becoming one of the boys. Buddying up to them. Was that to swing them to his side in case he and she ever had a serious difference of opinion?
She made herself take slow sips of her coffee and stood up very straight as befitted the boss of the outfit.
“I see you all have met,” she said when they walked into the circle around the fire. “As he’s probably told you, I’ve hired Mr. McCord to be my bodyguard on the trail.”
“Yes’m,” Frank said, and touched his hat brim.
“We met,” Monte said, with the same gesture,and Skeeter nodded, briefly removing his battered felt.
“You men needn’t tip your hats to me—we’re on the trail now,” she said awkwardly, knowing how sensitive they were to criticism but needing them to see her in her new role. “We’ll be working too hard to worry about manners, so treat me as you would a man trail boss.”
The three cowboys went to the chuck wagon for their coffee cups without replying.
Damn
it! Just having Cole watching was making her stiff and artificial with her own men. And her heart was still hammering.
He strolled toward her with that cavalier walk of his, looking her up and down with his hot, dark eyes.
“It’ll be hard for them to see you as a man,” he drawled. “I’d say downright impossible.”
Her anger flared like a struck match.
“Nobody asked you,” she snapped. “And don’t look at me that way.”
“How? As a man?”
“No!” she said, trying to keep her voice low so no one but him would hear. “As a
woman!
I told you on the street in Pueblo you couldn’t intimidate me that way, and you can’t.”
“I don’t have any intention of intimidating you, Aurora,” he said.
His gaze wouldn’t let hers go.
“Oh, yes, you do …”
The men came closer, drifting toward the fire for coffee.
“I’m just happy that you’re here among us,Miss Aurora,” Cole said, loud enough for them and Cookie, too, to hear him, “and we’ve still got hot food and coffee.”
He gave her that crooked grin of his.
“We’ve been about half-scared that you’d come flying in here in your buggy and drive right through the middle of the fire, scatter our bacon and biscuits from hell to breakfast.”
All the cowboys burst out laughing, delighted as always with a bit of hoo-rawing, no matter who was the butt of the joke. They flashed quick, appraising glances at her.
That was one of the unwritten, unbreakable rules of the cowboy life. Anybody in their company had to be able to take teasing in good humor, as well as dish it out. If not, they rawhided the sensitive soul until he left the outfit or learned to laugh with them. And hadn’t she just told them to treat her like a man?
Fury choked her, fed by fear. He was already starting it, already forming sides, boys against girl, trying to make her look silly and incompetent. She opened her mouth to give him a royal dressing-down, no matter what the men thought, but then she managed to bite her tongue.
“It
is
breakfast,” she said, forcing a sarcastic sweetness into her tone, “so it can’t be scattered from hell to breakfast. How about hell to
Texas?
”
That brought more laughter than it deserved and inspired the others to join in.
“We circled the wagons to protect the fireand told Lonnie to whistle like a mockingbird to warn us when you passed the herd,” Cookie said.
“Yeah, and we saddled our horses before we ate or even took a gulp of Arbuckle’s, in case we’d need to jump on ‘em to chase you down and stop a runaway,” Skeeter said.
The laughter grew louder, and she felt the stiffness begin to leave her. The men were all right again, they were accepting her as one of them, the feeling in the outfit was relaxed and back to normal.
She took a long, deep breath and gave Cole a big smile, then turned to the others.
“That’s why I came in here on foot instead of driving,” she said to Skeeter. “I didn’t want to cause a distraction that’d take you all away from your
She made herself take slow sips of her coffee and stood up very straight as befitted the boss of the outfit.
“I see you all have met,” she said when they walked into the circle around the fire. “As he’s probably told you, I’ve hired Mr. McCord to be my bodyguard on the trail.”
“Yes’m,” Frank said, and touched his hat brim.
“We met,” Monte said, with the same gesture,and Skeeter nodded, briefly removing his battered felt.
“You men needn’t tip your hats to me—we’re on the trail now,” she said awkwardly, knowing how sensitive they were to criticism but needing them to see her in her new role. “We’ll be working too hard to worry about manners, so treat me as you would a man trail boss.”
The three cowboys went to the chuck wagon for their coffee cups without replying.
Damn
it! Just having Cole watching was making her stiff and artificial with her own men. And her heart was still hammering.
He strolled toward her with that cavalier walk of his, looking her up and down with his hot, dark eyes.
“It’ll be hard for them to see you as a man,” he drawled. “I’d say downright impossible.”
Her anger flared like a struck match.
“Nobody asked you,” she snapped. “And don’t look at me that way.”
“How? As a man?”
“No!” she said, trying to keep her voice low so no one but him would hear. “As a
woman!
I told you on the street in Pueblo you couldn’t intimidate me that way, and you can’t.”
“I don’t have any intention of intimidating you, Aurora,” he said.
His gaze wouldn’t let hers go.
“Oh, yes, you do …”
The men came closer, drifting toward the fire for coffee.
“I’m just happy that you’re here among us,Miss Aurora,” Cole said, loud enough for them and Cookie, too, to hear him, “and we’ve still got hot food and coffee.”
He gave her that crooked grin of his.
“We’ve been about half-scared that you’d come flying in here in your buggy and drive right through the middle of the fire, scatter our bacon and biscuits from hell to breakfast.”
All the cowboys burst out laughing, delighted as always with a bit of hoo-rawing, no matter who was the butt of the joke. They flashed quick, appraising glances at her.
That was one of the unwritten, unbreakable rules of the cowboy life. Anybody in their company had to be able to take teasing in good humor, as well as dish it out. If not, they rawhided the sensitive soul until he left the outfit or learned to laugh with them. And hadn’t she just told them to treat her like a man?
Fury choked her, fed by fear. He was already starting it, already forming sides, boys against girl, trying to make her look silly and incompetent. She opened her mouth to give him a royal dressing-down, no matter what the men thought, but then she managed to bite her tongue.
“It
is
breakfast,” she said, forcing a sarcastic sweetness into her tone, “so it can’t be scattered from hell to breakfast. How about hell to
Texas?
”
That brought more laughter than it deserved and inspired the others to join in.
“We circled the wagons to protect the fireand told Lonnie to whistle like a mockingbird to warn us when you passed the herd,” Cookie said.
“Yeah, and we saddled our horses before we ate or even took a gulp of Arbuckle’s, in case we’d need to jump on ‘em to chase you down and stop a runaway,” Skeeter said.
The laughter grew louder, and she felt the stiffness begin to leave her. The men were all right again, they were accepting her as one of them, the feeling in the outfit was relaxed and back to normal.
She took a long, deep breath and gave Cole a big smile, then turned to the others.
“That’s why I came in here on foot instead of driving,” she said to Skeeter. “I didn’t want to cause a distraction that’d take you all away from your
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