run away. Nobody would have been able to stop him. He could have vanished into the hills and maybe we never would have seen him again. But he didn’t. He stayed there close by, like he didn’t want to leave me.”
“There you go again,” Louis said, “giving an animal human feelings. It doesn’t work that way, Denny.”
“I reckon I know more about animals than you do,” she told her brother coldly. “I’ve spent a lot more time outdoors working with them than you have.”
She saw the flash of hurt in Louis’s eyes and instantly regretted the harsh words. But he hadn’t been very careful of her feelings, either, so she told herself not to worry about it.
“Did that horse throw you?” asked Sally, concern overcoming her irritation. “Are you hurt?”
Denny shook her head. “No, I’m all right. I wasn’t thrown.”
“How’d you stop him after he bolted?” Smoke asked.
Denny hesitated. She didn’t want to answer that question, but a glance over her shoulder told her that Pearlie was approaching with Steve Markham riding double with him. She couldn’t see any way to avoid spilling the truth.
“One of the other riders helped me,” she said. “He managed to catch up to me and lifted me out of the saddle before Rocket ran into one of those gullies. Then Rocket stopped as soon as I was off his back.”
Smoke nodded toward Pearlie and Markham and said, “I’ll bet you’re talking about that hombre right there.”
“That’s right.”
“Don’t reckon I know him.” Smoke let those words hang in the air meaningfully as Pearlie brought his horse to a stop in front of the porch.
Denny gritted her teeth again for a second, then took a deep breath and said, “Pa, this is Steve Markham.”
“Mr. Markham,” Smoke called. “I understand you gave my daughter a hand out there. Thank you.”
With that annoying grin on his face, Markham jumped to the ground and took the buckskin’s lead rope from Pearlie. “Why, it was a plumb pleasure, Mr. Jensen. I reckon you are Smoke Jensen?”
“That’s right.” Smoke went down the steps and extended his hand to shake with the cowboy. “I’m glad to meet you.” Inclining his head toward the porch, he went on. “That’s Mrs. Jensen up there, our son Louis, and our soon-to-be grandson Brad.”
Markham nodded. “Howdy, folks.” He snatched his hat off his head and held it to his chest as he bowed a little to Sally. “Mrs. Jensen, you got a lovely home here and I purely do appreciate you openin’ it up for folks to come and celebrate with you today.”
“Well . . .” Sally’s tense mood softened slightly at Markham’s charming manner. “It’s an occasion worth celebrating, don’t you think?”
“I sure do. Congratulations there, Louis, if you don’t mind me callin’ you that. I ain’t never been hitched my own self, but I hear that holy matrimony is a plumb blissful state.”
Denny wanted to take her hat off and start whaling him over the head with it. Anything to shut up his silver-tongued blather. And her family was falling for it, too! Next thing you knew, her mother would be inviting Markham to sit at the same table as them once dinner was served.
“Mr. Markham,” Smoke said, “thank you again for helping Denny.” A thoughtful expression crossed his face. “You wouldn’t happen to be looking for a riding job, would you?”
Denny wanted to yell No!
Markham scratched his chin and said, “Well, as a matter of fact, I ain’t lined up any employment since I rode into this valley yesterday.”
“That young fella there is Calvin Woods, my foreman. Talk to him later. Tomorrow, maybe, once things have settled down a mite.”
“I’ll sure do that,” Markham replied with a nod.
Smoke fixed Denny with an intent look. “You and I are going to have a talk, too, but not now.”
“And that includes me,” added Sally. “Right now, though, Denise, I want you to go inside, wash the dust off your face, and get dressed for the wedding. For goodness’ sake, you’re supposed to be Melanie’s maid of honor! How were you going to do that in . . . in boots and jeans?”
Denny didn’t bother explaining that she’d always planned to clean up and change clothes after winning the race. There was time for that.
Of course, as the maid of honor, she should have been there to help Melanie this morning, she knew, and she felt a significant twinge of guilt because she hadn’t been. Melanie had other friends, though, who would have shown up to assist her with her hair and dress and whatever else needed to be taken care of.
“I’m sorry,” Denny muttered as she went up the steps. She glanced at her brother and added, “I’m sorry, Louis.”
“Just go ahead and get ready,” he told her. He summoned up a smile. “It’s all right.”
She returned the smile gratefully and went into the house as she heard her father telling Cal to take Rocket back to the stable.
“Put Markham’s buckskin in there, too, and see that it’s taken care of,” Smoke added.
The screen door banged behind Denny, and rapid footsteps sounded as Brad hurried to catch up to her. “Are you in trouble?” he asked as he looked up at her.
“Not really,” she told him. “At least, I don’t think so.”
“I knew what you were gonna do. As soon as I saw you out in the barn with Rocket last night, I said to myself, ‘I bet Denny’s gonna sneak him out and ride him in the race today.’”
She paused and looked down at him. “You did, did you?”
“Yep.”
“But you didn’t say anything to anybody?”
His eyes widened and he exclaimed, “Gosh, I wouldn’t do that. You can trust me, Denny.”
“Good. And I’m glad you stopped calling me Aunt Denise!”