Thank goodness, shopping with Colleen would keep her distracted so she wouldn’t get antsy while waiting to see the results of her project.
She turned to Colleen. “Now that we got rid of the men, let’s go have some fun shopping.”
Colleen laughed. “I’m thinking you’ve been having fun all morning manipulating every man in your life, starting with your father.”
Amelia had to admit that she was enjoying herself. She just wished she knew how to make Jesse open up a little more. The less he talked, the more she wanted him to.
Sitting at a cloth-covered table in the hotel dining area an hour later, Amelia couldn’t be happier. She so enjoyed visiting Fort Worth. The city had so much excitement to offer.
She wished she did have time to shop for a new hat, but she had plans for the afternoon, and she didn’t want to risk not having enough time to carry them through.
Perhaps she’d marry a city fella. Her father certainly knew enough lawyers and businessmen, and he was inviting them to her birthday celebration. Her brothers knew cattlemen. And they would be coming.
Soon her life could change in ways she’d never dared to imagine.
She took a small sip of hot tea from the china cup before saying to Colleen, “I can’t imagine what’s taking them so long.”
Placing her elbows on the table, Colleen leaned forward. “You know, Jesse didn’t look anything like I thought he would. I expected him to look a bit meaner. Perhaps have a scar across his face or rotting teeth or a nose knotted up from all the times it had been broken.”
Amelia nodded. “I did, too.”
“He certainly doesn’t say much,” Colleen said.
“I don’t imagine one does a lot of socializing in prison. I sorta felt like I was carrying on a one-sided conversation—except when Robert would interrupt with his views on a subject. I really need you to keep him occupied this afternoon so I can talk with Jesse alone.”
“I’m not sure Robert will agree to leave you alone with Jesse.”
“I don’t need to be alone with Jesse. I just need Robert to be far enough away that Jesse might feel a bit more comfortable talking with me. Besides, I think Robert is sweet on you. I imagine he’ll welcome having some time with you.”
“Don’t be silly.” Colleen blushed. “Robert has no interest in the likes of me.”
“Of course he does. And you’re sweet on him. Admit it. That’s the reason you always make his favorite desserts.”
“I’ll admit I think he’s a fine young man.”
“Then it shouldn’t be a hardship for you to keep him busy this afternoon when I put the next step of my plan into action,” Amelia said.
Colleen shook her head. “Why are you so interested in this outlaw?”
“I want to try to figure out why he decided to rob banks.” If she could understand that, then the knowledge might help her later if she had to deal with criminals when she became a lawyer.
“He probably started out simple enough. A bit of rebellion. Sneaking around and doing things he shouldn’t.” Colleen raised a brow. “Like spending time with a young man your father has forbidden you to.”
“He forbade me to be alone with him,” she emphasized. “I’ve never been completely alone with him.”
“I still think you’re asking for trouble.” Colleen raised her hand and waved. “There’s Robert.”
Amelia glanced casually over her shoulder…and ceased to breathe as Jesse strode toward her with a confidence he hadn’t exhibited before.
The trip to the barbershop had cleaned him up far better than she’d expected it to. His neatly trimmed hair barely touched his collar. Without shaggy black strands falling across his brow, his midnight-blue eyes mesmerized her. With his scraggly beard removed, he didn’t appear as rough.
His nose, cheeks, and chin were more prominent—rugged, as though the dry Texas wind had chiseled them from stone with care and precision. Taking its time and striving for perfection.
She couldn’t tear her gaze from him. The outlaw was without a doubt one of the handsomest young men she’d ever seen.
CHAPTER SIX
As they traveled back toward the ranch, Jesse tried not to remember the way Amelia had stared at him as he’d walked into the hotel. She’d looked the way he figured he had when he was younger and had slipped beneath the big tent at a circus and watched the trapeze act—mesmerized, unable to believe what he was seeing.
Her eyes had been big and round, her mouth slightly parted.
