Page 23 of Heart of Stone

Since then, he’d been struggling to get back to content, but he hadn’t made it there yet; he wasn’t sure he ever would. Sometimes, he thought leaving Copper Lake was the best answer for both of them, but he knew he would carry Stone with him wherever he went, just like Stone carried his pa. Staying might not help him fall out of love with Stone any quicker, but at least it would let him help Stone build the kind of stable, responsible, respectable life Stone seemed to want.

He glanced over at Jake, who was riding the fence with him that day. Stone refused to let him go out alone ever since the blizzard; fortunately, Jake wasn’t much of a talker, and so Luke didn’t feel obliged to start up a conversation, instead retreating into his own thoughts once more.

As winter turned into spring, he’d been riding enough to break in the saddle Stone had given him for Christmas. He’d sold his old saddle to one of the hands and dutifully used the new one, not because he wanted to but because he didn’t want to seem ungrateful. He understood what Stone had been trying to do, and he appreciated it. But even though it was indeed the finest thing he’d ever owned, he would have given away both the saddle and Mist in a heartbeat if it meant he could be with Stone. He took neither pride nor pleasure in the saddle, not when it represented the greatest loss of his entire life.

He was careful to avoid mentioning that Stone had given it to him as well, but for someone who was so damned worried about people talking, Stone was showing a considerable lack of discretion. Sometimes, Stone seemed hell-bent on treating Luke like his lover in every way short of sharing his bed. Luke had tried to remind him to be more careful. Giving Luke expensive presents and referring to “their ranch” and “their house” wasn’t exactly going to make folks think Luke was nothing more than the foreman, especially since they hadn’t even known each other all that long. He thought maybe Stone understood what mixed messages he’d been sending to Luke and to everyone else, and he hoped Stone would back off and quit treating him like he was special. It was only making it harder for Luke’s wounds to heal, and besides, if Stone was afraid of what would happen if people started talking about them, then he damned well needed to stop giving them reasons to talk in the first place.

Before he could continue down that depressing line of thought, he noticed cattle grazing in the distance outside where the Copper Lake ranch fence ought to be.

“Shit! Looks like we got ourselves a break,” he said as he spurred Mist into a quicker pace, and Jake kept up easily.

When they reached the far end of the pasture, he could seen a fair bit of the fence had been torn down, as if the cattle had stampeded right over it, and he looked around to see how many remained inside the fenced area, dismayed by how few he saw milling around.

“How many head did we have out here?” he asked.

“About a hundred, I think,” Jake replied. “Looks like most of them are gone.”

“Well, let’s see how many we can round up,” Luke said grimly. “Maybe they ain’t gone too far. We’ll get them back inside the fence, and then I want you to go back and get some more men and supplies so we can get this fixed before nightfall.”

“Mr. Harrison said I wasn’t to leave you alone.” Jake gave him a dubious look.

“Ain’t no blizzard goin’ to blow up today,” Luke retorted, not bothering to hide his exasperation. “I’ll be fine, and if I ain’t, I’ll take the blame so you won’t have to.”

They were only able to round up about twenty of the escaped cattle, and Luke began giving serious thought to suggesting that Stone ought to build up the horse-breeding angle, maybe even focus on breeding race horses. Beef prices weren’t as good now as they had been a few years ago anyway, so it might be a good time to diversify.

Once they got as many cattle as they could find back inside the fence, Jake took off back to the ranch, and Luke started repairing the fence, trying to salvage as much as possible. It wasn’t long before he heard riders approaching, and he glanced up to see Jake had returned with a few hands and a wagon full of supplies. And Stone. For once, Luke was glad to see him; something wasn’t sitting right about the damage he’d seen to the posts, and he wanted another pair of eyes on it.

“Looks like we lost eighty-some head or more,” he said. “I reckon we could send some men out lookin’ farther than Jake and I went, but I don’t know how lucky we’ll get in findin’ them after this long.”

Stone looked grim as he swung down out of the saddle to look down at the damage. “Damn.” He glanced along the length of downed barbed wire and broken-off posts. “They must have been spooked. We’ll have to move the rest of the herd down into the lower pasture until we fix this.”

Luke glanced over at the other men, waiting until they were busy with unloading the wagon, and then he pulled Stone aside. “I ain’t so sure it was just spooked cattle. Look at the marks on that post,” he added, pointing to one of the broken posts on the ground. “Do they look funny to you?”

Stone frowned and crouched down next to the fallen post, lifting up the broken end. He ran his finger along the crosswise part of the break, which was smooth along one side before becoming the normal, jagged spikes one expected from broken wood. “Sort of looks like it was cut part way, don’t it?”

Luke nodded. “That’s what I thought, but I wanted another opinion. Question is, if we’re right, who would want to damage the fence? None of the other ranchers ‘round here bear any grudges, so far as I know.”

“Maybe rustlers who want to make it look like ain’t nothin’ been rustled.” Stone dropped the post and moved over to the next one, which looked the same. As he stood, Luke could see that his expression was thunderous, and his brows were drawn together above eyes that held cold anger. “Cattle thieves think ranchers are stupid and lazy and won’t look past the ends of their noses. Well, if they tried it once, they’ll try it again. We need to send the men out to ride the fence and check for cuts elsewhere before we lose more cattle.”

“Maybe we ought to set a regular patrol,” Luke suggested. “Just in case they try again.”

“Good idea.” Stone nodded and looked over at the hands, who were starting to unload new posts from the wagon. “Shorty! I want you to ride back and tell the rest of the hands to drop what they’re doin’. Send four to move the cattle down into the lower pasture, and the rest can start ridin’ the fence line, looking for damage.”

“Right, boss.” Shorty touched the brim of his hat before mounting up and heading off.

Stone turned back to Luke. “I need to tell the other ranchers in the area, too.” He frowned again, as he thought of something. “Unless whoever did this was goin’ after us, in particular.”

“I don’t see why they would be,” Luke replied, shaking his head. “It must be rustlers, like you said.”

“Yeah. Must be.” Stone rubbed the back of his neck. “I guess I’m just feelin’ put upon, after spendin’ the mornin’ with my ‘cousin’.” He rolled his eyes as he said the word. “Seems like he brought bad luck with him as well ascivilization.”

Luke tried to look properly sympathetic, but he wasn’t sure how well he managed it. He didn’t envy Stone having to spend the whole morning with that annoying dandy, but he was very glad he had the excuse of work to get himself out of the house.

“I don’t suppose he said anything about the duration of his visit?”

“No, damn it.” Stone looked disgusted. “I mentioned that he might be more comfortable headin’ back to Boston, but that man can’t take a hint. He just said he rather liked roughin’ it.”

Luke grimaced, disheartened by that bad news. “It’d be a hell of a lot easier to put up with him if we knew when he was leavin’.”

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