Brendan rolled his eyes. "Cows like to spread out a little bit." That really had nothing to do with needing more than the shoreline to the lake, but he had to make some retort to Clara's remarks.
"You can tell Billy and Greer my father will be hearing of this. It is shameful conduct to attempt to bushwhack a girl."
"Them? I ain't gonna tell 'em that. I'll let 'em hear it from someone else."
He'd risked enough by riding down here, and he hadn't even known what he was getting himself into. Now he knew, and wished that he hadn't been so eager to meet Clara. This whole thing was Billy's fault, he concluded in his mind. It wasn't that he thought what Billy was doing was wrong that he minded - maybe it was wrong - it was that the baby-faced hand had drawn him into it for fun.
And "for the record," apparently her holding a gun on him had been a bluff. Well, he might have guessed. She didn't seem mean enough to shoot anyone even if she needed to.
"For th' record, I don't care." With that intended barb cast, he shoved his hat on his head, stood, and swung himself up onto his horse's back and looked down at her.
"The cows tell you that, did they?" Clara smirked.
He was leaving then so she asked he pass on a message to Billy and Greer. He refused. She then wanted him to realize that she really wouldn't have shot him (well unless he made the first move to do something aggressive). She did not want him to think she was that sort of a person who would simply kill a stranger.
"For th' record, I don't care," he shoved his hat on his head, stood, and swung himself up onto his horse's back and looked down at her.
"Very well then, be that way. There is nothing more for us to say, be off with you. Join your ...friends and do what the Steelgraves tell you. Good day!" Clara now glared.
Cows did tell you things, if you paid enough attention. But Clara wouldn't understand that, so Brendan didn't try to make her. His last sentence had annoyed Clara, it seemed. He grinned slightly as he gathered his horse's reins in one hand.
His grin faded into a less pleasant, more determined expression as she lumped him in with the rest of the Evergreen hands. And she was right to do that, but he didn't like it.
"Friends? Billy an' Greer ain't my friends after this."
Not because they had been ungentlemanly to Clara - although their shooting at her didn't feel quite right to him - but because they had sent him down here as a joke. He didn't like being laughed at and he was sure the two cowhands on the ridge were still laughing.
But he didn't mind laughing at this straight-laced girl a little bit.
"Goodday, Miss Redmond."
He raised his hat and leaned forward in the saddle a little the way he thought a gentleman might, all with a faintly mocking light in his eyes that were the same brownish color as his horse's coat.
"'f you ever go swimmin' again, I'd be glad of an in-vi-tation."
So now he claimed he was no longer friends with those two ruffians, Clara did not believe him for a minute. Just as the cowpoke seemed to be ready to ride off and rejoin his fellow Evergreen yahoos on the ridgeline, he turned in the saddle.
"If you ever go swimmin' again, I'd be glad of an in-vi-tation."
"What?" Clara was open mouthed. The utter gall of that cowpuncher!
Since her father and little brother were not around to hear, the angry young miss now decided to employ some salty language in her retort.
"Hell will freeze over before I ever invite you!"
With that, stomping mad, Clara turned and made her way toward the cabin. Why the mere thought of it was outrageous.....and yet deep down there was a flicker of tantalizing excitement to it. He was very handsome after all. Instantly she chided herself for even entertaining such a forbidden thought. What was wrong with her anyhow?
Brendan grinned at Clara's shock, although he was watching her hands to make sure she didn't grab for the Colt again.
"Hell will freeze over before I ever invite you!"
He raised his eyebrows, amused but also genuinely surprised that such a prim and proper girl would use a word like "hell." He'd even said "heckfire" instead of "hellfire" so she wouldn't go off on a tirade, but apparently she didn't care that much about language - at least not when she was angry enough.
With that ultimatum, she headed for the house, her skirts snapping as she walked. Brendan sat back in his saddle and watched her go, grinning.
"Montana winters are cold enough to freeze hell, I've heard!" he called after her before chuckling and nudging his horse with his heels.
