“In the barn around back. If Caleb or Elijah is there, tell him I approved of you.”
She seemed to expect him to set right to work, for she strode off toward the back of the hotel. Something begged him to follow. He made himself head for the barn behind the hotel instead.
The clapboard building listed slightly to the west, or perhaps that was because it had been constructed on uneven ground. He rather hoped it wasn’t on her list for him to fix. It would take more than him and all his men combined. He stepped through the wide, open door into the shadows, the scent of hay and manure heavy in the air. A voice called overhead, and he glanced up into the hayloft to find Danny staring down at him, straw sticking out like a piece of his pale hair. He ducked back out of sight.
“Can I help you?”
He dropped his gaze to meet that of a slender man with skin as dark as the shadows of the barn. His coat was off, sleeves of his gingham shirt rolled up. The cock of his head was friendly, but the look in his brown eyes was assessing.
“Lieutenant Prescott,” Will said. “Mrs. Tremaine sent me for tools to fix the steps.”
His black brows shot upward. “That a fact? Well, I don’t mind seeing the Army work. How about you, Caleb?”
A lanky youth stepped out of one of the stalls, brown hair partially covered by a battered cap. He stared at Will a moment before shaking his head even as he pulled up his dun-colored britches.
The other man, likely the Elijah Mrs. Tremaine had mentioned, stepped aside and waved to the wall of the barn, where a bench held any manner of tool. “Help yourself.”
Will moved past the stalls for horses and cows and selected a hammer and a keg of nails. But as he turned, Danny slid down from the loft.
“What are you doing, Lieutenant Prescott?” he asked, eying the tools in his hands.
“Lieutenant Prescott is going to fix the front steps,” Caleb told him.
“Are you going to help?” Danny asked.
Caleb shook his head again, this time so sharply his cap slid off to cover his dark eyes.
Elijah chuckled. “Looks like you’re on your own, Lieutenant.”
Danny skipped over to Will. “I’ll help you.”
Will took a step back. “You should play.” He started for the door.
Danny scrambled to keep up with him. “Can I at least watch?”
“Why?” Will asked, making for the inn.
“So I’ll know how to do it next time.”
A logical response, but one of the reasons he was doing this was so he could give the boy an opportunity to enjoy himself. He ought to order him to leave be, but he had no authority over Danny. And he had no heart to turn him away.
They reached the steps, and Danny climbed to the top and sat. Will reached the second step from the bottom and bounced experimentally.
Danny winced. “It sure squeaks.”
“I’m more concerned about the way it moves,” Will said. “Steps should be hard as rocks.”
“Why?” Danny asked.
Will dropped back to the ground. “Think how many people climb these every day. Would you want the steps to crack on them?”
Danny shook his head. “No.”
“Then they need to be fixed.” Will bent to look through the open backs of the stairs. He hadn’t much experience with carpentry, his father having worked in a livery stable before enlisting in the Army, but even he thought there ought to be a middle brace on so wide a set of steps.
He glanced up to find Danny still watching him. “Isn’t there something else you’d rather be doing?”
His thin shoulders rose and fell in a shrug. “I should stay close to the inn. Ma might need me, like she needs Alberta and Pansy and Elijah and Caleb.”
The boy had more of a sense of duty than Will had had at that age. He resigned himself to be the diversion of the moment. “What does Elijah do here?” he asked, reaching for the hammer.
“He drives the stage and brings us visitors. He brought six more today. One’s a real lord. He’s met the Queen of England. I wish I’d met a queen.”
Will glanced back at the steaming geysers. “You live someplace even lords come thousands of miles to visit. I’d say that’s pretty good.”
Danny nodded. “That is pretty good.”
Just then the door opened, and the fellow Will had seen yesterday by the paint pots came out. Ponsonby, Mrs. Tremaine had called him. He started down the stairs with a nod to Danny.
“Fetch me a horse,” he ordered Will. “That stage won’t be returning until tomorrow, and I have decided to leave now.”
The fellow didn’t notice Will was wearing a military uniform? “You’ll have to fetch your own horse,” Will said. “I don’t work here.”
Ponsonby raised one brow as he glanced from the hammer in Will’s hand to his face. “Do tell. Very well, I’ll make do with that one.”
Will put his free hand on the fellow’s shoulder before he could start for Bess. “She’s taken.”
Ponsonby shook him off. “Really, sirrah. Do you know to whom you are speaking?”
“That’s Mr. Ponsonby,” Danny put in helpfully.
“Don’t much care,” Will said. He jerked his head toward the inn. “There are horses in the barn, but I suggest you talk to their owner before making off with one. Horse stealing is theft, inside the park and out.”
With a huff, the fellow stomped back into the inn.
Mrs. Tremaine passed him on her way out onto the porch, flowered skirts swinging. If she’d noticed the scowl on Ponsonby’s face, she ignored it.
“How’s it coming?” she asked Will.
“Slowly,” he admitted. “We may need to add braces. I’ll have my men cut the timber.”
She clucked her tongue. “Think again. There’s no cutting of timber in Yellowstone. Your captain even agreed.”
She was right. Any lumber needed, even to repair a set of stairs, had to be freighted
