Travis was sorry Pa and Simon hadn't lived to see tough old Raford now. Hiding in a hovel, drinking…terrified of a pretty gal with a special deck of cards. Of course, having seen the determination in those sparkling aquamarine eyes, Travis wasn't sure Rafe had overestimated his opponent. The gal was plenty tough, too.
Come daylight, they were in for one hell of a show.
CHAPTER 21
Sparkle nodded as Travis explained his brother refused to see her. She waited until they'd finished breakfast and Travis headed out to start his chores. Mrs. Abbott was baking bread. There was no one to stop Sparkle when she grabbed a kitchen chair and dragged it outside. She huffed across the frigid crust blanketing the ground and set the chair twenty feet from the cabin's steps.
She'd seen Travis slip out the night before with Rafe's coat in his arms. She'd watched from her window and made note of where he'd gone. The cabin's door was closed, the curtains of the big glazed window beside the door tightly drawn. Sparkle knew that wouldn't stop Rafe from detecting her presence. He had a habit of peeking through window curtains, constantly checking his surroundings. She walked around the side of the log structure and discovered another, smaller, window up high. It was slightly ajar.
"Rafe," she called loudly from beneath it, "I'm not leaving until you talk to me. It's about Hoffman and it's important." He gave no indication he'd heard. "I'll be waiting outside your door." She plunked herself down on the wood seat and started her vigil.
Rafe could have incredible patience. She recalled waiting for Slocumb night after night in Dodge. But she'd learned to wait too, sitting for hours at the beside of a comatose Jace. And she had another advantage. Rafe hated feeling trapped. He wouldn't be able to stay inside that small cabin long. Cold weather might nip at her nose and fingers, but she could outlast him.
Or so she'd thought. But she was still sitting there, bottom numb and feet frozen, at noon. She retreated to the main house for some coffee and a sandwich, then returned to her post. The curtains were still closed. She walked up and lightly pushed the door. She was surprised when it moved, but the instant it began to swing inward, she pulled her fingers back.
Rafe's voice came low and menacing from the other side. "Push that friggin' door another inch, I'll blow your fool head off."
She went back to her chair. A cowhand squatted down beside her, offering a hopeful smile and a pat on the shoulder. "Probably thought it was one of us. He wouldn't shoot a lady."
"I'm not so certain of that," Sparkle answered, thinking of the peacemaker against her chin in the Scarlet Lady's hallway…and the hateful way Rafe had looked at her before leaving the house in Kansas City.
"Nobody's allowed in there," the stranger explained. "Even the foreman has to knock and wait for Rafe to open up. It's one of the first rules you learn when you hire on. Even after he goes in the spring, none of us set foot inside. Believe me, the way those other fellas snore, many's the night I been tempted to break the rule and take Rafe's bunk when he's away. Want me to try talkin' to him?"
She shook her head. "And tell the others to stay away, please. This is between the two of us. He can't stay inside forever."
She wasn't feeling so confident hours later, as she and Travis ate alone in silence. Travis hadn't said a word about her failed mission. Sparkle wondered if he thought she was a madwoman, or just bent on proving she could be more obstinate than his brother. It didn't really matter, as long as Travis didn't sabotage her efforts.
"I'm going to bed now," she announced, clearing her plate and utensils from the table. "thank you for allowing me to stay. I know I'm imposing, but I don't want anyone to bring food or coffee out to the cabin. I honestly need to speak to Rafe. I need him to get cabin fever bad enough to face me."
"Miz Abbott's already smuggled some vittles out to him," Travis admitted. "But if you want to know my position…as long as you don't disrupt work on this spread, you're welcome to stay until Doomsday."
Sparkle lay awake for a long time before the solution came to her.
The next morning she ate breakfast alone. Travis had already gone out. Sparkle asked Mrs. Abbott to help her mix up a batch of johnnycakes. The housekeeper greased a big skillet and showed Sparkle how to fry up the cornmeal cakes. Sparkle dusted off her hands and returned the spare apron. Then she startled the older woman by asking if Travis would meet her in the barn.
