“When I caught up with her, she was on a bluff over where they were watering their horses, ready to start picking ‘em off with my Henry rifle.”
“You mean my Henry rifle?” Banks asked, a former army man, like himself, which explained their affinity for the weapon.
“No, my Henry rifle, which she stole, along with my horse.”
“Do you mind not talking about me like I’m not standing right here?” Amelia demanded just shy of a shout.
They both scowled at her. She ignored her father, having years of practice. But Jake’s heated stare, brimming with renewed anger after retelling the tale, was something she hadn’t learned to weather, and if it was up to him, she never would. She flushed a brighter shade of red, which he didn’t think was possible, and dropped her gaze. That only lasted a moment before she whirled and gave him her back, turning her pleas on her father.
“Daddy, I must insist…”
“I cannot believe you risked your life in such a way. I hired Jake to handle this, not have my daughter tearing off across south Texas after low life criminals.”
She leaned in, placed a hand on his chest, and stood up on her toes. “Listen to me, please.”
“You’re all I’ve got left, Amelia. What would I do if something happened to you?”
“He’s a traitor,” she blurted out, giving up on her preference for privacy. “He knew one of the robbers, who is also one of the vaqueros you hired. It’s been them all along; I’d stake my life on it.”
His attention, at last, returned to her, his hand coming up to cover hers. “This is Jake, honey. You know that’s not true.”
“I do? How? From the way the Viejos just happen to know our departure times and routes, though they change weekly? Or because one of the robbers just happened to be Rodrigo, whom I saw with Jake, only days ago, discussing the Corpus Christi run, including how many guards would be with it? And today, when the same man turned up with the gang to rob us and your trusted Jake, easy as you please, handed over five thousand dollars? Don’t you see, you’ve been hoodwinked by a man you thought you could trust. He’s lining his pockets at our expense.”
“Honey…”
“How else do you explain them robbing only the payroll and bank transfers? They let the mail coaches roll by without any trouble, but seem to know exactly when the big money will be coming through. He’s the fly in the ointment, the man on the inside who has been feeding them information, making it easy—”
“Gerard,” Jake interrupted, wanting to take the time to explain, but not having the luxury. “I hate to leave you with this, but I really must be going.”
She whirled on him. “To jail is the only place you’ll be going. I’m getting the sheriff.”
Banks caught her arm on the way to the door. “I need to tell her,” he said to Jake, even though he didn’t look away from his daughter’s affronted face.
“It’s your choice, but I can’t take the time or I’ll miss them.”
“Tell me what?” she demanded. “And miss who? I wish you two would stop speaking in code.”
Jake chuckled, moving closer as he made ready to leave. He paused to look down at her outraged face. Lifting a hand to her cheek, he gently brushed the fiery red skin. “You need to get some cream on this sunburn, darlin’. I’ll send word as soon as I can,” he said to Gerard, then crossed to the door.
“Daddy, he’s getting away.”
“He’s got to get to work, honey.”
“Doing what? Robbing more payrolls and snookering more gullible employers?”
Clearly offended by her slight on his intelligence, Banks’s patience slipped. “Amelia, he’s a Ranger, has been for years. Before that, he was an Army Captain. I think he knows better than you what he’s doing.”
Her head snapped up fast, and her sweet little bow-shaped mouth gaped open. When she looked from Gerard to Jake in complete shock and asked, “You mean, as in Texas Ranger?” he somehow refrained from grinning.
Banks shot him an apologetic glance before addressing her question. “I wasn’t supposed to let that slip, but you’re like a dog with a bone and as cussed stubborn as your mama ever was. You’ll have to keep Captain Steele’s real identity to yourself. Do you hear?”
“But…” She shot a doubtful look his way. “There must be some mistake. This man can’t possibly be a Ranger. They are brave, upstanding, law abiding men.” Her lips closed in a little moue of bafflement.
Despite her blatant suggestion that he lacked any such attributes, the sight of her pretty, pouting lips stirred Jake’s cock once more in his trousers. That, and the memory of her sweet little heart-shaped ass, framed to perfection by her white lace and linen drawers. As if she could tell where his thoughts had wandered, her face flushed a darker shade of red and her outrage increased visibly.
