But Casey did relieve his mind immensely when he handed over the coin with the whisper “Relax, tenderfoot. I’ve done this more times than I can count.”
He turned to move down to the end of the bar before he said to the others in the room, “Ten feet distant okay with you fellas—seeing as how there isn’t that much more room in here to spread out?”
“Ten feet’s fine—just get to it,” the gambler said with a grin. “I’m eager for a ride on my new horse.”
Casey nodded and lifted his poncho out of the way, waiting for Damian to hold the coin out. Damian couldn’t believe he was actually going to let this demonstration of marksmanship continue when it was his hand that was going to suffer for it if anything went wrong. But Casey’s confidence was reassuring. The kid knew he wouldn’t miss.
And then he fired and missed. The coin was still held between Damian’s thumb and forefinger. And Casey…Damian had never seen such a look of complete devastation on anyone before.
He’d gambled and lost his horse, and he hadn’t expected that to be the end result here. While the bearded fellow was being congratulated by his friends, Casey actually ran from the saloon in embarrassment. Damian wasn’t sure, but it had looked like there were tears in those golden eyes.
“Here, now, he’s not going to take off on my new horse, is he?” the winner demanded.
“I seriously doubt that,” Damian replied, staring at the swinging doors. “He’s honorable—if not quite the marksman he thought he was.”
Chapter 14
Damian didn’t follow immediately after his young friend. If the kid had been crying like he suspected, he’d probably prefer that no one was around to witness it. So Damian had a few drinks of the appalling spirits the saloon sold, then headed to the hotel.
Casey’s upset could have been avoided entirely, but as usual, he had dismissed Damian as a means of assistance, wanting to handle the matter all on his own—just like he’d done on the train.
On the train, Casey had assumed that Damian hadn’t done any damage shooting out of the window, when he had in fact wounded each one of the train robbers as they rode away. If they didn’t have a doctor as a member of their gang, they’d draw quite a bit of attention if they went to one in a town. If nothing else, they’d be slowed down, giving the law a chance to quickly apprehend them.
At the hotel, he found Casey standing in front of the window in the tiny room they would be sharing, no doubt staring down at Old Sam in the street and still brooding over his loss. Damian could say something about overconfidence leading to ruin, but he decided not to. The kid probably felt bad enough as it was.
Casey hadn’t heard him enter. Damian had to clear his throat to draw the boy’s attention so he could tell him, “You can stop moping. I managed to—”
He didn’t get to finish, since the kid swung around and blasted him. “Why did you let me do it?! Why? Old Sam has been with me since I was twelve. I raised him from a colt. He’s like family!”
Damian was struck completely speechless for a moment. That much emotion from a boy who usually kept all emotion firmly under control was a bit overwhelming. Damian’s defenses were quick to rise because of it.
“Now just a damn minute,” he said. “You can hardly blame me—”
“Can’t I?”
“No, you can’t. I wasn’t the one who suggested gambling your horse away, Casey. In fact, if you’ll recall, I wasn’t too pleased about what you started in that saloon and said so at the time.”
Damian tried to keep a curb on his own anger, not easy with so much undeserved heated emotion coming his way. He’d had a feeling that Old Sam meant more to the kid than just a means of transportation. He’d been right, obviously, or Casey wouldn’t still be this upset.
But keeping his own anger under control only seemed to intensify Casey’s, because he ignored Damian’s reasonable reply and shouted, “It wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t here, and I wouldn’t be here if—”
Damian cut in with the reminder “You didn’t have to take the job.”
“Good, because I quit!”
Damian wasn’t expecting that. He’d figured the kid would have a bit more honor than to renege on a deal because of a setback or two.
He shook his head, saying in disgust, “I’ve seen some temper tantrums in my day, brat, but you’re about to win a prize for the worst.”
“How dare—!”
“Oh, shut up, Casey. If you hadn’t jumped down my throat the minute I walked in, I would have told you that I managed to get your horse back for you.”
Casey’s expression of surprise was almost comical. “You did?”
But then he blanched as it dawned on him what he’d just said. He took a step back, dangerously close to the open window, as if he’d been punched backward. And the wail he made was pathetic.
“Oh, God, I’m sorry,” he groaned.
“Too late—”
“No, I am really sorry, Damian. If you’ll let me explain…I wasn’t really angry at you, I was furious with myself. I don’t tolerate stupidity much, and what I did in that saloon was really stupid.”
Damian couldn’t have agreed more. “I agree, you never should have made that bet—”
“I don’t mean that,” Casey interrupted. “The bet was a good one.”
Damian frowned. “Then what the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about aiming for the edge of the coin, because it was so small. And when it came down to it, I didn’t want to take the chance of singeing your fingers.”
Damian blinked. “Are you saying you missed the coin on purpose?”
“No.” Casey shook his head. “I just didn’t center my aim on it as I should have. Allowing a quarter inch of room was a mite too little.”
Damian almost laughed at that point. The kid figured trying to keep Damian from getting hurt was stupid, and he considered that an apology? Then again, if he hadn’t tried, he wouldn’t have lost his horse, and chances were, Damian wouldn’t have been hurt anyway. So he supposed he was ultimately to blame, after all.
