Free Pete (The Cowboys) by Leigh Greenwood

“No, he’s just a gentleman. I told you he was.”
    “Your uncle said he was a spineless clod. He never said a word about him being a gentleman.”
    “That’s because Uncle Carl wasn’t much of a gentleman himself,” Anne said. “Papa used to tell Mama never to let herself be caught alone in the house with Uncle Carl.”
    “Everybody knows that,” Dolores said. “I had a few close calls myself.”
    “You did?”
    “We’re not talking about me,” Dolores said. “I want to know more about this husband of yours.”
    Anne didn’t know what she could tell Dolores. Just about everything she remembered about Peter contradicted what she saw in Pete. No matter who he turned out to be, Pete had saved her from Cyrus. She owed him something for that.
    “I can’t tell you much more. He’s changed so much, I hardly know him myself. He said the same thing himself last night.”
    “Well, I’m real impressed with him. Belser was certain he could take the ranch right out of your Pete’s hands. No wonder he’s trying to convince us he’s not Peter. Though it seems like a silly thing to say. I mean, all he has to do is produce his papers and there’s no question about it, is there?”
    “No.”
    What would happen if he produced the right papers? Then he’d be Peter.
    And she would be his wife!
    A feeling totally unlike anything she’d ever felt for Peter before ran through her. Last night she’d been too afraid, too confused to pay much attention to anything but fear. But now, with Pete many miles away and Dolores comfortingly at her side, Anne could tell this was a new feeling, a kind of anticipation she’d never experienced before. She’d never felt anything remotely like this for Peter.
    She cautioned herself that no matter how attractive, no matter how exciting it might be to think of being married to such man, she didn’t know who he was. She didn’t know why he was here. She didn’t know where Peter was. She was married to Peter, not Pete.
    She shivered. The thought made her toes curl. She’d never dreamed of a husband like Pete, but now that the possibility existed, she admitted it excited her. It was like a magnet drawing her forward when she wanted to hang back.
    There was, however, a very strong possibility she was wrong, that Peter had dreamed of Indians but never told her, that he had changed so much, nobody would know he was the same man. She had no proof, only suspicions based on the ten-year-old memories of a seven-year-old child. She could be wrong.
    And if she were, then Pete was Peter, and she was his real, legal wife.
    She decided she had let the unexpected events of the last twenty-four hours confuse her. She’d been further upset by lying awake for long hours in the dark. Pete probably had a perfectly logical explanation for all her fears. She had only to ask. He would explain everything.
    Suddenly she felt better, no longer frightened. Pete was Peter. He would explain all her doubts away. Then he’d produce the documents, and no one would have any doubts. She would have a husband, a ranch, safety for the rest of her life.
    “You’re one lucky woman,” Dolores said. “You used to complain that nothing exciting ever happened to you. Being rescued at the last minute from being sold to an old man by a handsome young man who turns out to be your husband is enough excitement for the rest of your life.”
    “Too much,” Anne said. “I’ll never complain again.”
    Dolores winked and grinned. “I have a suspicion you won’t have to. Even gentlemen don’t hold themselves in check forever.”
    “I’ve made up my mind to round up everything we can and sell it immediately,” Pete said as he and Eddie neared the ranch after a hard day of riding. “The herd isn’t in good shape. We’d lose a lot of them in a bad winter.”
    “You’ll lose money selling now,” Eddie said.
    “Jake always said go with what you have, not what you might have.”
    “Who’s Jake?”
    He was going to