“Well,” she’d finally said. “Don’t you look…different.”
He wasn’t certain if looking different was a good thing or not. He’d never gone to a barber before. He’d always cut his own hair using a knife. Looking at his reflection in the mirror of the barbershop, he’d been surprised by his appearance. Although he knew five years had passed, he’d avoided mirrors in prison and had halfway expected to see a fourteen-year-old staring back at him at the barbershop.
It saddened him to see the passing years carved in his face, to see a young man where once there had been a boy. Gazing in the mirror might not have been such a good thing to do.
“Robert, why don’t you take that trail up there so we can have a picnic by the river?” Amelia suddenly said, her question more of a statement.
Robert jerked his head around. “You didn’t say anything about a picnic.”
“I thought I did.”
“No, you didn’t.”
Jesse couldn’t get over how much they argued. But there never seemed to be any anger in their words. It was more playfulness than anything. It was obvious they held a great deal of affection for each other. Jesse couldn’t imagine arguing with someone and not being angry at the same time. He’d never been around people like these, and they made him uncomfortable. Made him very much aware that he didn’t fit in.
“What did you think was in the basket that Colleen put in the back of the buggy?” Amelia asked.
Robert snapped his attention to Colleen. “I reckon I didn’t give it much thought. But I didn’t have plans for us to take time for a picnic.”
“It didn’t take us that long in Fort Worth,” Amelia said. “Surely we have time for a quick picnic. I’m certain Colleen brought your favorites, didn’t you, Colleen?”
Colleen smiled sweetly. “Of course. Fried chicken and buttermilk cake.”
Robert shook his head. “I don’t know, Amelia. They’ll be expecting us…”
“Please, Robert. I’d hate to think Colleen went to all that trouble for nothing.”
“All right. We’ll stop for a little while.”
Amelia settled back and shifted her gaze to Jesse. “Do you like picnics?”
He shrugged.
“Don’t tell me you’ve never been on one,” she said softly.
“It’s eating outside, isn’t it?” he asked.
“Yes, it’s something like that.”
“Well, I’ve eaten outside.”
He wouldn’t mind the delay that stopping to eat would grant him. He wasn’t in any all-fired hurry to return to the ranch, where everyone watched him as though they expected him to make a mistake, to bolt, or to break one of the judge’s rules.
The buggy swayed as Robert guided the horses off the main road onto a less-traveled trail. Amelia bumped against Jesse. Her cheeks burned red as she scooted away from him and held on to her side of the wagon.
It was just a slight touch, but still he felt where her shoulder had brushed against his as though she’d set a hot brand against him. Why was he so aware of everything about her, everything surrounding him? Why did she make him wish he could say he’d been on a thousand picnics, knew all the things she knew, had done all the things she’d done?
Robert brought the buggy to a halt not far from the river. He hopped out, walked swiftly around the horses, and helped Colleen and Amelia climb out of the buggy.
“Jesse, help me unhitch the horses,” Robert said, “while the ladies get things ready.”
> Jesse clambered out of the buggy. He watched as Amelia carried a quilt and Colleen carted a basket to a nearby tree. He turned and found Robert glaring at him.
“Just in case you haven’t figured it out yet…stay away from Colleen, as well as Amelia, or you’ll find yourself back at Huntsville,” Robert said.
“Now, remember,” Amelia whispered to Colleen, “as soon as we’ve finished eating, convince Robert to take you for a walk so I can talk with Jesse without Robert’s interference.”
Colleen glanced over to where Robert and Jesse were leading the horses to the river.
“I’ll try, but I don’t know if I’ll have much luck at it,” she said.
Amelia was certain she’d have a great deal of luck. She was sure Robert had a soft spot for Colleen. He’d spent too much time glancing over at her as he’d driven the buggy. It had been funny to watch because every time Colleen looked over at Robert, he’d looked away—as though he didn’t want to get caught.
