“A few days, maybe a week. I pulled in early. My partner, Vincent, is picking up a few hundred head southeast of here. He’s due in by the end of the week.”
Nick shook her head. “Then my guess is they’ll attack tonight or tomorrow night. These men don’t want to put in too many days of honest work, and once you’re on the trail there could be other complications.
“Once your partner is here, that’s more men to worry about, so they have to strike before he arrives. Here they know exactly where their backup is. The way this land rolls, raiders could be waiting unseen within a mile or two to help with the stolen herd. By dawn you and your men could be dead, and they’d have the herd moved out before your partner arrived. No one would be the wiser. We’d just never hear from you again, and we’d have no idea if you were killed in Texas or Kansas.”
“I see your point about tonight or tomorrow,” Wes answered. “And I let ten of the men who’ve been with me for a month go into town for the night. That’s ten men I can trust that are gone.” He tossed his smoke into the fire. “The latest to be hired are the ones with me tonight.”
“And, I’m guessing, three you can’t trust are here with you,” she hesitated, “maybe more.”
“Maybe,” Wes said. “But most of the others have been with me for a while.” He walked a few steps toward the sleeping men.
Nick followed, allowing him time to think things out for himself.
“If they’ve got any sense, they’ll go after me first,” he mumbled. “Take out the leader if you can get to him. Then the men would have no one to follow. A few of my hands might try to fight, but most will run if given the chance. They hired on for a cattle drive, not a war.”
Wes paused. “I’m trapped in the darkness with no law close by or backup in sight. I’m not even sure who’s on my side.”
“You’ve got one ace in the hole.” Nick patted him on the shoulder.
“I do?” he asked.
“Sure,” she answered. “Me.”
Wes stood beside her and watched Adam walking toward them. “I don’t want Adam here. This could get ugly, and it’s not his fight. I used to worry during the war that if he were ever forced to fight, he’d hesitate a moment, deciding what was right. And that moment would get him killed.”
“If it’s your fight, it’s his. He’s your brother,” she answered. “But I know what you mean. Men like him weren’t born to listen for danger and smell trouble on the wind. He’s worth too much to this world to die with a bullet in his back.”
Wes pushed her gently with his shoulder. “And I
“Definitely, and a waste of lead at that,” she answered, and nudged him back with double the force he’d used.
Wes laughed. “Better watch it, kid, or I’ll take you down a notch off that high horse you’re riding on.”
Nick shoved again. “You and what cavalry, old man?”
Both laughed, releasing tension the way soldiers do waiting for the dawn of battle.
Adam watched them as he walked toward the campfire. The realization of how well they fit together struck him like a blow. He’d never seen Wes laugh like he did around Nichole, and even in the firelight shadows he could tell they were teasing one another about something. They were alike in so many ways. A matched set.
This could be the answer, Adam thought. If they married, Wes would settle down and finally lose the coat of hardness he’d molded during the war. And Nichole would have a man who understood her. She loved the free life, the wild life, and she’d have that with Wes in Texas. His big brother needed a wife who could keep up with him, who didn’t mind the hardness of the land or the wildness of the country. They were perfect for one another.
Adam took a deep breath. If they were so right for each other, why did he feel like he’d had rocks for supper?
“How’s Franky?” Wes asked when Adam was within ten feet.
“He needs the cut cleaned properly and stitched,” Adam answered. “Otherwise there could be a bad infection.”
“I hate to leave him behind,” Wes grumbled. “He’s so excited about going. Plans to use his wages to start a farm down by Austin. Got a girl waiting for him. If he doesn’t make the trip, it’ll be another year before he can start his dream.”
Adam sat the lantern down. “If we unloaded the supply wagon, I could drive him into my office and fix him up right, then bring him back by dawn. It might mean a few days riding in the wagon for him, but by a week the leg should be fine. If left as it is, it’ll take weeks to heal, and the chance of infection is great.”
“Sounds like a good plan, Adam. Take him in and do what you can.” Wes glanced at Nick. “Want to stay here, kid, and watch cattle all night?”
To Adam’s surprise, she nodded.
Within minutes, the wagon had been unloaded and the cowhand placed on blankets in the back. Adam checked the reins as Wes talked to Franky, assuring the boy that the doctor would bring him back in time.
Nichole moved behind Adam without saying a word. She was so close he could feel the warmth of her body. She had no idea of the effect she had on him, Adam decided. Just standing close made him fight the urge to reach for her.
“I wish you were going back with me,” he grumbled as though not wanting to say the words, but having to.
“I’ll be safe here,” she said. “At least you’ll know where I am tonight, and I won’t be bothering you by sleeping in your bed.”
He wanted to tell her that she didn’t bother him. This morning had been heaven with her curled into his side and he’d been a fool for suggesting she return to her own bed. But now wasn’t the place or the time. And if she spent the night talking with Wes, there might never be a time or place for him.
Adam closed his eyes and remembered the feel of her against him. He wouldn’t stand between Wes and Nichole if it was meant to be, no matter how much he might ache inside.
He pulled himself onto the wagon seat. “Take care,” he whispered to Nichole, wishing he could kiss her good- bye. The night, with her here and him back in town, would seem endless.
“Take care.” Nichole’s fingers brushed his knee. “I’ll see you at dawn.”
She watched Adam drive the wagon toward town, knowing she might never see him again. He was the one man she’d kissed, or ever wanted to. The only time she slept soundly was in his arms. This man who hated war and violence had somehow crept into her heart. He didn’t want her, he’d proved that this morning when he reminded her to stay in her own bed, but that didn’t stop her from wanting him.
She couldn’t be the kind of woman he needed, but maybe she could save Adam’s brother tonight. That would be one thing she could do for him. Wes was just the kind of honorable, straightforward fool who’d get himself killed by outlaws. He was what the Shadows used to refer to as a “predictable.” They knew by the way he’d been trained how he’d react.
“Well, he was easier to get rid of than I thought,” Wes interrupted her silence as he moved up behind her and they both watched Adam driving the wagon into the darkness. “Give him someone to doctor and he’s on his way. He didn’t seem all that upset that you were staying, kid.”
Nick wasn’t listening as she turned and watched the guards changing shifts. She didn’t want to think about how easily Adam had left. She now had a job to do. “How often do the guards rotate?”
“Every two hours a third of the men change. That way each man gets at least four hours sleep at a time. This is the ten o’clock switch.”
“It won’t be this shift,” Nichole studied the camp layout. “The moon’s still too high, and a few men haven’t settled down for the night. My guess is it’ll be midnight or two before something happens. Four would be too close to dawn and they’d have to deal with the chance the men might ride in from town.”
“What do we do in the meantime?” Wes adjusted his gun belt.
“We walk the perimeter, casual like, talking. But keep your eyes out for which guards seem to be watching us more closely than the others. If we spot him, that’s the point man. The one assigned to start, probably by taking you out of the fight first. He’ll be working this shift or the next, so that he can be in camp close to you when the fighting starts.”
Wes took a deep breath and straightened. “Sounds like a good plan. All we have to do is walk, watch, and wait for someone to make a move to kill me.”
