Amelia and the Outlaw

by Lorraine Heath

  He’d been foolish to begin thinking that everything would be all right—that he was just like everyone else.

  They’d seen Amelia lying there and had drawn their own conclusions without even bothering to ask him what had happened. His past was always going to dog his heels. No one would ever trust him.

  He heard a key being inserted into a lock, followed by the harsh grinding sound as it was turned. The door swung open. He squinted against the light spilling in from the lantern that someone held.

  “Oh, my goodness, just look at you!”

  Amelia’s sweet voice echoed around him. She knelt beside him and gently lifted his hair off his brow.

  “Oh, look what they’ve done to you.”

  “Are you all right?” he rasped.

  He certainly hadn’t expected Judge Harper to let her get within a whisper’s breath of him.

  “I must have hit my head when I fell. Robert, help him get up,” she ordered.

  “I don’t need help,” he said as he struggled to his feet. As long as he didn’t take a deep breath, the pain was bearable.

  “You are so stubborn,” she muttered as she took his arm. “Come on. Let’s get you into the house.”

  He froze. “What?”

  “We need to get you into the house so I can see to your injuries,” she said.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Well, then, it won’t take me long to check you out, will it?”

  Facing prison was going to be hard enough as it was. He didn’t need any more memories of her sweetness to take with him.

  “Look, Amelia—”

  “Don’t argue with her, son.” Judge Harper’s voice boomed around him. He hadn’t even realized the man was standing there. “Get on up to the house.”

  He considered arguing, but the sooner he did what they wanted, the sooner he’d be on his way. He expected the judge to order his daughter to loosen her hold on the outlaw, but the man simply followed behind them as Amelia led him toward the house.

  That her brothers were trailing behind didn’t make him feel any less watched.

  Once they were inside, he’d expected to turn in to the judge’s library. Instead Amelia escorted him farther into the house—past a parlor and a room that held a large table with a fancy-looking candleholder on it.

  Amelia pushed open a door, and they walked into the kitchen. Colleen stood beside the stove. She turned and her mouth dropped open.

  “Don’t look like that, Colleen,” Robert said from behind him. “I didn’t hit him.”

  “I should hope not.” She wagged a finger in the air. “And you, David Harper, should be ashamed of yourself.”

  “Sit here,” Amelia said as she pulled out a chair from a nearby table.

  He hadn’t a clue why they needed two tables to eat at—one in this room, one in the other—but he figured wealthy folks were always purchasing things they didn’t need. He sat, and Colleen set a bowl of water on the table.

  “I’ll tend to him,” Amelia said as she took a chair and sat in front of him.

  He really thought it was a waste of her time to clean him up when the cuts would just get dirty again in prison. But he figured arguing would simply prolong the inevitable.

  She dipped a rag into the bowl, wrung it out, and gingerly touched the warm, damp cloth to his brow. Even though it stung, he thought he’d never forget the night he sat in this kitchen that smelled of cinnamon and had the prettiest girl he’d ever seen tending to his cuts and bruises.

  He couldn’t stop himself from watching her. She’d furrowed her brow and caught her lower lip between her teeth as she carefully wiped the blood and dirt from his face. He could see tears welling in her eyes.

  “It’s not that bad,” he said in a low voice, wishing they didn’t have an audience.

  She held his gaze as more tears surfaced. “You’re going to have a blackened eye come morning.”

  “Just one?” he asked, trying to make light of his injuries.

  She gave him a tremulous smile as she cradled his cheek in her palm. “I am so sorry.”

  In his whole life, he couldn’t recall anyone ever apologizing to him. He couldn’t quite figure out what he was supposed to say.

  “All right. Everybody out,” Judge Harper demanded.

  Jesse shot to his feet, sucking in air through his clenched teeth as pain stabbed his chest.

  “Not you,” Judge Harper said to him, his eyes narrowing. “I was talking to my sons. You can sit back down.”