“No, I won’t believe it. A Ranger wouldn’t have handed over the money so easily or lain like a coward in the dust as they rode off free and clear. And when I had the banditos dead to rights, a lawman wouldn’t have snatched my rifle out of my hands and let them ride off. Nor would he have the gall to accuse me of interfering, and right there, in front of God and everybody, turned me over his knee, tossed up my skirts, and spanked me.” She ended on a shout. Or at least he thought she had ended, but she went right on at the same volume, ignoring the angry man standing behind her. No longer watching her, Jake’s eyes rose to his employer’s. He had the displeasure of feeling his scowl when she added, “Everyone could see my drawers, for heaven’s sake.”
He couldn’t let the outright lie pass without comment. “There was no one around to see, Amelia, and you well know it.”
“That’s because you let them get away.” This time, she really did stomp her foot. “Fire him, Daddy. Report him to the governor for impersonating a law officer, for there is no possibility under God’s green earth that this… this…” She paused in her bluster, clearly searching for the right adjective, then blurted out, “Ne’er do well could ever be a Texas Ranger.”
With her speech concluded, and clearly feeling proud of herself and the dressing down she had administered, she folded her arms across her chest, making the rosy mounds of her breasts rise enticingly in the open neckline of her blouse as she awaited her daddy’s justice.
“He lifted your skirts and smacked your bottom? By the side of the road?” Gerard asked, eyeing Jake thoughtfully.
“Yes, sir!” she replied with a nod. “He tanned me good, right on the bare.” She smirked, still watching Jake’s response. This was a miscalculation, for if she had been facing her father, she would have witnessed the same thing Jake was seeing. Not a man incensed over the liberties he had taken with his daughter, or for ruining her reputation, but a man puffing up with satisfaction. In fact, the smile curving Gerard Banks’ lips looked downright joyful.
“That seals it. Don’t it, son?” He said this more as a statement of fact than a question.
Immediately, Jake knew where the older man was heading.
Oddly enough, he didn’t care.
At thirty-four, it was about time he settled down. And he could do a helluva lot worse than having the lovely Amelia as his bride. She had everything that attracted him in a woman—beauty, plentiful curves, and spirit. And, when she wasn’t carping about what a poor excuse for a Ranger he was and jumping to conclusions, she could be sweet, charming, and funny.
He wouldn’t mind putting in the time it would take to curb her recklessness and the spoiled ways being an only child and the light of her father’s life had instilled in her. Not to mention her sassy tongue, which he’d enjoy silencing with kisses.
Yes, he was the man to tame this wild Texas rose, so he wouldn’t fuss too much. In fact, he wouldn’t fuss at all because a life with Amelia wouldn’t ever be boring.
“I reckon it does, Gerard,” he told the man quietly.
His soon-to-be father-in-law’s grin broadened. He also moved to Jake’s side and clapped him soundly on the back with approval. The loud no
ise in the small room made Amelia jump, her smug grin turning into a frowning, befuddled expression when he rubbed his hands together eagerly.
“Hot damn, we’re having ourselves a wedding.”
“What?” she shrieked. “Surely, you don’t mean it? You can’t think for a minute I’d marry this lout!” Her fists clenched and she pressed her pink lips together for a moment before she blew her top. “Daddy, you’ve missed my point entirely. The man is a scoundrel, liar, and a thief. He needs to be locked up.”
“Make the arrangements, Gerard. I really must go. Besides, I’ve heard about enough aspersions on my character for one afternoon,” Jake announced.
“Like I care what a fraud thinks,” Amelia shot back at him. Then she stomped across the room, her goal clearly the door. But to reach it required she pass in front of Jake, which he wasn’t about to make easy. He propped his hands on his hips, not moving an inch as he watched in amusement for what she would do next.
