Sarah Winn The Silver Heiress

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course, it wouldn't be fair to ask Martha to take sides in this quarrel between two of her friends.
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No, Victoria had to do this herself. And the time for plotting and scheming was over. She
needed to look Hawk in the eye and calmly tell him the plain truth. That's what an honest, forthright
man like Hawk would be most likely to believe. Lost in her thoughts, she paid little attention to
the men around the table, until a chair scraped. Carlos stood, nodded in her direction, then Hawk's,
put on his hat, and left.
"He sure don't talk much, does he?" Sam said after the door closed.
"That's his way," Hawk replied.
"You decided what you want us to do?" Charlie asked.
Victoria became attentive.
"You in a hurry to leave?" Hawk asked.
"No, just don't wanta overstay our welcome."
"I got a couple of wagon loads of winter feed coming in the morning. I could use some help
unloading it. Unless you fellas have gotten too soft on Chandler's payroll to do any real work."
Sam and Charlie exchanged grins. "Guess I have put on some pounds in the last few months. A
little hard work might be good for me," Sam said.
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Charlie nodded his agreement. "There's still a lotta deer hanging out in the barn. I could pit
cook a haunch. I had to work as cook's helper on a drive once. Learned how to do it then. Takes a
half-day, but the meat's usually tender."
His cheeks reddened and he looked at Victoria with alarm. "I woulda told you about it, ma'am,
but I didn't know you'd never cooked deer before. Not that there's anything wrong with that. No
reason a fine lady like yourself woulda had any reason to--"
"Charlie, you better shut-up. You're just gettin' yourself in deeper," Sam said.
Victoria smiled. "It would be nice if you cooked the venison, tomorrow. I'd like to see how
you do it."
Charlie sighed in obvious relief. "We better say goodnight and let you folks get some rest.
Sounds like we're all gonna have a busy day tomorrow."
The men expressed their thanks for dinner. Charlie promised to let Victoria know when he was
ready to prepare the cooking pit. Then they said goodnight and left.
The cabin suddenly seemed unnaturally quiet.
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Victoria finished cleaning off the table except for the roasting pan. She looked down at the
ragged surface where Hawk had tried to slice the tough meat. "If you'll throw this out for me, I can
wash the pan."
"Okay." He picked up the pan and started for the door.
"Throw it well away from the cabin, though," she added.
He paused at the door and looked back at her. "Why?"
"I don't want to find a dead bear at our doorstep in the morning," she said, struggling to keep a
straight face.
He burst out laughing and jostled the pan so that the roast slammed against the side and almost
bounced out.
His broad grin so delighted her that she joined in his laughter.
"You thought it was funny too, huh?" he finally said.
"Not at the time, but it grew on me. How did you keep from laughing?"
"Just doing my duty to protect...." The words "my wife" lodged in Hawk's throat. He turned
quickly and opened the door. Couldn't let these friendly jokes make him forget the situation.
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Victoria was again his wife in name only. Good old Charlie and Sam most likely had orders to shoot
him if he forgot that fact.
He carried the pan out to their usual dumping site, then slung it so the roast hurtled into the
darkness. Let the bears of the world beware.
Victoria was putting the last plate back on the shelf when he reentered the cabin. She pointed at
the roasting pan. "Just leave that on the table. I'll wash it last."
He nodded and resisted the temptation to offer his help with the pots and pans. The next hour
or so would be tough enough without him getting any closer to her than he absolutely had to. He
went over to his saddle bags and got out a note book. Sitting at the table, he opened the book and
carefully reviewed the marks and numbers on the pages.
"What's that?" Victoria asked.
"Tally from the roundup. Just checking my figures."
"Would you like more coffee?" she asked.
"Naw. I'm gong to bed pretty soon." He knew he'd have trouble going to sleep with Victoria [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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