Tougher Than The Rest Read online

  ******

  “Wonderful supper, Alicia. We always enjoy coming out here to visit.” John Jacobson had been Stuart’s closest friend and missed him almost as much as Alicia did. His wife, Marie Ellen, was close to Alicia. Unlike Alicia, who’d been a true partner on the ranch with her husband, Marie Ellen possessed a more reserved personality, preferring to run the house and entertain. The MacLaren and Jacobson ranches were the two most prosperous in the region.

  “Aunt Alicia, we’re back!” A short fireball burst into the dining room.

  “Beth, what have you been told about running in the house and yelling?” Alicia scolded. At six, Beth still had a lot to learn. Without a mother, it fell to her aunt to instruct.

  “Hello, everyone,” Niall called as he strolled into the house and extended his hand to John. Niall always enjoyed Sunday dinners with the Jacobsons, but he had another matter requiring his attention every week on that particular day.

  “Niall, sorry you weren’t able to join us for supper.” John took Niall’s hand and shook it warmly. At five feet eleven inches, John stood a few inches shorter than Niall, with graying hair, a slim frame, and firm handshake. Strong as ever, he was a force in the area, the same as Stuart had been before his death.

  “Yes, well, I’ve been having Sunday dinner in town the last few weeks,” Niall replied.

  “It’s really boring, and the food isn’t as good as Aunt Alicia’s, and Mrs. van Deelin stares at Pa, and asks me to go outside to play,” Beth pouted. She jumped into Will’s arms and he twirled her around.

  “Mrs. van Deelin?” Marie Ellen asked, casting a sideways glance at Alicia.

  Alicia just shrugged while continuing to clear the table. His aunt felt the time had come for Niall to move on, but Jocelyn van Deelin? Somehow it didn’t fit.

  Niall hadn’t courted a respectable woman since his wife, Camille, had died six years earlier giving birth to Elizabeth, or Beth, as she preferred to be called. He didn’t hide the fact he frequented the Desert Dove, spending time with Gloria, the owner of the saloon and a long-time friend, but he had never shown any interest in a replacement for his beloved Camille.

  Niall cleared his throat, nodded at Marie Ellen, and headed toward the kitchen. A piece of pie and coffee sounded good. Hell, even water sounded good if it would save him from questions about Jocelyn.

  He knew Jocelyn had alienated many of the townspeople after her husband had died a year ago. A wealthy industrialist from the east, Walter had become a town leader. He’d worked tirelessly to keep Fire Mountain in the forefront of Arizona politics. After his death, Jocelyn put a quick end to all of his work with the clear intention of selling most of the van Deelin interests to move back to New York. Her intentions didn’t matter to Niall. He had but one reason for courting Widow van Deelin, a reason he wasn’t yet prepared to share with his family.

  “Come on, squirt,” Will called to Beth, “let’s go check on the new foal of yours. Emily, would you like to join us?” Will grabbed his hat and opened the front door. John, Emily’s father, pushed out of his chair to follow them outside. “I think I’ll join you and let the ladies ponder Niall’s future.” Niall’s business wasn’t his concern, but John just didn’t understand how Jocelyn van Deelin fit with the boy he knew.

  Chapter Four

  The trip was miserable. Hot, dusty, long, with poor food and foul accommodations. Kate kept a positive disposition through it all. Her companion, Mrs. Stelford, did not.

  Fifteen years older than Kate, Mrs. Stelford seemed three times that in actions and appearance. Widowed several years before, she’d lived with her spinster-sister in Philadelphia, providing music lessons to young socialites, and living through her books. She’d traveled extensively in her youth and had been exuberant about the trip during her interview with Kate’s father. There was no sign of exuberance now.

  Kate hoped she’d be able to endure the woman’s disapprovals the rest of the trip. Mrs. Stelford’s complaints seemed to persist unabated, as did her constant banter about their fellow passengers. No one met her expectations, and none should be trusted, she had confided to Kate several times. But, Kate reminded herself, she had been willing to travel to California with less than two weeks notice. The woman had a married sister in San Francisco who had assured Mrs. Stelford her music skills would be well regarded in a town begging for cultured residents. Perhaps Kate would get a break when they reached Phoenix.