Her lovely face tightened with infuriation, but she didn’t say a word. Instead, she turned sideways, holding her skirt aside and leaning back so her upper body wouldn’t touch his. Despite her best efforts to avoid him, her shirtfront, which fit snugly across her breasts, brushed against his own. Her quickly indrawn breath of surprise only increased the contact.
Jake grinned, unable to keep from it.
“Smile all you like, Mr. Steele. I’ll wire Uncle Richard myself.”
“Richard?” Jake asked, directing his question to the man beside him. “As in Governor Richard Hubbard?”
“He’s not really kin, son,” Banks explained. “I’ve known him for years and he’s a close friend. We were in the same regiment in the Great War. Amy here has always called him uncle.” He gave his daughter another indulgent smile. The fool man was utterly wrapped around his daughter’s pinky. That was unfortunate. She would have some rough lessons ahead. Although Jake found her delightful, he would not be as easily swayed.
“The governor has more important things to deal with than your trumped-up allegations, Amelia.”
Her spine shot stick straight at his remark, and after gaping for a count of two seconds, her jaw snapped shut, her teeth clicking together audibly with the force. Then she ground out, as she pushed on past, “This is not trumped-up, Jacob Steele, and I intend to see justice served.”
“I’ve seen his credentials, honey,” Banks said quietly, taking a step forward to block her exit. “He is who he says he is.”
Caught between the two of them, she lifted her chin, not ready to give in. “He’s a poor excuse for a Ranger, then, letting them get away with thousands of dollars. And this wasn’t the first time, by damn, was it?”
“Amelia! A lady doesn’t speak in such a way.”
“And a Ranger doesn’t act like a lily-livered coward,” she accused, angling a withering glare Jake’s way.
Her daddy sputtered, horrified at her behavior. “Jake, I must apologize for my daughter.”
“No, sir,” he replied, smiling down into the enraged face of his new fiancée. “You don’t owe me apologies, but I’ll collect them from Amelia soon.” He paused for a moment, watching as doubt, and what he read as regret, shadowed her pretty face. “We’ll discuss that more later.” He clapped his hat on his head and looked to Gerard. “I’ve got business to see to, not the least of it salvaging my three-month long investigation. Where and when?”
“Where and when for what?” Amelia asked huffily.
“For the nuptials, darlin’. Keep up,” he admonished, then to show he was teasing, tapped the end of her nose. “We’ll have to postpone the honeymoon until the Viejo brothers are behind bars. The rest of the festivities, however, can commence right away.”
She didn’t ask for clarification, since the sizzling hot look he gave her aimed to make his meaning pretty darn clear. He raised a brow at Banks.
“Tonight, at nine o’clock,” the older man answered in return. “I’m sure I can have a judge and a late celebratory meal arranged by then.”
Jake only nodded in response.
“I won’t marry him,” she told her father, before rounding on Jake and repeating her denial. “I won’t marry you.”
“You will, darlin’, but for now, I’ll leave the convincing to your pa. I’ve got… What did you call them? Ah, yes, a bunch of banditos to capture.” Chuckling, he leaned down and kissed her forehead, then warned in a hushed tone next to her ear, “Be good. And don’t give your old man fits while I’m gone. The strain of the past few months is starting to show.”
Her gaze tipped to her father, who was sporting a gray scruff of a beard, very unlike him. And his eyes looked tired. In his mid-fifties, he wasn’t a young man anymore and had to have ridden at a breakneck pace to arrive in town before they had. As he watched her eyes moisten and a blush stole into her cheeks, Jake recognized her remorse for the role she’d played in worrying him.
He gave her arms a reassuring squeeze. This was the sweet, kind natured Amelia he’d fallen in love with. “I’ll see you both tonight.”
“Of course, Jake. Leave everything to me.”
As he closed the door behind him, he heard his young bride-to-be say matter of factly, “You’ve both gone ‘round the bend, if you think I’ll say ‘I do’ to him.”
“Now, Amy…”
Jake’s chuckle turned into a full-throated laugh, drawing several curious glances. He was still grinning when his long strides took him quickly to Arrow and he mounted up.
