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“Why? Is it just the money?” His voice was low, demanding.
“It’s the challenge of making it,” Elaine replied. “I know it’s supposed to be a man’s prerogative, but it isn’t exclusively yours.”
“Why did you pick me? Why not someone like Judd Boston? Was it guilt?”
Elaine set her cup on the table and pressed her hand over the roughness of his. “I picked you because we are so much alike. There’s no stopping us, Benteen.” There was an avid quality to the husky pitch of her voice. “Well?”
“It’s a deal,” he agreed, but without her enthusiasm. He was more guarded, still wary. Elaine wasn’t concerned by that. It would pass in time. “Who’s going to be buying the beef?”
“Your neighbor to the north. Canada.” She explained about the railroad construction, the reservation Indians, and the outposts the Canadian government would need to keep supplied with beef. She was careful to be ambiguous about her connection through which she would arrange the contract.
“Where will you be while all this is taking place?” Benteen asked. “I suppose you’ll be traveling on with your English friends back to London.”
“No, I won’t be returning to London. As a matter of fact, the Duke of Middleton and his party have already left for the Dakota Territory.” This time when Elaine poured more coffee, Benteen accepted a cup. “I’ll be staying here. This venture is just the beginning for us.”
“I thought you ran away to have some of the glitter and the gaiety of society,” he baited. “Are you coming full circle back to a cow town?”
“It’s full circle, perhaps, but I’m coming back in style,” she reminded him. “Besides, the glitter and gaiety excites young, beautiful women—like your wife. It palls, if there is nothing to stimulate the mind.” He hadn’t liked the reference to his young wife. “It must be extremely lonely out there for Lorna. She needs someone to keep her company when you’re away. When did you say the house would be completed?”
“This winter, although we’ll probably be able to move into a portion of the house this fall.” He drank down a swallow of coffee. “The cabin’s becoming cramped with two small boys running around.”
“But it won’t seem nearly as empty as that house if your wife is alone in it,” Elaine pointed out. Someone knocked at the door. “I’ve dismissed the maid for the afternoon. Would you answer it?” She sipped at her coffee while Benteen went to the door. There was a long moment of silence after he opened it. Elaine turned to look over the back of the sofa. “Mr. Giles. Come in.”
Benteen stepped out of the way to allow the broadly built man to enter the sitting room. Bull Giles’s glance swept the room as if looking for someone else before he stopped beside the sofa.
“What is it?” she prompted.
“You asked me to bring you that reply to your telegram as soon as it came in.” He handed her the wire.
“Thank you, Mr. Giles.” Elaine glanced at it only to ascertain that it was from her late husband’s cousin in Canada; then she slipped it between the seat cushions. “That will be all for now.”
After tipping his hat to her, he turned and walked out. Benteen shut the door and returned to his seat. “I thought he was guiding your English friends.”
“I asked him to come to work for me,” she replied.
“Why?”
“Because I have a use for him. It isn’t wise for a woman to go out alone in this country without a bodyguard or escort of some kind. Mr. Giles suits my purpose.”
“He’s worked for Judd Boston in the past,” Benteen said.
“Yes, I know. But his loyalties lie elsewhere now,” Elaine assured him. “Is there a reason you don’t like him?”
“No.” His answer was clipped, which indicated he was concealing something.
The Big Dipper was swinging down to its midnight position when Benteen rode into the main ranch quarters. The big house on the hill was silvered by the moonlight, an imposing sight in this land.
A light burned in the cabin, waiting for his return. When he left that morning, Benteen hadn’t told Lorna where he was going. A dozen times or more he’d been on the verge of turning his horse back to the ranch. There had been a hundred reasons to let his mother wait for him at the hotel and not show up. And there hadn’t been a single reason that made sense for him to keep the meeting. Right up to the moment he knocked on the door, he hadn’t made up his mind whether or not to see her again.
Doubts, uncertainties, distrust, continued to plague him about her, yet he had agreed to the proposed partnership in her business venture. As far as anyone else was concerned, that was the only connection between them for the time being—until he was clear in his mind about this woman who had borne him.
25
It was after hours and the bank was closed. Judd Boston sat behind the big mahogany desk in his private office and went over the day’s transactions while Loman Janes prowled the room with an animal’s intolerance for confinement. Boston peered at him once and continued with his paperwork.
“S’pose he don’t come?” Loman finally broke the silence.
“He’ll come.” Boston didn’t look up to answer. “Curiosity will bring him, just to hear what I have to say.”
