“That couldn’t have been what riled up the snake,” he said, setting her arm loose and stepping away. “They usually skedaddle when it comes to things bigger than them.”
Another shudder of sorts was creeping its way up his spine. He wasn’t entirely sure, but he sensed it had something to do with standing this close to Marie, touching her, whispering. Those were not things he did.
“Well, thank you, and Polly, for coming to my rescue,” she said.
“There was no rescuing involved,” he clarified.
She was wringing her hands and cringing slightly, her face still flushed. He knew why a moment later.
“Mr. Burleson, about...about the position—”
Now that he could laugh at. “No one will ever know I saw your bare bottom, Marie.”
The exact look of mortification he’d seen on her face earlier reappeared. Too bad he hadn’t bet on the cause of it—he’d have won. At that moment, he chose to take it one step further. “That is, if you call me Stafford. I’d say the formality of Mr. Burleson would just be a waste now. Considering what I saw and all.”
Her hiss, along with the snap in those brown eyes told him she was back one hundred percent, and that was a good thing. So much so, he laughed, tipped his hat, and with a wink, turned around. “We’re wasting daylight,” he shouted, once again feeling a genuine skip in his step.
She caught up with him before he made it to the team. “Mr. Burleson—”
One look had her pinching her lips together.
“Stafford.”
He nodded. It really didn’t mean that much, other than that he’d won, and he liked being a winner.
Some of the steam left her as she bowed her head slightly. “I appreciate your discretion,” she huffed and then turned. “Children!”
He laughed, not caring that she heard and cast a very unfavorable look his way.
It didn’t take long before they were loaded up and heading west again. Marie was on the seat beside him again today, and that played a bit of havoc with Stafford’s insides. It hadn’t yesterday and there was no reason for it to this morning, but it did, and try as he might, ignoring it was impossible. Just as it was impossible to ignore how, every so often, his mind flashed back to the image of the lily-white flesh she was now sitting on. That was bound to affect a man. Any man.
“Mr. Burleson?”
“Yes, Samuel?” he answered, thankful he now knew the children’s names. The younger two, Charles and Weston, looked exactly alike and it wasn’t until they spoke that he knew who was who. Weston had the lisp, Charlie didn’t. Weston talked more than Charlie did, too. Probably because Charlie was always chewing on the collar of his shirt. It was pretty amazing how much he’d discovered about these kids in such a short time.
“You’re really a cowboy aren’t you?” Samuel asked.
“Well, I expect I am,” Stafford answered. He hadn’t thought of it much, but had to admit he liked who he was, now. A cowboy was as fitting a word as any, and it beat the heck out of being a cotton farmer. Not that he’d ever have been one of those. Sterling had inherited his father’s farm. That’s how it was with the oldest. The second son had to forge out on his own, make his own way in life. Which fit him just fine.
“Can I call you Stafford?” Samuel asked. “It sounds a lot more like a cowboy than Mr. Burleson, don’t you think?”
Marie opened her mouth, but he shook his head and grinned. Giving the boy a nod, he agreed. “Sure, you can call me Stafford.”
“Are there a lot of rattlers in these parts, Stafford?” the child then asked.
Aw, the real question. “Enough,” he answered, noting how Marie was staring at him. Making light of the truth might ease her anxiety, but it wouldn’t do any of them any good. “Rattlesnakes don’t like humans and tend to shy away, but if you startle one, or corner him, he’ll strike. There’s no doubt about that.”
“If you shoot another one, can I have the buttons off it?” Samuel asked.
Jackson had given the rattle he’d cut off to Terrance, who’d spent the last half hour making sure everyone in the wagon didn’t jostle about and break his new treasure.
“Yes,” Stafford answered, figuring that was fair. Then, just to encourage Terrance to share his bounty, he said, “Let me see that rattle.”
The oldest boy shouldered into the opening beside his brother. “Jackson says it’s fragile. That means it’ll break easy.”
“That’s what it means, all right,” Stafford said as he held the reins toward Marie. “Hold these.”
* * *
Still humiliated, Marie shook her head. Never, ever, had she been so embarrassed in her life. It would help if Stafford—as she was now forced to call him—didn’t find such humor in it all. He’d been grinning ever since he’d shot that snake. Every time she glanced his way, she could tell he was remembering what he’d seen, almost as if he’d pressed the image in a book the way one would a flower, to take it out and look at it every so often.
“If you’re going to live out here, Marie,” he said, thrusting the reins toward her, “you’ll need to learn to drive a wagon. Now take the reins. I’m right here, nothing’s going to happen.”
It would help, too, if he wasn’t so, well, right, and so bull-headed about everything. And if he hadn’t come to her rescue as he had. Swallowing a growl, she took the reins.
“That’s it,” he said. “Just hold them loosely. You don’t have to do anything. The horses know to follow the road.”
If she hadn’t just been found with her bottom as bare as an infant’s, she might have been nervous to drive a wagon of this size—of any size—but right now she wasn’t going to give Stafford anything else to laugh about. Consequently, she did as instructed, telling herself she could drive a wagon twice this size, and snuck a peek as he took the snake’s tail from Terrance.
“There’s twelve buttons,” Terrance said.
“I see that,” Stafford answered.
“Does that mean that snake was twelve years old?” Samuel asked.
“No,” Stafford answered.
Marie couldn’t help but relax a bit and appreciate how comfortable the children had become around Stafford. Yesterday, she’d feared the opposite, that he might have terrorized them. It appeared the children simply understood he wouldn’t tolerate misbehaving, and therefore they’d conducted themselves remarkably well ever since. In some ways she’d grown more comfortable around him, too, before the snake.
Actually, he’d probably saved her life this morning. Something she did need to be grateful for. Men had always made her nervous. Before this trip west, she’d never had to deal with them, and still wasn’t exactly sure how to go about it. Stafford was different, though. He was certainly stubborn and demanding, but, especially when it came to the children, she saw a softer side to him. One she couldn’t help but wonder about. Even admire—just the tiniest bit.
“These rattles are about as breakable as our fingernails,” he was telling the children, “and you know how easy it is to break one of them.” He shifted and held the snake’s tail in front of the boys. “See this bottom button? It’s called the nub. One that’s never been broken is smooth and round, but this one, see how it’s kind of pointed and split?”
When the boys nodded, he continued, “That means this rattle’s been broken.”
“So it was older than twelve?” Terrance asked, clearly enthralled.