Page 42 of Mail-Order Lady

Thomas finally spoke first, which wasn’t a surprise. “So. How’d it go with Clara’s mum?”

Robert released one strap and reached for another. Instead of presenting the full legal argument, maybe better to just get it done. Put up with his brothers’ teasing and have it behind him. They’d spout all the same bluster either way. He kept his gaze on the buckle in his fingers. “Clara and I were married. In Fort Benton.”

James’s head jerked up from where he’d been checking the near gelding’s foreleg. Enoch’s hands stilled on the breeching strap.

Thomas straightened slowly. The grin that spread across his face looked like it had been a long time in coming. “You’re what?”

“Married.” He pulled out that strap and moved to the next. “It was the practical solution. Her mother arrived in Fort Benton with a marriage contract and a solicitor’s threats. A valid marriage closed every argument she had.”

Thomas was still grinning. “A practical solution.”

“Yes.”

“Robert.” Thomas set his hands on his hips. “You married Clara McKinney.”

“I just said that.”

“For a practical solution…” Thomas smirked. “You look remarkably like a man who hasn’t slept in four days.”

Robert finally sent him a glare. “I haven’t.”

“Because of the marriage, or⁠—”

“Because someone followed us out of Fort Benton.” He forced his focus back to his work. “Single rider. Stayed half a mile back most of the route. I lost him today, which I don’t like.”

Thomas’s grin faded by degrees.

Enoch turned from the breeching strap and looked at him directly. “How long?”

“I was certain by the second day. Probably from Fort Benton though.” He pulled the strap free and laid it over the rail.

Enoch was quiet a moment. “McKinney’s man?”

“Most likely. She made threats before we left. Said she had means we hadn’t imagined. There’s a chance it could have been someone Reginald sent though.” Robert moved to the wagon and started unloading the supplies that would stay here in the barn. “There was a mountain lion the second night out. I shot it just as it reached the horses, but then there were two fresh wounds on the carcass. Both entry. Someone else put a bullet in at the same time as mine.”

James straightened from the gelding’s leg. “He shot the cat too?”

“Yes.”

“But didn’t show himself.”

The silence that followed stretched long enough that the near gelding shifted his weight and blew softly through his nostrils.

“No,” Robert said.

Enoch let out a breath. “So he’s either still watching, or he’s been paid to see you home safe and report back.”

“Or both.”

“Or both.” Enoch nodded.

Enoch moved to the barn door and stared out at the yard, one hand braced on the frame. “We increase the watch.” Not a question. “Someone outside at all times. Nobody rides out alone until we know what we’re dealing with.”

“You said a single rider.” James led one of the geldings to a stall. “What do you know about him?”

“Almost nothing.” Robert reached for a crate that needed to go to the house. “There was a man at the livery the morning we left Fort Benton. Rough coat. Hadn’t shaved in a week or more. Longish hair.” He paused, fitting the details back together the way he’d turned them over a dozen times on the trail. “He was saddling a roan but didn’t seem to have much experience with horses.”

“Greenhorn on a roan.” Thomas had lost the grin entirely now. He stood with his arms crossed and his jaw set. “You think he was hired in Fort Benton, or did he come up the river with her?”