Mrs. Abbott frowned as Sparkle filled a wooden platter with her creations. "Travis and the hands don't eat in the barn, Miss. You'll have to take those to the bunkhouse."
"These aren't for the men. Please have Travis meet me in the barn. I want to buy a horse."
He came stalking through the barn door an hour later. "Sparkle, I don't know what this is about, but I got no spare horses to sell. You'd need two. One just for the trunk you're haulin' all over creation."
"I'm only interested in the horse you're boarding. Snatch."
"Have you lost your mind? If I tried to sell that sorrel, Rafe would—"
"Come storming out of that cabin to stop you?"
Brown eyes widened and a playful smile curved Travis' lips. "You know, Miss LaFleur, that's one hell of a notion. Just sneaky enough to work, too. How much you offerin'? Keep in mind now, I'm only negotiatin' on behalf of his owner, who'd set a mighty high price. The horse is trained special."
"I know, but he won't be showing off his trick today. I've already fed him a whole batch of you-know-whats."
Travis guffawed.
"I've got a bank draft made out to Rafe for three thousand dollars," Sparkle went on. "I'll take this platter back to the kitchen and go get it. You take Snatch out in clear view of the cabin. I'll meet you back here and we'll light your brother's fuse."
They examined Snatch from every angle. Travis raised his voice a notch and boasted he'd had his blacksmith put a new set of shoes on the sorrel only weeks before. Sparkle handed over the folded paper and they shook hands, then she reached for the reins.
At that very second, the cabin door opened and Rafe barreled out, Colt in his hand. "Just what in Tarnation you doin' with my horse?"
"Ain't yours now," Travis corrected. "I sold him. Sorrel ain't done a thing but turn hay into manure for months. Finally made a profit on him."
"Snatch is mine, and he ain't for sale!" Rafe glared at Sparkle, then spoke to the animal. "Snatch, johnnycakes"
Snatch shifted his weight, but both forelegs remained on the ground. "I said johnnycakes, you broomtail."
The stallion offered Sparkle his warm nose. "You're welcome," she said softly before meeting Rafe's murderous gaze. "I fed him a whole batch, Rafe. He doesn't have to kick for them."
Rafe turned his fury on his brother. "Ain't sellin' him to anybody, least of all her."
Travis crossed his arms across his chest. "Miss LaFleur's offered top dollar. You weren't cheated."
"The price ain't the point," Rafe snarled, raising the muzzle of his pistol. "He's my horse. Just like this here's my gun and that's my cabin. You don't want him eatin' up your fodder, fine. I'll ride out. Don't need no—"
"Good," Travis interjected. "Because I been thinkin' I'd knock down the cabin, since you're so positive you won't be back. Get rid of that foul smell."
Rafe looked momentarily stymied. He glanced at Sparkle for a brief second, then seemed to address the ground. "Give Snatch back. You ain't got no use for a stallion, and I don't want your money."
Travis' tone was all business. "Too late. She bought him and paid for him. You'll have to buy him back. And while we're settlin' ownership issues…" His rifle appeared out of nowhere. Sparkle hadn't even noticed he'd been carrying the long gun. "This here's my gun, Raford, and it's loaded." He pointed it squarely at his brother's forehead. "Step away from Snatch and let Miss LaFleur go on her way. She's got a train to catch."
"Don't be a jackass. You ain't about to shoot your own brother."
"Seems we need a clear understandin' of who runs this spread," Travis replied, steel in his voice. "You give me
money for stock and such now and again, but it hardly makes up for what it costs me to feed you and that sorrel for months at a stretch. You're snarlin' at me for sellin' a horse for four times what he's worth. Might take orders or advice from a partner, but you made it real clear you're not my partner. Told me over and over I'm the owner of this spread and you're just a visitor on it. Which way is it?"
Rafe fairly vibrated with suppressed anger. "You're tearin' the scab off that, just cause she showed up?" He reached to grab onto the reins Sparkle still held.
