Dorothy Garlock - [Wyoming Frontier] by Midnight Blue Page A

gets back, tell him that I want to talk to him . . . tonight!”
    “Tell him yoreself.”
    Sam Sparks came out the door and stood behind Cullen.
    “Afternoon, Miss McCall.”
    “Hello, Mr. Sparks.” Mara’s color was high. She didn’t think she had ever been so angry in her life, but she would not give this group the pleasure of laughing at her. “Could I trouble you to help me for a short while, Mr. Sparks?” she asked calmly. “These
gentlemen
are too busy.”
    “Certainly, ma’am.” He moved around Cullen and stepped off the porch.
    “If’n you’d a asked me that nice, I’d a helped you do most anythin’ you’d want done, little sweet thin’.” The bold-eyed man stood. He was as rangy as a wolf and reminded Mara of one.
    “Mister, I don’t like your looks, and I don’t like your manners.” Mara spoke icily. She looked from the bold-eyed man to Cullen. “If this is an example of the men you have working here, it’s no wonder the place is run-down. Get rid of him.”
    The man whooped with laughter. “Well, foofaraw! Ain’t she uppity? You’d better set Miss Lacy Drawers straight about a few things, Cullen.”
    “Go on back to the house, Mara.” Cullen’s eyes were blazing with anger and his voice choked.
    “Come on, ma’am.” Sam took Mara’s elbow in his hand and urged her toward the house. “It’d be best if you didn’t come down here, Miss McCall,” he said after they had walked a distance from the bunkhouse.
    “Do you mean to say that it isn’t safe for me to move about on my own property?”
    “The property may be yours, Miss McCall, but it’s not in your possession. Yes, I’d say it’s not safe for a genteel young woman to wander away from the house.”
    “I have a pistol in my pocket, and I wouldn’t hesitate to use it.”
    “Have you ever shot a man?”
    “No, but I could . . . if I had to.”
    “I wouldn’t count on gettin’ the drop on a man like Sporty Howard. Stay away from him.”
    “Well . . . for goodness sake!”
    “How is Pack?” Sam dropped his hand from her arm as they neared the house.
    “Grouchy as a bear.”
    “He must be feeling better.”
    “Mr. Sparks, something is going on here that I don’t like. I can’t get Aubrey or Cullen to tell me a thing.”
    “It’s not my place, ma’am, so don’t ask me. It might be best, as they say, if you went back to Denver.”
    “No! If one more person tells me to leave my home in the hands of these incompetent fools and go back to Denver I’m going to throw a screaming fit!”
    Sam Sparks grinned down at her. “I’m not sure I’d want to be around when that happens.”
    They had come into the kitchen. Mara flashed him a saucy smile, unaware that Pack could see them from where he lay on the bunk in the adjoining room.
    “I’ll tell you a secret if you’ll not tell anyone.” She moved close and spoke in a confidential tone. “I’ve never thrown a screaming fit in my life. But threatening to do it gets pretty good results . . . sometimes.” She laughed softly.
    “Someday someone will call your bluff; then what are you going to do?” Sam placed his hat on the table.
    “I hadn’t thought of that.”
    Mara’s laughter floated into the next room, and the man on the bunk felt his muscles tighten.
    “What was it you wanted done?” Sam asked.
    “There’s a mattress upstairs that needs airing, and I’d like help getting my bed and the rest of my things upstairs. I’m going to use the upstairs rooms because,” she paused, then continued, “because I can bar the door!” She looked at Sam closely to gauge his reaction.
    “Not a bad idea.”
    “Sam,” Pack called. “Come in here.”
    Sam looked away from Mara and into the bedroom. “I’ll be in shortly, Pack, after I help Miss McCall.”
    Mara walked past the doorway on the way to the stairs without looking into the room where Pack lay. Each time she passed, she tilted her nose a little higher. She would never forgive Pack Gallagher for