He watched her collect her rifle and walk back through the thinning crowd with her chin held level, despite the muttered comments still trailing after her, and found himself cataloging details he had no business cataloging about a woman connected to a survey he was contractually obligated to complete.
the particular set of her shoulders that refused to apologize for taking up space in a contest built for men. The steadiness of hands that had clearly done considerably harder work than embroidery, the flicker of something raw and grieving beneath her composure whenever her gaze drifted toward the brother's coat she wore like armor. He told himself, riding back to his rented room above the mercantile that evening, that a company man had no business feeling anything beyond professional curiosity about a family he was sent to survey for foreclosure. He told himself that through most of a sleepless night and believed it considerably less by morning than he had at sundown.
The contest's chief official, a heavy set merchant named Thaddius Kern, who had underwritten a considerable portion of the purse himself, attempted to disqualify Josie from the final round on the grounds that the contest rules, drafted decades earlier, specified competitors as gentlemen of the county, and had never anticipated a woman's entry at all. Josie met his objection with the same flat steadiness she'd brought to the firing line, producing her paid entry receipt, and pointing out in a voice pitched to carry across the gathering crowd, that Kern's own rules committee had accepted her entry fee without objection 3 weeks prior, and could not now retroactively invent a disqualification, simply because she had proven herself the finest shot on the field. " This is a matter of propriety, Miss Hartwell, not merely rules. " Kern said, drawing himself up with the particular self-importance of a man accustomed to having his objections respected without challenge. " A young unmarried woman competing against men for cash money reflects poorly on this town's standards." "
Whatever the state of your entry paperwork, my paperwork was accepted. My entry fee was collected, and my shooting has been the finest on this field all morning, witnessed by every soul standing in this crowd. Josie said, not raising her voice, though something in its steadiness carried further than shouting would have. I'd ask you to explain to this same crowd exactly which rule permits you to strip a fairly won contest from a competitor after the fact, Mr. Kern, because I confess I cannot locate that particular clause myself, and I suspect the newspaper correspondent standing behind you would be considerably interested in your answer. " It was Wade, standing near enough to the confrontation to hear every word, who stepped forward at that moment, drawn by an impulse he did not fully examine before acting on it, and addressed Kern directly with the calm authority of a man accustomed to settling disputes among rough cattle hands. "
The lady's entry was accepted, and her shooting speaks for itself, Mr. Kern, and I'd wager the crowd gathered here would take considerably poorly to watching a fair win stripped away on a technicality invented after the fact, Wade said. Seems to me the simplest path forward is letting the results stand as shot, unless you're prepared to explain to every paying spectator here exactly why they should trust future contests you oversee. " Kern, faced with a restless crowd and a newspaper correspondent taking visible notes, backed down from his objection with visible reluctance, muttering something about reviewing the rules committee's charter before slinking away toward the refreshment tent with the particular wounded dignity of a man who knows he has lost an argument in front of the very public whose respect he depends on for his merchant trade. The crowd's mood shifted visibly in Josie's favor the moment Kern retreated. Several onlookers who had muttered objections at her entry, now calling out congratulations, though Josie accepted the sudden goodwill, with the same guarded composure she'd worn throughout the contest.
understanding that public opinion in a town like Larkspur could shift again just as quickly if given sufficient reason. Josie's win was confirmed and the purse awarded before the afternoon concluded, though the victory brought her considerably less relief than she'd anticipated once she learned from the same fairground gossip that traveled faster than any official announcement exactly who the stranger defending her entry had been. She found Wade near the livery that evening, currying his horse with the deliberate unhurriedness of a man giving himself something to do with his hands, and addressed him without any of the gratitude he might reasonably have expected. " I understand you ride for Ashkam Cattle Company," she said. " And I understand Ashkam has been circling my father's land like a buzzard, waiting on a wounded steer to finally give out.
I'll thank you for the assistance at the contest, Mr. Sutter. Though I confess, I find myself considerably suspicious of a company man's motives for defending a rancher's daughter he's been sent to survey for foreclosure. " Wade set down his currycomb, understanding that whatever answer he gave now would matter considerably more than any smooth explanation could account for. " You're not wrong about my errand, and I won't insult you by pretending otherwise," he said. I came to Larkspur to survey your father's water rights ahead of a lowball offer my company intends once the bank forecloses.