Free The Mavericks by Leigh Greenwood

I don’t feel easy knowing you will be alone on the trail with those men.”
    â€œYour daughter wouldn’t be with you now if it weren’t for
those men
,” Suzette said, trying hard to keep her voice level, her expression neutral. “It they hadn’t fixed our wagon, we’d still be at the creek.”
    â€œBut Anna’s young man would have helped you when he arrived,” Mrs. Pettinger said.
    â€œWe’ll be quite safe with Hawk and Zeke.” Tension had been gathering in Suzette all morning, first from having to stave off the Pettingers’ excessive largesse, and now from trying to hold her tongue in the face of Mrs. Pettinger’s groundless prejudice. “In fact, I wish they were going to travel with us the rest of the way to Tombstone.”
    She hadn’t meant to say that—had only said it, she was sure, because Mrs. Pettinger had angered her—but she knew it was true the moment the words were out of her mouth. Aside from her physical attraction to Hawk, she’d started to like him. He wasn’t very talkative and had yet to tell her much about himself, but she’d never met a man as kind and thoughtful. It must have annoyed him to have to prolong his own journey to stay with the wagon and take care of Laurie, but never once had he made her feel she was imposing on him. And though it was obvious to Suzette that he desired
her
, he’d never done anything to make her uncomfortable or fearful.
    â€œIt’s very brave of you to travel such a long distance on your own,” Mrs. Pettinger said. “I would have expected you to hire a guide.”
    â€œI hadn’t thought of that,” Suzette said to Josie. “Do you think Hawk and Zeke would be our guides?”
    â€œI didn’t mean
them
,” Mrs. Pettinger hastened to say.
    Suzette realized Mrs. Pettinger’s fears were based upon the very real fact that some Indians
had
committed atrocities. What was unfair was that white men who’d committed equally vile acts were treated as heroes. She was relieved to see Zeke coming with the mules. “Josie, why don’t you help Zeke with the mules while I go inside to say good-bye to Laurie?” As much as she appreciated the Pettingers’ hospitality, she couldn’t wait to leave. The strength of her anger at Mrs. Pettinger’s attitude toward Hawk surprised her. She hadn’t realized she’d come to like him so much. It was probably a good thing they were going to go their separate ways for the rest of the journey. Hawk had no place in her plans for the future.
    â€œAre you going to ask Hawk and Zeke to travel with you?” Laurie asked when Suzette entered her room. She was still sick, but she already looked better for being home and in her own bed.
    â€œWhy would we do that?” Suzette asked.
    â€œBecause it’s dangerous for two women to travel alone. They’d take good care of you.”
    â€œYour mother doesn’t think so.”
    â€œMother will never stop being afraid of Indians and distrustful of black men, but that’s no reason I have to feel the same way, especially after Hawk took such good care of me.”
    â€œWe can’t ask them to slow down enough to stay with us,” Suzette said. “We’ve already held them up long enough.”
    â€œI bet they’d do it if you asked.”
    â€œWell, I’m not going to ask, and you can be sure Josie won’t.” Suzette needlessly rearranged the quiltover Laurie, plumped a pillow, and positioned the water pitcher a few inches closer to her. “I don’t think he likes Josie any more than she likes him.”
    Laurie was pale with dark circles under her eyes. “Of course he likes Josie. How can a man not like a woman that beautiful?”
    â€œWhen that woman makes it plain she doesn’t like him and wants nothing to do with him.”
    â€œShe’s only doing that because he