As the guests began to arrive Matt was nervously being fitted in a suit a little small for him. Adriane was flushed with the color of her red silk gown and was being the perfect hostess. Two ranch hands were there with fiddles for the music.
Of the sixty odd riders of the Target Cattle Company, only a handful had been invited. But Monet and his men, along with Fowler and the sheriff, were there. The ranchers and merchants came in their Sunday best, all a little leery of the Driscolls but mostly there because of Matt Landry.
It was starting to rain, so Adriane frantically escorted the ladies inside, all twelve of them.
There was Molly, short and round, bubbling in a red gown, her eyes on Red while Abnauther watched her with adoring gaze. Two merchants in town had wives, and they both came. There were nine women from the surrounding ranches, some a little worn and weary, all married and some with small children they bedded down upstairs in the mansion.
The only single adult women were Molly and Adriane and Lenny, and Bonnie McClain.
When Adriane saw Bonnie for the first time, her fury rose, for she had never expected anyone so beautiful. She smiled over gritted teeth with her face burning and welcomed Bonnie, but she turned to glare up the steps, waiting for Matt to show his face.
Kerby rushed to take Bonnie’s hand, and she was cordial to him, wanting to learn all she could this night.
Stoney looked bored at the entrance, but he finally came inside. He helped himself to some punch and turned to look straight at the pretty young Lenny as she put napkins next to him. His knees turned to water.
“So you’re Lenny,” he said.
“And you’re Stoney.”
“I don’t like it in here.”
“Neither do I.”
“It’s gonna rain, but there’s a veranda out there, and we could dance.”
She tried to be aloof. “Why should we?”
“Because I’m beautiful.”
Lenny laughed. “All right, but later. I don’t want to lose my job. Miss Driscoll’s a dreadful woman, and they don’t pay me much, but I’m not going hungry for anybody.”
As Lenny swept away with a smile, Matt was coming down the stairs gingerly. He saw Adriane maneuvering the last of the guests into the grand hall, and he followed.
She turned and took his hand. “Matt, you look just fine.”
He was surprised at her sudden sweetness. “It’s a tight fit.”
“You look wonderful. I’m very proud of you.”
Now she took his arm and marched him into the crowd, silently proclaiming he belonged to her. lt was then that Matt saw Bonnie. How gorgeous she looked. But she was on Kerby’s arm.
The two fiddlers began with a waltz.
“You and I first, Matt,” she said.
“But we ain’t announcin’ anything.”
“You’re the guest of honor. Come along.”
Matt was embarrassed, but he let Adriane drag him into the center of the dance floor. He took her in his arms, and they began to sway to the music. He had learned to dance well, and her smile said she was proud of him. He was feeling right guilty about trying to break off with her.
Then the others joined in, Kerby dragging Bonnie onto the floor and into his embrace. It wasn’t long before Monet cut in, and then Fowler. Bonnie was nice to them all, hoping to learn something.
But King was looking at his fine gold watch. Any minute now, the new herd would be heading past Wrangler enroute to take over the McClain and Oliver spreads. Buildings would burn tonight. But he worried about the rain and went out into his office to peer out the window.
Kerby joined him there. “Did you see her, Pa? Have you ever seen anyone so beautiful? Her hair is like yellow gold. I’ve got to marry her.”
“And if she says no?”
“She’ll say yes.”
King was uneasy. “Well, you have a lot to offer.”
“You think the cattle are moving on her place right now?”
“Yes.”
“Then she won’t have anything left. She’ll have to come to me.”
“Or Landry?”
“He don’t have a chance with her. It’s me, pa. Me, she wants. I saw the way she looks at me. That smile. She don’t smile at anyone else that way.”
Inside, Matt was dancing with one of the ranchers’ wives, while Adriane swayed with a merchant. It was a slow dance, and Matt had a chance to look for Bonnie. She was dancing with Monet, who was holding her close.
“Mrs. McClain,” Monet said softly, “You remind me of all the finer things I left behind in New York.”