  Jesse did as he was told while Robert and David left the room.

  Judge Harper crouched beside him. It was an odd thing to be looking down at the judge. With a gentleness that Jesse never would have expected of such a large man, Judge Harper prodded Jesse’s ribs.

  Jesse held his breath, waiting for the pain to pass.

  “Feels like a couple might be cracked, possibly broken,” Judge Harper announced, as though Jesse hadn’t already figured that out.

  “I’ll get some strips of cloth so we can bind his chest to keep those ribs from moving until they heal,” Colleen said.

  “Anything else broken?” Judge Harper asked.

  “No, sir.”

  Judge Harper nodded as he stood. “Then I’ll leave you to these ladies’ tender mercies while I have a little chat with the men and make sure they understand that nothing like this is to ever happen again.”

  Judge Harper strode out of the kitchen.

  Jesse shifted his gaze to Amelia. “He’s not sending me back to Huntsville?”

  She smiled softly. “He knows the truth. I told him that I wanted you to help me capture the mustang. How Duchess saw the rattler—”

  “There was a snake?” he asked. He hadn’t seen one, but he knew they could slither away quickly.

  She nodded.

  He released a slow breath of relief. “I was afraid I hadn’t tamed her enough, and she was turning back to the wild.”

  “No, she was just frightened. Frank found her and brought her back. Take off your shirt so I can see your ribs.”

  Slowly he unbuttoned his shirt and opened it slightly. She gasped. Without looking, he knew what she was seeing. Based on the way his body ached, he figured he was black and blue pretty much all over.

  She touched her trembling hand to her lips as tears flooded her eyes. Tears for him.

  He had to steel his heart against Amelia. She was more dangerous to him than any outlaw gang had ever been.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “For more than twenty years, I’ve been involved with the law.”

  Her father’s solemn voice echoed through his library with disappointment. After speaking with the men, he was now holding a meeting with her, her brothers, Colleen, and Tanner. Amelia had expected to be in trouble for purposely seeking Jesse out earlier that day, but it seemed her brothers’ transgressions far outweighed hers.

  “In all that time,” her father continued, “I never perpetuated the kind of injustice I’ve witnessed today. By my own sons, no less.”

  “But, Father,” David began.

  “A man is innocent until proven guilty,” her father interrupted.

  “We thought we were looking at the proof,” Robert stated firmly.

  “Well, you were wrong, weren’t you?” her father asked.

  “Papa, what did you expect from them or the cowhands when you’ve made them all expect the worst of Jesse?” Amelia asked quietly.

  He snapped his gaze around to her, and she almost wished she’d remained silent. But she’d been horrified when she’d seen the bruises on Jesse’s battered body.

  “I did not make them expect the worst of Jesse,” her father said in a voice that indicated he’d brook no argument.

  She’d grown up with that voice and had always assumed he knew best. But if she truly planned to practice law, she was going to have to learn to stand up in a courtroom and state her case. Might as well begin with this judge as with any other.

  She slowly rose and met his gaze squ
arely. “We all heard you set down a host of rules for him to follow. I don’t know how he can draw a breath without fearing that he’s broken one.”

  “The boy has to earn his freedom,” her father said.

  “But you’re making him feel as though he’s worthless. You don’t trust him to do as he’s told. You don’t trust him not to run off. Tanner takes him to the fence to work or the line shack, and then leaves him there alone and without a horse—”

  “Whoa!” Tanner cut in. “I’ll admit to leaving him at the north line shack by himself, but I didn’t leave him alone at the fence. What makes you think I did?”

  She was likely to get herself into trouble if she revealed that today wasn’t the first time she’d been alone with Jesse, but what he said made no sense. “I was riding out in that direction and saw him working on the fence. He was alone.”

  Tanner shook his head. “I left Mitch and Frank with him.”

  “They weren’t there. He was stringing the wire by himself,” she insisted.

