For if she had to leave Yellowstone, she would be leaving her heart as well, and not just because of the inn. She’d miss the sun rising through plumes of steam, the roar of a geyser shooting into a cerulean sky. She’d miss their special spot and the wonders it held.
And she’d miss a cavalryman with eyes the color of a forest pool and a chuckle that never failed to make her smile.
Danny flew off the porch as Will and Kate rode into the yard of the Geyser Gateway later that day.
“Where have you been?” he challenged his mother as Will helped her down from the saddle. “Did you catch the poacher? Did he catch you?”
Kate hugged him tight. “We lost him near the Madison, but we needed to alert the cavalry detachment at Norris. It was too late to return to the inn. Were you worried?”
“No,” he said, disengaging, and Will wasn’t entirely sure of the truth of that answer. “Private Franklin checked on us last night, and Private Smith came home this morning. And he brought me a baseball and bat.”
Will glanced up. In the shadow of the porch, seated on the bench, Smith offered him a lazy smile. Will had left the baseball and bat in the barn, intending to give them to Danny when he returned. Apparently, Smith had decided to do the honors for him and taken all the credit.
“Good afternoon, Lieutenant,” he drawled, not bothering to rise.
Before Will could comment, the door opened for Alberta, who held out a plate. “Apple pie, Private? I can bring you cream if you’d like.”
“You are an angel of mercy, my dear Alberta,” he said, accepting the plate with an incline of his bushy head. “Perhaps we should offer some to the lieutenant and Mrs. Tremaine as well.”
Alberta swung to face the yard, as if noticing them for the first time. “Mrs. Tremaine, Lieutenant Prescott, how good to have you back! Are you hungry?”
“I’m hungry,” Danny put in hopefully.
“I appreciate you feeding my men, Alberta,” Will said, jaw tight, “but we have work to do. Smith!”
Smith shoved in a mouthful of the pie and handed the plate and fork to Alberta. “Duty calls.”
“You’re welcome to stay,” Kate told Will as his private ambled down the steps.
“Thank you,” he said, “for everything. But we have a patrol to ride. We still don’t know whether the poacher remains in the area.”
Her face tightened. “I’ll keep watch here too.”
Danny glanced between them. “Will you come back and show me how to play baseball, Lieutenant?”
The pleading tone, the wide eyes, pulled at his heart. “As soon as I can, Danny. I promise.”
Kate slipped her arm about her son’s shoulders and turned for the porch.
Will looked to Smith. “Where’s your horse?”
“In the barn. I found the veranda a marvelous vantage point for viewing the entire geyser field. You should try it, Lieutenant.”
“Perhaps after I’ve confirmed the rest of the area is safe,” Will gritted out. “At least tell me what you learned at Riverside, assuming you actually reached Riverside.”
“I did,” he said, shifting on his feet as if standing for so short a time fatigued him or Will’s conversation bored him. “They saw no sign of the poacher. I take it you and the Norris fellows had no better luck.”
“None,” Will admitted. “But with three detachments keeping an eye out for him, we’re sure to locate him. Now, get your horse, and we’ll finish the patrol.”
“Sir.” He pivoted toward where Danny was about to enter the inn. “Ho, General Tremaine. Would you be so good as to fetch me my horse?”
“Sure,” Danny said, and he broke away from Kate to dart down the porch before Will could stop him.
“What are you doing?” he demanded of the private. “He has enough chores of his own.”
Smith sighed. “Don’t we all?”
Will shook his head as Kate stepped back from the door.
“Your duties are lighter than most,” he told Smith. “Rizzo in Nadler’s detachment is looking for a change. Perhaps I should trade you.”
“You could,” Smith allowed, lower lip sticking out over his beard as if he was pondering the matter. “But I’d put Nadler in his place on the first day. I assume the reason you chose me was because you thought you could keep up with me.”
“I thought,” Will said, “you might have something you were trying to make up for, especially after Harris’s comment about card games.”
Those dark eyes glittered. “Ah, you would know something about making up for past mistakes, wouldn’t you?”
Cold trickled down his back for all the day was warm. “Go fetch your horse, Soldier.”
Smith strolled after Danny.
Kate moved back into the sunlight. “Everything all right, Will?”
When she looked at him that way, face soft and eyes wistful, everything should be all right. But he couldn’t tell her the shame that threatened, the revulsion of who he’d been, what he’d done.
“Just thinking about the poacher,” he said.
Her smile was sad, as if she commiserated. “You’ll catch him. I have faith in you.”
And that made him all the more determined to live up to her expectations.
As Kate went inside at last, he mounted Bess and gave her a pat.
“Just a little farther,” he said softly in her upright ear.
Smith came riding around the hotel, and Will led him from the yard. He set them toward the north.
His private rode along, as easy in the saddle as he’d been on the veranda. As they cleared the pines and started across the grassland, he heaved an audible sigh.
“Such a shame about Mrs. Tremaine.”
Will had to fight to keep from tightening his grip on the reins. “What do you mean?”
Smith glanced his way with a half-smile. “More concerned about the lady’s reputation than your own? How commendable.”
“My reputation speaks for itself,” Will told him. “So should Mrs. Tremaine’s.”
“I daresay the lady’s will take some effort to dim. More so