“And I didn’t mean that about quitting either,” Casey added sheepishly with another blush. “I would have told you so, soon as I’d—well, soon as I’d started thinking clearly again, which I surely wasn’t doing a few minutes ago. I’ll see the job done, whatever it takes—that is, if you still want me to.”
Damian deliberately let several long moments pass before he nodded. “I think we would both do well to just forget we had this little—discussion.”
Casey grinned, obviously relieved. “Not a bad idea, except, well, you forgot to mention how you managed to get Old Sam back.”
“With money, of course. It does have its uses on occasion, and this occasion includes the pinto.”
“You actually got his horse, too?” Casey said in surprise. “Well, hot damn, Damian, you’re quite the horse-trader, aren’t you?”
“Hardly,” Damian admitted. “In this case, it seems the fellow isn’t planning on going anywhere any time soon. He’s apparently courting the baker’s daughter. But he likes to gamble, and a run of bad luck had put him quite short of funds. Not that he was reasonable on an agreeable price for the two animals. He actually wouldn’t settle for anything less than all the cash I had on me.”
“Which was?”
“Not everything.” Damian grinned. “Just what I had in my pockets, which was about three hundred, but at least he thought that was all I had.”
Casey chuckled. “Damned cheap, actually.”
“You’re kidding? You mean horses actually cost more than that around here?”
“No, just high-steppers like my Old Sam. Besides, when there is demand but not enough supply, you’d be amazed at how steep some things can sell for. That’s been proven time and again out here in the West, especially in the old days, when Indian raids would keep supply trains from coming in, or a new mining town would open practically overnight. It still happens in small towns that the railroads h
ave avoided for one reason or another, and in settlements like this that aren’t full townships yet.”
For someone in Damian’s line of business, that was like music to his ears. Imports and exports, supply and demand. He wondered if his father had ever considered this part of the country for further expansion. It might be something to look into—as long as it didn’t require on-hand supervision. Coming West again after this trip would be at the very bottom of his to-do list, after all.
“Well, now that we’re all set to continue this journey tomorrow, how about some dinner before we turn in for the night?” Damian suggested.
“I’ll skip dinner if you don’t mind. The hotel doesn’t serve any, and I’m not used to making such a complete ass of myself, so I’d just as soon avoid that saloon again. Besides, we’ll need some supplies before the store closes if we’re going to set out at a decent hour in the morning. I’ll take care of that, then turn in.”
Damian wasn’t going to argue with him, since the kid was looking quite embarrassed again. “Suit yourself. I’ll come with you to the store, though, to settle the bill.”
“I’ve got enough money, Damian—”
“I did say I’d pay all travel expenses, didn’t I? Besides, it won’t hurt me to find out firsthand what you consider necessities for trail riding.”
Casey threw his words back at him. “Suit yourself—which reminds me, did a saddle come with that pinto?”
Damian did some blushing now. A saddle was something he wouldn’t have thought of, and if not attended to today, it would have delayed their departure in the morning until the general store opened again.
“Actually, he kept the saddle.”
“Kind of figured he might. Takes longer to break in a new saddle than it does a new horse. Well, let’s hope the store has some in stock. It might not carry them, though, with no horses for sale here. Then again, it might stock a little of everything, as most general stores do.”
Casey didn’t appear too concerned about it, but Damian still asked, “And if it doesn’t?”
Casey grinned. “Don’t go worrying about things ahead of time, Damian. Let’s find out first; then you can worry about it after.”
Chapter 15
Damian had seen nothing wrong with their sharing a bed. Casey had insisted she preferred the floor. It still hadn’t helped.
There was just something about being behind a closed door with him, in a bedroom too small for one person, let alone two, that she couldn’t handle. She had finally forced herself to remain still long enough for him to fall asleep, then had left the room to bed down in the lean-to that the hotel supplied for the guests’ horses. There, crammed in a corner next to Old Sam, she’d gone right to sleep.
Which was very annoying when she thought about it the next morning. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t already slept near the man. But being on the trail, with a campfire between them and other things to be concerned about, including keeping her senses primed for the unexpected, just wasn’t the same. The safety of that hotel room had given her nothing to think about but him. And some of the things she had thought about were quite embarrassing to recall in the bright light of day.
She had actually wondered what it would be like to be kissed by Damian. She had wondered if his hair would be as soft to the touch as it looked, what it would feel like to run her hands over such wide shoulders. She had even imagined him holding her in those strong arms of his and had broken out in a sweat from the picture it conjured up in her mind.
The embarrassment came when she saw him in the morning and got the impression that she usually did—that those piercing eyes of his could read her mind. For him to be aware of the things she had been thinking about him would have been far too mortifying.
But he barely gave her a glance when he joined her behind the hotel. She’d been all ready with the excuse of wanting to guard the horses because they weren’t bedded down in a proper stable, but it proved unnecessary. He apparently hadn’t even noticed that she hadn’t slept in the room last night. He just assumed that she’d gotten up and come down sooner than he.