  “I’m willing to bet that they took off for the swimming hole,” David said.

  “And Jesse was working when you saw him?” Tanner asked her.

  “He said you told him that it needed to be done.”

  “So you approached him and talked to him,” her father said, and she heard the censure in his voice.

  She was going to have to learn not to give away so much upon cross-examination.

  “He didn’t hurt me. As a matter of fact, anytime I talk to him, he reminds me that I’m not supposed to be anywhere near him,” she said.

  She stepped forward, placed her palms on his desk, and leaned toward him. “No one has ever given him a chance to be anything but bad. I know he was wrong to rob a bank, but I don’t think he’s a terrible person. He could have ridden away from me today, but he didn’t.”

  She took a deep breath before confessing, “I spent over an hour with him at the line shack, and he showed me nothing but respect.”

  She could see the fury boiling within her father’s eyes, but he kept his voice steady. “All right. Tanner, you treat him as you treat the other hands—within reason. You can leave a horse with him, but not a gun. This meeting is adjourned.”

  Smiling, she spun on her heels.

  “Amelia?”

  She looked back at her father.

  “If you pull what you did today—purposely disobeying me and spending time alone with Jesse—I’ll send him back from where he came.”

  “You can’t punish him for my actions,” she said, angered by the very thought of it.

  “I can. I’m your father. I expect Jesse to follow my rules, and I expect you to follow them as well.”

  She knew that she’d never made her father this angry before. Growing up was like walking a fine line, and she didn’t much like it. But she did live under his roof.

  She nodded curtly. “Yes, sir.”

  She walked out of the room with her head held high, realizing her father’s order would stop her from ever capturing the mustang she wanted.

  But more, it would stop her from getting to know Jesse Lawton better.

  And she desperately wanted to know him better.

  Jesse had felt strange walking into the bunkhouse.

  Whereas before everyone had narrowed their eyes at him, now they all seemed more interested in the knotholes in the walls than they were in him.

  Which suited him just fine as he lay on his bed staring at the ceiling.

  It had hurt to hoist himself up, but as he’d told Amelia, he’d suffered worse.

  He needed to stop thinking about her. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw her clearly. It was like her image had been branded onto his mind. He couldn’t seem to forget her gentle touch or the concern in her eyes.

  The men were still awake. Some played cards. Some read. Others were writing letters. Jesse thought that after his time here was over and he’d moved on, maybe he’d write a letter to Amelia. Just to thank her for…well, pretty much everything.

  He heard footsteps.

  “I warned you to stay away from Amelia,” Mitch said in a low, menacing voice.

  Jesse didn’t bother to look at the man.

  “Someday you’re gonna regret hitting me as hard as you did,” Jesse told him.

  “Are you threatening me, outlaw?”

  “If I was, you wouldn’t have to ask,” Jesse assured him.

  The door opened, and Tanner strode in. “Jesse!”

  Mitch scuttled away like the cockroach Jesse was beginning to associate with the man.

  Tanner jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Amelia wants to have a word with you outside.”

  Jesse threw his legs over the side of the bed and hopped down. His body screamed at the abuse, but he didn’t give in to the pain. Not with every man in the bunkhouse watching him.

  He could feel Mitch’s gaze drilling into his back as he strode to the door.

  He stepped outside. Amelia stood near the porch with Robert nearby—close enough to protect her, but not close enough to hear.

  She gave Jesse a timid smile. “Sit down.”

  She indicated the porch. Jesse dropped to the top step. She sat beside him.

  “Are you hurting?” she asked softly.

  It seemed an odd question. It had been only an hour or so since he’d walked out of her house.

  “Not as much.”

  “I just wanted you to know…” Her voice trailed off as she gazed down at her hands. She sighed. “My father is very upset.”

  His gut clenched. “So he’s changed his mind? He’s sending me back?”

  She lifted her gaze to him and smiled. “No. But he’s forbidden me to spend any time with you if someone isn’t around.”

