Then a fist struck the barn door.
“Boone!”
The Rancher did not release her.
Another knock.
“We need a word.”
The Rancher looked at the Widow.
“What’s your name?”
“Claire.”
He nodded.
“Mine’s Elias.”
She almost smiled.
“That would have been useful before the marriage.”
He looked at her.
“Careful.”
“What?”
“You almost sound comfortable.”
A third knock.
Elias opened the door.
Rain blew across the threshold.
The first rider looked inside.
His eyes went immediately to Claire.
Then to Elias’s arm around her.
“Evening.”
Elias did not answer.
The rider removed his hat.
“We’re looking for a woman traveling alone.”
Elias looked down at Claire.
“She isn’t alone.”
The rider’s eyes narrowed.
“Name?”
Claire answered before Elias could.
“Mrs. Boone.”
The lie came out surprisingly clean.
The rider looked at Elias.
Elias raised the hand wearing the gold ring.
The rider noticed.
Claire moved closer against his chest.
Elias felt the performance.
He also felt the fact that neither of them needed to pretend quite as hard as they should have.
The rider said, “How long married?”
Elias answered, “Long enough.”
The man smiled without warmth.
“Not much of an answer.”
Elias’s hand tightened around Claire’s waist.
“Wasn’t meant to be.”
The second rider appeared behind the first.
He peered into the barn.
“That her?”
The first man did not respond immediately.
Claire kept her face turned partially toward Elias.
The first rider looked at her dress.
Her wet hair.
The exhausted mare.
Then at Elias.
“She ride in alone?”
Elias said, “My wife rides wherever she pleases.”
The man’s gaze hardened.
“We’re asking because a woman matching her description stole company papers.”
Claire felt Elias’s body go still.
Elias answered, “My wife doesn’t steal.”
The rider looked at her.
Claire said, “Then perhaps you’re looking for someone else.”
He stared long enough to become rude even by frontier standards.
Then he looked toward the ring on Elias’s hand.
Something changed in his expression.
Recognition.
Tiny.
But Claire saw it.
So did Elias.
The rider said, “Interesting ring.”
Elias lowered his hand.
“Wedding rings usually are.”
The man smiled.
“That one more than most.”
Claire’s fingers dug into Elias’s coat.
The rider continued.
“Where did you get it?”
Elias said, “From my wife.”
A pause.
Then:
“Where’d she get it?”
Elias stepped forward enough to force the man to retreat one pace into the rain.
“You’re done.”
The rider’s smile vanished.
“This doesn’t concern you.”
“It does if you stand on my land asking my wife where her jewelry came from.”
The second rider’s hand moved near his belt.
Elias noticed.
His voice became quieter.
“Don’t.”
The rider froze.
Elias had no visible weapon in his hands.
He did not need one.
Something in his face convinced the man to reconsider.