Colorado Courtship Read online

  “You think you can handle putting the team up by yourself?”

  Sunny pressed her shoulders back, careful to hold the frustration inside her from showing on the outside. “Of course I can.”

  “She sure can, Emmett. She had them all hitched and ready to go by the time I got down to the barn this morning.”

  That surprised even Uncle Emmett. His raised eyebrows showed it. “By yourself?”

  “Yup.”

  Pride replaced his surprise. “Good job, Sunshine. I’m proud of you.” That meant a lot coming from him. It truly did.

  “Me, too,” Jed added. “It isn’t easy handling these two.” He pointed to Samson and Goliath.

  “Well, we gotta get going, Sunshine. When you finish putting the team up, grab your horse and a pick, then head on out to the water hole to make sure the cows have water. You remember where it is, don’t you?”

  “Yup. Sure do.”

  “On second thought, wait until one of the other guys gets back before you go, all right? I don’t want you out there by yourself in case you slip and fall.”

  Once again Sunny struggled to not let her frustration show and to make sure she kept her tone even when she spoke. “I’ve done it many a time by myself, Uncle Emmett.”

  “I know you have, Sunshine, but just help your uncle out here a bit. I don’t want something to happen to you, too.”

  Sunny’s heart softened the instant she noticed the sadness that had drifted across her uncle’s face. She knew he was worried about losing her like he had her pa. Uncle Emmett loved his brother, and Pa had loved him, too. She didn’t want to be the cause of any more pain for her uncle so she nodded. “I’ll wait until the men come back, Uncle Emmett.”

  “Thank you, Sunshine. I appreciate that.”

  “Hey. You’re the boss.” She winked at him to lighten the mood.

  He shook his finger at her. “Yes, I am. And don’t you forget it.” He gave a wink back at her. “Well, we better run. That cow doesn’t have long before she’ll be dead. If she ain’t already. See you later, Sunshine.”

  Jed jumped down from the sled, swung up on the back of Uncle Emmett’s stocky horse, and off they went.

  Sunny gave a quick slap of the lines and braced herself as the sled jerked forward.

  Every now and again the sled runners scraped over a rock hidden beneath the snowy surface. Each step the horses took made their necks sway and the tack rattle in harmony. She loved that sound. It was soothing to a body, downright peaceful. The flaxen manes of both horses fanned out and some strands stuck straight up in the air. These stocky animals sure were beautiful. God had done a right fine job on them.

  Overhead an eagle screeched. Sunny searched the blue sky until she spotted the bird with its six-foot-plus wingspan gliding through the air. She watched it for the longest time, her heart soaring with it. The scripture in Isaiah 40:31 came to mind. “‘But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.’” She quoted it out loud from memory as she watched that eagle soaring high above.

  That Scripture ministered right where she needed it to—deep in her weary heart. But she vowed right then that she would not grow tired and she’d depend on the Lord’s strength to do whatever it took for her to make the family’s ranch, her ranch, a success.

  In the distance her uncle’s log cabin came into view. She fixed her eyes on the pine- and aspen-tree-covered mountain above her uncle’s homestead. A scene similar to her own spread. Like the blanket of snow around her, a hankering for home spread over her.

  Oh, how she loved riding through wooded areas, listening to the forest floor crunching under her horse’s hooves and drawing in the fresh scent of blue spruce pine trees and clean air. Every now and again she had been fortunate enough to come across a black bear hidden high up in a tree, or a bobcat climbing the rocks in the distance, or a cuddly-faced pine marten draped across a jagged hollow tree stump, or her favorite of them all—a six-point bull elk. She closed her eyes, imagining the lyrical sound of the elk’s bugle during mating season. It was like sweet music to Sunny’s ears. One time she’d even come across a cow moose. Sure was an ugly thing. She didn’t stick around to study it too long knowing how dangerous they could be and all.

  She opened her eyes and movement north of her uncle’s house drew her away from her thoughts. Her uncle’s hired hands were coming down the road driving the dappled gray team. Within minutes they’d be coming right alongside her.