Chapter 5
Ducking behind a fallen tree trunk scorched black from a lightning strike, Jake removed his hat and looked up into the night sky, enjoying the drizzle from the long-awaited rain wetting his face. It brought with it a welcome relief from the oppressive midsummer heat.
As he crouched on one knee, his forearm propped on the other for balance, he scanned the clearing and the small, isolated cabin. Surrounded by a thick woods of tall pecan trees and even taller red maples, it was no wonder it had taken so long to find their hideout.
“Good work,” he said to the man squatting in a similar pose beside him. “Are they all really here at the same time?”
“Yep, the last of ‘em rode in a few minutes ago.”
Without turning, he recognized the satisfaction in his lieutenant’s voice. “It’s been a tough case,” Jake acknowledged. “I’m ready to wrap this up and head back to town. I’d like to shower and shave before I say my vows to my bride.”
This drew Rodrigo’s attention, who twisted sharply to stare at him in surprise. “Amelia Banks?” he guessed correctly.
Jake inclined his head and shrugged.
“You’ve been talking about settling down on that acreage your abuelo left you. Are you leaving the Rangers, then?”
“I’ve yet to decide, but undercover assignments will be a thing of the past with a wife waiting for me at home every night.”
“Mmm…” his longtime friend hummed in agreement. “A soft, sweet-smelling woman and a comfortable bed to curl up with her in, instead of a hard bedroll and the pungent odor of sweaty men. Dios mio, it sounds tempting.”
“You’re only a year younger than me, my friend. It’s about time you get something sweet and soft in your life.” Jake became serious as his eyes swept the scene in front of them. “How did you get away?”
“My horse picked up a stone a few miles out. They left me to walk him back to town.”
“You’ve worked on training Guerrero that trick for weeks.”
“And it paid off big. I met up with Simpkins at Diablo’s Pass, where we’ve always lost them before. Not this time. When the brothers separated from the others, we followed and they led us right here.” Rodrigo turned, a grin tipping his mouth up on one side. “It was almost too easy.”
“Easy isn’t three months chasing our tails and coming up empty,” Jake corrected. “Facing them down the barrel of a gun, repeatedly, wasn’t easy, either.” He met Rodrigo’s gaze head on. “Or risking your neck, infiltrating their gang. You cou
ld have been found out at any moment.”
“The same was true for you. But you fooled them, along with your bride-to-be. Will she forgive you?”
“That remains to be seen.”
“But you’re sure there’s going to be a wedding tonight?”
“Yes, even if Gerard Banks has to get his shotgun.”
“Mi amigo! You aren’t willing?”
“It won’t be me he’s got to bring to the altar.”
Rodrigo blinked once, then slowly, as understanding dawned, he laughed softly. “I envy you your feisty bride, my friend.”
Jake grinned, admitting nothing, though he looked forward to the challenge of Amelia. Before he could get back to his little minx, he had a gang of thieves to arrest. “Are the others in position?”
“Yep. Twenty men armed and ready to take on the five inside. We got ‘em this time, Jake. Just waiting for your orders.”
“Let’s do this, then.” He raised his voice as he called, “Renaldo Viejo, this is Captain Steele of the Texas Rangers. We have you and your brothers surrounded. There is no escape. Leave your weapons inside and come out with your hands above your head.”
The response was an explosion of gunfire.
Jake’s mouth flattened into a grim smile. “I knew they wouldn’t give in without a fight.” He braced his rifle against his shoulder and squinted down through the sights. With his first shot, he blew a hole through the hat of one of the brothers, who had the bad judgment of perching too high in the front window. “Yeah, this is going to be fun.”
“Since you didn’t give me enough notice to arrange anything, consider this your bachelor send off, old friend,” Rodrigo replied, grinning as he, too, returned fire.
“I’m not going in there.”
“You are!”
“Am not!” Folding her arms over her chest, Amelia raised her chin stubbornly as she faced off with her father in the front porch of the two-story frame house on the outskirts of town.
Hero Undercover: 25 Breathtaking Bad Boys Page 109