  The town of Phoenix surprised Kate. It seemed new compared to most settlements along their route, and appeared to be growing. Travelers frequented the town when making their way to California. Kate and Mrs. Stelford would stay at least one night before finalizing their journey to Los Angeles.

  “Papa, wait for me. You’re walking too fast!” Kate heard the child moments before being knocked to the ground by a tall, broad-shouldered man who’d turned to find the child.

  “Ah hell, I mean, I’m sorry, ma’am. Are you okay? Let me help you up.”

  “Katherine, are you all right?” Mrs. Stelford had missed being included in the collision, but stood with her hands on her hips and stared wild-eyed at the offending man. “As for you,” she directed her anger his way, “you need to pay attention, and….” The rest faded away as the man bent to offer his hand to his female victim and mumble additional words of apology.

  Kate glanced up to grasp his hand, and looked into the most striking green eyes she’d ever seen. Emerald green, she thought, the color of her mother’s favorite dress. Emerald eyes that twinkled with slight amusement as he peered down at her. The effect was immediate and disconcerting. She couldn’t ever remember meeting a more handsome man.

  “Ma’am?” The stranger prompted when Kate didn’t respond.

  “Yes, I’m fine,” she stammered as he drew her to a standing position in front of him. Kate attempted to adjust her clothing and brush off the dust. “I was staring at the buildings, trying to figure out where to go next, and wasn’t watching.” She jabbered on, making no real sense while at the same time trying to get a better view of the man without him knowing.

  He stood well over six feet, with broad shoulders, and hair the color of midnight peeking out from under his lowered hat. He wore a blue chambray shirt with tan vest and pants. His belt appeared to be hand-tooled, and fastened with a magnificent silver buckle. Kate’s gaze moved up to his face, and into the most incredible smile she’d ever seen.

  “Are you sure you’re all right, ma’am?” He chuckled softly. “I don’t believe I’ve ever had a lady look me over the way you’ve been doing the last couple of minutes.” He leaned in close as he said those last words, watching Kate’s face redden before his eyes.

  Kate jumped back, ran a hand through her hair in an attempt to compose herself, and leaned down to pick up her satchel and reticule. Now she just wanted the stranger to walk on and not draw any more attention to them. She was fine, but she wouldn’t be if Mrs. Stelford kept making a fuss and the man kept standing there staring at her.

  She drew herself up to her full height of five feet four inches and glared straight into those magnificent eyes. “Perhaps you could direct us to a hotel?” Kate asked in a dismissive tone as she twisted the gold band on her left hand. Her father had given Kate her mother’s wedding band as she boarded the train. For safekeeping, he’d said. Kate knew the truth. He’d passed something important on to his daughter. She’d gotten into the habit of staring at the ring when she was bored, or twisting the band when she felt stressed. Something about the way this man stared at her made her want to twist it off and hide it in her reticule.

  “Well, we don’t get here too often, but Farrell’s boarding house is down the street.” He gestured, indicating the direction. “They might take you in for a few days. The Grant Hotel is the other way. It’s a little expensive but clean, and you’ll have good food. The only other place I know to stay is in one of the upstairs rooms at Red’s Palace. Probably not the best place.” The man smiled, grabbed the hand of the young girl who’d been
hiding behind him, and turned to walk off.

  “No, probably not,” Kate said to his back, her heart still thudding in her chest. Strange man, she thought as she and her companion made their way to the Grant Hotel.

  ******

  “Well, there you two are.” Alicia stood outside the mercantile where they shopped a couple of times a year when Niall traveled to Phoenix for business.

  “Papa walked too fast for me, and he knocked a lady down, and another lady yelled at him,” Beth blurted out as she ran up to her aunt.

  “Niall?” Alicia turned a questioning look at Niall.

  “It was nothing. Sorry to hold you up. Where to now?” Niall wanted to end their business and move on. His heart still pounded from the encounter with one of the loveliest women he’d ever laid eyes on. Silky blonde hair that shone in the bright sun, sparkling blue eyes, and translucent skin, resembling alabaster, which had turned a deep red when she was caught staring at him. She was slight of stature. He guessed maybe five four or five five. It was a wonder he hadn’t crushed her when they collided. But it was her beautifully curved, soft lips, almost raspberry in color, he couldn’t stop thinking about. Niall did like raspberries.