  “He did that before, and it didn’t stop you,” he reminded her.

  “I know. But tonight he was using his ‘I am your father’ voice. It’s a subtle difference, but it means he absolutely will not tolerate me disobeying his orders on this matter.”

  He nodded.

  “I just wanted you to know…I didn’t want you to think that I was ignoring you if I don’t talk to you or seek you out like I have before. I really don’t want him to send you back to prison.”

  He didn’t want that to happen either.

  She stood. “Good night.”

  Watching her walk away, Jesse slowly came to his feet.

  Robert approached. “Reckon I owe you an apology for what happened today. I should have stopped them from beating on you.”

  Yeah, you should have, Jesse thought. On the other hand, he might have allowed the same thing to happen if he’d had any suspicions that someone might have hurt Amelia.

  “Let’s just forget it happened,” he suggested.

  Amelia sat in a chair beside the window in her bedroom and gazed out at the moon.

  How could she miss Jesse?

  It made no sense to her. She couldn’t stop thinking about him. She couldn’t forget his kiss.

  She turned her head at the gentle knock on her door. “Come in.”

  Colleen slipped inside, the green gown draped over her arm.

  “Well, I finished it.” She held it up. “I think it turned out lovely.”

  “It’s beautiful,” Amelia said.

  Colleen laid it across the bed before walking around and sitting on the bed so she was closer to Amelia. “I thought you might be needing to talk.”

  With a sigh, Amelia looked back at the night. “I’m so confused, Colleen.”

  “In what way?”

  “I think Mitch is good-looking. And Frank is always smiling. And every man in that bunkhouse is dependable. And everyone is coming to my party. But I don’t want to dance with a single one of them.”

  “That’s because you took a blow to the head and it knocked the good sense out of you,” Colleen said smartly.

  Amelia peered over at her. Trust Colleen not to allow her to feel sorry for herself for very long.

  “Oh, Colleen.” Amelia went
to the bed and sat beside her friend. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m only a few days away from being seventeen. I’ve been waiting forever to have a sweetheart. And the one fella I suddenly find myself interested in is the wrong one for me. Oh, I don’t know!”

  She flopped back on the bed and stared at the canopy over it.

  “I mean, Jesse has certainly never indicated that he has any feelings for me whatsoever. ‘Stay away from me.’ ‘Don’t talk to me.’ ‘You’ll get me sent back to prison.’ I don’t know if he says all those things because he fears going back to prison or he fears what caring for me might bring.”

  “He probably doesn’t know either. Men are not the brightest creatures on God’s green earth,” Colleen said.

  Smiling, Amelia looked at her. “You don’t have a very high opinion of men.”

  “I adore them,” Colleen admitted. “But they’re frustrating.”

  “Will you come to my party?”

  Colleen shook her head. “There will be girls from town wanting to dance with Robert.”

  “And he just wants to dance with you.”

  “I don’t know if I want to go to the dance, Amelia. You don’t know if Jesse is right for you because he’s an outlaw. I don’t know if I’m right for Robert because I’m a servant,” Colleen said.

  “I’m not sure we should judge ourselves or other people by what we or they are,” Amelia said quietly.

  She thought about the different times she’d been with Jesse: in Fort Worth, at the fence, at the north line shack. If she’d never had any time with him, she wouldn’t have this warm feeling curling inside of her now whenever she thought of him.

  He’d still simply be the outlaw who’d stepped off the train.

  Instead of the young man who was slowly stealing her heart.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Jesse held the barbed wire taut while Frank hammered the U-shaped nail into place against the post they’d recently placed in the ground. With all the land Judge Harper owned, Jesse figured he’d be planting posts and stringing wire as long as he remained at the ranch.

  Amelia had been right, though: it was easier to build a fence when he had someone to help him.

  Frank finished slamming the nail into place and stepped back. He tipped his hat off his brow and glanced over at the man lounging beneath the tree.