Out on the side veranda Lenny and Stoney were dancing and laughing while Adriane looked around frantically for her. Then they rested against the railing and gazed into the soft dark rain.
“Where’d you come from?” Stoney asked.
“New Orleans. Miss Driscoll wanted someone who could speak French so she could practice. But I’m saving my money so I can get out of this house.”
“You’ve been to school?”
She nodded. “Have you?”
He frowned, hands clasped together. “No. I worked all my life down on a ranch in Texas. Came up here with a herd. Got a job with Red Oliver. But I want my own place. And Red allowed as how he would help me.”
Lenny moved a little closer. “I’ll teach you your letters, if you like.”
“I like.”
Rain was falling gently around the mansion. The horses and teams had been put in the barn. Hours passed.
Inside, Matt finished a dance with Adriane, just as he saw Bonnie pull away from Kerby again. He came over to her with a lump in his throat.
“Mrs. McClain, may I have the next dance?”
“It’s spoken for,” Kerby snapped.
“Now, Kerby,” she said. “I must be gracious to the guest of honor.”
Matt took her hand. It felt small and soft in his. He led her into the crowd of dancers and paused in front of her, gazing at the look of her. Others were dancing around them, but he just stood there.
“What is it, Matt?”
He swallowed hard, but the lump stayed in his throat. He took her right hand in his left, and she slid her left hand to his big shoulder. He began the waltz with practiced grace, but it had never seemed so fine.
“You’re staring at me,” she whispered, annoyed.
“My, you’re beautiful.”
Color rushed into her cheeks and she looked away. He bent closer. “But I guess everyone’s telling you that.”
“I don’t believe them.”
“But you have to believe me. I’m the law.”
She looked up, surprised, and her smile spread on her pretty lips. Then she looked away again as she spoke.
“When are they going to make the announcement?”
“They’re not.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re puttin’ it off for a while.”
Again she looked up at him, then stared as they danced, their gaze locked together. It was as if they were suddenly all alone with the music. Matt could hear his own heart pounding in his ears. His mouth was dry, his body damp under the tight suit, and his legs were becoming wobbly.
Monet was abruptly at his shoulder, trying to cut in, but Matt would have none of it. “You had your turn, Monet.”
“And you’re no gentleman,” Monet remarked.
Matt was grim as he spun her away from him.
“What is it, Matt?”
“Monet and Crutz claimed they was accidentally shot in the saloon. The same night your wagon went off the cliff. And Monet speaks French.”
She drew a deep breath. “You mean they killed my husband?”
“I don’t believe the story about horseplay in the saloon.”
The music stopped, and Matt stood with her in his embrace, holding her arm’s length and savoring how delicious she looked. Another song began, more slowly. Abruptly, Kerby cut in, dragging her away with him.
Matt staggered off by himself, and Adriane caught his arm. “Matt, darling, you must come and try some of these tidbits I had Lenny prepare. You’ll think you’re in Cheyenne, I promise.”
Matt had no appetite. The more he saw Bonnie with Monet, Fowler, and Kerby, the more agitated he became. He tried to concentrate on Adriane. He spent time watching Molly flirt with Red and Abnauther, but his gaze always returned to Bonnie.
The exhausting evening ended around three in the morning. The women retired to their rooms. The men, except for Matt and the Driscolls, were out at the barn.
In his second-floor room, Matt couldn’t sleep and paced often. He listened to the heavy rain and watched the lightning dancing along the horizon. On the trail he would be thinking of stampede. On his own ranch he would be worried about the cattle bunching up under trees where they could be a target for lightning.
But here and now he was only thinking of the trap he had made for himself with Adriane.
At first light he dressed and went out on the veranda to watch the rain and listen to the distant thunder. He could see the barn where the men were huddled in their bedding. He walked around to the front, liking the sound of the rain on the roof, the way it fell in sheets from the edge.
And then he saw him—Single-Foot, trotting toward the ranch house, his horse trailing at the end of his reins. The Apache had worn out his mount and was finishing the way on foot.
