good side, which still meant he was an arrogant cuss, but not so likely to do harm.
“Good thing you brought back plenty of wire,” Billy said. “We’ll be fixing cut fences from now until kingdom come.”
“Until fall, anyway.”
“What about after that?” Billy took off his hat and wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve. “What’s Emma going to do about Pendragon once we’ve gone?”
That was a question that had left Matt gazing at the stars more than the backs of his eyelids at night. A woman needed a man out here on the plains, no matter how much she didn’t think so. Emma might be a pistol, she might be as spirited a woman as he’d ever laid eyes on, but she would be no match for the sodbusting life and Pendragon together.
“As I see it, you can do one of two things, cousin.” Billy hammered a section of wire into place. “First thing, and best thing, is to get her to come along to California.”
“You’d better tell me the other one. You see the way she moons about that new house. I’d have to hog-tie her to the train to get her to leave the place.”
“I don’t see any help for it, then, but to find her a new man.” Billy kept his eyes focused on his task, pounding in a nail and unrolling another length of wire. “A good strapping fellow who can hold things together in your place.”
Another man in his place? The thought made him mad enough to spit the nails into the fence.
“You crazy fool, a man doesn’t give away his wife.”
“A man doesn’t sleep outside with a pair of smelly cowboys when his wife’s lying clean and sweet inside the dugout, either.”
“A man doesn’t make holy bonds of that sort unless he’s planning on being around. Hell, Billy, you know I can’t stay here—there’s Lucy and Red to consider.” Matt dropped his hammer and picked up his canteen. He took a long swallow, then splashed some water on his face. “Could be that you’re waiting to step into my place.”
“That would suit me just fine if I was the marrying kind.”
Matt started to declare that he wasn’t the marrying kind, either, but Billy had been able to read his lies since they were eight years old.
“A man never knows when he might get to be the marrying kind. It might come to him right out of the blue,” Matt said.
“It doesn’t take a voyeur to see what’s hit you out of the blue. And it’s no wonder. I suppose we’ve all gone a little soft for Emma in our own ways. But all that aside, with Hawker getting out, you’ve got to go and Emma needs a man.”
Wasn’t that the worry that had kept him awake night after restless night?
“I suppose you have my replacement picked out?”
“Woody Vance.”
Matt’s stomach turned sour on his breakfast. Woody Vance was a tall, husky fellow who felt a call to the land nearly as strong as Emma did. The man also felt a call to Emma. Evidently Cousin Billy hadn’t missed the way the farmer had gazed after Emma the times they had been in town.
Matt retrieved his hammer from the ground and smashed a nail into the wood post harder than he needed to.
“I suppose you’ve thought of a way to get me replaced?”
“I do a lot of thinking while I’m working.” Billy walked toward the next post, dragging the wire with him. “As I see it, we’ll have a party to celebrate the new house being finished. With all the dancing and merriment going on, they ought to take to each other like butterflies in a field.”
“You’ve got a mind for writing dime novels. I’m not handing my wife over to the first farmer who comes along.”
“I’m just saying Woody could take care of her once we’ve gone.”
Woody Vance was young, strong and fine to look at from a woman’s eye. It hurt to dwell on the ways he might take care of her.
Matt was spared having to consider it further when he looked up and saw Emma bringing lunch. She rode Pearl with Lucy nestled in front of her and a pair of baskets behind. The lid of one basket popped open and closed.
“Papa!” Lucy pointed to the jostling basket. “Mama Emma said we could have puppies!”
Puppies? Puppies grew into dogs. Maybe a pair of big mean-looking canines would protect Emma better than Woody Vance could.