“Can’t move. Gotta lay here a minute,” he mumbled against her neck, his body completely stretching down her length. “I p-promise. Not trying to grope you.”
“Move your hand, please.”
His hand slowly removed itself from her breast.
She could tell by the sound of his own breath that it was taking everything he had to regain his calm. So she just lay there and willed strength back into her bones. Five or so minutes passed. Her own breath had steadied despite the extra weight on top of her. Dollar had found them and grazed a few feet away, but Shadow didn’t stir. She raised one hand and pushed at his shoulder. “Shad? Are you conscious?”
No response.
“Shad?” Worry instantly gripped her. Was he hurt? Had he taken his last jump to save them? Spoken his last words to assure her he wasn’t taking advantage of her? Had she been so worried that he would feel the money stuffed in the chemise she wore beneath her shirt that she hadn’t considered he might be hurt? She managed to wiggle her other arm loose to try to use both to flip him over.
The man had the audacity to chuckle.
And she’d felt sorry for him. “You’d better get off me or, I swear, when I get up from here I’m going to hook your boot in Dollar’s stirrup and hii-yah him myself.”
Shadow rolled to his feet and stood, offering her a hand up. When she refused to take it, he laughed. “Can’t blame a man for trying, can you? I’ve been good. I haven’t asked you to come near me once that it wasn’t to save your hide. It’s not my fault you happened to land right where I was landing.”
“You haven’t had reason to demand it,” she sputtered. “And, if you’ll take a good look around, there’s nobody here but Dollar to prove anything to. I’m the one who comes to you, remember? I decide just how close I want close enough to be. Got me?”
She rose and went to the bay, untied the reins, and motioned for Shadow to take them. “You ride him. I think I’ll walk for a while.”
“Don’t worry yourself. You don’t have to sit near me.” Shadow grabbed her around the waist and thrust her up on the saddle. “You ride him. If anyone’s walking, I am.”
Three hours later Odessa stared at the sweat stain that darkened the back of Shadow’s once white shirt as he walked in front of her and Dollar. He had discarded the frock coat in the first hour of walking. Thirty minutes later, the string tie had decorated a patch of Indian paintbrush. In the past hour, he had rolled up his sleeves. Thank goodness he’d insisted that he keep his old pair of boots back in Longhorn City. He would have worn blisters into his feet breaking in a new pair in this manner. She wished they hadn’t been forced to leave the train in such a hurry and left their hats back in the Pullman. Too long in the Texas sun would blister the hide off anybody.
She reined Dollar to a halt. Shadow kept on walking. “Where are you going in such a hurry, partner?”
He kept walking. “Got to find shade somewhere.”
Looking around, she urged Dollar to move again. “There isn’t a tree in sight.”
“That man who planted apple trees must have never traveled this part of Texas. He’d earn his keep down here.”
“Don’t you think we’d find that shade a little quicker if you rode with me?” she insisted.
He finally stopped and turned, shielding the sun from his eyes to look up at her. “Well, actually, I do. But whether I do that or not depends on whether you feel comfortable if I’m up there with you.”
When she reached where he stood, she reined up short again. “I’ll be comfortable. Besides, I think we need to talk.”
His hand went down and he headed west again. “I think I’ll keep walking. I’m not fond of gabby women, and I don’t like being a captured audience.”
She laughed. “I won’t talk your head off, although you deserve it after that last stunt. I want you to talk to me. Tell me some things I need to know about that Lambert fellow who’s following us. The one we didn’t knock out.”
“Sal,” Shadow said over his shoulder. “You won’t have to worry about him till we get to Jerkwater.”
Surprise filled her. “How do you figure that?”
“He knows by now where we’re headed. You heard what he said. He had already learned our destination from the conductor, and by now he’s found out anything anyone else might have known about the married couple in the Pullman.” Shadow stopped and waited till Dollar reached him.
Odessa extended him a hand up and Shadow took it, nestled into the saddle behind her, and gently took command of the reins.
“Will he send his men after us?” She settled against the warmth of his chest and was a little irritated for liking the way it felt to have him there. His heart beat strong against her back. His breath brushed warmly over the crown of her hair, and the scent of sun-dappled skin and something pungently male lent an intimacy to their closeness.
“Why send anyone to follow when they know where we intend to go?” His left arm became a band of iron around her waist while the right held the reins.
“I don’t understand.” Puzzlement swept through her. “Then why didn’t we just ride the rest of the way with Dollar in the boxcar?”
Shadow bent slightly and whispered against her ear, “And have you show up looking like a strawberry patch?”
Surely he hadn’t made them take that death-defying leap to save her vanity and a little suffering from itching.
