Page 60 of Wellspring
“I won’t let her forget,” Cade muttered at Erick’s side.
“As if I would,” Grace said with a huff.“And it is accounting, not hard labor.The worst he would have to worry about is a paper cut.Men.Really!”
“He looks like a stiff wind would blow him over,” Payne said.“Webster, get his things from the bunkhouse.As for you,” he fixed Erick with a glare, “you can sit here until Trujillo makes a goddamn edible dinner—damn fool idiot, getting thrown into jail and making us eat swill—and then your sorry ass is going to bed if I have to make Webster carry you there.Since he hasn’t seen fit to do his damn job around here either.”
Cade just grinned at Payne’s insults and trotted off toward the bunkhouse.Erick wouldn’t object to sleeping on a real feather bed again—the straw mattress in the bunkhouse was no longer a hardship to sleep on, but a softer mattress would be much easier on his scars.But he did object to being separated from Cade for as much as another month.Not that they had any privacy in the bunkhouse, but they’d been able to find other places to be alone.Between Grace and Payne, he doubted he’d be able to leave the house for more than the shortest of walks.
Chapter Thirty-Two
CADE RETURNEDa few minutes later with Erick’s saddlebags, which he carried inside at Grace’s direction and set at the foot of a simple wrought iron bed.Grace, at least, didn’t seem inclined to confine Erick to the chair or the bed, allowing him to follow Cade to the guest room and back to the porch.Cade hesitated like he wanted to stay, but he had been absent from his duties for as long as Erick had, without the same justification, and so finally he excused himself with the promise to see Erick at dinner.
“Close your eyes and rest if you need to,” Grace said.
“I have rested enough for a year,” Erick grumbled.“Tell me what has happened while I was not here.I saw that the new marshal arrested Reichardt.”
“He came out here a couple of days after he arrived in town,” Grace replied, “asked a lot of questions, poked around the barn and other buildings the JR hands shot up.We handed Collier over and he squealed like a stuck pig.After that, the marshal deputized pretty much everyone in sight, rode straight to Reichardt’s house, and you know the rest.He’ll have to send for a judge before Reichardt can stand trial, but with all the witnesses, that’s a formality at best.”
“And if he is found guilty, what will happen to him?I have read stories of ‘frontier justice,’ so it pleases me that he will receive a fair trial.Everyone deserves that, even blackguards such as Reichardt.”While Erick could understand Cade’s thirst for revenge—he would feel the same, had Cade been shot instead—he could wish Sanders were still alive to stand trial beside his leader.
“If he’s convicted, he’ll hang.”Grace seemed unperturbed at the prospect, but it had been her property and safety, and that of the hands she employed, that Reichardt had threatened.“He’s lucky he hasn’t already been strung up.Parnell told us that he’d talked to some of the other smaller ranchers outside of town, and we’re not the only ones Reichardt was threatening.He wanted to take over as much land as he could grab.”
Erick shifted in the chair, trying to find a more comfortable position, and winced as the movement pulled at his healing muscles.Grace noticed and rose from her seat.“Come on.Let’s get you inside so you can rest.We can look at the accounts later.”
“I am fine,” Erick tried to insist, but Grace ignored him and helped him to his feet.
“Does Reichardt have an heir?”he asked as Grace herded him back to the guest room where he had left his things earlier.
“Not around here.I suppose he could have family back east somewhere, but I never heard him mention anyone.If he has a will, we’ll find out that way.If not, it’ll be a land grab, and I want to know how much we can afford to acquire.I want direct access to Eldorado without having to pass over someone else’s property, if nothing else.Now, you rest until dinner.We can look at the books tomorrow.It’ll take at least a week for a judge to arrive, so we have time.”
As much as he wanted to protest that he’d spent more than enough time in bed since the shooting, Erick had to admit at least to himself that the ride from town had been more taxing than he’d expected.He lowered himself onto the bed, and Grace spread the sheet folded at the foot over him before closing the door softly behind her.He didn’t realize he’d closed his eyes until Grace was knocking at the door.Judging by the lengthening shadows outside the window, he’d slept away several hours.
“Trujillo made stew.”Grace carried in a tray holding a steaming bowl, a thick slab of cornbread and, to Erick’s surprise, a glass of red wine.At his raised eyebrow, Grace shrugged.“It will help build your blood back up.”
