Page 9 of Heart of Stone
“Oh.” Mrs. Wilson looked disappointed, but Luke’s charm seemed to take the wind out of her sails. “Of course. I understand. Please do let me know, Mr. Harrison. We’d love to have you any time.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Stone replied. He darted a glance at Luke to make sure that was a good enough response.
“Afternoon, ma’am.” Luke tipped his hat and gave her one last smile before he began to steer Stone away subtly. “Give Miss Agnes my regards.”
“I will,” she replied, then sighed and turned away. Stone waited until they’d gotten around to the side of the church, then let out a huge sigh of relief.
“I thought I was doomed,” he whispered, and he glanced around to make sure no more dowagers were going to spring out of the bushes. “Thanks.”
Luke chuckled quietly, his eyes alight with amusement. “Any time, boss. I shoulda warned you, but I didn’t think about it. Miss Agnes has the face of a horse and the figure of a pine post, and Mrs. Wilson’s been tryin’ to marry her off to anything in long pants for years, but no one’ll take her. Pity, because she’s a real nice girl and smart as a whip. I’d snap her up in a minute if I was the marryin’ kind.”
Stone couldn’t help shivering in horror at the thought. Not that he cared what the poor girl looked like, but if Mrs. Wilson was angling to try to catch him for her daughter within an hour of him coming to town for the first time, how many other women were going to be following behind?
He realized he was considered an attractive man, and more than one woman had made her interest in him obvious over the years. Mostly he avoided the issue entirely by ignoring it, and fortunately no woman had considered a transient cowboy who obviously didn’t have much money to be worth pursuing too hard. But now he was the owner of a large, prosperous ranch, and if he was going to make a go of things, it was important to keep the good will of the townsfolk. Not to mention, he didn’t want to give any of them cause to go looking so close at him that they figured out things he’d rather they didn’t know.
“Well, I do appreciate it.” He gave Luke a lopsided smile. “I guess we should get back to the ranch before we’re ambushed again. I’d thought to offer to buy you dinner here in town to show how much I appreciate your help, but maybe that wouldn’t be such a good idea.”
“Probably not,” Luke agreed. “Word gets around pretty quick, and Mrs. Wilson wouldn’t be too happy with either of us. You’d probably get roped into dinner next Sunday.”
Stone nodded and headed toward the buggy. “I heat up a mean can of beans,” he said, his expression deadpan. “Will that do instead?”
“I’m happy to take whatever you want to give me,” Luke replied, keeping pace with him easily.
Stone felt his face growing hot, and shot Luke an aggrieved look. The man was doing it again, saying things that Stone didn’t know how to take. But unlike Mrs. Wilson, at least Stone was sure Luke didn’t mean him any harm. He didn’t know quite why he was coming to trust the man easier than he could remember trusting anyone in a long time, especially given how Luke confused him, but his gut was telling him Luke Reynolds was a good man, and Stone had learned to trust his instincts on such things a very long time ago.
He gave Luke a smile that an angel couldn’t have done better. “I’ll remember that when it’s time to discuss your salary.”
Luke laughed outright at that and raised one eyebrow at him, looking like the devil to Stone’s angel. “Does that mean I can take it in trade?”
“Sure.” Stone decided he wasn’t going to look at that comment too closely. “You can have all the cattle you can carry.”
“That’s mighty generous of you, boss,” Luke replied, still grinning. “Maybe we can negotiate after a month or two. I wouldn’t mind workin’ my way up from cattle.”
“Well, I hope to be considered a reasonable boss, so I’m willin’ to listen.” They reached the buggy, and Stone untied the reins from the post and tossed them to Luke. “Come on, let’s get home. I’ve had enough of town to last me for quite a while.”
Luke caught the reins neatly and took his place in the driver’s seat, and as soon as Stone was settled beside him, he set the team in motion, steering them to the road back home. “Home it is, boss, and maybe we can find something a little more tasty than a can of beans in the larder.”
“Maybe we can,” Stone replied, then settled back with a quiet sigh of contentment. Although he’d never admit it, he’d rather have cold beans in Luke’s company than be served the finest, fanciest food in the world by someone like Mrs. Wilson. Luke might confuse him from time to time, but at least he wasn’t expecting Stone to be someone he couldn’t be. Simple acceptance was a gift that cost nothing, but to Stone, it was more rare and precious than gold.
CHAPTER6
Stephen’s Mercantile on Serenity’s Main Street wasn’t large, but it had everything a rancher needed. It had never occurred to Stone just how many cans of beans and sacks of flour it took to keep hungry ranch hands fed, although he didn’t begrudge the men any of it. Every hand on the Copper Lake worked hard, and Stone knew that counting on good, hot meals every day helped keep them going.
The ranch had a standing order for the main supplies, which were brought in by train to Reno and shipped by wagon out to Serenity and other small towns between the big spreads. There was some local farming, and Mary helped keep up a garden at Copper Lake that Sarah had planted years before, which gave them things like tomatoes and greens, but this late in October, everything had been harvested, so any extras had to be purchased. As Stone picked up the items on the list Mary had made for him along with a few things for himself, he brought them back to the counter, where Mr. Stephens, the owner of the store, totted up the bill.
Stone had been at the ranch for almost a month now, and things were really starting to make sense to him. He might lack a bit on book learning, but he could manage balancing ledgers and writing letters just fine, especially with Luke’s help.
The thought of Luke made Stone frown, but not from anything the man had done wrong. On the contrary, Luke was the very model of a perfect ranch foreman; he could do anything one of the hands could do, and he could give the men orders and they’d listen to him. He could charm even the most sullen cowboy into smiling, and where Stone might have been tempted to get angry, Luke was patient and humorous, and it had a much better effect on the men.
The problem was that Luke made Stone feel things he had no business feeling.
It was hard enough being a quarter Pawnee in a white man’s world, but being a man who didn’t care for women, well, that was a crime in most folk’s books. He couldn’t let it get out of hand, because they both had too much to lose.
As Stone turned down one aisle, he stopped suddenly, having almost run into a tall, thin woman with mousy brown hair. She was dressed well, but nothing could hide that she wasn’t padded the way most men preferred women to be, and her face was plain and freckled. Yet she smiled at him with sweetness, and Stone nodded to her, recognizing Mrs. Wilson’s daughter, Agnes.
“Morning, ma’am,” he greeted her, hoping that she wasn’t about to gush an invitation to dinner at him the way her mother had. So far Luke had managed to keep all the matrons and their daughters at bay, but Luke was outside getting the main supplies loaded in the wagon, and Stone was on his own.
“Good morning.” Agnes held out her hand to shake his, her gaze direct and friendly, without any of the coy simpering he’d seen from some of the local gals. He took her hand, and her grip was firm and surprisingly solid. “You’re Mr. Harrison, of course. And no doubt you know I’m Agnes Wilson.”