This Calder Range (Calder Saga 1)

“We’re not going after Indians,” Benteen said. “We’re going after Big Ed Sallie and his bunch.”

“I can show you where to find them,” Bull stated.

“Tell Barnie I said to saddle a horse for you.” Benteen accepted the offer to ride with them, hearing all the explanation he needed.

When Bull Giles left, they stood alone by the partially filled grave. Benteen shifted, angling toward Lorna. She felt the vague movement of his hand on her back and lifted her face. Her eyes clung to him with naked love and anguish.

“I won’t say good-bye, not to you,” she whispered, and borrowed the phrase from the Texas border country. “Just … go with God.”

The pressure of his hand pulled her to him. His mouth was hard on her lips, promising to return, promising a life tomorrow, and promising a love that would endure as long as grass grew green in the spring. Her eyes stayed closed when the kiss ended, her lips trembling apart on a breath. The muted jingle of his spurs marked the strides that carried him from her to the waiting horses.

Saddle leather creaked and hooves shuffled. Lorna opened her eyes to watch the band of riders leave. Benteen swung his horse toward her and held her gaze across the distance, then reined it north. She lost sight of him when the other riders fell in behind his horse.

At Lorna’s invitation, the minister stayed for an early lunch, then escorted Mary to her home. Lady Crawford was brittlely silent, taking little part in the table conversation. Within minutes after Reverend Worth and Mary had departed, she left Lorna with the dishes and disappeared in the direction of the Homestead.

Rusty and the recuperating Shorty had taken charge of Webb, which left Lorna with empty minutes to fill. She’d already had her time of tears and prayers. She needed another outlet to work off her pain. She began by storing Arthur’s things in the bottom of a trunk. From there, it graduated to a general packing.

As she folded a dress and laid it on top of one of Benteen’s shirts, the cabin door swung open. Lorna paused only long enough to glance over her shoulder and identify his mother, then began folding another dress.

“Is this why you encouraged Benteen to leave?” Lady Crawford challenged calmly. “So you could run off while he was gone?” Lorna slowly turned, stunned by the suggestion. “I can’t say that I blame you for wanting to leave. I’ve noticed how fond you are of your children. Losing your son in such a brutal fashion was undoubtedly the last straw. You can take my buggy. Just leave it at the livery in town.”

“You are mistaken. I am not leaving and I have never had any intention of leaving,” Lorna corrected stiffly. “This ranch is my home. Do not presume that because you could not tolerate this kind of life, every other woman feels the same.”

“I don’t presume that,” she replied. “But you’ve been unhappy here. I’ve seen that. No one should have to fight and struggle, and live like this, especially a woman.”

Lorna’s fingers curled into the worn dress in her hand before she tossed it briskly aside. She walked over to grip Lady Crawford’s arm and direct her to the map drawn on the piece of canvas.

“Do you see that? Do you know what it is?” she demanded.

“It’s a map, of sorts.” The woman shrugged her indifference to it.

“It’s a map of the ranch and our future,” Lorna stated, and released the black-sleeved arm to walk to the map. “These are the hundred-and-sixty-acre tracts that Benteen has claimed.” She pointed them out individually. “He has declared ownership of all the rest as stock range.” She faced his mother. “That’s why I’m here, working with him to build this ranch. If you had stayed with his father, maybe the two of you could have built a place like this in Texas. When you left him, he lost heart in trying. All he cared about was hanging on to the place until you came back. Benteen told me that.”

“Seth was never half the man that Benteen is,” his mother stated. “He couldn’t separate dreams from reality.”

“You start with a dream, then build a foundation under it. This ranch was a dream the day we set foot on it and walked up on that hill where the house is standing now,” Lorna said. “I’m beginning to realize that all your life you have been taking, grabbing for all you could get. Just exactly why are you here?”

“Maybe I discovered it wasn’t enough.” Her head was held high.

Lorna tipped her head to the side, seeing a beautiful shell and not much inside it. “I think you would have been glad if I left Benteen,” she realized.

“That’s nonsense,” Elaine denied. “I have nothing against you. A man has need of a wife. Benteen is no different.”

“A wife. You make it sound like the woman is a nonentity, to serve but not to speak. That’s what you wanted me to be.” In the beginning, it was what Benteen had wanted from her, but Lorna didn’t mention the past. “What is it you want from Benteen? It isn’t a son. You won’t even claim him openly.”

“It isn’t practical.”

“No,” Lorna agreed with a measure of sadness. “If you admitted he was your son, then you’d have the problem of explaining your marriage to the Earl of Crawford when you were legally wed to Seth Calder. You’d not only forfeit your inheritance from his estate, but your title as well.”

“Why should I give it up?” Elaine challenged. “It would be foolish.”

“Yes, it would be.”

“I don’t believe you understand the situation.” Elaine gathered herself to stand a little taller. “With my money and influence, I can make Benteen a powerful man in this territory.”

“I have no doubt that you can,” Lorna admitted. “But I don’t think that’s what he wants from you.”

“You are obviously implying that it’s a mother he wants. Since we are being candid, I will freely admit to you as I have to him that I don’t regret leaving him. The maternal instinct that is supposed to be so strong in women has eluded me. I can’t be what I never was.” There was no apology in her statement.