“Cora…” Ben spoke beside her.
“I have work to do.” She wasn’t about to stand around and let this man witness her hurt. She marched out the door. Charlie was her brother, not Ben’s. She could order Ben off her land right now, and lock Charlie in his room for the next week. But that wouldn’t fix anything.
The chickens clucked as she stomped past. Too bad it wasn’t time to wring one of their necks.
If only Ben was the kind of man she’d want Charlie to tag along after. The kind of man she could care about without her stomach churning as if she were being tossed about at sea.
Her father had been nice-looking in his youth, or so her mother had said. A persistent charmer, who’d pursued her mother as if she were the light of his world. He’d burrowed his vices deep.
Her family had left Nashville and moved to Texas for a new start due to his gambling. He’d disgraced the family name bycheating in a horse race. At that point, he drank and over-imbibed on occasion, but eventually, alcohol took over, and he crawled deeper and deeper into the bottle. He’d never struck her mother, but seeing the man she loved wallowing in a stupor had broken her heart.
Cora would rather cut off her right hand than entangle herself with such a man.
Across the yard and down the hill, the palisade gate creaked. Ben’s words echoed in her head…give me another chance.And the way his eyes had…pleaded.The bottom dropped out of her stomach. How could she say no?
How could she possibly say yes?
CHAPTER 10
Ben scuffed his boot against the straw-covered dirt as the door flapped shut behind Cora. How had he gotten into such an argument? Demanding she sell half her land to him. Forcing his presence upon her. Refusing to leave. He was here to help, not set up an enemy camp.
He drove his fingers through his hair. Maybe he could have held his tongue a little more if Cora hadn’t suggested she could sell the land to LeBeau. Did she fancy the fellow? How well did she know this arrogant slacker, anyway?
And what was it to him? The medicine must have completely dulled his head for him to beg her to allow him to stay. If he had any brains left, he’d rest up for a few more days and ride out of here. He’d done his duty.
The bay lifted her head and studied him with dark oval eyes and long lashes.
Puffing out his cheeks, Ben grabbed a pitchfork and began mucking out the mare’s stall, digging the long prongs into the soiled straw and tossing it over his shoulder.
Cora didn’t have a right to condemn him. He’d abstained from his medicine for over a month now, the longest he’d evergone. And it’d cost him. Torture every bit as ravaging as the hunger pains at Andersonville.
Maybe that doctor back in South Carolina knew what he was talking about. Knew Ben’s stomach had been ruined and couldn’t function without the medicine. Ben slapped his hand against the wall. Dust flew. Two harnesses clinked together.
In the back stall, Cora’s horse whinnied. He’d forgotten to give the sorrel water.
He picked up the bucket and glanced out the window at the empty corral. A sigh rattled through him. It didn’t matter what Cora thought of him. He’d blown Jeb’s opportunity to escape from Andersonville, ruined his friend’s best chance of returning home. It was his fault Cora didn’t have her brother here. She needed help to survive on this ranch, and he wasn’t about to abandon his commitment to some weaseling doctor to pick up the slack.
An hour later, he walked onto Cora’s back porch. A weathered board creaked beneath his weight. A warm south wind rippled the back of his sack coat and hair.
Hat in hand, he knocked.
The latch rattled, and she stepped into the entrance, nose red and eyes puffy.
He winced. He’d never intended to make her cry. His prepared speech fell away.
She folded her arms. “If you’ve come for breakfast, I was about to send Charlie to the stables with your plate.”
A strand of chestnut hair slipped onto her forehead from the loose braid dangling over her shoulder. His finger twitched in response.
The scent of bacon and eggs crept through the doorway. His stomach rumbled.
“I came to apologize. I said some things I didn’t mean back there.” He cleared his throat. “I have no intention of forcing youto sell your land to me. The payment to Coffin was a gift, on behalf of Jeb.”
Her gaze drifted over him. “So if I stop trying to pay you back, will you go home when you get to feeling all the way better?”
He glanced down at his boots. “I’ll stay in town if I need to. Rent a room again from Mamie Sykes. Ride out in the mornings. But I’m staying in the area until we get your ranch fixed up and get you some cattle.” Then what?
She rubbed her hands over her arms. “It’d be a waste of time and money for you to stay in town.”