"Sparkle bein' here makes me realize it's time to get it straight. You want her gone, but you wouldn't tell her. She wanted to do business, but you wouldn't talk to her. I did, made a sound business deal for you, and you're carpin' about that. My welcome mat's wearin' a bit thin."
"Fine. I guess it's straight. You want me out, Mr. Boss Man? That what you want?"
Travis jerked the reins so abruptly, both Rafe and Sparkle lost their grips."Nope. I want Snatch back in my barn, where he belongs. I want your ornery butt beside Sparkle's on the parlor sofa." He handed Rafe the bank draft and motioned with his rifle barrel again. "Want my hands back to work, with no more excuses to gawk at this pretty gal or the circus that's taken over my ranch. And I want you to find your damned common sense, Raford. Now, git!"
CHAPTER 22
Rafe defied Travis by standing against the far wall, as far as possible from where Sparkle sat. He told himself he wasn't going to look at her. He didn't dare. Not only because she was still so damned pretty—in fact, if anything, it seemed she'd gotten better looking in the months since he'd last seen her. Her expression outside had been all crumpled, like any minute she was going to break down and cry. He wanted no part of that. No way. He had to think about something else.
Money. That was always a smart thing to ponder. He studied the paper Travis had shoved into his hand.
Bank drafts in Rafe's name, even for mind-boggling amounts, weren't all that rare. But this one made him instantly curious, the prickly sort of curious that demanded investigation. How the hell had Sparkle laid her hands on so much, and why offer it to him? That second question burned in his mind. He'd walked out on her…now this generosity out of nowhere. Didn't make any sense.
"There's three thousand here," he said after a long, awkward silence. "Must want that horse awful bad."
He hadn't actually spoken to the woman across the room. He'd just been thinking out loud, remarking to the furniture. But a soft feminine voice responded.
"I don't want your horse. I just had to make you come out. That's a bounty you're holding. It was buried in Texas near the town I lived in as a child."
Rafe extended the paper toward her. "Naw, you earned your share of the Slocumb reward. Ain't got to pay for them clothes or jewelry, if that's—"
"I told you, this has to do with Hoffman."
"What, did he take you to dig up some money?" He knew he sounded unreasonably sarcastic. It was deliberate. She'd already convinced Travis to play along in her game, whatever it was. If she thought she could use Hoffman as a wedge…
"No," she answered smoothly. "I can explain how I got it, but it's complicated. There's a critical point at the beginning of the story I'd have to relate first."
Rafe muttered an expletive beneath his breath. Of course, it couldn't be simple. "Spit it out and let's get this done."
"Remember how I swore I'd never lied to you…about being a virgin and everything?"
He groaned and closed his eyes. "Stick to the money."
"I lied about one thing, Rafe. The thing you got so distressed about."
His eyes popped back open and he stared at her. He knew it was tantamount to lifting rocks and hunting for rattlesnakes, but he lowered himself into an overstuffed chair. "You didn't lie about it," he amended. "You took your sweet time tellin' me, but you were straight enough in sayin' there was another fella. Just didn't say who. The who made all the difference."
She exhaled audibly. "You were partly right. Jace was the man I had feelings for. But he's not my brother. We're not related."
For a second Rafe wondered if Travis had somehow snuck into the front room and smacked him in the head with his rifle butt. Not related? "There's no blood between you?" he asked carefully.
She shook her head. Rafe scowled. "They why'd you put on like he—"
"My mother and I were boarders in the Flowers family home down in Texas. When I was nine, Jace was shot along with his father late one night. A week later, my mother was murdered. Jace's mother was the only adult left. She was certain the men would come back to kill everyone in the household—especially if they learned Jace had survived the shooting. His father helped an outlaw friend of his hide stolen loot from a robbery."
"Big trouble."
"Yes," she nodded. "She smuggled us out of Texas to her aunt's place in Kansas City and changed her name to LaFleur. It was her idea to claim I was her daughter. Jace was barely alive at that point. He didn't remember anything. She didn't want him to. She made me promise I wouldn't tell him who I really was or what happened. I agreed to wait and see if he remembered on his own."
