Page 3 of Wellspring
“You were not in Texas born?”Erick asked, curious to learn more about the man sitting across from him.Webster’s muscular physique proclaimed him man, not boy, but beyond that, Erick could not determine his age.Somewhere over eighteen, somewhat less than Erick’s own thirty-three years.His blue-green eyes sparkled with delight and mischief at times, but he had taken appropriate care in helping Erick find accommodations for both his new horse and himself.The cowboy might appreciate a good joke now and then, but he could be serious when such behavior became necessary.All in all, a delightful companion.
Best of all, a companion with no ulterior motive.Erick was used to people cultivating his acquaintance for his connections, his title, his name, or his wealth, but those things had no meaning here.Yet Webster had spent some hours with him today for no apparent reason beyond desiring Erick’s company.Dare he think he had made a friend?He was quietly pleased that Webster would see in even so obvious a newcomer someone worth investing time in.
“I hail from Kentucky originally,” Webster said, “but my parents were dirt poor—their land wasn’t worth shit.When Texas joined the Union, they decided to take their chances out here.It didn’t go so well for them—they died before they ever got here—but I turned out okay.”
The casual vulgarity surprised Erick less than his companion’s seemingly casual attitude toward his parents’ death, both reminding him he was no longer in the rarefied salons of Europe.He wondered how old Webster was at the time—young enough to soften the loss, but capable enough to have survived it?He did not know the other man well enough to ask.“I am sorry for your loss,” he said quietly.“But I am glad you turned out okay.”He stumbled over the unfamiliar word, frustrated with the lapse.He hated sounding uneducated.
“It was a long time ago,” Webster replied.“I barely remember them, to be honest.Either way, I’m happier working with animals than I ever woulda been trying to grow things.Animals like me.Plants, not so much.And the ranches out here that run cattle always need hands to take care of them.”
As much as he would like to know more about Webster’s background, Erick didn’t push.He was no more eager to talk about his own past.“Cowboys,” Erick murmured instead, the stories he’d read in Prussia coming back to him as he imagined days and nights spent in the saddle, out on the open plains with nothing around but the herd of cattle and his fellow riders.After the stilted manners and stifling etiquette of his childhood and youth, it sounded like heaven.
The saloon girl reappeared at their table, batting her eyelashes in Erick’s direction.He answered her question without giving any outward sign of noticing her charms.Even if he had been interested, his mother had taught him better than that.As it was, he had left that life behind, and he had no intention of starting his new one with any kind of ruse.
When she had left again, Webster leaned closer.“If you decide you want some… friendly company, just say the word and I’ll scoot.You were cooped up on that ship for a long time.I understand if you need some relief.”
“Your company is far more congenial than hers could be,” Erick replied with a warm smile.The overly painted woman held no appeal for him.If he needed relief, he could make do with his own hand as he had for the duration of the voyage and indeed much of his life.If his mind’s eye conjured an image of a tanned, long-haired cowboy, no one would ever know.“What will we tomorrow do?”
“The first thing I have to do tomorrow is meet the shipping agent at the wharf,” Webster said.“My boss ordered a shipment of furniture from England for his wife before he went and got himself killed falling off a horse.Miz Roarke sent me to pick it up, even if she thinks it’s a bigger waste of money now than she did when old man Roarke first ordered it.”
Erick smothered a chuckle as Webster rolled his eyes.“You gotta meet her to understand.She ain’t the type to just make house.She’s as strong as most of the ranch hands and knows more about running the ranch than all of us put together, ’cept maybe Payne.She inherited the land from her pa as his only child, after he raised her like he would a son.Anyhow, she would have canceled it if she could, but Roarke had already paid for the order, and a letter wouldn’t have reached England before it was already on the ship.I met the shipping agent today to let him know I was here.I have an appointment tomorrow morning to pick up the furniture.Once I have it, it’ll be time to head back home.”
“Think you she will be willing another hand to hire?”Erick tried without success to imagine his mother managing a cattle ranch, although she was well-accustomed to expecting her commands to be followed.Webster seemed to admire Frau Roarke, though, which implied an open-mindedness too uncommon in Erick’s life to this point.
“That’d be up to Payne—he’s the foreman, and Miz Roarke don’t let nobody onto the ranch without his say-so—but I don’t see why he wouldn’t.You speak English well enough—he won’t hire anyone he can’t talk to himself—and you know your way around a horse.I can teach you how to toss a rope and the rest you can learn on the job,” Webster replied.“But if you’re coming with me, we’ll need to get some work clothes for you.That suit you’re wearing wouldn’t last a week on the ranch.And you’ll need a bedroll and camping gear for the nights out on the range, plus enough supplies to make it back to Wellspring—that’s the name of the ranch.Assuming Payne hires you, you’ll eat and bunk with the rest of the hands.”
“And if he does not?”Erick asked.Once again Erick was glad of his mother’s insistence on a complete education.He knew his speech sounded foreign to Webster’s ear—even he could hear the differences between his diction and the other man’s—but Webster didn’t seem to have any problem understanding him.Hopefully that would be enough to get him a job at Webster’s ranch.“I am willing to learn and to do other tasks until I do.I can stables clean if nothing else.”
