Chase The Wind

by Janelle Taylor

  “That isn’t necessary. I’m fully covered.”

  “I need the exercise and I want to scout the area, make sure nobody’s camping too close to us. If there’s trouble, fire a shot in the air.”

  Beth watched him swing onto his black stallion without saddling the horse, then depart. From the sound of it, he hadn’t halted nearby. She shrugged and went to work on her hair. She wasn’t sure if she was pleased he was preventing temptation from getting too powerful to handle or if she was disappointed that he mastered his feelings so well. His excuse for leaving camp was just that, a guileful and defensive excuse.

  When her long tresses were almost dried by the heat, she braided them and covered her head with a rebozo to keep from chilling it during the night, as the temperature dropped in the desert after sundown. She climbed into her bedroll and closed her eyes, feeling relaxed and weary.

  Navarro was surprised to find her asleep when he returned. He was quiet to prevent disturbing her muchneeded slumber. Her back was to him and across the campfire but her breathing told him she wasn’t faking sleep. He stripped off his shirt and removed his boots, but not his pants. He settled himself down and went to sleep.

  During the night, Beth stirred and awakened when a nocturnal insect played on her hand. She shook it off and watched it crawl away beneath the illuminating full moon, pleased she hadn’t screamed and startled the man nearby. She looked across the smouldering campfire to find her partner snoozing and facing in the other direction. Accustomed to the weather or used to being outdoors or simply being a hot-natured person, Navarro had pushed down the cover to cool his torso. Her eyes widened in shock: his broad back and shoulders exposed scars from brutal…beatings! Some, she reasoned, weren’t from Carl Breed’s belt or a switch during childhood. She recognized lash marks when she saw them. Her gaze roamed the marred terrain as empathy and questions filled her. Who had dared whip him and so viciously only a few years ago? How could anyone get the upper hand with this gun-slinging legend? Surely that foolish attacker wasn’t still alive. Concealing that horrible secret could explain why he was always last to go to bed, first to rise, and always shirted. Why had he risked letting her make that grim discovery tonight? Or had he assumed he’d awaken and dress before she did, as usual? The sight of such cruelties prevented her from returning to sleep for a long time.

  When Beth awoke later than normal, Navarro wasn’t in or near camp as far as her senses could detect. She went behind some rocks to dress. She wanted to look good this morning and did a thorough grooming. She donned a medium-blue shirt and riding skirt and a tan leather vest. She brushed her hair and let it tumble free until she was ready to leave. She tied a red-and-blue bandana around her neck, then gathered her things.

  “Coffee and food’s about ready,” he said as she approached from his rear. He was eager to get on the road, get away from the heady setting.

  “Good, I’m hungry.” She paused and gazed at his back where a dark shirt concealed a terrible secret. You’ve suffered so much in your life, Navarro; no wonder you’re so hard and tough. But you can be so gentle and tender when—

  “You gonna burn a hole in me with those powerful green eyes or come take a seat?” he joked.

  “A cocky smartmouth this morning, eh? Because I was being lazy?”

  “You looked and sounded tired, so I gave you some extra winks.”

  She murmured, “Always a kind and considerate partner. Thank you.” She tossed her things onto her rumpled bedroll and sat down opposite him.

  Navarro stopped pouring coffee and gaped at Beth. Her wavy tresses flamed like the boulders at Red Rock with the noon sun beaming down on them! What was she trying to pull on him with this cruel stunt, making herself a redhead like Jessie? No, not as dark as Jessie’s chestnut curls—Beth’s were lighter, much lighter. “What in blazes did you do to your hair, Mrs. Wind? Get that stuff off of it this minute!”

  The astonished woman murmured, “I beg your pardon?”

  “Why did you do that last night then hide it until this morning?”