Sitting on the quilt she’d spread out beneath the boughs of the tree, Amelia removed food from the basket—all the while keeping an eye on Jesse. She’d always heard that the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. She wasn’t interested in capturing Jesse’s heart, but she did hope that feeding him would put him a little more at ease and cause him to open up a bit more.
She watched as he and Robert began walking toward them—not like friends would, side by side, but as strangers, with Jesse trailing a little behind her brother. Jesse’s gaze kept darting toward the river, and she wondered if he was contemplating the merits of escaping.
Escape! Escape! The word thundered through Jesse’s mind like a herd of stampeding mustangs.
He was beginning to think everyone was playing a practical joke on him, offering freedom and all the while trying to figure out how to snatch it away.
He was supposed to stay away from Amelia. Stay away from Colleen. And while doing that, he was supposed to sit down and have a meal with them. A picnic.
He felt awkward and ignorant around these people. They didn’t seem to measure their words when they spoke to one another. They bickered with no anger. They teased, cajoled, and seemed at ease with one another.
When members of the Nightriders bickered, they usually came to blows. Jesse had been most comfortable with Sometimes-One-Eyed Pete, but still it was an uneasy partnership, never trusting Pete a hundred percent, never knowing when the gang might abandon Jesse. And abandon him they had.
He knew he had only himself to blame for being sent to prison, but still it rankled.
He followed Robert as they got closer and closer to the tree where Amelia sat on a quilt. Jesse wondered how he was going to manage to eat with these ladies and stay away from them at the same time. Because he definitely did not want to go back to prison.
If someone offered to give him all the money in the world if he’d just return to Huntsville, he’d say no. Nothing on God’s green earth was worth going back to prison for. No, sir. He’d do anything, absolutely anything, to stay out of prison. And that included following the judge’s rules.
Robert dropped onto an empty space on the quilt.
Amelia patted an area beside her. “Sit here, Jesse.”
He hesitated. Was disobeying her going to get him sent back to prison?
“Rather not,” he finally managed to say. He glanced at Robert, who nodded. What did that mean? Was it all right to sit beside Amelia, or was he approving Jesse’s unwillingness to do so?
Jesse walked past her and sat with his back against the tree trunk. He was close enough to partake of the victuals, but far enough away that he wasn’t really part of the group.
“Jesse, do you like fried chicken?” Amelia asked.
“Yes, ma’am.”
He took the chicken leg she handed him and was halfway finished eating it before he noticed Robert wasn’t eating the piece he’d been given.
“Most folks wait until everyone is served,” Robert said.
Jesse glanced around. Amelia was holding a piece of chicken; Colleen wasn’t.
“I’m sure Jesse didn’t mean to be rude,” Amelia said.
More rules. He’d do better standing by the river until these people were finished with their picnic. He raised his knee, draped his wrist over it, and dangled the chicken over the ground, waiting for everyone to be served.
Robert finally took a bite and made a sound deep in his throat that sounded like a gagged cow: “Mmm.”
“Colleen knows all Robert’s favorite foods,” Amelia said. “What’s your favorite food, Jesse?”
Anything that filled his belly.
“Don’t have a favorite.”
“I’m partial to fudge,” Amelia admitted. “Colleen, what do you like?”
“I like anything with a bit of sweetness to it,” Colleen said.
Jesse started to take a bite of chicken.
“Do you like sweet things, Jesse?” Amelia asked.
He stilled. Sure he liked sweet things. He nodded. “A good-tempered horse.”
Robert burst out laughing. Colleen covered her mouth to hide her smile.
Amelia’s eyes sparkled. “I meant sweet things to eat.”
“Oh.” He felt foolish. Outlaws never talked about what kind of food they liked to eat. He didn’t fit with these people. Never would. Still, he searched his memory for the last time he’d eaten something sweet and mumbled, “Gumdrops.”
Amelia’s face lit up. “Lemon?”
He nodded.
“Me, too. If I’d known, I could have purchased some when we were in town.”
