just helped with the luggage. They moved to the end of the platform and Davis helped his mother in while Lewt and the cowhand loaded the luggage.
Sumner looked old, but he might still be in his forties. He had a slight limp, but Lewt guessed he wasn’t a man who liked questions. During these days in Texas a curious stranger usually got a wooden cross for free when he departed town.
“Any idea where the third gentleman might be?” Sumner asked as he bit off another chew of tobacco.
Lewt raised his head as two men flew by on horses already at full gallop. “Yep,” he said. “He just passed us. My guess is he doesn’t plan to give the buggy the chance to slow him down.”
One side of Sumner’s mouth rose in a quick grin. “I never slow down a fool.”
“What makes you think he’s a fool?” Lewt wasn’t arguing, only asking.
The old cowhand lifted himself onto the front bench. “He’s headed the wrong direction.”
Lewt laughed and climbed in.
CHAPTER 5
THE SKY HAD ALREADY TURNED TO NIGHT WHEN Emily McMurray watched the wagon cross the bridge and roll onto Whispering Mountain Ranch. She’d been standing in the loft opening above the barn fighting the urge to ride out and dynamite the bridge. Like her papa, Teagen McMurray, she hated strangers on her land. Her adopted father had taught her well how to run the ranch, and now with him away she planned to do just that. Tall and slender, she looked like a young man in her trousers and loose shirt, with her blond hair tucked beneath her hat. The gun strapped to her leg left little doubt that she could protect what was hers.
The barn lantern glowed from behind her near the ladder, but for once, she didn’t stand in its light. Em wanted to watch the men arriving without being seen.
“Strangers,” she whispered. “Strangers on my land.” The words tasted sour in her mouth, and she fought the urge to spit them out.
The night had an eerie feeling to it. Wind whipped from first one direction, then another as if not able to make up its mind which way to blow. Damp wisps of fog drifted in the evening sky like a dark cloud come to play in the breeze. A full moon cast milky light between the buildings that marked the ranch. Two huge barns, one for horses and one to store the collection of wagons and buggies used mostly for training teams, seemed to stand guard over the ranch. The main house with its two wings coming off the center reminded Em of a great eagle about to take flight. A bunkhouse and several smaller buildings used for storage huddled around the area, almost making the ranch headquarters look like a town settled beneath rolling hills.
The music of the ranch, from the whine of the clothesline to the clank of the well rig keeping time to the wind chimes near the mudroom door, seemed to clang off-key tonight. The only safe home she’d ever known seemed to be standing silent, waiting, preparing for a threat yet to come. Em told herself she would be ready. She had to be ready. She was the oldest. The safety of Whispering Mountain lay in her hands.
Two men on horses galloped ahead as the buggy crossed the bridge. Even in the shadows, she recognized fine horses and superior riders. Both men handled their mounts with an easy skill as they raced for the house.
When they reached the yard and dismounted, one man stood back with the horses while the other stepped onto the porch. In an odd way he reminded her of a peacock, walking tall, stretching his legs, not looking down as he moved.
She heard the one on the porch snap an order to the man with the horses, but Em couldn’t make out what he said because the buggy rattled into the yard.
A tall stranger, who’d ridden in the front beside Sumner, jumped from the bench. He began helping an older lady out of the buggy. She was short and plump, with a hat the wind seemed determined to claim and a birdcage half her size. Another man joined in the effort to assist her as wind whipped at the little creature’s tall feathers and bows.
Em studied the shadowy figures. She hadn’t expected a woman. Only three men had been mentioned in Duck’s letter, and now there were three men and a woman. Thoughts of killing Duck crossed her mind.