  “Hide it? I covered my head because it was chilly and my hair was still damp when I turned in. All I did was wash out the black dye I was using to look like Elizabeth Lawrence; it was part of my disguise, like the blond color I used when I was Sunshine Nellie on that slavery assignment. This is my natural color, Navarro.” Why, she wondered, was he so angry? “I’m sorry if you don’t like it, but it’s the real me. Dan said it was all right to remove the dye after we were far away from Tucson. Besides, I don’t have enough of the liquid he gave me to keep fiery roots from showing soon; that would surely be suspicious. Who’s going to think to ask if Elizabeth has red or black hair? I told you that no one recognizes me after an assignment because I use disguises. Women started coloring their hair before Christ was born: Grecian and Roman women. Dan gets the ingredients I need from China and France. What difference does my hair color make to you? We’re only temporary partners, so you won’t have to endure it for life.”

  Several words stuck in Navarro’s head: “Dan said it was all right to remove…far away from Tucson.” The talk they’d had that Sunday night before he met Beth flashed through his troubled mind. His friend and superior had known her name was Wind and her hair was red. Knowing how those two facts would strike him, Dan had kept them a secret!

  “I asked, Navarro, what difference does my hair color make? I accept you as you are. Do you hate redheads? Are you the prejudiced one on our team?” Beth was disquieted by the strange way in which he stared at her and how long he pondered his answer. “Well, what is it?”

  “I don’t dislike redheads. You just caught me by surprise changing your looks. I thought you were pulling a joke or a trick on me.”

  That reply confused her. “Trick or joke? I don’t understand.”

  He lowered his gaze and finished pouring the coffee. “Doesn’t matter now. Forget it. Let’s eat, break camp, and ride.”

  “May I ask one question?”

  He nodded but sent a glance of reluctance.

  “Was your strong reaction because of something a redhead did to you in the past? Did my hair bring to mind a bad memory?” Once more, she received that piercing stare and lengthy silence as he decided whether or not to answer and, if he did, what to say.

  “Yes, so you or Dan should have told me the truth. Drop it.”

  That response told Beth a lot. “In Dan’s defense, Navarro, he didn’t expose your secret to me. Nor did he order me not to reveal this to you,” she added, touching her coppery locks. “I’m sure he thought I’d tell you about my assignments and disguises before we left Tucson. I was about to do so that day we went riding outside of town, but we were interrupted, remember?” He nodded again with visible reluctance. “Frankly, I’m glad you didn’t discover the truth in Tucson because it’s obvious you wouldn’t have given yourself time and opportunity to get to know me. You asked me if what you exposed about yourself made me want to quit traveling with you, so I’ll ask the same question. Does this matter that much to you? Will it be a problem between us?”

  “Nope.”

  A quick answer that time. “Good. I’ll get packed while you eat.”

  As she began doing so, he asked, “Aren’t you gonna eat?”

  “No. You get finished. We’re running late. I’ll be ready soon.”

  “I thought you were hungry.”

  “I was. Food will taste better at noon when my appetite returns.”

  He realized he’d upset her. “Look, Beth, I’m—”

  She almost whirled from her tasks to stare at him. “Drop it, for now.”

  “Sure, for now. We’ll settle it later so it won’t interfere with work.”

  “I never allow anything to jeopardize my cases, so don’t worry.”

  Navarro experienced pangs of guilt and dismay over hurting her. He blamed Dan for provoking the nasty episode. He concluded it was best to let her settle down before they had a serious talk.

  As Beth prepared to depar
t, she held silent. Yet, she knew there was plenty to learn about his odd behavior, and resolved she would. As surely as the sky was clear and blue today, a redhead had done him wrong, and Navarro Breed wasn’t a man to cross or betray. Curse you, witch, for hurting him so deeply after all he’d been through since birth! We were getting along so well; now, your blasted ghost has ruined things between us, made him put me in the same wicked light he sees you in! Wherever and whomever you are, I hopeyou’re as miserable asyou’ve made him. Beth reasoned on the destructive female’s identity. It couldn’t be Mary Louise Lane because he’d called her “that yellow-haired creature.” It couldn’t be Jessica Lane Cordell because he spoke too highly and affectionately of her and was returning to her very home. Who? What happened? When?