It wasn't long before his smile faded. Now there were Billy and Greer to deal with, and he wasn't sure how to deal with them. Like Greer had said, they knew the ropes, and he didn't want to get on their bad sides. But he also didn't appreciate their joke.
Storyteller / Shared NPC
As Brendan crested the ridge amidst the treeline, there were his two fellow ranch hands waiting for him. Both were dismounted, their horses tied to a nearby branch. The looks on their faces fully mirrored their diverse personalities too. Billy was grinning away but Greer was glaring in that surly manner of his. He held a rifle in one hand but was merely grasping it in the middle, in no way attempting to wield it.
Billy let out a whoop, "Whoa there! That was quite something, pard. I had no idea she'd try to shoot ya. When we met her previous like, she didn't have no gun in her hand. Glad ta see you ain't got no bullet holes in ya."
Greer seemed much more tense and said nothing.
Brendan glanced at the two cowhands' horses, which were standing placidly with their ears leaned toward him and his horse. It looked like Billy and Greer had made themselves comfortable while waiting for him. Billy still looked quite comfortable, but Greer looked a little uncomfortable.
"Yeah, well, my hide is still in one piece, no thanks to y'all. What in hell were you thinkin', sendin' me down there?"
His voice rose in frustration - and, if he was being honest with himself - a little bit of leftover fear from being almost shot at and almost in the line of fire.
His eyes fell on the rifle in Greer's hands and he stopped, matching Greer's glare with one of his own. "And who shot that damn rifle? You could'a hit me instead of her!"
He was frustrated and almost wanted to storm over to Greer and snatch the rifle from him, but felt like he had the high ground from atop his horse.
Storyteller / Shared NPC
"Yeah, well, my hide is still in one piece, no thanks to y'all. What in hell were you thinkin', sendin' me down there?"
Billy shrugged, "Like I said, we didn't think she was dangerous. I probably should have said she was a bit feisty."
Their new hand turned his anger on Greer then, "And who shot that damn rifle? You could'a hit me instead of her!"
"Who do you think shot it?" grinned Billy.
Greer was not amused though, "Damn right I did! I was trying to save your life too. And I woulda if goddamn Billy here hadn't pushed me. I would have blown her head off, I woulda."
"Like I said, we didn't think she was dangerous. I probably should have said she was a bit feisty." Billy still seemed unapologetic and unruffled, his grin not fading.
A bit feisty? Brendan gave Billy an "older brother" look. The girl was as trigger-happy as Greer. Greer, who had been the one who shot at Clara. The one who was still holding the rifle and who seemed unrepentant about it.
"Damn right I did! I was trying to save your life too. And I woulda if goddamn Billy here hadn't pushed me. I would have blown her head off, I woulda."
"My God." Brendan's mouth dropped open. Clara was right to have held a gun on him if all the Evergreen hands thought like Greer. "You're crazy, Greer. She's a girl. You don't shoot girls!"
Something in him - maybe it was the Southern chivalry his mother had tried to teach him - was horrified. Even though he'd been a cowhand for several years now and had seen and done many things that would shock his mother, he had never come across anyone who had tried to shoot a girl.
Storyteller / Shared NPC
"My God." Brendan's mouth dropped open. "You're crazy, Greer. She's a girl. You don't shoot girls!"
"Why do you think I knocked his aim off ? We didn't come out here to shoot anyone let alone a girl," Billy was of the same opinion on this issue as Brendan.
Greer suddenly felt like they were ganging up on him and he didn't like it.
"Don't you all act holier than thou with me!" he snapped.
He then added, "It's all just a matter of time anyhow. Mr. Steelgrave is gonna want their farm and he is gonna send some men out to wipe out that whole family and bury them so no one finds their graves. I was just getting a jump on it."
"Dammit, Billy, you know how this is gonna end and lissen here Connelly, you better get used to it because if Mr. Steelgrave gives you an order, you better obey if you know what's good for ya."