  All of a sudden a loud boom burst through the quietness.

  Her team shied sideways, then bolted forward into a dead run.

  The reins very nearly jerked from her hands, and Sunny’s heart raced right along with the panicked horses. “Whoa! Whoa, Samson! Whoa, Goliath!”

  Her body struggled to stay upright as the sled bounced over the uneven snow-packed terrain.

  Chunks of hard-packed snow flew from the horses’ hooves high into the air, some came very close to hitting her.

  With all her might she tugged hard on the lines but the horses never stopped. They plowed over the snowy terrain as if it was race day. “Whoa, boys. Whoa.” She drew back even harder, her arms aching from the strain.

  Just when she thought her arms would give out, she spotted a snowdrift ahead. Shooting up a quick prayer, using both arms and all her strength she pulled back hard on the right line only, forcing the team into the snowbank and into a jolting stop.

  The animals trembled and snorted. With each short breath the horses took, their sides expanded rapidly and steam rolled out in long white puffs from their flared nostrils. “Easy, Samson. Easy Goliath.” She drew out their names making sure to keep her voice even and smooth even though her insides were shaking like a willow bush in a turbulent wind. “Everything’s all right, boys,” she said, trying to reassure herself as much as she was them.

  “Are you all right?”

  Sunny swung her head toward the sound of Jed’s frantic voice. He and her uncle, along with the other hired hands, were hurrying toward her at a pace slow enough as to not frighten the horses further.

  “I’m fine,” she said loud enough for them to hear, but not loud enough to startle the horses.

  Before her uncle had a chance to dismount, Jedidiah flew off the back of Uncle Emmett’s horse and strode to her side. “You sure?” His hands spread around her waist, and he hoisted her off the sled. His hands stayed right where he’d placed them even after her feet touched the ground. Fear and concern wrinkled the corners of his eyes. She hated thinking she’d been the cause of that worry.

  “You all right, Sunshine?” A tremor ran through Uncle Emmett’s voice.

  Quicker than a heartbeat Jedidiah’s hands dropped from her sides, and he backed away as if she’d suddenly sprouted porcupine quills or something. The look on his face didn’t give anything away as to why he’d acted like that.

  “I’m fine.” She dusted the clumps of snow off her chaps and coat.

  “What happened?” The same concern and fear she’d seen in Jedidiah’s eyes was now settled in her uncle’s.

  She wanted to pull him into a hug to comfort him, but she didn’t know if it would embarrass him in front of the others or not. She knew how funny men were about those things. Sure, at the house he didn’t hold anything back when it came to showing Aunt Minnie or her affection, but out here in front of all his men, she wasn’t sure, so she just held back and instead answered his question. “There was a loud bang and the next thing I knew the team took off. Thank God Pa taught me what to do when that happens.”

  The wrinkles on Uncle Emmett’s forehead let up. “He did a fine job of it, too, Sunshine.” He smiled down at her, then yanked her into a hug before releasing her and turning his attention onto Cody, George and Matt.

  Guess hugging in front of the men was all right after all.

  “Sorry, Mr. Weston. Cody here wasn’t thinking.” George yanked a thumb tow
ard the tall cowboy. “He spotted a coyote and took a shot at it.”

  Raw anger flooded over her uncle’s face. He tugged his hat up and down twice. “Well, you just better thank the good Lord that my girl here knew how to handle those horses.”

  All three of the hands looked at her with awe. Made her feel high as the cloudless sky.

  Despite the fact that her insides were still shaking from her ordeal, she smiled, realizing these men had just witnessed her handling that runaway team all by herself. With a little bit of luck maybe, just maybe, they’d see that size didn’t make one lick of difference. And maybe, just maybe, she’d earned their respect as a fellow ranch hand now. She sure did hope so, but only time and a lot of hard work would tell.

  * * *

  Jed was thankful it had only taken a few minutes to right that cow. When he had seen Samson and Goliath thundering through the snow and Sunny trying to control them, he thought his heart had stopped beating.