  Beth continued her chore with a busy mind. Navarro had lived and worked at the ranch for months, risked his life to help, returned to protect them after being kicked off by the owner. Had he done so because it was more than a job to him? Had there been another female living there, one he hadn’t mentioned yet? Had he fallen in love for the first and only time with a woman who had chosen another man over him? Did he believe she had done so because of who and what he was? Or had she belonged to another before his arrival? Could that be it?…No, surely not.

  While Navarro finished eating, doused the fire, and loaded his things, he worried about Daniel Withers’s reason for withholding those two important facts from him. That night in Tucson, Dan had coaxed him to forget what the shaman had said or to find another woman to fit the sacred vision. Had Dan picked a female who matched it to help draw him away from Jessie? Even chose one who agreed with the Apache saying when Jessie didn’t?

  If Dan had tried to influence and alter his emotions, it wouldn’t work because he still loved Jessie, and a man couldn’t love two women. Nor could a man fall for a second female when he hadn’t stood up after taking a tumble over the first one. Besides, he wasn’t going to make the mistake of giving his heart and soul to another woman and risk being hurt again. Yet, it might be only a coincidence that Bethany Wind fit both descriptions. Or maybe it was just another one of life’s cruel tricks on him. He wished the spirits would find someone else to taunt and harm, as surely they had given him more grief than he deserved.

  As his anger faded and his wits cleared, Navarro decided it was nice of his friend to try to find him a replacement; to want him to have love, a home and family, freedom from torment. But Dan shouldn’t interfere with destiny because his feelings and ties to his past couldn’t be changed. He’d have to be careful not to allow Beth’s red hair and last name to fool him into thinking Dan might be right. He’d soon learn when he confronted his friend if Dan had an ulterior motive for selecting Beth.

  Ulterior motive…well, maybe he’d used one himself with his partner. Maybe he had been telling Beth all those terrible things about himself to discourage her and make her want to give up working and traveling with him. Maybe he didn’t want to have her along as his alleged wife when he saw Jessie and Lane for the first time in years. He had been unable to get them and the things he was missing sharing with them out of his mind.

  Were Dan and Beth fooling with his head and trying to confuse and change him, make him think crazy things and stir up unwanted feelings? That ordeal with Jessie, then Lane, had ripped him apart. He didn’t want another woman messing with his emotions. True, he had taken women when a physical need arose but they hadn’t meant anything to him. Now, Beth was looking and acting as if she was trying to touch his heart. He couldn’t allow it because he had won one lady’s love and the chance of doing that again was cactus hair slim to none. Nope, no more heart- and soul-shredding for him.

  Two hours before dark, the two agents halted to camp at a location that was halfway across New Mexico.

  Navarro was all too aware of the new silence and distance between them. If things continued in this bloody vein, he decided, they would never delude Jessie, Matt, or others about being in love. The Texas couple wouldn’t believe they were only passing through and he wanted to introduce them to his wife to let them see he was happy and settling down, to let them know they had nothing to fear from him ever laying claim to his son. He had to convince them he was no threat to their present or future. To do so, he had to relax Beth, win her over again.

  “While that rabbit’s cooking, why don’t you show me how skilled you are with your weapons while we have privacy for firing?”

  “Sure. I’ll get them. Choose the targets.” As she went to fetch her arms, Beth concluded he was up to something, perhaps a last attempt to get rid of her, but she hoped not. She worried that she had permitted her loneliness over Steven’s loss and an unexpected desire for this magnificent male to cloud her wits. For countless reasons, there could never be anything between her and Navarro, so she mustn’t do anything to complicate her life or endanger their mission. Yet, if her partner didn’t stop his weird moods and deal with his secrets, they would surely cause problems.

  She returned to where he was standing. “Ready. What’s first?”

  “Show me how you use your pistol, then rifle and derringer.”

