Page 70 of In Honor’s Defense

Forcing himself to release her, he stepped away. He’d gone no more than three or four yards when her call stopped him.

“Luke?”

He glanced over his shoulder. Her eyes looked slightly frantic, and one of her arms lingered in mid-air as if she’d stopped herself from reaching for him.

“I love you.”

His throat closed up, and his body turned to stone. Three words. So small. Yet so powerful. No one but his mother had ever said them to him, and after she left, he convinced himself that she’d never really meant them. The bond he had with the Horsemen was a form of love, but men didn’t talk about such things. And while the Good Lord had written love words in his holy book for him to receive, hearing them aloud was . . . different. Hearing them from her was different. The words changed him. Cracked his insides open even as they healed old scars and made him throb with new life.

A life he would lay down in a heartbeat to preserve hers.

With the dinner bell clanging in the distance and his throat too choked to speak, he held her gaze for a single, charged minute as he battled a flood of raw emotion. Then, with a tip of his hat that was a woefully inadequate response, he took off running for the paddock where Titan waited. Perhaps he could prove in deeds the truth he couldn’t yet say.

He loved her, too.

CHAPTER

THIRTY-TWO

By the time Damaris made it up to the house, Luke had collected Titan and was galloping down the drive. Never had a man looked so confident and strong in the saddle. A mighty Horseman capable of feats beyond those of ordinary men. Even so, her chest ached as she watched him ride past.

Watch over him, she prayed, for she knew Luke well enough to know that his safety would not be high on his list of concerns. He wasn’t reckless, but he cared more for those under his protection than himself, and she feared he’d take unnecessary risks to save Nathaniel’s inheritance.

“What in tarnation is goin’ on?” Grimes rode into the yard with two of his men behind him.

Upon seeing him, Nathaniel finally stopped circling the striking rod inside the triangular cast-iron dinner bell and vaulted over the porch railing. “There’s a grass fire at my place. North of the house. Mr. Davenport’s headed there now to start digging a firebreak. He needs a wagon loaded with water tubs, shovels, and as many blankets as you can spare.”

“Buck, grab the blankets from the bunkhouse,” Grimes ordered from the back of his horse. “Randall, round up every washtub and hip bath Mrs. Olson can find and load ’em up. We’ll fill ’em on site.”

Nathaniel darted over to the trough at the edge of the paddock. “Aunt Maris and I can fill some of them here while Quincy is fetchin’ the wagon. Save the men some time when they get to our place.”

Mr. Grimes nodded. “Good idea. I’ll head out and give Davenport a hand. Tell Quincy that I left Joe with the stock. Ask him to ride out to the west pasture and tell the kid what’s happening so he can be on the lookout for any spread onto Triple G land.”

Nate ran off to do as Mr. Grimes bid, and Damaris quickly stepped up to the pump and worked the handle, filling the trough to the brim. As the rancher turned his horse toward the road, Damaris called out her thanks.

Grimes acknowledged her for the first time, tipping his hat, his hard eyes oddly sympathetic. “Ma’am.”

The next twenty minutes were a chaotic blur. Mrs. Olson, the Triple G cook, brought out tubs and pots and milking pails while the men filled them. Once the wagon was loaded, they set out, leaving an eerie stillness in their wake.

“It ain’t right, Aunt Maris,” Nathaniel complained as he stepped away from the pump, his trousers as wet as her skirt due to water sloshing from trough to pail to tub in their hurry to fill what vessels they could. “That’s my land. My job to protect it. I’m not a helpless kid. I can dig.”

“I know you can, but fires are dangerous. They can change direction in an instant if the wind shifts.” Even so, she longed to be out there, too. Doing something to help. It felt cowardly sitting here where it was safe just because she was a woman.

Nathaniel kicked one of the paddock fence posts. “Waiting here is a waste of time. I’m going after them.”

He headed to the barn, but Damaris scurried into his path. “Not without me.” She was not letting him out of her sight.

Nathaniel’s brows arched. “You’re coming, too?”

She nodded. “I think we should head home and load our own wagon with water and blankets. Double the resources. We’ll stay back from the worst of the fire to keep the men from worrying about us, but we can take over the water runs so they can keep working.”

“Good plan.” Nathaniel gave her a nod, then dodged to her left to continue to the barn. “Let’s go.”

Damaris didn’t hesitate. She’d seen the fire. Four men would have a hard time curtailing the spread. Two sets of extra hands would increase the odds of success, not only of stopping the fire, but of keeping those who fought it safe. And that was what mattered most.

The enemy shall not prevail. Luke repeated the vow as he worked, one hour after another. When he’d first arrived, it became clear that digging a firebreak on his own would take far too long. Instead, he’d set to work beating back the fire with a gunny sack he’d snatched out of the barn when he paused long enough to ensure the stock had been turned out. Thankful for the creek that ran along the east edge of the property, he ran back and forth time and time again, extinguishing flames and kicking dirt over smoldering sparks. But for every foot of progress he made, the fire gained three more on another front, closing the distance to the house standing less than half a mile away.

When Grimes arrived, the two of them worked in tandem, but still the fire gained ground. Thankfully, when Randall showed up with the wagon, he brought wisdom born of experience with him.