Something was wrong.
Matt went back inside and found his leather coat, then went back to the veranda and down the back stairs, holding his hat down in the wind.
Reaching the Apache and pausing in the rain, he had a feeling of dread just from Single-Foot’s burning gaze.
“What is it? What’s happened?”
“Cattle. Target cattle. Took over McClain’s. And Oliver’s. New herd. Twenty new men.”
Matt bit his lip. “So it starts.”
Single-Foot nodded and looked toward the house.
“You saw the men close up?” Matt asked.
Again, the Apache nodded. “I saw faces. Try to burn bunkhouse.”
“Where were you?”
“Up in tree. White men never look up.”
“So you heard ’em comin’.”
“Dog told me.”
Matt stiffened. “Where is Blackie?”
“Don’t know.”
Matt felt an ache in his chest. His dog was missing, overrun by a herd of cattle. That didn’t set right. He swallowed hard, then spoke grimly.
“Well, if they burned a single board of the bunkhouse, that’s arson. That’s somethin’ to arrest ’em for. Will you testify?”
“I speak. Who will listen?”
“You got a point, but we have to start somewhere. Was there any particular man in charge?”
“Big man. Big nose.”
“All right. Let’s go get ‘im. By the time the others are on their way home, he’ll be in jail.”
“‘What’s going on?”
Matt turned to see Stoney approaching in a heavy coat, and he told him what had happened. “Get Red and Jasper, but don’t wake anyone else. And be careful. Start saddling up. Get your slickers and one for me. I’ll slip a note under Bonnie’s door to go to town and not the ranch.”
Hours later Matt and his friends were riding through the hills where cattle huddled under trees for what they wrongly believed was protection from the pouring rain and darting electricity. Bending to the wind the riders held their hat brims down. Slickers loud with rain, leather creaking as wet horses picked their way in the mud, the riders continued northwest toward Red’s place.
At midday they rested in the protection of rocks, their horses weary from the slipping and sliding in the mud. Rain continued heavy and hard, cold as ice with tearing winds. Lightning danced on the horizon. The sky was black, and they ached from the cold.
Suddenly, hail began to fall in chunks, and the men crowded back against the boulders.
“Blast,” Jasper muttered. “My old bones can’t take much more of this.”
“This hail ain’t anything like they got up in Montana,” Red told them. “Sometimes it gets big as your fist up there. Why, I was movin’ cattle up there one day when the hail knocked ’em right down to their bellies. Weren’t no way we could get ’em up on their feet again. So we had to roll ’em the rest of the way.”
Matt grinned momentarily, but he sobered again.
They shivered and huddled with their horses while they rested, and then they moved on as the punishing hail turned back to rain. By late evening they were at Oliver’s.
Cattle were everywhere in the pouring rain, some crowding around the remains of the sheds and stable. Red was furious. He wasn’t even sure what happened to his own herd. The horses were gone. The ranch house had been gutted by fire, and so had the sheds, but the rain had kept the roofs and walls in place. And in every direction, cattle, mostly steers.
“Thousands of ’em,” Jasper growled.
“And they ain’t fat,” Stoney remarked. “They been driven hard.”
There were no hands in sight. They continued through the hills and across the roaring creeks. They fought their way through the mud with only the crackling electricity in the sky as their light.
When they reached the McClain spread, it was long past the middle of the night, and they reined up in the trees. The corral fence had been battered down, and the outbuildings, including the shack that served as a bunkhouse, were gutted by fire. Cattle were everywhere, mostly huddled against sheds or under trees, with no easy way to sort out the McClain herd. The horses were gone from the corral. There was no sign of Blackie.
But on the knoll above the rushing water, the little house was still standing. Smoke curled out of the chimney and was beaten back by the rain. Horses were tethered behind the house. Lamplight glowed through the wooden panes.
Matt stared through the water dripping from his hat brim. He was glad the house was still there—glad for Bonnie’s sake.
“We got a problem,” Jasper said, wiping his face. “How we gonna get ’em out of there?”