Page 23 of Wellspring
“I imagine Webster introduced you to Bessette already, and I’m sure you met Burke, because he’s a terrible busybody and can’t stand not being the center of attention.And Trujillo, of course.”She glanced over to where a dark-haired man sat alone.bent over his plate.“Did you meet MacRae?”
Erick shook his head, hiding a smile at how well she had characterized his bunkmate.
“I’ll introduce you to him in a few minutes, but first, tell me more about yourself.Webster was so full of other news that I didn’t have the chance to ask for your story last night.”
“I had just arrived on the ship from Bremen when Ca—Mr.Webster was kind enough to take me under his aegis.It is due to him that I find myself leading the life I had only read about.”He hoped his slip had gone unnoticed, but her keen-eyed glance told him otherwise.Surely the weeks they had spent together were excuse enough for the informality?He cautioned himself to keep a closer guard on his tongue.
“Webster has a kind and giving heart, even if he tries to hide it beneath a brash exterior.I’m not surprised he offered to help you.”His new employer was a discerning woman, to see Cade’s qualities so clearly.“Bremen is in Prussia, if I’m not mistaken?Texas is a far cry from there.What made you decide to leave?”
“Tales of the frontier have always fascinated me.”He weighed what more to tell her.Cade already knew his story, and he sensed Mrs.Roarke would see through any prevarication.“My wife and son died in childbirth.I wished for a new start, where I could make my way through honest effort.”All that was true, even if he’d left out as much as he admitted.
“I’m sorry for your loss, but I’m glad you found your way to us,” she said.“Although women are scarce out here.You’ll have to go to Austin at least if you want to find yourself a new wife.There are only a few unmarried women between here and there, and Svensen is courting one of them.As for the others, I’m not sure what’s going on at the moment between Burke and Miss Hart, the owner of the general store in town, but however much they fight, anyone with sense can see they belong together.”
Interesting that she didn’t include herself or Michele in that category, though Erick wondered if it was because she was uninterested in marrying again.If her only options were men like Reichardt or Ulrich, he could not fault her.“I am not in search of another wife.”He hoped she would not prove to be a matchmaker.He’d had more than enough of that before leaving Prussia.And his heart was already claimed, futile though it might prove to be.“I have upturned my life enough already, I think.”
“I can only imagine,” she said with a light laugh.“But life as a cowboy is a far cry from anything you could have known there, I would think.Your manners and your English skills, and the fact that you read tell me you’re an educated man.You could surely find a trade more suited to your past experience.”
“But not to my desires,” he admitted.“As for my experience, I do not know what trade it would qualify me for.Do Americans hire others to manage their estates?”
“It depends on what you mean by managing an estate,” Mrs.Roarke replied.“And what kind of estate you’re talking about.I’m sure some of the big industrialists in the East have people to do that kind of work.Out here, it’s the foreman who runs the herds and usually it’s the rancher who does the rest, but not everyone has a head for figures, and knowing what supplies to order and in what quantities is as much an art as is it a science.Payne runs the outfit just fine, but the rest came to me along with the land when my pa died.”
Erick nodded.Other than his skill with horses, it was the only part of his former life he took any pride in.“It is a heavy responsibility to have fallen on you.But from what Mr.Webster has told me, you acquit yourself admirably.”
“He’s a good man.”Movement drew her attention.“MacRae, come meet our newest cowboy.”
Hearing her name him so gave Erick a flush of pride.Though he hadn’t earned the title yet, he vowed to prove himself until he did.
The dark-haired man Erick had noticed startled like he’d been shot, but he approached the two of them warily.As he neared, Erick could see his left leg ended in a wooden foot.“Ma’am.”
“Sergeant John MacRae, Erick Heller.”
MacRae nodded politely and offered his hand.Erick shook it.“It is nice to meet you, Sgt.MacRae.”
MacRae shook his head.“I ain’t been a sergeant since the war ended.It’s just MacRae, or Mac, if you like.”He tipped his hat to them both.“I’d best get back to work, ma’am.”
Mrs.Roarke waved him off kindly and turned back to Erick.“MacRae came back to Wellspring with Logan after the end of the war,” she explained.“It’s rare to see one without the other unless Logan has been on night shift.”
They might be together more often since Cade had volunteered to take Logan’s night shifts, though after meeting MacRae, he could appreciate the kindness behind the offer.The man was as skittish as the horses Erick was taming.Maybe Payne hadn’t told her about the change, since she admitted he ran the outfit.“Wellspring is staffed with good men, from what I have seen this far.”
“We don’t keep any other kind around,” Mrs.Roarke said, her gaze turning hard.“Every member of my outfit has to be able to rely on the others when the cards are down.There isn’t any room for doubt or disloyalty out here.It’s too dangerous otherwise.”She paused, glancing deliberately toward MacRae’s retreating back.“Even when the rest of the world would condemn a person for his background, the color of his skin, his infirmity, or the leanings of his heart.”
“Such beliefs do you honor.”Erick wondered how deeply she had seen into him.“They are sadly all too rare in the world.”
“I’m glad we understand each other.I’ll let you get back to work.”She stood before Erick could reply and strode back toward the house.
Erick finished his sandwich, marveling at his good fortune at finding such tolerance.No, he admitted to himself, fortune had nothing to do with it.His presence at Wellspring was due wholly to Cade Webster.
CADE GAVENahnia’s nose one last stroke and headed to take a shower.Chel had already disappeared in the direction of Javier’s kitchen, so he didn’t worry about stripping down outside the enclosure and walking inside, even though the water was already running.The men all tried to maintain some degree of modesty in Chel’s presence, but they didn’t bother when she was elsewhere.He’d taken two steps inside when his brain caught up with his eyes.
Erick stood beneath one of the faucets, his face tipped up to the stream, buckass naked.
And what an ass it was, if Cade said so.Tight and firm and round and—
Erick yelped when he turned to wet down his hair and spotted Cade.His gaze burned over Cade, eyes wide, before he turned again to face the wall.Maybe Chel was on to something.Yeah, Erick had turned away, but only after he’d looked, and hard.Maybe Erick wasn’t so much uncomfortable himself as trying to keep Cade from finding out something that might makeCadeuncomfortable.And if that was the case, maybe the time had come to show his hand.“My apologies,” Erick muttered, head down as he edged toward the towel he had tossed on the bench.“I had not thought—”
“Hey, no,” Cade said.“Don’t apologize.I’m so used to barging in as long as I know where Chel is that I didn’t even check to see who was in here.I can go if you want.”He didn’t want to, not when staying meant stealing more glances at Erick, but he would if Erick asked.
Erick hesitated, but he had clearly not finished washing up yet.“Not if you should not object?I would not come to dinner without washing.I had not expected to exert so much effort the first day.”
