face heated in the cold air. A muscle in one of his stubbled cheeks twitched. “I apologize. I should have realized you were at the mercy of the crowded trail.”
He pulled his hat off and wiped a weary forearm across his brow. “Yes. The crowded trail, and the rain, and the forty freight wagons all trying to head into Deadwood today and the cold.” He turned away, gazing into the fog-shrouded pines looming above them at the edge of the canyon, and then faced her again. “And now it’s my turn to apologize. I’m letting my frustrations get the better of me.”
Sarah observed him as he waited for her reply. His apology had turned the corner of his mouth up in a wry grin.
“Of course, you have my pardon.” She smiled, breaking her self-imposed rule. “Anyone would be hard-pressed to let a day like today not frustrate him.”
As he smiled back, a gust of wind ruffled his short dark hair.
“You and Charley are on your way to Deadwood?”
“Yes, ma’am, we are.”
Sarah searched his eyes for that wild gleam of gold fever—the look that made the men she had traveled with lose all their common sense—but his brown eyes were calm and clear in spite of the tense lines framing them that spoke of exhaustion and many days on the trail. He met her gaze with his own interested one. Something foreign fluttered in her stomach.
“My uncle has started a church in town, and I’m a teacher. I’ll be opening a school soon, and I hope Charley will be able to attend.”
His smile disappeared. “Wouldn’t count on us, ma’am. We’ll be busy getting settled.”
The flutter stilled. “But you can’t let a boy like Charley grow up without any education.”
“I don’t intend to, miss. The children will get all the education they need.”
Sarah pressed her lips together. Did this cowboy truly think a child could get a decent education while mining for gold or running wild in the streets?
Her reply was interrupted as the stagecoach driver climbed back up onto his seat. “You’d better take your place, miss,” he said over his shoulder. “We have a way cleared and are going on into town now.”
“Yes, all right.” As she turned to the coach, Charley’s uncle reached out to open the door for her. As he leaned near, she caught the scent of leather and horses.
“Thank you, Mr....”
“Colby. Nate Colby.”
He smiled as he offered his hand to steady her climb into the coach.
“I hope we’ll be able to continue discussing Charley’s education at another time.”
He waited until she was seated and then leveled his gaze at her. “I think we’ve finished with that subject. The children’s schooling is already taken care of.”
Sarah opened her mouth, ready to deliver the stinging words that would put this cowboy in his place, but as her eyes locked with his, the argument died in her throat. He smiled, nodded to Aunt Margaret and closed the door. He was gone.
“Why, Sarah.” Aunt Margaret began, straightening Sarah’s skirt as she took her seat. “Who is that man? You promised you would stay away from the bull train.”
Sarah rubbed at a splash of mud on the hem of her skirt, turning away from her aunt. She was certain her face held a telltale blush. “He was driving an immigrant wagon and has his nephew with him.”
And he had mentioned children, so more than only his nephew.
“But still, you haven’t been properly introduced. We don’t know anything about the man, and you’re letting him...”
“I allowed him to be a gentleman and open the door for me. It isn’t as if he is courting me.” She patted Margaret’s hand in assurance.
The driver called to the six-horse team and cracked his whip. She fell back in her seat as the coach started off with a jolt. The opposite door flew open, and Peder jumped in.
“Uff da, I made it!”
As Peder launched into his description of the stalled bull train for Aunt Margaret, Sarah turned in her seat and lifted the corner of the canvas window cover. Nate Colby stood in the center of the muddy trail, his feet planted far apart and his arms crossed over his chest, watching the stage. She let the curtain fall and braced herself against the rough road. He certainly wasn’t the kind of man she had expected to meet in the notorious Deadwood.
* * *
Nate shook himself. He had no time to stand watching a stagecoach wind its way along the muddy trail between the freight wagons, even if it did carry the most intriguing woman west of the Mississippi. He had a family to take care of.
He turned to the wagon, tilted on the bank between the road and the creek, and that stubborn mule still pulling on the halter rope with all her might as if she could keep the whole outfit from tumbling into the water.
Olivia appeared in the opening of the wagon cover. At nine years old she was the image of her ma, from her upturned nose to her golden hair. “Uncle Nate, are we almost there?”
“We should be in town this afternoon.” Nate tied down a corner of the canvas that had pulled loose in the rising wind. “You get back in the wagon and take care of Lucy. I’ve got to get us off the creek bank and back up on the trail. It’s going to be bumpy.”
Eight-year-old Charley popped his head up next to Olivia’s. “Who was that, Uncle Nate? I’ve never seen a prettier lady.”
Olivia gasped. “Charley, you can’t say that. No one was prettier than Mama.”
“Mama was a mama, not a lady.”
Nate tightened the end of the canvas. “Your mama was a lady, Charley,” he said, drawing the opening closed with a tug. “She was the prettiest lady who ever lived.”
“I told you so.”
Nate hardly heard Olivia’s words as he moved around the wagon, checking every bolt, tightening every rope. She was right; no one had been prettier than Jenny, and no one had been happier to have her as a sister-in-law than him. But if anyone came close to Jenny, it was that girl from the stage. Instead of Jenny’s golden light, she had the beauty of a rare, dark gem, with black curls framing her face. Her eyes had seemed nearly purple in the gray afternoon light, but no one really had purple eyes.
Olivia’s voice drifted through the canvas cover, singing Lucy’s favorite song. Nate pushed against the familiar worry. Lucy would get better soon. Once they were settled, she would get back to the bubbly and energetic five-year-old she had been before the fire. All she needed was a safe and secure home with her family, and she would be back to normal.
But how long would it take until they had a home again? He went through the steps in his head.
Find his land. Good land with plenty of meadow grass for the horses. That was first. Then file the homestead claim. Next would be to build a house, outbuildings, make sure water was accessible.
