“All right.” He guided the horse to walk next to the fence line.
Journey couldn’t help but look back to where they’d come from. Listening for any sound of someone approaching. “Do you think they followed us?”
“No. They’re out cold.”
“I hope they stay that way until the cops get here to arrest them.” She laid a hand on his strong, muscled thigh, giving it a light squeeze. When she did, he jerked behind her. “Sorry. There’s the gate.”
The man cleared his throat, riding near enough that he could lean down and release the latch without dismounting. “Got it.” Once they were through, he shut the gate in the same manner. “Now where?”
“The house is straight ahead a few hundred yards. Big stone house. You can’t miss it.”
“I thought I knew all the homesteads nearby. How long has your family occupied this land?”
“Oh…about a hundred and fifty years, give or take a decade.”
The cowboy didn’t say anything, just a rumble of sound like he was processing the information she’d given.
“There’s the house,” she announced, then struggled as to what to say next. Was it safe to ask him in? After all, she’d just escaped two madmen. Still, every instinct Journey possessed told her she could trust this guy. “Would you come in while I call the police?”
“Call? Do they live nearby?” When she didn’t answer right away, he continued. “I need to leave soon. I was about to ride to Waco to catch the stagecoach, but I feel I need to return and check on the safety of my friends before I do.” As he spoke, he helped her to the ground, then jumped down to walk beside her.
Journey was sort of stuck on the idea of him catching a stagecoach. “What are you talking about? Some type of reenactment? I know they celebrated the 150th year anniversary of the Chisholm Trail a few months ago. An honest to goodness cattle drive came right up through the middle of Round Rock.”
“No, not a reenactment. I’m not sure what you’re saying.”
“Never mind. There’s the barn. Let’s make your horse comfortable before we go inside. He might be thirsty.”
“Good idea.”
Once inside the barn, the other horses whinnied a greeting. They put the stallion into one of the stalls, giving him food and water. “Thanks. He’s had a rough day.”
“Haven’t we all.”
Reno followed her to the window where she retrieved the hidden key.
Climbing the steps, she unlocked the back door. “Come on in. Do you want some water or something?”
“Yes, that would be good. Shall I draw some from the well?”
Journey giggled. “No, I have some bottled water in the refrigerator.” As she stepped into the kitchen, she flipped on the light.
“What’s a refrigerator?” he asked as the two dogs came bounding up, barking their heads off.
“Hey, guys. It’s okay. This is a nice man,” she muttered as she turned to face him.
And when she did – the world stopped turning and the ground moved beneath her feet, then everything went dark.
Journey fainted, dead away.
“Whoa. Whoa.” Reno caught the girl just before she hit the floor, ignoring the two strange looking pups. “Easy, fellows. I’m harmless. I know I must look affright. I think I scared this poor girl to death.” Truly, this wasn’t the way he normally affected the opposite sex. Shifting her in his arms, he looked around for some place to lie her down. As he did, he took in his surroundings for the first time. “What in the world?” There were things in this room that he’d never seen before. Light poured from some type of chandelier overhead, but there were no candles, no kerosene, or whale oil that he could see. King bought Fancy a newfangled stove and had it shipped all the way from St. Louis, but the one he was looking at now was far stranger. And there were dozens of other items around him that he couldn’t identify at all.
In his perusal, he spotted a sofa in the adjoining room. Moving carefully by the barking dogs, he carried the woman over and placed her gently on the cushions. Despite his confusion, he couldn’t help but notice her beauty. All that lovely dark hair. Plump pink lips. His eyes began to rove down her body, but he stopped himself. After barely escaping those two miscreants, she deserved respect. The least he could do was be a gentleman.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Reno forced himself to move away from her to find water. Walking by the stove, he ran his hand over the cool surface. Metal of some kind. He continued on, noting the counters were made of stone. On the counters were all manners of…containers with lids and raised places with words on them. One tall apparatus had several words, LOW, HIGH, and OFF. He pressed the HIGH word and an awful ripping noise erupted from it. “What in God’s name?” Jumping back, Reno thought he was being attacked. When nothing more happened but the infernal grinding noise, he pressed the OFF button and the racket ceased. The sudden quiet was disconcerting. Reno chuckled. “At least it scared off those yapping little dogs.” He noticed there were two or three other shiny outfits sitting around, but he chose not to mess with them.
Next, he came to a double basin built into the counter with what looked to be a water pump curved over them. With one finger, he lifted the pump handle and smiled when water poured out and down the drain. “Ha! Eureka! I didn’t even have to prime it.” He dabbled his hand in the stream and lifted his fingers to his lips. Cool clear water. Inside one of the basins was a glass. He picked it up and filled it, then pushed the pump handle down. When the water
