The New Hand, Part Two

by J. Rosemary Moss

Genre: Slash Fan-Fiction (Bonanza)
Rating: PG-13

LINK TO PART ONE

~

Hoss was torn about the newcomer by the end of the day. He wasn’t sure what to make of him.

David had paid attention to everything Adam taught him and he had done whatever anyone asked of him quickly, efficiently and without complaint. He made some mistakes, but that was to be expected from someone new to ranching.

He got along well with the other hands. Oh, some of them teased him for his soft hands and his cultured voice, but he took no offense at their comments. He joined in their laughter with a few self-deprecating remarks of his own and soon secured their good will.

Little Joe got on well with him too—really well, in fact. Was it just Hoss’s imagination, or had David made an extra effort to win Joe over?

“He sure knows how to get himself liked,” Hoss commented to Adam when the two of them chanced to stand some distance from the others.

Adam nodded as he took a long gulp from his canteen. “Yeah,” he agreed as he finished. “That’s David’s specialty. Want a drink?”

Hoss accepted the canteen and took a long gulp of his own. “How do you know him?” he asked afterwards.

Adam sighed and leaned back against the fence. “I met him a few weeks ago in San Francisco. Jake Conner had hired him to represent him in the bidding on Ed Nile’s timber contract.”

“Ed Niles—didn’t you win that bid for us?” Hoss asked.

Adam nodded.

Hoss let out a low whistle. “So you two were rivals.”

“Yes, we were,” Adam agreed. “Friendly rivals—at least at first. We got along quite well until I found out what David had done to sew up the bid. His method wasn’t quite illegal, but it was certainly underhanded and unscrupulous.”

“What did he do?” Hoss demanded.

Adam shook his head abruptly. “That doesn’t matter,” he said. “Suffice to say that he was risking quite a scandal.”

Hoss mulled that over. “Did you expose him?”

There was a long moment of silence. “In a manner of speaking,” Adam said at last. “I made sure that he fell out of favor with Ed Niles. But I did what I could to keep the scandal down.”

Hoss gave his brother a hard look. “Adam, how can you trust the fellow?”

“I don’t,” he answered. “David’s up to something—he certainly could have found better work than this.”

“So you want to keep him close to you, is that it?” Hoss asked as he set the canteen down.

“That’s it,” Adam agreed.

“He’s a smart one, Adam. He’ll figure out that you don’t trust him,” Hoss objected.

Adam shrugged. “Oh, he knows that already. When David gave you my name as a reference he was issuing me a challenge. He knew that I wouldn’t refuse it.”

Hoss made a face at that. “I don’t like this, older brother. What if this game David has challenged you to turns out to be dangerous?”

“That’s all the more reason to keep him close at hand rather than out of sight,” Adam insisted. “Come on, Hoss—let’s get back to work.”

LINK TO PART THREE