Page 36 of Heart of Stone

Luke didn’t hesitate to pitch in and help the men unload the lumber and other building supplies once they returned from town, throwing himself into the physical labor to help keep his mind off everything that had happened lately. He had been feeling beat down after the back-to-back disasters, but now that they knew the cause of it all, he was hopeful that the run of “bad luck” was about to end and life could return to normal at Copper Lake.

Well, mostly normal, he thought, glancing covertly over at Stone. Priss had entrusted him with the task of determining whether Stone was fit to run the ranch, and it hadn’t taken long for Luke to decide to help Stone learn to be a landowner, because he’d seen that Stone would take his responsibilities seriously. Stone seemed tocraveresponsibility, in fact, and the more Luke learned about Stone’s past, the more he understood why Stone seemed to need stability and a place where he could prove himself. Unfortunately, it was that need standing between him and Stone more than anything else, and he didn’t know what to do about it.

He was brought out of his thoughts by a group of hands approaching him, all of them looking worried, and he felt his stomach clench at the thought of getting more bad news.

Brent was in the lead, and he looked at Luke anxiously. “Hey, Luke, me and the guys was talkin’.” He paused, glancing over to where Stone was sifting through the rubble of the burned stables with some of the other hands, looking grim-faced. “Do you think the boss is goin’ to give up on the ranch? So much has happened, and I know this ain’t goin’ to be a good year. Is the ranch goin’ to go under?”

Luke handed off the lumber he was unloading to the young man who’d come to get it and waited until he was out of earshot before replying. “It ain’t goin’ to be the best year we ever had, no, but the ranch ain’t goin’ to go under. Miss Priscilla managed her money well enough that Copper Lake can stand a bad year or two, so don’t you worry about that.” He paused and glanced briefly at Stone, knowing he was making an assumption, but he felt like he understood Stone well enough to make it. “I don’t think Mr. Harrison is goin’ to leave. He’s pretty damned stubborn.”

Brent nodded, looking hopeful. “You really think so? Things have just been hard, and you know, folks was talkin....”

Charlie, who was standing just behind Brent, spoke up. “He means that guy Hendry. Him and his buddy Colter been sayin’ Mr. Harrison’ll probably give up. He said Mr. Harrison’s pa was a quitter, which is why Miss Priscilla inherited the ranch instead of him.”

“Mr. Harrison ain’t nothin’ like his pa,” Luke replied firmly. “Hendry and Colter have been bad-mouthin’ him ‘cause of his Indian blood, that’s all. Mr. Harrison’s a hard worker, and he wants to do what’s right for Copper Lake and the men who work here. You ain’t got nothin’ to worry about.”

The hands looked at each other, and Charlie nodded. “He sure is a hard worker. Ain’t asked none of us to do nothin’ he ain’t willin’ to do himself.”

“And he ain’t blamed none of us for what’s gone wrong,” Brent added, and then he rubbed the back of his neck, looking sheepish. “I guess you’re right, Luke. It’s just unsettlin’, the thought of mebbe losin’ our jobs, and not bein’ at Copper Lake. I like it here, and I don’t want to go nowhere else.”

After all that had happened lately, it was a relief to know there were men who were still loyal to the ranch and to Stone; for Luke, that was good news, especially since he’d been wondering how much poison Hendry and Colter had managed to spread to the rest of the hands.

“If you can stick it out this year, I think it’ll get better.” Luke gave them a reassuring smile. Personally, he thought things were going to get a hell of a lot better now that James wouldn’t be hiring anyone else to sabotage them, but he couldn’t say that. “We’re goin’ to replace everything we lost, and we’re goin’ to keep patrollin’ the fence in case those rustlers come back. We’ll be okay.”

Most of the hands nodded in agreement at that. “Well, I guess we should get back to work,” Charlie replied, and with that, they returned to the tasks they’d been working on. Before Luke could get back to unloading lumber, however, Stone spoke from behind him.

“I hope they weren’t quittin’. I’d hate to lose Priss’s men.”

Luke whirled, wide-eyed and startled to realize Stone had sneaked up on him so quietly, and he took a moment to recover his dignity before replying. “Naw, they were worried the ranch was goin’ to go under or that you were goin’ to quit. They said they like it here, and they don’t want to leave.”

“Thank goodness for that.” Stone pushed his hat back on his head and braced his hands on his hips. “Especially since I’m hopin’ things’ll get better now. That bein’ said, I suppose I’d best get back to the house and clean up in case James comes by.” Stone suddenly looked grim. “I’m sure he’ll want to gloat over the fire, and that’s when I’m goin’ to give him the bad news that I ain’t as easy to scare off as he thought.”

Luke nodded, glad to receive confirmation that Stone wasn’t going to walk away now. “He ain’t goin’ to be happy, that’s for damned sure, but maybe he’ll finally high-tail it back to Boston.”

“If I don’t shoot him first,” Stone replied, and then he shook his head. “Never mind me, I’m just in a bad mood. There ain’t much more we can do today. We can’t start on the new stables until the mornin’. Might as well have the men knock off for the day and rest up.”

“Good idea.” Luke removed his hat long enough to swipe at his brow. “You want me there when Dandy Jim comes sniffin’ around to see the damage, or you want to handle him yourself?”

Stone looked at him for a long moment, his dark eyes seeming to soften just a bit. “If you don’t mind, I’d like you with me. He might try to bluff if he thinks he’s just dealin’ with the stupid Indian. I don’t reckon there’ll be anything said you don’t already know, and I trust your judgment if you think I’m about to do somethin’ stupid.”

“I’ll keep an eye out for that fancy rig of his, then.” Luke wouldn’t say so aloud, but one of the reasons why he wanted to be there was so Stone would have a third party witness in case things got ugly with James. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but better safe than sorry.

“Right.” Stone grimaced. “I’d best go up to the house and put on clean clothes that don’t smell like ashes and burnt leather. You comin’? I told Mary to leave supper covered for us, since I didn’t know if we’d be done before she went home for the day.”

Luke looked around, waging an inner debate. There was still plenty of work to do, but he was bone-tired in more ways than one, and he didn’t reckon it all had to get done in one day.

“Yeah, I’ll be along in a minute,” he replied. “I’ll let the men know they can quit for the day, and then I’ll be on to the house.”

“Thanks.” Stone gave him a small, tired smile before heading toward the house.

Luke watched him go, feeling the familiar ache of longing and loss that had grown far more bitter than sweet lately. As much as he wanted to be a strong, good man and help Stone no matter how difficult it was to stand back and love him in silence, Luke wasn’t sure how much longer he could do it. Then again, maybe it would be different once James was gone and they weren’t dealing with one disaster after another. Maybe it would get easier.

But there wasn’t any need to decide today, and he headed off to let the men know they could call it a day so he could get to his own clean clothes and warm meal that much quicker. With any luck, James Rivers would come sniffing around sooner rather than later, and they could send him packing once and for all. As far as Luke was concerned, that would be the biggest and best improvement to the ranch of them all.

CHAPTER23

Stone stared down at his plate and pushed the food around with his fork listlessly. Mary had made one of his favorites, chicken and dumplings with peas and soft, melt-in-your mouth biscuits, but his appetite had deserted him. He had too much on his mind between James, the ranch, and Luke, and it had his stomach tied up in knots.

He glanced up at Luke. The light of the setting sun was shining through the window behind him, casting reddish glints in his brown hair. Stone remembered how Luke’s hair felt, soft and silken as it slid between his fingers. He wanted to reach out and touch it now; he wanted to give them both what they wanted.

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