Holding Out for a Hero by Ana Leigh

Author:Ana Leigh
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon and Schuster

15

Rico stormed through the colonel’s office door. “What?” he snapped. “It better be important enough to get me out of bed.”

He nodded to the buckskin-clad figure who’d been staring out the window. Jake Bedford grinned, and leaned back against the wall.

“I’d appreciate your showing some respect for my rank,” Hardy retorted. “It’s hard enough keeping up the men’s morale, much less their respect in this godforsaken fort. And what in hell were you doing in bed at this hour of the day?”

Rico had no intention of replying, any more than Hardy expected him to. It was just the colonel’s way of having the last word.

As he waited impatiently for Hardy to continue, he wondered if Jenny would wait for him to get back. The sight of her stretched out naked in his bed was hard to forget.

“Jake here said he sighted some Indian sign southwest of here.”

“And were they wearing plaid shirts?” Rico asked dryly. “You know as well as I that there’s been no serious trouble with the Apaches since Cochise surrendered to General Crook.”

“What do you call what they did to Private Hanson?”

“Hanson knew better than to cross the river. Naturally some of them remained behind when the tribe was moved to a reservation. After seeing what that San Carlos reservation looked like, you can’t blame them for breaking away. It’s a sun-baked hell hole, unfit to even grow crops. They’re starving to death. It’s no wonder the Indians don’t trust the government.”

“Cochise and his Chiricahuas were put on the reservation at Warm Springs. There’s no comparison,” Hardy declared.

Jake Bedford spoke up. “They put them there because the Chiricahua Apaches refused to go to the San Carlos reservation. They don’t get along with the Mescolaro Apaches already there.”

“Well, now with Cochise’s death, there’s probably a lot of younger bucks who can’t wait to break out of the reservation.”

“It’s not the government’s fault these Indian tribes can’t get along,” Hardy said. “These settlers come out here from all parts of the country and get along. Maybe the Indians should try doing the same.”

Rico winked at Jake. “Heard tell there was a war between the North and South. Seems there was a big difference among the white folks there, and thousands of them died over that disagreement.”

“You don’t have to remind me about the War Between the States, sonny. I was there,” Hardy said impatiently. Gray cigar smoke was beginning to circle his head like Indian smoke signals.

Rico saw Hardy’s growing irritation and was in no mood for a face-off with the colonel.

“I’d say the Apache have honored the terms of the agreement and not crossed the river, sir.” But unable to resist the temptation, he glanced at the colonel. “Even drunken ones.”

“Jake, tell him what you told me,” Hardy said, and took another fuming puff on his cigar.

“We were about twenty-five miles southwest of here, between the fort and the river. I was scouting along the bank when I come upon their trail. I figured it was Indians because the horses weren’t shod, so I followed it for a distance.

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