Free Cowboy to the Rescue by Louise M. Gouge Page B

in their usual sisterly style. Once in a while, they’d glance back and wave. Susanna couldn’t resist returning the gesture. After all, she’d found no fault in the girls other than their lack of social graces. Manners could always be learned, but prejudices were rooted deep in the soul. She’d seen plenty of that back home when some of the men had taken to wearing white sheets to scare former slaves out of trying to make something of their lives. Mama had forbidden Daddy to take part, and it spoke well of him that he’d honored his wife’s wishes. Any man Susanna married would have to respect her opinions that same way. She had to admit even the Colonel had acquiesced to Mrs. Northam’s will yesterday.
    “The Colonel is pretty free with his opinions, isn’t he?” Nate’s question broke into Susanna’s thoughts, but again she doubted she was supposed to answer. “But sometimes his anger is justified.”
    Susanna offered him a questioning look, both eyebrows raised, but no smile.
    “That shipment of china? It was supposed to be delivered all the way to the ranch. The freight drivers left it at the trading post in Pueblo and headed out to the gold fields near Denver.” He huffed out a sigh edged with frustration. “That’s why Zack and I had to go get it.”
    Susanna stifled a gasp. If Nate hadn’t gone to the fort, he wouldn’t have been on La Veta Pass, wouldn’t have been there to save Daddy’s life. Why, he’d been an answer to prayer, and the Lord set it all in motion long before those thieves stole their horses. She started to mention that important fact, but Nate kept talking.
    “’Course, the Colonel never did think much of prospectors, even before that.” Nate grimaced as if he knew it was rude to say so. “You see, he’s trying to build a decent community out here, a Christian community where everybody works hard and helps his neighbor.”
    “Unless that neighbor is a prospector?” Susanna couldn’t keep the crossness from her voice.
    Nate shrugged. “Most prospectors are out for one thing, finding a fortune, sometimes at a terrible cost to themselves or others.”
    Susanna held her peace. What good would it do to tell him Daddy already had a small fortune? That prospecting was only a pastime, an enjoyment in his old age?
    “’Course, you and Mr. Anders aren’t typical prospectors.” Nate offered one of his charming smiles, and Susanna had to look away to keep from smiling back. “It’ll take some time for your father to heal up so you can continue your journey. I’m sure by the time you head out, the Colonel will see you’re decent Christian folks.”
    His statement, so simply spoken, sent another one of those pleasant but traitorous feelings through Susanna’s chest. At his core, Nate Northam was an upstanding man, one who gave people a chance to prove themselves beyond appearances. Her heart reached out to attach itself to him, and she could think of only one way to stop it. Yankee! Yankee! Yankee! she shouted in her mind. Yet somehow that epithet failed to engender the usual sense of anger and dismissal.
    How could she hate a man who had saved Daddy’s life and showed her only kindness?

Chapter Seven
    T he Colonel would change his opinion of Mr. Anders? Nate had no right to advance such a notion. His father was as unpredictable as a San Luis Valley winter and often just as cold and bitter. But Nate couldn’t let Susanna go on feeling bad about the Colonel’s remarks. Maybe with Rosamond’s and Maisie’s help, he could cheer her up, at least for today. This brave little lady had a lot weighing on those slender shoulders, and he longed to lighten her load.
    “How was your father this morning?” The moment the words came out of his mouth, he wanted to kick himself. He’d asked the same question back in the kitchen and learned the old man hadn’t slept well.
    He could see she caught his mistake, because she grinned and looked the other way, ducking behind the brim of