{Chapter 9}

“The boys are getting impatient, Mark” Brant whispered after he had pulled Mark away from the rest of the cowboys.

“Give me more time, Brant. These things take time” Mark said.

“Time? These things take more than time. They take action… which is exactly what we’re not doing” Brant was getting irritated.

“Brant, you came to me without two cents to rub together. I’m gonna make you filthy rich, and you repay me with impatience? You’re lucky I don’t go find another scoundrel to do the dirty work for me and cut you out completely” Mark threatened.

“You wouldn’t” Brant’s voice dared him.

“Oh yeah? You act like I don’t have over a dozen cowboys at the ready over there who would do anything for an extra wad of cash. I’d watch my step, Alexander” Mark turned and walked back to the main part of the camp.

He felt sure of Brant’s loyalty, but his common sense told him to keep a good eye on the man. If Mark had learned anything in his life, it was to watch his back.

**********

Three more days passed, and all Katie remembered was dusty days and nights of deep sleep. She had slept a lot better now that she got to talk things out with Adam, though part of her still felt like she owed him. She hardly saw him except for at suppertime. Other than that he was working with the remuda with Erik. Mark had booted him out of the drag position.

Katie wondered how things were working out with Toni and Erik. She didn’t see them enough to be able to tell. She would pay extra close attention tonight to make sure they were getting along. Yet she knew better than to interfere with a relationship when the couple were married. She had no experience in that area.

Glancing off to the west, Katie’s heart fell when she noticed the lightening flashing and the clouds rolling - a sure sign of a storm.

“Mark? Are you seeing that?” she asked.

Mark’s jaw was tight, and he was obviously stressed.

“Wade!” He yelled, turning his horse around with the pressure of his knees.

Katie felt the pace of her heart quicken as the eerie feeling of impending disaster settled over her. She knew all too well what could happen when the herd got riled.

A stampede.

God, please. I’m begging you to keep us safe in this. Please keep the herd calm.

A clap of thunder echoed over to the herd, and Katie felt the tension grow until one could almost cut it with a knife. The cowboys were desperately trying to corral the herd, but even Katie knew that the chances of keeping over three thousand cattle under control with less than nineteen cowboys were slim.

She was far enough ahead so that she wouldn’t be impacted by the herd unless they ran straight, which was highly unlikely. No one ever heard of a herd stampeding the way you wanted them to go.

Rain began to pour down from the sky, soaking Katie through and through. A flash of lightening and a loud clap of thunder made her heart plummet and her stomach clench. A storm was a cattle drive’s worst enemy.

Another roll of thunder sounded, only it rolled on and on until Katie grew suspicious. Looking behind the chuck wagon, Katie saw what she had feared. There was their herd of cattle, running out to the west… toward the storm.

Cattle were the stupidest things alive! Besides that point cowboy who had let the dominant steer loose. Even Katie knew better than that.

**********

Toni tore her hat off and threw it on the ground in anger. She should have known better than to think the drive would pull off without a hitch. Now one third of her herd was scattered across miles and miles of Texas. It would take them days to round them all up.

Resisting the urge to mutter some very serious words, Toni found Mark and fisted her hands.

“Uncle Mark!”

Mark whirled to face her. “Toni don’t mess with me. I’m trying to sort this out, and I don’t need you ordering me around and distracting me.”

Toni crossed her arms. “Don’t get smart with me. You might be older and bigger, but I can still make you cry like a little girl.”

Mark sent her a look and a scowl. “I’d love to see you try.”

Toni felt her face heat. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with her uncle or his incredibly short temper. Now she even forgot what she was going to say to Mark in the first place.

“Was that a dare?” Toni crossed her arms.

Mark straightened and clenched his hands, “If you weren’t a woman…”

“Don’t let that stop you…”

“Come on, guys!” Toni felt an arm drape across her shoulders. “Do we really want to make this problem more stressful by arguing over senseless things?”

Toni looked over at her smiling husband with a scowl.

“What are you saying, McBride?” she asked.

“Yeah, what are you saying?” Mark chimed in.

Erik looked back and forth, as if wondering whether to side with his wife or his wife.

“I’m saying that I have something to discuss with you, Toni” He pulled her away from Mark and over to where his horse was waiting.

“Don’t lay into me, Erik. None of us are feeling like being nice to each other” Toni jerked her arm from his grasp.

“Toni, I personally don’t care of you and Mark want to murder each other right now. We just need you two apart so Mark can tell us what to do. We’ve got to start rounding the herd up, and if you two are arguing then we can’t get our orders” Erik explained.

Toni huffed. Why was she always feeling like Erik was angry at her? They had talked things out, but their relationship was still strained. She looked away from him, trying to sort out the problem in her head.

Erik sighed. “Toni, I’m sorry.”

She looked back at him. “Sorry? For what?”

“For…” Erik sighed again. “For maybe being too hard on you. I realize that if you felt it was too dangerous for the kid you wouldn’t have brought him along.”

Toni’s heart softened. It took a lot for him to apologize to her.

“Are you two gonna get to work or what? We’ve got a herd to round up!” Mark yelled to them.

“You’re forgiven” Toni smiled and gave him a quick kiss before rushing to mount her horse.

She swung up into the saddle and looked down at him, a smile on her face. Suddenly she wasn’t so irritated.

**********

Adam got a lot of practice with his rope while trying to round up all the cattle that had scattered. Thankfully not every throw was a complete failure, but at least Mark wasn’t around. There was still one cowboy unaccounted for, and some men were out looking for him. From what Adam had gathered, it was J.T. that had been missing. He didn’t know much about the mysterious man, but Wade had told them that he had been mixed up in some trouble with the MC a few years ago.

“Come on, you stupid cow!” Adam turned at the sound of a feminine voice.

He laughed aloud as he spotted Katie yanking on a lariat that was looped around the neck of a longhorn with all she was worth. She loosened up the rope and looked the animal in the eye.

“Are we gonna come to some agreement here or am I gonna have to take you by force?” she asked.

Adam smiled. She was sure cute, acting so big and bad to an animal that could gut her in a split second.

Then the danger of the situation hit him.

“Katie, get back on your horse!” He cautioned her.

Katie looked at him. “Why?”

“Just do it. It ain’t safe for you to be on the ground by that longhorn” Adam said.

Katie huffed. “Why won’t she move?”

“Kate, please? You’re about to get hurt” Adam hadn’t meant to let the name slip this time, though he couldn’t deny that sometimes he said it just to watch her beautiful blue eyes light up.

Slowly, he pushed his horse closer, not liking the look in the cow’s eyes.

Katie sighed and mounted her horse somewhat ungracefully before turning toward him.

“Then how do you get her to move?” Katie asked.

Adam took the lariat from her and tugged on the cow, who promptly followed him.

“That’s not fair” Katie mumbled, pushing her mount to walk beside his.

Adam smiled. “What are you doing out here anyway?”

“I heard that ya’ll needed all the help you could get, so I left Justin with his mother and came out to help.

“By arguing with a cow?”

Katie shot him a look.

Adam smiled.

“I was making progress” she told him.

“So I saw.”

“I wasn’t going to get hurt.”

“Uh huh.”

Katie huffed. “Would you stop being so sarcastic?” She leaned over and punched him on the arm.

Adam chuckled.

“Do you have to do guard duty again tonight?” she asked, changing to a comfortable subject.

Adam shrugged. “Probably.”