  Though nervous around him tonight, she proved her skills within ten minutes. She waited while he strung a bow from a limber sapling he’d cut before reaching the arid region. As he worked, she noticed how muscles rippled underneath his snug shirt and in forearms below rolled sleeves. He’d removed his hat and fingercombed the mussed sections. Why, she fretted, did he have to be so handsome and virile, so troubled and unreachable? She accepted the well-crafted bow and arrows he passed to her one at a time. She knew from his reaction and expression he was amazed and pleased that she and Dan had told the truth about her capabilities. Maybe she was mistaken and he wasn’t trying to trip her up, only restore peace. “What about you? Do I get to test your talents?”

  Beth watched him use pistols, rifle, hatchet, and whip. His lightning speed, deftness, and accuracy were astonishing. Even when she tossed two targets in opposite directions or multiple ones into the air, he never missed. She wondered if the pop of the whip made him cringe inside and if he’d chosen to master it for that reason. She told him, “As Dan said, you are matchless. It’s too late tonight, but I hope you’ll teach me those extra skills another day.”

  He snaked the whip around her waist and pulled her to him with a roguish grin. “It’s a promise, and it should be quick and simple for you.”

  “Thanks for the compliment and confidence. How did you capture me like this without inflicting pain or damage? Those targets were ripped to shreds when you struck them.”

  “Control and know-how. You have to conquer its power and use it with just the right touch and force. If not, you’ve made a lifetime enemy.”

  She inhaled his manly scent as he freed her. When his gaze met hers, she knew she had to escape his pull in a hurry. “Let’s eat; I’m starved.”

  Navarro watched her retreat toward the campfire where their meal was sending off enticing smells. The hair that framed her fair-skinned face and flowed down her shoulders was a blaze of fiery splendor, even in the dimming light. Her steps were light and agile, and her hips swayed with graceful movement. She hadn’t missed a target—still or in motion—and only a few shots hadn’t been dead center. He had expected her to be proficient, but not expert. Only the bow and arrows gave her difficulty but she explained she was rusty with them. Not once had the loud discharges of bullets caused her to jerk or squeal, as she had in town. She had been at ease with each of the weapons. Truth was, he’d never seen a female—or many males—who was a better marksman, and he’d told her so. At least, he had no worries in that area. But he did in another one. Her leafy gaze was guarded. She’d barely smiled or looked at him, and had used only necessary words. She hadn’t flinched when he touched her, but it seemed she’d tried to avoid contact. He knew there was only one way to regain their lost rapport and to prove he liked and trusted her—to confide something personal and important. He went to join her and put aside his w
eapons where he took a seat at the campfire.

  As he cut off hunks of the meat and put them on her plate, he asked, “Have you placed the name Carl Breed yet?”

  Beth looked at his lowered head, his expression hidden by its angle and her position. His evocative tone intrigued her. “What?”

  For a moment, he glanced up and let their gazes fuse. “Carl Breed, my father. You don’t recognize the name?” She shook her head. “You don’t go over old records and newspaper clippings when you work an area?”

  “Only when I think I may find something relevant to my case. Why?”

  As he served his plate, he asked, “Did you do it in Tucson?”

  “Yes, but I only went back a few years to see if anything about land disputes or Harrison had been reported. I told the man at the newspaper I was trying to learn about where I’d moved and he believed me. Why?”

  “Maybe you didn’t come across anything about him because Carl Breed was news years and years ago, bad news. So was I, Beth. Last account would have been in early ‘73, so I don’t suppose you went back that far.”

  She studied him. “No. What are you hinting at?”

  “What I should’ve finished telling you the other day. You said you don’t mind working and traveling with a half-breed bastard, but how about an ex-outlaw and ex-prisoner?” He watched her gaze widen in surprise.

  “You?” She saw him nod. “But you’re a lawman, a Special Agent.”

  “I wasn’t always on the right side of the law, and I served time for that stupid mistake, lots of time. Dan and I should’ve told you your partner was a hardened desperado who escaped a hangman’s noose by a cactus hair and almost died in an Arizona hellhole of a prison.” Those big green eyes enlarged even more as she studied him for signs of deceit or jest.

  “I don’t believe it. You’re a legend, the best, a good man.”

  “When I was a gunslinger and outlaw, I was also a legend, the best in those areas. I even rode with my father’s gang for a while.”