They did not get an early start as she’d hoped they would. She had expected there would be some teaching to do to get Damian mounted on the pinto, but she hadn’t realized it would be so difficult.
He couldn’t relax. He was too hesitant in taking control of the animal. The pinto sensed that and took complete advantage. Here was a creature, after all, that he could intimidate into staying off his back, and the pinto gave it his best shot.
It was too bad there was such a huge weight difference between her and Damian, or they might have been able to fool the pinto into settling down. She’d had to test him first with her saddle, since there hadn’t been one available here to purchase. And the idea of putting Damian on a saddleless mount was purely ludicrous, so until they found one to buy, he was going to have to use hers.
But Casey would have had to test the pinto either way, simply because some animals balked at anything they weren’t accustomed to, and new saddles fell into that group. And he’d ridden fine under her control. It was just Damian’s weight that had him sidestepping and bucking as if he’d never been ridden before.
She had to give Damian credit, though. He didn’t stop trying, despite landing in the dirt four times. He did waste an inordinate amount of time dusting himself off, thoroughly, each time, but Casey gritted her teeth over that, refraining from mentioning that he would likely be eating more dust before they were done.
The man surely wasn’t suited for trail riding. He seemed to despise the slightest bit of dirt on him, but he’d have to get used to it. She’d tried to talk him into buying more suitable clothes yesterday, at the very least a decent riding hat, but he had insisted his fancy New York duds would do him just fine. And they would, as long as he didn’t mind sunburn, burrs, and snags in his fine woolens from every little bush they passed too close to. Of course, she had a feeling he would mind, tremendously. She’d hate to see what would happen if he ever broke out in a sweat. Actually, that might be quite entertaining.
After the pinto finally figured out that he wasn’t going to win the battle, they set out. But it was a long day on the trail, or seemed much longer than it really was, since Casey had gotten little sleep in the night. She was forced to keep the pace slow, just to keep Damian in the saddle. She had little difficulty riding without one herself, had done it many times in her youth. But that had been for rides of a short duration. For long rides like this, it became a strain on her muscles.
They stopped in the early afternoon for Damian’s sake. Having purchased bakery goods before leaving the depot settlement, they could have continued on, eating in the saddle, but Casey figured he could use the break. In fact, he groaned when she said it was time to move on again.
That evening, however, he surprised her by offering to do the hunting for their dinner, if shots being fired wouldn’t matter. She was damned tempted to say shots would matter. She felt like eating meat, after all, and knew darned well he wouldn’t be bringing any back if he went to do the hunting. But he’d had such a lousy day that she didn’t have the heart to point out that he didn’t know the first thing about hunting and should leave it to someone who did.
She resigned herself to eating beans and biscuits and got them started. The real surprise came when Damian returned a half hour later with a wild turkey large enough to feed them for several days. After the mental scoffing Casey had done, she thought he’d just gotten lucky, especially since she’d heard only one shot.
She said as much as she took the bird and started preparing it. “That was quite a lucky shot.”
“Actually, there wasn’t much luck involved,” he replied nonchalantly.
Casey raised a black brow. “It walked right up to you so you couldn’t possibly miss?”
“No, it was far enough away that I wasn’t quite sure what it was.”
Casey was reminded of the tall tales told in the bunkhouse at home and said, “Sure it was.”
It wasn’t at all hard to mistake her skepticism, which was probably why Damian suggested, “Perhaps a demonstration is in order.”
She wasn’t a bit concerned with his being embarrassed now. “By all means,” she said, and pointed at a likely target some forty feet away.
Damian aimed, fired, and hit it. Casey blinked, then pointed out another target. He hit that one squarely, too. After the third, she gave up.
“Okay, I’m impressed.”
Damian raised a brow this time. “Just impressed?”
“Damn impressed,” Casey mumbled.
He chuckled and joined her by the fire. “Your expression was priceless, Casey, but perhaps I should mention that I was class champion of rifle marksmanship in college. I also used to hunt with my father.”
“Where? In your backyard? You don’t ride, or didn’t, prior to today.”
“We’d take the train up north to the hunting lodge, and yes, we did our hunting on foot.”
Casey said no more, disgruntled. Her opinion of him had altered so suddenly and so drastically. But now she had to allow that he could probably take care of himself in most dangerous situations. He’d helped her well enough with those bungling stage robbers, after all. And she had to wonder just how many wounds those young train robbers had ridden away with. He could have killed them, with as accurate an aim as he had, no doubt of that, yet no bodies had been left behind. His “they deserve to die” had obviously been said only in anger, not because he meant it.
He was still too citified to belong out here. Nothing had changed about that. He still stood out like a sore thumb. But she supposed she could stop worrying about his chances for survival. With a horse and that rifle, he could manage on his own.
She continued preparing their meal, doing her best to ignore him. Yet she wasn’t unaware of his close scrutiny. If he was waiting for more praise for his newly revealed shooting skill, he’d have a very long wait. But that wasn’t what was on his mind, apparently.