{Chapter 10}

“Just look at that hair, Toni. Beauty at its finest” Katie giggled and held up her brush in victory.

Toni stared at herself in the mirror. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Her black curls had been wound up on top of her head and a few stray, shorter curls hung loosely around her face and teased her blushing cheeks. If it weren’t for her obviously too-tan skin and the annoying spray of freckles on her nose, she would have looked like… a woman.

Katie placed a Cherokee Rose on the left side of her head and Toni smiled at herself. For the first time, she was happy with how she looked.

“I’m… I’m perty,” she said in disbelief.

“What did I tell you? You’ll have heads turning for miles around. I hear people all the time say to me ‘the way to a man‘s heart is through his stomach, or his ears, or his nose’ one man even told me that it was through his feet. That‘s a long story, though, so I won‘t bore you with it. You know what I say to all that? Hogwash. Everybody with sense knows that the way to a man’s heart is through his eyes” Katie grinned. “Now look at what I found on the porch this morning.”

Katie pulled out a big spray of wildflowers that had nearly every kind of flower Texas had to offer in it.

A Claret Cup Cactus, some Dayflowers, Bog-white violets, Butterfly Peas, Bishop’s weed, and so many others that she didn’t think she could even name them all.

“Who in the world would leave you such a big bunch of wildflowers?” Toni asked.

“They’re for you,” Katie said.

“Who from?”

“I dunno. There’s a note on them,” Katie said, handing her the small envelope.

Toni broke the seal and drew out a small card.

“Are they from Erik? Oh, I knew he loved you” Katie giggled.

Toni’s heart sank. “They’re from that Mr. Downs. Guess this is his way of accepting my apology.”

She plucked a flower from the bouquet, a Wine cup, and stuck her nose in it to cover up her disappointment. She was actually hoping that Erik would have sent her flowers.

Why was that?

The man was annoying. He took forever to break a horse. He had this lopsided grin thing going on. He was one of the Bible thumpers and probably thought that she was the most sinful person that ever lived. Being a Christian, he was probably judging her all of the time, shaking his head in disapproval.

Now, who does that sound like, Toni?

Toni froze. It sounded just like her. She was always judging Erik and Wade just because they believed in God, so why didn’t they have the right to judge her?

Because their Bible tells them not to, that’s why. They have no idea what I’ve been through in my life.

Toni closed her eyes. She didn’t know what they had been through, either. Erik said that his father left after his little sister was born. Did the man desert his family?

Nothing can compare to what you went through.

Toni put a stop to the argument within herself before she started remembering things she had tried so hard to forget.

“Oh well, maybe the old coot has some good in him yet” Kate said.

A yell came from outside, and Toni jumped up, looking out of the windows.

“Boss!” The yell came again.

It was Wade, standing with some fancy-dressed fellow. She let her hat dangle down her back by the drawstring and went outside, completely forgetting about her hair and its fancy state, and went outside to greet the guest.

He was tall, lean, but had a pair of good arms. He was about the size of Wade, only a bit slimmer.

“What can I do for ya?” she asked.

Wade stared at her for a moment before doing the introductions.

“Boss, this is Adrian Jackson. Adrian, this is Boss,” Wade pointed between them.

Adrian bowed and grinned, revealing disgustingly yellow teeth. “Pleasure to meet you, m’lady” he said in a thick English accent.

Toni eyed him for a moment. She didn’t like his looks at all. Fancy dressed, smooth talk, and shiny boots. Rawhide had warned her of such men.

“What can I do for ya?” She asked again.

“I came looking for work. I had it on good authority that you are looking for a bronc rider,” Adrian said.

“Already got one, Mr. Jackson,” Toni said, eyeing the bunkhouse where Erik stayed.

“Is that so? Then is there any work that I might be of help in?” Adrian asked.

Toni eyed the man. A bronc rider needed a lot of smarts when it came to horses, and this man was dressed too fancy to have gotten dirty with one before.

She glanced back at the bunkhouse. Then again, Erik might need some competition to light a fire under him about Prince. The man was too patient with that horse.

**********

Erik twirled the pencil between his fingers, thinking on the right words to write. He had put off writing to his sister and mother long enough and it was time to face what she would write back. He could clearly envision her heatedly writing a letter to him saying how she didn’t understand why he couldn’t hold down a job and how he needed to be more dependable.

Sighing, he put his pencil to paper.

Dear Emily,

Well, I did it again. I got fired. Now, before you go into a rage and decide to come down here to beat me up yourself, let me tell you about this new job I have. It’s at the BF Ranch near a town called Sundance. My boss… is a woman.

He went on to tell her about Toni, and Wade, and the other cowhands, and Wade. He told her about Mr. Cluck and about Katie, and finally about the rustlers and Mr. Downs.

He’s a strange little man, and kind of peculiar. He told me the name of his wife three times, and each time she had a different name. I think he may be related to the rustlers. I’m not about to tell Boss that, though. She’d go gunning for him before any of us could stop her…

**********

Katie watched as Toni introduced the new hand to the other drovers, keeping her eye on the sharply dressed man being introduced.

She didn’t like his looks, not one bit. He eyed Toni a little too closely and his eyes gave her a look that Katie never liked to see, not even when directed at a woman like Toni who could take care of herself. Nothing good ever came out of eyes like that.