  “We should finish up and start for the Carlson ranch before it gets any later,” he said, more to move his thoughts away from the attractive stranger and back into safer territory. They’d start the journey back to Fire Mountain tomorrow, but not before spending the night at one of the best horse ranches in the territory.

  “I’m finished, and the wagon is loaded, so I believe we’re ready to visit Rand and Julia.” Alicia had known the Carlson’s for many years and seized any excuse to visit.

  By wagon, it was quite a distance to the beautiful ranch house Rand had built almost thirty years before. The Carlson Rim Ranch was north of Phoenix. Alicia and Niall always enjoyed stopping to enjoy the warm reception the Carlsons provided.

  Rand had been one of his uncle’s closest friends and had become almost another father figure to Niall after his uncle had died. Rand and his wife Julia had spent a month at the MacLaren’s after Stuart’s death, helping Niall and the brothers with ranch business, while Julia helped Alicia, who’d taken the death hard. The families had stayed close even though distance kept them from being together more than a couple of times a year.

  Chapter Five

  The next morning found the MacLarens on the trail early. The wagon slowed them down, but Alicia drove better than most men, and Beth’s constant chatter made the miles go by fast. Niall rode ahead on Zeus most of the time while keeping an eye out for danger. No attacks on travelers had been reported in quite a while, but this desolate country had few ranches and only two towns.

  “Papa, look!” Beth screamed at her father, who’d ridden ahead of the wagon. They were outside of Watsonville and would be home in a few more hours.

  Niall turned as his daughter pointed to the stage bearing down on them.

  The day was windy, dry, and dusty, and as the stage approached, Niall knew something wasn’t quite right. The horses ran much too fast and appeared to be out of control.

  “Aunt Alicia, get off the trail. Now!” Niall drew closer to help guide their team off the dirt road into a flat area that would be safe from the out-of-control stage.

  Alicia glanced over her shoulder while pulling the wagon off the road to avoid a collision. That’s when Niall spotted the driver slumped over, with the reins slack in his hands. Screams could be heard coming from inside the coach. Niall responded without thinking, nudging Zeus and charging towards the retreating stage.

  Zeus was fast, but as Niall approached the stage’s back wheels, the horses veered to the right to avoid a large boulder. The stage careened over a small embankment with the front wheels hitting a patch of rock, sending the coach rolling down the hill onto its side before coming to rest against a stand of large cactus.

  Zeus had barely stopped when Niall jumped off and ran to the crumpled mess, his boots crunching on the sand and gravel. He unhitched the horses, jumped onto the side of the coach to peer inside, but he saw no movement, just several sets of tangled legs and arms. From where he stood, it appeared there might be four passengers. A soft moan emerged from someone and a muted curse from another.

  “Let me help you,” Niall offered to no one in particular. He slid into the coach when another moan came from one of the women.

  “It’s all right. Help is here.” In an instant Niall recognized the older woman who’d yelled at him as well as the younger woman he’d run over on the walkway in Phoenix.

  Just my luck, Niall thought as he squatted down to examine the older woman whose neck was bent at an odd angle. He checked her pulse. Nothing. He pivoted over to the younger woman who continued to moan but hadn’t moved. Two other passengers, both men, tried to stand. They cursed as each attempted to untangle themselves from the two women. One held an arm that appeared broken, and the other favored a mangled leg.

  “Beth, you stay in the wagon. Niall, what can I do?” Alicia yelled from outside the coach.

  “Can either of you climb out to help me with the women?” Niall directed his question to the men, who hadn’t shown much progress in standing without falling back down.

  “I seem to have only one good arm, but I think I can get out okay.” He was around twenty, possibly part Indian, somebody accustomed to being outside. “I’d rather stay if I can help you with the other passengers,” the young man said.

  “Nope, but thanks. Best thing you can do is get out of the coach so I have room to check on the others.” Niall’s eyes never left the beautiful, injured woman who still lay motionless.