Rafe said nothing for a long moment. "Thinkin' you two were kin…You can understand that I just couldn't stomach what I thought was goin' on." She swallowed and bobbed her head, avoiding his gaze. Rafe thought back, hard.
"I recall you askin' about his memory. Told me himself about bein' shot, and that he couldn't remember what his pa looked like. I'd asked him which parent you favored. Noticed you didn't look all that much alike. But it doesn't change the fact that you were in love with him."
"I felt close to Jace, responsible for him. Bound to him by all that had happened. He was the only person left alive who knew where the stolen money was hidden. I'd always had this silly notion that he'd remember and we'd dig it up and be rich. I'd tell him I wasn't actually his sister. We'd get married and go to France. I'd finally see Paris."
"All nice and tidy."
She sighed and ruefully shook her head. "I'd kept that fantasy alive for so many years. I don't even remember when it began. You have to remember how young and naïve I was when I started working in the bagnios. Jace never knew I had that silly dream. Nobody knew. I'd held on to it, believed in it…When I found out he'd married Majesta, I was shocked and hurt. He destroyed everything I'd worked for."
Rafe offered a noncommittal grunt.
She rose to stare down into the glowing embers on the hearth. "I wasn't ever actually in love with him. When I started constructing my grand plan, I had no idea what love was between a man and a woman. I didn't know how it felt to love a man." She turned and gave him a tremulous smile. "Until I met you."
Rafe swallowed hard. It would be so easy to get sucked into what she was spinning. The pain in her voice and eyes seemed real. Nothing she'd said was hard for him to imagine or agree with; most of it, entirely too easy. Nobody understood better than Rafe about people hanging onto fables or fantasies to get through what had to be done. Keeping secrets, being misunderstood or misunderstanding things yourself. He could relate to all of it.
He cleared his throat loudly. "You discovered makin' love with me. You were lonely. So was I. Been that way most of my life. You never minded my scar, and I couldn't help bein' all the more drawn to you because of that. The acceptance meant a hell of a lot. Ain't gonna lie. And there's no denyin' that we're damned good in bed together, but—"
"You expect me to believe that's all it was?" she demanded. "You said you loved me. You said it meant something, that I was your woman. We're not talking about lust. It was more than that, more than loneliness. And I can prove it."
She pushed the coffee table closer to his chair and quickly dealt tarot cards into a formation. She'd pulled a deck from the pocket of her skirt. "Do you remember when I told your fortune? Can you remember some of the cards? Tell me what they were."
Rafe was about to refuse, but she abruptly dropped to her knees across from him and closed her eyes.
He was
instantly transported back to Dodge. To one night when she'd knelt before him and taken him in her mouth. When she got so aroused pleasuring him, her eyes had closed and—
"What?" He jerked back to the present, realizing she'd spoken again. His fingers had actually moved to the buttons of his fly. Thank God, her eyes were still closed.
"I asked again about the cards."
"Oh. Don't recollect."
"There was a snake on one, remember?" she coached. "Look down. You'll recognize others. I did several readings for you. You must remember some of the cards."
"Yep, this one. DEATH." He studied the pasteboard images. "And STRENGTH, with the gal and the lion. We argued about that one."
Sparkle nodded. Rafe gazed at her and felt his mouth go dry. Damn, but he wanted her, despite everything. Her hair was longer and even shinier than he remembered. He'd kill to bury his face in it, to hold her close and kiss her.
"And the Five of Swords is near THE LOVERS," she whispered. "Do you see those two cards?"
"So what? Those lovers supposed to be us?" he snorted in derision. "Is that why you're reading my fortune again, to prove—"
"This isn't yours. It's mine. The times you spotted me reading my own fortune, like in the panel crib that night…You never saw the actual cards, did you? I never let you see them."
"Reckon not." Rafe couldn't say why all this made his skin crawl, but suddenly every nerve in his body was taut.
"The central card is the Queen of Swords, a woman. Me. I don't need to look to tell you what's there. The cards have come up the same for awhile now. I know them by rote." She clicked off names and positions. If he hadn't watched her shuffle and deal…
The Trailrider's Fortune Page 24