He shook his head. “I’m already going to have to work extra days at the ranch after I’ve served my time so I can pay the judge back for everything you purchased for me today,” Jesse said. “I don’t need gumdrops.”
Everyone looked at him as though they were surprised to find him sitting near them.
He looked away from them. He really wished he were standing by the river. Alone. Alone was the way he’d been for most of his life. He was more comfortable with it than sitting with these people and trying to belong.
When they finished eating, Jesse still sat with his back against the tree. Amelia had scooted over a little so she was closer, her profile to him—portrait-perfect pretty.
A short distance away, Robert and Colleen were picking flowers near the river, where the horses had been left to graze. Every now and then Robert darted a quick glance over his shoulder—as though he expected Jesse to be stupid enough to try to escape. Not that the thought hadn’t crossed his mind at least a hundred times since he’d stepped off the train yesterday.
He longed for the freedom that running would give him. But the thought of getting caught kept him tethered to the spot. He didn’t want to go back to prison.
“I think Colleen likes Robert,” Amelia said wistfully. “And he likes her, but they’re like two skittish horses prancing around each other.”
She looked at him. “Do you think that’s the way one goes about courting?”
“How would I know?”
She smiled self-consciously. “I guess there weren’t many women in prison.”
He glared at her. “None at all.”
She blushed becomingly, and Jesse cursed himself for taking his frustrations out on her.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.
The words sounded strange coming out of his mouth. He couldn’t recall ever using them before.
She lifted her gaze to him. “That’s all right. I suspect the abrupt change to your life takes a bit of adjustment.”
She nibbled on her bottom lip. “Can I ask you a question?”
“You can ask,” he told her. “Doesn’t mean I’ll answer.”
She wiggled until she’d inched a bit closer to him. “Why did the leader of the Nightriders gang go by the name of Sometimes-One-Eyed Pete?”
“Because he had a glass eye.”
Furrowing her brow delicately, she shook her head. “So his name referre
d to his one good eye?”
“Not exactly. When he played poker and ran out of money, he’d bet his glass eye. If he lost”—he shrugged—“for a while, he’d only have one eye.”
She grimaced. “That’s rather disgusting.”
“Yeah, it could be, but that was Pete.”
It had been a long while since he’d spoken so many words strung together. He looked away, feeling strange that he’d said as much as he had. He’d rarely spoken in prison because talking usually led to trouble.
“Why would anyone want someone else’s glass eye?” she asked.
“Pete would tell people that a ball of gold was nestled inside the eye. By the time they’d cracked it open and discovered that he’d pulled the wool over their eyes, so to speak, we were halfway to the next town.”
“Was the man ever honest about anything?” she asked.
“Some things. He carried out every threat I ever heard him make.”
“He sounds like an absolutely charming man,” she said.
“He wasn’t really.”
“I was being sarcastic,” she said.
“Oh.”
He wasn’t much good at talking with a pretty lady. He could discuss the quickest route to take out of town after robbing its bank, could explain the best way to break into a safe, and could describe the particulars of dressing a wound. He didn’t think Amelia would be interested in the topics he knew something about.
So he let the silence stretch between them. He listened to the breeze rustling the leaves overhead, the birds twittering, and the occasional neigh of a horse. It was a strange thing, sitting with a girl on a warm afternoon.
He was startled when she reached over and touched the scar on his wrist.
“That must have hurt,” she said softly, sympathetically.
He looked at her ivory finger against his tanned skin, and slowly lifted his gaze to her green eyes.
“I’m sorry they hurt you,” she said.
He didn’t know what to say. No one had ever shown him this much kindness. He felt a knot rise in his throat that made it difficult to swallow. She wasn’t supposed to be nice to him. She was supposed to stay away from him.
He glanced toward the river. The last thing he wanted her brother to see was her touching Jesse’s arm. He shifted slightly so her hand fell away from him.
Amelia and the Outlaw Page 5