“I said we make a wonderful team.”
“Yeah, I heard that part. I mean, what did you say after that? Something about getting there first?”
“Yes. I said that’s why I know we are going to get there first.”
“Get where first?”
“To Sorento.”
“What does getting there first have to do with it? First before who?”
“First before anyone else,” Sally said.
“Sally, darlin’, you aren’t making sense. Did you or did you not tell me that Mr. Abernathy will buy our cattle at thirty-five dollars a head?”
“Yes,” Sally answered.
“Then what does getting there first have to do with it?”
“Well, actually what he said was, he will buy the first three thousand head of cattle delivered to him,” Sally said. “I just assumed it would be us.”
Smoke let out a sigh, then fell back on his pillow. “You just assumed?”
“Yes. Darling, I know we will get there first,” Sally said.
“We damn well better get there first,” Smoke said. “Otherwise, we’ll be worse off than we are now. I’d hate to be somewhere on the trail, facing a winter like the one we faced before.”
“It’s a simple thing,” Sally said.
“A simple thing?”
“Yes. Our cows are here, we want them in Sorento. All we have to do is take them there.”
“Right, that’s all we have to do.”
Sally rolled into Smoke and kissed him, not a long-time married kiss, but a deep, lover’s kiss.
“Oh,” Smoke said when she pulled her lips from him. “That was quite a kiss.”
“No matter what happens, Smoke, I know you will get us there. I have all the confidence in the world in you,” Sally said.
“With trust like that, how can I let you down?” Smoke asked.
Chapter Twelve
The first pink fingers of dawn touched the sagebrush, and the light was soft and the air was cool. This was Smoke’s favorite time of day and as he stood by the fire, drinking coffee, he watched his cowboys moving the herd together for the start of the drive.
Behind him he heard the sound of pots and pans being moved around, and he smelled the aroma of frying bacon and baking biscuits. He also caught a whiff of the sweet smell of Sally’s patented bear claws. Turning, he saw Sally working at the chuck wagon.
Damn, he thought, he was one lucky man to have found someone like Sally. Sally was Smoke’s second wife. After his first wife, Nicole, and their baby were killed, Smoke went on the blood trail, tracking down and killing the men who had so destroyed his life.
After that, Smoke didn’t think he would ever be able to love again. But he met a beautiful and spirited young schoolteacher who changed his mind. This was not to say that he had forgotten Nicole; she would always have a place in his heart and Sally understood that. In fact, Sally was so confident in her own position that, though she had never met Nicole, she thought of Smoke’s dead wife as a sister to her.
Smoke was so deep in concentration that, for a moment, he didn’t realize Sally was staring at him with a bemused expression on her face.
“Good morning,” Smoke said.
Sally chuckled. “Good morning,” she replied. “If you want to call the boys in, breakfast is about ready.”
Sally had gotten up even before sunrise to cook a full breakfast meal for eleven people. After breakfast, she would pack up the chuck wagon and leave, going out ahead of the herd. The men would lunch in the saddle with strips of jerky and cold biscuits. They wouldn’t see Sally again until supper.
It was not only Sally’s job to get into position in time to fix supper, it was also her job to find a place where the herd could bed down for the night. This was a very responsible job, but Smoke had absolutely no qualms about her ability to perform the tasks assigned.
Smoke walked over to the chuck wagon to see the breakfast she had prepared. She had scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, sausage, stewed apples, and biscuits and gravy.
Smoke whistled in amazement as he eyed the spread.
“Good Lord, Sally, I hope you don’t feed them this big a breakfast every morning,” he said. “My Lord, they’ll get so fat they can’t even ride.”
Sally laughed.
“This is the first day,” she said. “It’s just my way of getting things started on the right foot.”
“Yeah, well, I hope you don’t spoil them into thinking that they are going to eat like this for every meal. I mean, you aren’t going to feed them like this, are you?”