“You’ll do that too,” Webster said.“We all do.But there’s plenty of other work.Have you ever broken a horse?”
Erick frowned, not understanding the question.“Why would I a horse break?It would not of any use be if I did.”
Webster laughed, the sound coiling in Erick’s gut.“Not that kind of breaking,” he said.“Training, teaching.”
“Why did you not say that?”Erick asked.“Yes, I have trained horses a saddle and bridle to take.”
“Then I know you’ll have a job.”Webster’s confidence convinced Erick of his assertion.“Besides the cattle, we round up wild mustangs that we break for the hands to use or to sell to other ranches.That’s how Roarke died.He got thrown and broke his neck, and we haven’t found a new bronc buster to take over.Some of the other hands have a bit of experience with young horses, but that’s not the same as working with the wild ones.Plus Payne needs us all on the range with the cattle, not back at the ranch house working with the mustangs.”
“I will my best do if he hires me,” Erick promised.The thought of having one familiar task in a land where everything was new reassured him immensely.He had refused to dwell on the future during the passage, not wanting to work himself into a panic over something he could do nothing about, but now that he had arrived, his uncertainty returned full force, both eased and augmented by the time he had spent with the handsome cowboy across the table from him.Webster had done everything he could to make Erick’s transition easier, but his demeanor, his comportment, everything about him proclaimed the differences between Erick’s old life and his new one.
“Let’s see how you do with Butterfly as we ride west,” Webster said.“If you handle that brute as well on the trip as you did on the docks today, I’ll have all the proof I need to convince Payne to hire you.”
CADE WALKEDslowly back to his hotel, having left Heller at the boarding house where he’d taken a room for the few days they would be in Galveston.His mind raced as he pondered their conversations over the course of the afternoon and evening.Heller still looked like an aristocrat, but Cade had seen no signs of the kind of high-handed behavior he associated with that breed.The man had asked questions, taken instruction, and generally been a pleasant companion all evening.And his talent with the horse he’d acquired still amazed Cade.Every time the stallion got skittish, Heller had calmed him with a touch or a word.If the two had been together for years, that might not have been so impressive, but Cade knew exactly how long they had known each other—as long as he himself had known Heller.And that made Heller’s feat impressive indeed.If that carried over to the wild horses on Wellspring, Payne would be a fool not to hire Heller on the spot.And Zeke Payne was many things, but no one had ever accused him of being a fool.
Cade hoped it would work out because in the few hours they’d already spent together, he had grown to like the man.Heller’s face wasn’t weathered the way Cade was used to, more proof that he’d had a life of some privilege before leaving Prussia, so Cade couldn’t peg his age as easily as he could with another cowboy, but he would guess the man was somewhere around thirty-five with brown hair, fair skin, and the most striking blue eyes Cade had ever seen.The skin would darken and the hair lighten under the harsh Texas sun, but those eyes….
Cade knew he’d dream of them tonight and probably for many nights to come, especially if Heller got the job and stayed around to fuel Cade’s fantasies.He resisted the urge to adjust his pants as he neared the hotel.He could wait until he got inside and could take them off in private.
The desk clerk nodded at him and handed him his key as he came inside.Cade returned the nod politely and climbed up to his room under the eaves.It was the cheapest room in the hotel, but it was still nicer than a lot of the boarding houses, although the one Heller was staying in had been respectable.If he hadn’t already paid for the night at the hotel, he’d have seen about getting a room at the boarding house where Heller was staying.
That thought elicited a soft groan.Cade locked the door behind him, tossed open the garret windows to let out the warmth of the day and hopefully catch some of the breeze off the ocean, and stripped down to his union suit.He unbuttoned the top half of the long underwear as well, baring his chest and shoulders.Flopping down on the bed beneath the open windows, he let his mind wander back over the day.
One moment stuck in his thoughts: Heller’s reaction to the girl in the saloon.Her intentions couldn’t have been much more obvious unless she’d draped herself across Heller’s lap, but he had paid even less attention to her than Cade had.It was the man’s words that struck him hardest, though.Your company is far more congenial than hers could be.Cade told himself not to get his hopes up, but unless the man was so clueless he didn’t realize the girl was offering him sex, Heller’s comment bordered on suggestive.
Closing his eyes, Cade summoned the image of the Prussian in his proper suit as he came down from leaving his trunk in his room at the boarding house, bowler hat under his arm, his hair brushed neatly, his jacket dusted off and his shoes polished.He was the wet dream Cade never knew he had.
He let the fantasy spin out, imagining Heller was coming down to meet him for an outing, the pressed and proper appearance intended to entice Cade rather than because his upbringing dictated it.Aware of the public setting, Cade did not embrace Heller but instead settled for a discreet brush of his hand against the other man’s.Heller—Erick—understood, though, his smile softening the stern lines of his face and giving a special glow to his already brilliant eyes.That smile held a promise for later, a promise Cade fully intended to make good on.
In the way of dreams, the setting dissolved around them, coalescing instead to the waterfall and quiet pool he had found while riding with the herd, deep in the back country at Wellspring.As far as he knew, none of the other ranch hands knew it was there since it was a two-day ride from the main house, giving him and Erick the assurance of privacy as they spread out on the blanket for their picnic lunch.