  He silently cheered Emmett on when he gave Cody a good tongue-lashing for his carelessness. Something Jed wanted to do himself. That boy sure needed some horse sense whipped into him. Even then Jed wasn’t sure it would make any difference. That kid just didn’t think. Shooting at a coyote with Samson and Goliath nearby proved that. Cody had to have seen them. His carelessness could have kill... No, Jed couldn’t even say the word.

  Thoughts of harm or something even worse coming to that pretty gal twisted Jed’s gut into a tight knot.

  He liked her.

  A lot.

  The woman had spunk. Something he loved in a woman. But he’d keep his feelings to himself. He’d never go against Emmett’s wishes. He only hoped his holding on to her longer than necessary hadn’t given Emmett cause for alarm.

  They all headed back to the barn and unharnessed the horses and put them up. Before they went to make sure the cows had water, they stood outside the barn, talking about who was going to do what.

  “You sure did a fine job of handling those horses today,” Matt drawled, looking down at the ground and scraping the toe of his boot across the snow.

  “Thank you, Matt.”

  “Aw, c’mon. That was plumb luck and you know it.” Cody’s auburn brows danced with mirth, only Jed noticed Sunny wasn’t smiling.

  “Luck had nothing to do with it,” Jed defended her.

  “That’s right.” Her chin rose and defiance scribbled across her face.

  “Ah, come on, armrest.” Cody laid his forearm on Sunny’s shoulder.

  “Who you calling armrest?” Sunny’s voice lowered to a growl.

  Jed stepped forward to remove Cody’s arm from Sunny’s shoulder but never got the chance. She flicked his arm off and took two steps sideways, looking as if she might well punch the obnoxious cowboy in the gut if he tried that again.

  “You.” Cody guffawed. “You make a pretty good one, too. Yessiree, your shoulder is just the right height and makes for a right nice resting post.”

  Jed heard the humor in Cody’s voice, but he knew how Sunny hated to be teased. He also knew if he said something, she’d tell him she could take care of herself. So he decided to wait and see what happened. If Cody got too out of line, though, he didn’t care if Sunny could defend herself or not, Jed would say something and put a stop to it.

  “Admit it, short stack. It was just a lucky break.” The man had the nerve to wink at her, and Jed had the horrible thought that he might have to pull her off Cody to keep her from pulverizing him.

  “Luck had nothing to do with it. My pa taught me how to handle horses since I was no bigger than a newborn calf.”

  “Well, you ain’t any bigger than a three-day-old heifer now.” That taunt came from George. His glinting smirk showed he was just teasing Sunny, but Jed fully understood what she meant when she’d told him she got sick of it. Again he wanted to say something, but something inside him told him to wait, that he’d embarrass her if he intervened.

  Sunny’s gaze shot to George, then back onto Cody. Her eyes narrowed and she raised her chin up another notch. “You don’t have to have brawn to know what to do; you just have to have horse sense. Something you obviously don’t have or you would’ve never fired that shot.”

  “She got you there, Cody,” George said with a punch to Cody’s skinny arm.

  “Didn’t neither.” Cody slugged George back. “Been shootin’ coyotes since the day I got here.”

  Jed had heard enough. This was his chance to say something, to stand up for her without appearing as though he was defending her. “Yes, but you’ve never done it with Samson and Goliath nearby. You know how flighty those two geldings are. Sunny did a great job of handling them. And driving them into that snowbank was sheer genius.” Jed smiled down at Sunny, not even bothering to keep his admiration for her from showing. Of course she was the only one who could see it.

  When he and Emmett had topped the hill and seen the runaway team and Sunny pulling back on one line, forcing the horses into the bank, he’d been surprised someone as tiny as her could handle such a large team.

  “I still think it was luck.” Cody turned to walk away.

  “Where you going?” Jed stopped him.

  “To fix the fence.”

  “George and Matt can do that. I want you to come with me and Sunny. So get your horse ready.” Jed hated to do that to Sunny, but the boy had a hard time taking orders and tended to go off on his own and do what he pleased. Which was sometimes nothing. Besides, Jed was the boss, not Cody. Cody needed to respect that. If he let him go this time, he would keep doing it, like he had before. It had taken some time before Jed had finally broken him of that, so he couldn’t allow it to start up again.

