The Express Rider's Lady. Stacy Henrie
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Название: The Express Rider's Lady
Автор: Stacy Henrie
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Вестерны
isbn: 9781474048064
isbn:
Of course he couldn’t entirely forget the woman riding several feet behind him. He shot a look over his shoulder to ensure Delsie was keeping up. Her hands seemed to grip the reins as tightly as she had the boat railing, but her wide-eyed stare appeared to hold more interest than fear.
“It’s so big...and wide,” she called to his back. A few moments later her horse drew alongside his. “I’m from Pennsylvania, you see. It’s very different than this. Are you from Missouri originally, Mr. Patton?”
“Yes.”
“Have you ever been back East?”
“No.”
“What’s the farthest west you’ve been?”
“Nebraska.”
He eyed her with mounting irritation. Did she plan to talk the entire one hundred and twenty-five miles to Guittard’s? He wasn’t accustomed to hearing much but the thud of the horse’s hooves beneath him and the occasional trill of birds in the distance. Elijah watched her, too, his head cocked to the side as though trying to figure out the strange creature tagging along with them today.
“How far is it to the first station?”
Was she already uncomfortable? He stifled a groan. She rode well enough, despite the absence of a sidesaddle. “The Troy station is about fifteen miles from Saint Joseph,” he answered. “It’s at the Smith Hotel. We’ll change horses there and head on to the hotel in Syracuse.”
A smile quirked her lips, though she tried to hide it. Myles got the instinct impression she was laughing at him. “Something funny?”
She shook her head, but her deep blue eyes danced in a way that belied the gesture.
He raised his eyebrows in silent question.
“I was only thinking that was the longest speech I’ve heard from you since we started riding.” She drew herself up in the saddle and glanced away at the distant trees. “I was beginning to think you couldn’t sit a horse and talk at the same time.”
Myles watched her shoulders rise with stifled laughter, bringing a low growl from his throat. This only added to her fit of merriment. He scowled at her hat. What had he gotten himself into by agreeing to bring her along?
“I’m sorry,” she said, turning to face him again. “That was...unkind.”
“Not at all.” He feigned a forgiving smile. “If we could all talk a streak like you, Miss Radford, news would travel even faster than the Pony Express.”
Her mouth fell slightly open and her eyes narrowed. Myles tried to maintain a deadpan expression, but he couldn’t hold back his chuckle for long. If she could dish out the sarcasm, she could certainly learn to swallow some herself.
With another chuckle, he pulled his horse ahead, relishing the pounding of the hooves against the prairie sod and the blessed sound of quiet from behind.
The Smith Hotel, in Troy, Kansas, appeared ahead. Myles rode straight to its large barn and jumped to the ground. One man held the reins of his next horse, while another yanked the mochila from the saddle to throw it over the new one.
“I need a second horse,” Myles explained as Delsie stopped her mare beside them. The two men gaped openly at her.
The man holding the new horse’s reins recovered first. “What’s wrong with this one, Patton?”
Myles hurried over to help Delsie dismount. “Nothing. But I need another horse—for the lady here.” When the man shot Myles a bewildered look, he added, “I’ll explain later, Rogers. Just get us another horse. She’ll pay to ride it.”
Thankfully, the man brooked no more complaint and raced into the barn to collect the second horse. Myles climbed into the saddle again, turning an expectant gaze on the hotel. Right on cue, a young lady exited the building and ran toward him. In each hand she held one of the fried pastries the Troy station was known for.
“Thank you,” Myles said, accepting the treats. He immediately handed one down to Delsie, then bit off a bite of the chewy, sweet dough. “Delicious,” he murmured.
Delsie sniffed at the pastry, then took a delicate bite. Myles rolled his eyes at her prim manners. Did she honestly think she could make it across half the country when she couldn’t even— The unfinished question died within his mind as he watched the fried treat disappear between her lips in less than a minute.
A startled laugh escaped his mouth. If Delsie heard it, she didn’t react. She simply stood there waiting for Rogers, looking as imperial and composed as a duchess, as if she hadn’t just devoured her pastry in two bites.
Well, I’ll be, Myles thought with a rueful shake of his head. She’d clearly been starving, though she hadn’t let on one bit. He glanced at his own half-eaten pastry and extended it toward her.
“No, thank you,” she responded politely, though she wouldn’t quite meet his gaze as she sipped water from the canteen one of the riders had found for her.
At that moment, Rogers led her new horse out of the barn. Delsie handed him a few dollars before he helped her into the saddle. Myles kneed his horse forward and they were off again.
The next four relay stations brought more of the same routine, minus the pastries. He’d ride in first, tell the men he needed a second horse, then he’d wait while they gawked a few seconds at Delsie before scrambling to collect and saddle another mount. Delsie seemed to take it all in stride, paying for the horses and climbing back into the saddle each time without hesitation and even offering courteous smiles to the other Express workers.
When they reached their fifth station, though, Myles could see she was beginning to wilt like a flower in the height of summer. Once astride her new horse, she paused and squeezed her eyes shut. He knew from his first few Express runs the discomfort of being in a saddle for so long. But it couldn’t be helped—not if he was to deliver the mail on time and not if she planned to ride this way from here to California.
Elijah left his shoulder to go hunt for a mouse or a smaller bird, reminding Myles of the hardtack he kept in his jacket. The Troy pastries and the promise of a full meal at Guittard’s was sufficient food for himself, but he imagined Delsie wasn’t used to such a long day with so little to eat.
With the ease of practice, he managed to remove the hardtack without slowing his horse. “Hungry?”
Delsie took a long moment to answer, her hand rubbing at the back of her neck. She’d been doing that more and more the past two hours. “Yes...thank you.” She took the piece of hardtack he handed her, and without hesitation or inquiry as to what it was, she bit into it.
After she’d finished off that piece, he extended the other to her. “Aren’t you hungry?” she asked, her gaze moving from his hand to his face. He couldn’t recall ever seeing another woman with such dark blue eyes. They were СКАЧАТЬ