  “Aunt Alicia, one of the passengers is going to try to climb out. He has a bad arm and will need some help.”

  “Send him on out,” Alicia called back. Somehow the young man slid out the opening and sat down by one of the larger boulders while Alicia tended to him.

  “Don’t know if I can get out with this leg, but I’ll try.” The other man gritted his teeth while holding a leg that wouldn’t support his weight. He was older than the other male, closer to thirty, a little shorter, and it didn’t appear he did much physical work. “But first, I need to check the women. I’m a doctor. I might need some help finding my supplies in the ruins. They’re in a small trunk, black with brass fittings.” Beads of sweat formed on the man’s face and Niall hoped the man held it together long enough to help the other passengers.

  “I heard him,” Alicia shouted, already starting to search for the supply trunk. One of the trunks had opened upon hitting the ground, sending dresses, personal belongings, and papers in all directions. While Alicia searched, she listened as Niall told the doctor about the older woman. The doctor found no pulse, nodded his agreement, and moved to the younger woman who still hadn’t gained consciousness.

  “We’ll need to get her outside. I don’t find any breaks, but won’t know for certain until we get her out of here. You ready?” The doctor’s gaze lifted to Niall, who nodded.

  Between all of them, they lifted the young woman out. Although the doctor confirmed no broken bones, she still hadn’t woken up. Her soft moans filled the air.

  “We need to get her to a town. First, I’ll set this one’s arm,” the doctor motioned to the other man, who had introduced himself as Sam Browning, “and try to set my leg. It’s not broken, maybe a bad sprain. I’ll need your help with both.”

  The doctor seemed to be holding it together. Niall was of half a mind not to let the man leave once they arrived in Fire Mountain. Fire Mountain needed another doctor with their long-term doc moving up in years. This one seemed promising.

  An hour later Alicia, Beth, and Sam sat on the small bench of the wagon. The doctor rested in the back with the younger woman and the bodies of her companion and the stagecoach driver. They needed to head straight for Fire Mountain. Neither Watsonville nor the small settlement of Shelton had much in the way of medical help.

  The trip took longer than expected due to their slow pac
e. The sky was dark when the wagon pulled up to a decent sized building. The structure served as the local clinic as well as the home of the town’s doctor.

  Niall wasted no time getting Doc Minton out of bed to open the clinic. He laid the woman on a table and stood, staring at her. She seemed so young with her eyes closed and her face at rest. Her shiny blonde hair was now disheveled, and her clothes torn, but he still thought her beautiful. He guessed her to be seventeen or eighteen. It was hard to tell, but either way she was much too young for him. Niall shook his head at the direction of his thoughts and glanced up at Doc Minton.

  “Who is she?” The doctor started moving his hands over her body to check for broken bones.

  “I don’t know. She hasn’t woken up since the stage accident. She must have hit her head,” Niall responded.

  A voice from the doorway carried into the room. “Couldn’t find any broken bones when we checked, but…” the voice trailed off.

  Niall saw the other doctor trying to make his way into the small exam room.

  “Doc Minton, this is Doctor McCauley, another passenger. Hurt his leg. We setup a splint, but you might want to check him out.” Niall returned his gaze to the woman. Why doesn’t she wake up? He never knew of a time when someone didn’t wake up after a few minutes. This had been hours.

  “Doctor Minton, please call me Caleb.” The younger man offered his hand in greeting.

  “Pleased to meet you, Caleb. So she hasn’t woken at all since the accident?” Doc Minton asked the other doctor.

  Another soft moan escaped her lips, her head moved to the left, and she tried to open her eyes. First one eye and then the other.

  “Oh, the lights, please––they’re so bright.” Her words were whispered. She tried to raise her arm to cover her eyes.

  “Let me adjust these lights so I can take a better look at you, young lady.” Doc Minton was somewhere in his seventies. About no one could remember a time when he didn’t practice in Fire Mountain. He had worked as the doctor at Fort Winston and then moved into town with his wife and two sons. His wife had passed a few years ago, but his two sons still lived in the area, one a lawyer who represented many of the local ranchers, and one who owned a ranch on the other side of the valley from the MacLaren spread.