“I could have joined the rest of the hands,” Erick protested.He’d been looking forward to spending mealtime with Cade and the rest of the outfit.It would even be worth putting up with Burke’s attempts at humor.
“Webster said the doctor told you not to try to do too much too soon.”Grace set the tray at the bedside table and handed Erick a napkin.At least she didn’t try to assist him as he sat up or, worse yet, offer to help him eat.He was perfectly capable of feeding himself.“Enjoy your dinner.I’ll come back later to pick up the dishes.”
Erick sighed.He’d hoped to be able to resume at least some of his duties once he was back at Wellspring, but Grace was proving to be as much of a nursemaid as Dr.Lillard.
The food was delicious as always, and he had forgotten how much he enjoyed a glass of wine after months of water and the occasional beer, but Erick had grown used to having company with his meals, and eating alone held no appeal.In Prussia, it had been a fairly common occurrence, but he seldom had to do so since arriving in America, and it was not a change he wanted made permanent.He reminded himself it was only until he was stronger, and that the fastest way to make that happen was to rest and eat Javier’s good food now, but he still resented the isolation.In town, he’d had Cade’s company at least.
Movement at the window interrupted his silent grumbling.
Cade stuck his head through the wooden opening and then a moment later shimmied inside.Erick lifted an eyebrow as he waited for an explanation, not that he wasn’t glad of Cade’s presence.Cade shrugged and ducked his head.“I missed you, but Miz Roarke would’ve glared at me and told me to let you rest if I’d tried to come in the regular way.I’ll leave before she comes back, I promise, but I had to see you.”
“Come here.”Erick shifted to one side and patted the mattress beside him.The bedroom didn’t have a chair, but he’d want Cade close to him in any case.The bed dipped beneath Cade’s weight, and Erick let his head drop forward to rest on Cade’s shoulder.“I have missed you also.I fear we will have far less time to spend together than if I were back in the bunkhouse.”
“Everyone at dinner was asking about you and says to tell you to hurry up and get better.Burke even offered to let you have the bottom bunk so you wouldn’t have to climb up to the top bed.Though I wouldn’t be in any hurry to give up this comfortable mattress if I were you.”Cade bounced, making Erick smile.“Just imagine what we could get up to on a bed like this.”
Erick could imagine all too easily, and were it not for the pain that persisted in his back, he would slide down even now and urge Cade above him to take advantage.Or perhaps notright nowgiven that Grace and Payne were surely eating dinner in the kitchen not far away, but soon.Just now, his body would not allow for such vigorous activity.Soon, though, as soon as he was able, he would find the time and the privacy to seal the promises he and Cade had been poised to make to one another before the situation with the JR had come to a head.“Do not tempt me with things I cannot yet have.”
“Hey.”Cade lifted Erick’s head to press a gentle kiss to his lips.“I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.Just the opposite.I’ve been laid up before, and I know how frustrating it can be.I was hoping you’d laugh and tell me to ask you again in a month when you were all healed up.For now, it’s enough just to be here with you and get to kiss you.I couldn’t even do that in town for fear of being interrupted.”
He suited actions to words and kissed Erick again, just as tenderly, though Erick could taste the heat behind it, as if Cade wanted more nearly as much as Erick did.But even breathing a little more deeply through his nose to accommodate the kiss made his chest hurt, and he pulled back regretfully.“Iwillget better and when I do, we will both find our pleasure together.”He rested his forehead against Cade’s, drawing in his warm breath.“And it will take less than a month, I promise you.”
The door swung open, forestalling any reply Cade might have made.He yelped and jumped up as if burned, backing toward the open window.Erick turned to stare at Grace, who stood in the doorway, looking torn between trying to appear stern and breaking into laughter.“Oh, for Christ’s sake, Webster,” she said with a sigh, “next time use the door like a civilized person?If anyone understands having to hide your relationship in public, it’s me.Just remember that Erick was shot recently and very nearly died.So let him get some sleep.If I find out you spent the night in here, I will be very displeased.”She gathered the empty dishes and stopped in the doorway to look back at both of them.“Verydispleased.”
“I suppose we should consider ourselves fortunate it was Grace who caught us and not Payne.”Erick ran a hand through his hair and willed his racing heart to calm.“I can only imagine what he would have to say to us.”
