Page 29 of Heart of Stone
When the reel ended, Agnes smiled breathlessly at him. “Thank you so much. That was fun!” Her cheeks were pink, and little wisps of brown hair had escaped from the tight bun she wore it in. “But I should get back to the refreshment table before the lemonade runs dry.”
“Now, you wouldn’t do that and leave me standing here in the middle of the floor by myself, would you, dear lady?”
Luke turned, but he recognized that voice, and he knew exactly who he’d see. Sure enough, James Rivers had decided to grace them with his presence, although he ignored Luke completely and focused his attention on Agnes, who was staring at him, wide-eyed. James seemed to take that as his due, however, and clasped her unresisting hand, lifting it to his lips as he bent over it. “Miss Agnes, you would break my heart if you didn’t agree to dance with me.”
Normally so self-possessed, Agnes looked like a rabbit caught in a coyote’s sights. Then she nodded as though she were in a daze. “Of course, Mr. Rivers. I’d be honored to dance with you.”
Luke scowled at James, knowing the man was up tosomething; he just didn’t know what it was, but there would damned sure be hell to pay if James broke Agnes’ heart on purpose. He didn’t have any grounds to interfere, however, and there was no doubt that Agnes wanted to dance with James. So Luke smiled at her and murmured his thanks for the dance, and then he retreated to fetch his cup from the refreshment table.
Stone was already there, and he was scowling again. “Now what’s he doin’?” he muttered. “I swear, he only asked her to dance just because you did first. Before that, he wasn’t payin’ her no mind at all.”
Luke nodded as the pieces fell into place. “That’s exactly what he did,” he replied, taking a sip of lemonade, which was indeed quite good. “He probably thought he was showin’ me up by takin’ away the girl he thinks I’m interested in.”
Stone frowned again. “Shows how much he knows. He’d best not hurt her. She’s worth ten of him.”
“Damned right she is.” Luke glared at James’ back, for all the good it did. Agnes looked like she was in heaven, and he couldn’t begrudge her that. At least one of them would have a moment to remember that night.
“I don’t know whether I should have a talk with him or not.” He looked off to the side and shook his head. “Mrs. Wilson looks like she’s ready to start sendin’ out weddin’ invitations any moment.” Indeed, the Wilson matriarch was standing with her hands clasped to her bosom and watching her daughter and James as though wedding bells were ringing in her head.
“Somehow, I doubt he’s got such honorable intentions,” Luke replied grimly. “I’ll keep an eye on him and make sure he don’t take advantage of her.”
“You and me both.”
Before Luke could say anything else, Nelson Simmons walked past. Nelson was a grizzled, fifty-something rancher who owned a spread south of town, and he nodded to Luke, but when Stone greeted him politely, he scowled.
“Was a time when your kind weren’t allowed among civilized folk,” he snarled as he brushed on by, heading toward the door.
“Wait just a danged minute!” Luke checked his language just in time, out of deference to the mixed company, and he strode forward and grabbed Nelson’s arm. “What the devil are you talkin’ about?”
The older man shrugged off Luke’s hand. “Your boss,” he snapped, looking back over at Stone, who was standing, still as a statue, staring at them. “Don’t tell me you didn’t know he was part Injun, Luke. His kind ain’t nothin’ but a bunch of savages.”
“Yeah, I know what he is, and I don’t care.” Luke was furious, a surge of white-hot anger sweeping over him at Nelson’s narrow-minded blathering. “My boss ain’t no savage, and I don’t reckon his kind has done any more murderin’ than our kind has.”
“You can say that. You didn’t lose your Pa to a maraudin’ band of Sioux!” Nelson’s hands were clenched at his sides. “And I sure as hell don’t have to stay in the same room with him, boy, or do business with him if I don’t want to.”
“No, you don’t have to do none of that, but you better not let me hear you talkin’ about him like that again.” Luke lifted his chin defiantly. “Or you’ll answer to me. Mr. Harrison is a good rancher and a good businessman, and Mrs. Harrison wanted him to have Copper Lake. That’s all anyone else needs to know.”
Nelson’s eyes narrowed. “Ain’t your place to tell me what I can or can’t say. I notice you ain’t callin’ me a liar. I’ll talk about the truth all I want, and nobody ain’t goin’ to stop me!”
The band had stopped playing, and everything had gone quiet. In that silence, Stone spoke up, his deep voice soft but easy to hear.
“My mama was half Pawnee. Her pa was a white teacher, and her ma was the daughter of a medicine man. There weren’t a more lovin’, gentle person than my ma, and she weren’t no savage.” He was staring at Nelson, his face as hard as Luke had ever seen it. “You can say what you want about me, Mr. Simmons, but the truth of the matter is that my pa was the savage. He got blind drunk and beat his wife and child for no reason other than meanness. And he was a white man.”
Luke knew from what little Stone had said about his pa that the man had been a no-account dog, but he hadn’t realized that Stone had been abused as well. Stone’s desperation to prove he was nothing like his pa made even more sense now, and it explained why Stone had so many ghosts trailing after him.
He could think of nothing to say, and so he stared challengingly at Nelson instead, daring the man to offer more insults. If Nelson had any sense, he’d shut his mouth, but Luke wasn’t sure just how much sense the man had.
Before he had to find out, Sheriff Anderson stepped up and came between them. “I reckon that’s enough name callin’ and bad feelin’s for now.” Nelson opened his mouth, but the Sheriff glared at him. “Don’t make me start tossin’ folks in jail for disruptin’ a public event. Your missus is home sick, as I recall. I don’t think she’d be too happy about havin’ to get out of bed to pay your bail, do you?”
Nelson snapped his mouth closed, glared at everyone, and then he turned on his heel and stomped out. Once he was gone, Sheriff Anderson smiled at the remaining crowd. “Well, then, since Nelson is bein’ so reasonable, I think the rest of us can go on, don’t you?”
The band started to play again, but no one seemed to feel like dancing. People did start milling around, however, and when Luke glanced over where Stone had been, all he got was a glimpse of his back as he headed toward the back door, people parting silently to let him through. Luke didn’t hesitate to go after him, hurrying to catch up.
“Not everyone thinks like Nelson,” he said. “I sure as hell don’t.”
Stone stopped and turned around, the darkness making his features difficult to read. “I know you don’t.” His voice was rough. “But he won’t be the only one who does. I don’t care so much for me, but I have to think about the ranch. If me ownin’ it is goin’ to wreck everything Priss worked for, maybe I should think about sellin’ it.”
Luke shook his head vehemently, and he wasn’t thinking about himself, but of Stone. Running the ranch had given Stone a chance to settle down and take on responsibility, and it seemed like it had done him a world of good already. Stone needed a purpose and a way to assure himself he was nothing like his pa, and giving up the ranch would undermine all the confidence he’d built up over the last few months.