She still smiled at the way Erik’s confused eyes lingered on Toni’s extravagant hair, his expression nothing less than baffled.

“Katie, your match-making skills are impeccable,” she said to herself in a high-pitched voice.

“Why thank you” she replied in a deeper voice, covering her heart with her hand.

“In a habit of talking to yourself?” A voice said from to the left of the porch she stood on.

She turned to face Ben. “Believe it or not, I’m a very good conversationalist” she smiled.

“Oh, I believe you” Ben grinned at her, his light green eyes twinkling at her.

“I’ve had many intelligent conversations with myself. We could solve the world’s problems,” Katie said.

She did a mental face palm. What a stupid thing to say! However, Ben simply laughed at her and shook his head.

“I’m sure you could,” he muttered.

Katie decided to change the subject. “What’s the scoop on the new guy?”

“He’s strange,” Ben stated simply.

“How do you mean?”

“That accent, it’s fake. My brother-in-law is an Englishman, so I can tell the difference,” Ben said, scowling in the direction of the new man.

“What’s his name?” Katie asked.

“Adrian Jackson” Ben growled out. “As soon as I get him alone, I’m gonna question him.”

“Make sure you do it with you mouth and not your fists, okay? Toni’s got a good head on her shoulders, ya know” Katie said with a slight grin.

Ben snarled his nose at the man’s back, and Katie couldn’t help but see the action as cute. She diverted her eyes so he wouldn’t see her smile, and pointed toward Toni and Erik talking.

“They’re gonna get together. You’ll see” she grinned.

“How do you know?”

“Because she wants him. I can feel it in my matchmaking bone! And when Toni wants something, she gets it, buddy” Katie said.

“What if he doesn’t like her yet?” Ben asked.

“Look at him!” Katie held her hand straight out in Erik’s direction. “He can’t take his eyes off her.”

Ben didn’t seem to understand, but she didn’t press the matter.

“I nearly forgot why I came over here. I was wondering if you’d like me to teach you how to ride” Ben said.

“I can ride” Katie said, a bit confused. It was Ben, after all, who had found her perfectly atop her horse, though she was lost.

“I’m talking about riding a western saddle, honey. Those side-saddles ain’t good for a penny out here,” he said, adjusting the brim of his hat.

Katie stammered, still trying to sort out why her stomach twisted when he’d called her “honey”.

“I…I… guess I’d need… to learn how…” she stammered.

“Good. Go find some of Boss’ jeans or something and we’ll do this thing” Ben grinned.

Oh, you’d like that wouldn’t you?

Katie narrowed her eyes at him. Wearing men’s jeans was considered immodest where she came from.

“Oh, fine” she said after a moment, as if giving up the battle within herself.

**********

Zach propped up his boots on the desk of the land office in Sundance, waiting for his partner of many years to meet him. The small place was cozy, though cluttered, and the open widow provided enough breeze to make the room less stuffy.

He waited a moment before the door slowly creaked open and the infamous Harlan Downs entered the room.
“Harlan” Zach nodded.

“Boss? What are you doing here?” Harlan’s forehead began to drip with sweat.

“Explain the situation with Miss Curtis to me. Again. Please make it the truth this time.”

**********

“Competition? Why?” Erik ran his hand through his shock of reddish-brown hair and exhaled deeply, watching as Adrian talked with Wade.

“Because I don’t like the way you’re handlin’ my horse,” Toni stated, feeling like a monster for some reason that she couldn’t place.

“If you let him ride that horse then all my work will be gone, Boss” Erik said desperately.

“Work? What work? You’ve been here two weeks and that horse isn’t any better off than when you first started” Toni said.

Erik scowled at her. “If you didn’t like the way I did things, then why even keep me? Just send me packing like everyone else does!”

Toni was shocked at his tone, but not for long.

“Not a bad idea, now that I think on it!” she retorted.

“What’re ya gonna do about it?” Erik planted his hands on his hips, glaring down at her with his dark green eyes growing darker by the second, looking nearly black.

“I…I…” What was wrong with her? Normally she would send such a back-talker on his way before he could beg her not to. She tried as hard as she could to choke the words out, but none came.

Okay, Toni. Let’s just face it. You like this man.

She turned off that annoying inner voice, which sounded too much like Katie, and glared at him. She opened her mouth to send Erik on his way, but the words wouldn’t come.

“Erik, you… you…” She gritted her teeth, knowing that she didn’t have the heart.

Then, seeming to understand the war within her, Erik smiled.

He actually smiled.

Not an all-out smile, just a little smirk, but it made the heart she didn’t know she had melted like butter in a frying pan.

Before she could even process the feeling inside her, he put his hands on each side of her head and leaned down to brush his lips across her forehead.

“I knew you had it in you,” he whispered.

She gasped. He was faking the while time, and he didn’t care about Adrian.

“You don’t care, do you?” she asked.

Erik smiled and shook his head. “You’re the Boss.”

With that, he turned and sauntered toward where Tiny was saddling their horses.

She struggled for a moment, and then let her smile break loose.

“Toni, I’m gonna borrow a pair of your jeans” Katie said behind her.

Toni turned and walked toward her, unable to hide her joyous smile. “You can take all of them if you want.”

So here it is! Toni and Erik's first "sweet moment" as I like to call them:) What did ya think? Well, you know the drill. Vote, Comment, and all that good jazz:) Thanks a bunch and God Bless!!!

-Caity <3