  Cody glanced at Sunny, then back at Jed. A quick nod and he grabbed his halter and lead rope and strode toward the corral where the horses were. Matt and George did the same.

  “Thank you for standing up for me, but you don’t have to do that.”

  So she had caught on to what he was doing. “I meant every word.”

  “I know you did. Thank you.” She smiled up at him, and his heart did a little smiling of its own.

  Careful, Jed. Remember Emmett’s warning. “Well, we better go get our horses ready.”

  Minutes later the three of them headed toward the river. Cody remained quiet the whole way.

  Down at the river Sunny slid from her horse, grabbed the pick tied to her saddle and started chipping away at the ice, making steps for the cows to walk down to the one spot where the creek water ran rapidly, leaving a small pool.

  Jed noticed Cody standing there, staring at her. He walked up alongside the boy. “Admit it. She’s pretty impressive, isn’t she?”

  Cody looked at him. “She’s off-limits. Remember, boss?” With those words Cody grabbed the metal pole with the thin flat side on one end and started chopping ice as far away from Sunny as possible.

  Right then and there Jed realized Cody’s problem. The poor boy had feelings for Sunny. Jed had his work cut out for him. Trying to keep a young buck from going after a wide-eyed doe wouldn’t be easy. Keeping himself from going after her was going to be a challenge, as well.

  Chapter Five

  The temperature dropped far below freezing, owing to the continued snowpack and clear night skies. Taking a bath in a barrel of hot water had helped ward off the cold, but standing here in her nippy bedroom, Sunny shook with a chill. She glanced at her pa’s long-handled underwear, then at her door. She always felt sneaky wearing those things. Women just didn’t do that. Well, most women didn’t, but this one did. As far as she was concerned there was no sense freezing when there were garments to keep a body warm. Whether they were made for a male or a female didn’t matter to her none. But other people sure seemed to mind. She slipped them on and covered them with her petticoats as fast as she could in case her aunt came in.

  The rest of her garments—a brown woolen skirt, tan high-neck blouse and brown woolen vest—went on a bit slower. Sheepskin-lined slippers won over her boots for the
same reason.

  She ran her ma’s brush through her long wet hair, braided it and wrapped it into a bun at the bottom of her neck. Dressed and ready, she headed out into the living room.

  Aunt Minnie stood at the stove holding a lid in one hand and stirring something steaming hot with the other.

  After a long day of being outside in January’s bitter cold, a hot meal sure sounded good. “What can I do to help, Aunt Minnie?”

  “You can holler at the men. They’re in your uncle’s office.”

  “Will do.” Sunny’s skirt swished back and forth like a horse tail as she made her way to her uncle’s office and knocked on the door. “Uncle Emmett, dinner’s ready.”

  “Thank you, Sunshine. We’ll be right there,” he said from the other side of the door.

  Instead of waiting for them, Sunny headed back into the kitchen. She pulled the buttered rolls out of the oven, and when she turned around, she caught sight of Jed’s look of approval. But just barely.

  A quick glance at her uncle and Jed looked everywhere else but at her. He did that often, and she wondered why. Truth be known, it bothered her that he was so intent on not looking at her, but she refused to dwell on it. He was a man, and she had long ago given up trying to figure them out.

  Within minutes, they all sat down to fresh homemade noodles and beef soup, cheese and buttered rolls. Just like last evening, during the entire meal, Jed barely looked at her. His actions befuddled her. He was nice to her during the day, but in the evenings, sitting with her aunt and uncle, he barely spoke to or looked at her. Maybe he was shy like Matt. Around her relatives, at least.

  Oh, well. One look at the dessert her aunt handed to her and, not caring how unladylike it was, she took a large bite. The chocolate cake with sweetened cream drizzled over it melted in her mouth. “Aunt Minnie, you outdone yourself on this here cake.”