Nichole forced her body to relax. She leaned down and picked up a handful of rocks, then casually tried to toss them into the stream.
Wes watched her. “Talk,” he said as if giving himself an order. “I feel better knowing Adam’s safe.”
Nick reached down for another handful of rocks. “He’ll be madder than hell if he finds out we let him go back to town when we thought there was going to be trouble. He’s a worse mother hen than Wolf.”
“I’ll never tell him we suspected anything,” Wes promised. “It will be our secret, just like your loving him.”
“I don’t love him!” Nick snapped, and dusted the dirt from her hands. “Love’s a weakness for fools. Something no one needs.”
“I agree.” Wes fell back into step with her. “But that doesn’t stop us all from playing the fool now and again. I fell in love once just before the war, when Adam was still in medical school.” He rubbed his scar with the tip of his thumb. “I got this in the first battle. Months later, when I made it back home, there was a big party for my return and Adam’s graduation. After one dance, the young lady I’d given my heart to told me she couldn’t live every day of her life staring at this scar.” He took a deep breath. “By the last waltz, she was engaged to Adam.”
“Bergette!” Nick let the word rush out before she could stop it. “You were in love with her? Does Adam know?”
Wes shook his head. “I figured he’d see for himself what kind of woman she was after he was around her a while, and he did.”
“Would you have stopped him if the wedding had been set?”
Wes wrapped his arm around her shoulder as they passed through low branches. “Not stopped him, but helped him see the light. When you and Wolf showed up that first night we were home, I saw my opportunity. You see, Bergette’s a schemer who always gets her way. I had no idea what you wanted of my brother, but I figured you’d help him see Bergette for what she was.”
Nick laughed. “I guess we did ruin Bergette’s plans. We were the uninvited guests.”
“When I got to the house, the minute I saw the way Adam looked at you, I knew my worries were over. Bergette would never sleep in our family plot. She can tell everyone they’re still engaged, but that doesn’t make it so.”
“He may have broken off with her. They don’t seem too friendly. But it doesn’t mean he loves me.” She wished she could believe Wes’s words. “Adam made it clear this morning and other mornings that there could be nothing between us. He’s only paying back a debt by taking me in.”
“And what about at night, kid? How does he act when you’re both in the shadows?”
Nick watched the outline of the riders on guard, not wanting Wes to see her tears. “Sometimes,” she whispered, “he holds me tight, like he never wants to let go. And when he kisses me, I can feel the heat all through my body.”
“He’s got it worse than I thought,” Wes admitted with a laugh. “I know my brother. He’ll fight his feelings with logic and rules, but he’ll lose this time.”
“But I’m not the kind of woman he needs. I’m not pretty with hair piled on my head and a dress that floats around me. I don’t even own a dress. Compared to Bergette, I must look like a toad.”
“Never. He sees what I see,” Wes assured her. “Dressed any way, even bald, you’re one hell of a woman. A man would be proud to have you at his side in war, or peace.”
“Well, I’m here with you tonight.” Nick lowered her voice. “And I just spotted our man.”
Wes slowly turned his head, looking at the three men on horseback that he could see. Their faces were in darkness and they weren’t close enough to recognize, but after a few minutes, he felt it more than saw it. One was watching him.
“What next?” he asked.
“Simple.” Nick turned back toward the camp. “You go to sleep and wait.”
“I can’t go to sleep. What do you think I am, crazy?”
“No.” She laughed. “You’re not crazy. You’re bait.”
“Oh.” Wes shrugged. “That’s comforting.”
TWENTY
WES UNSTRAPPED HIS gun belt as they walked toward camp. “You’ve been a marvel at guessing what will happen tonight, kid, but I’ve got something to add.”
Nichole waited as he strutted with pride at having thought of something she hadn’t.
“We’ve no use for our guns. These men know as well as I do that one shot could send the herd into stampede. They want the beef, but not bad enough to chase them two hundred miles to claim them.”
“So every man must be killed silently?” Nick followed his thoughts. “Not an easy job.”
Wes nodded. “And another thing, once the snakes show themselves, we don’t kill them.”
“We don’t?”
“No, we take them alive. Otherwise, we might kill two or three but the gang waiting out there somewhere would get away. Our only hope of catching the whole kit and caboodle of raiders is to take the ones in our midst alive and hope they’ll talk once they’re behind bars. These men may be the very gang that’s been pestering travelers around Fort Worth for months.”
Nick started to unbuckle her gun belt, hesitated, then stopped. “I won’t shoot, but I’d feel undressed without my Colt. Besides, if a stampede happens, and I’m caught in the middle, I plan to take a few of them ugly longhorns down before they trample me.”
She slipped her knife from her boot, showing Wes she was armed with more than the gun. “I have little faith in the deputy in town getting anyone to talk.”
Wes tossed her a bedroll from a shoulder-high pile made when they unloaded the supply wagon. “Well, if you won’t undress, kid, we might as well go to bed.”
They moved over by the trees where several men, finished with a shift, were bedding down. Without a word, she spread her blanket between Wes and the trees. He watched her as best he could in the darkness. She seemed to be settling down, but he noticed a tree branch very close to her feet. Within minutes, her bedroll still looked as though she were sleeping soundly. But Wes knew she wasn’t beneath the hat and blankets. He hadn’t seen her move in the shadows, but the branch had disappeared. Nick was in the wooded area behind him. He didn’t need to see her. He knew she was there.
Leaning back, Wes tried to relax, knowing that Nick was on guard. She was good, he thought, maybe the best he’d ever seen. He admired her talent, but didn’t want to think about all that she’d gone through to polish her skills.
The moon passed behind the clouds as midnight approached. The low sounds of the cattle rumbled in the air as the men traded shifts once more. One by one the guards came in, walked among the bedrolls until they found their replacement, and shook him awake. The cook checked the coffeepot from time to time. As the night aged, so did the coffee, filling the air with a rich aroma.
When all the men had settled back to sleep, Nick moved to the tree closest to Wes. She guessed he was still awake, but he was doing a good job of staying still. From this point on, he wouldn’t be out of her sight.
She eased down the trunk of an old cottonwood, blending into the gaps where bark became root. Without a sound, her outline became a part of the roots spreading out on the ground. Wes would be safe with her on guard.
Half an hour passed. Nick studied the camp. All were asleep. A lone man moved among the horses, then slowly ventured toward the bedrolls. Something about his movements made her come alert. As he neared Wes, she slipped her knife from her boot.
“Boss,” the lone cowhand whispered as he knelt beside Wes. “Boss, I need you to take a look at my mount. I’m afraid he may have gone lame.”
One sleeping cowhand rolled away from the conversation. No one else stirred.
Wes rose slowly and grumbled.
Nick was within jumping distance of touching the man. But she had to wait for him to make the first move. He