His chuckle ended abruptly, offering a more serious tone to his question. “You don’t remember, do you?”
“What am I forgetting?”
“The two shots when we walked out of the Pullman. They were from in front of us, not the back, where Lambert and his men were riding. And I hadn’t fought with Cole in the passenger car yet. So he hadn’t attempted to go for his gun. He was probably just stationed ahead of us in case the linchpin didn’t get pulled and we tried to escape into the forward car.”
“The shots were meant for me, weren’t they?” She knew the truth before he confirmed it.
“Not for sure, but it makes sense. If anyone’s after us on foot, it’s probably whoever’s trying to stop you.”
“You haven’t looked back once since we jumped,” she realized aloud. “Don’t you believe anyone is following?”
“No, if they’re smart, they rode the train ten or fifteen miles ahead and got off. They’ll make their play somewhere between here and Jerkwater. That’s why I’m hoping we can find some shade, give Dollar a little rest, and hit the trail in the dark. We’ll be harder targets to find and they’ll be expecting us to camp for the night.”
The land stretched long into the western horizon with no sign of trees and the only shade offered by an occasional cloud drifting by. “I’d pray for rain,” Odessa said, “but that would just make it worse for us tonight.”
“If we don’t spot something quick, we’ll find an arroyo and make a lean-to out of my trail coat with whatever reeds we can find. Maybe the wind will give us a break and won’t get worked up.”
Odessa let wait the questions that she wanted to ask Shadow about Sal Lambert. At the moment, she owed both Shadow and herself total focus. Her eyes already stung and staring into the Texas sun was blinding. Seeing would be even more difficult the longer the sun rode the western sky.
An hour later, Shadow suddenly urged Dollar into a trot. “Spotted something,” he said.
She would have known it even if he hadn’t spoken up or hastened the bay. Shadow’s body changed behind her. His heart sped up. An exhale of relief cooled the top of her head. He patted her tummy as if telling her everything was okay now.
She noticed the land sloping slightly downward, not so much that she thought they were on the downside of a hill of any sort, just that the prairie had taken on a gradual roll.
“Look there, a wild boar.” Shadow pointed to the southwest. “He’s spotted us. Going to run for it.”
“You’re heading toward him? Isn’t he dangerous?” She’d heard of the wild boars in this part of the Panha
ndle. They’d killed men before.
“They tend to graze near a waterhole.” Shadow spurred Dollar into a gallop. “We could use the water, and he’ll be supper.”
“If we catch him,” Odessa complained, grabbing the saddle horn to anchor herself for the hard ride.
Shadow’s right hand disappeared for a flash, then came up holding the peacemaker. “I’ll catch him.” His face dipped closer to her ear. “Think you can shoot him?”
“At full gallop?” She didn’t want to let go of her hold on the saddle horn, and she sure didn’t want Shadow to let go of her long enough to shoot. “I’ve only shot bottles off a fence rail before, and they didn’t move even after I shot them.”
Shadow dared to press a kiss against her ear. “That’s for luck then, little sureshot. I don’t know about you, but my stomach feels like it’s pressing against my backbone. I could eat that critter clear to his hooves. I’ll do the shooting if you think you can take the reins.”
“Hand me that blasted gun.” Her teeth gritted against the power of the bone-jarring ride. “If I didn’t know anything about outlawing before I met you, I’m sure learning it now.” She let go of the saddle horn with her right hand long enough for him to thrust the gun into it. Odessa pulled back the hammer and curled her finger around the trigger.
The boar’s hindquarters disappeared for a moment and she was certain they’d lost him, but Shadow kept pursuing. Another slight roll of the prairie brought the beast into view again. Her hand bounced with each pound of hoof against prairie loam and she could only pray she held on to the peacemaker long enough not to end up shooting Dollar’s ear off by mistake. She couldn’t take another chance of losing sight of the boar either.
“Here goes,” Odessa warned, closing her eyes and squeezing the trigger. “Duck, Dollar!”
Chapter 6
Odessa watched Shadow stake two ends of his trail coat to the ground. The lavender ribbon that had once tied back her hair was now laced in two pieces through the first and the last buttonhole on the coat, helping to attach it to the bay’s saddle horn and cantle. After they’d watered him, Dollar had been hobbled in the plushest clumps of buffalo grass so he wouldn’t wander off and move the makeshift lean-to.
“You’ve done that before,” she complimented Shadow, appreciating his cleverness. The lean-to made a nice triangle of shade. “He’s perfectly content with what you’re doing. You must have taught him a lot in your time together.”
“He’s smarter than me sometimes.” Shadow turned around only to stop still as he stared at her. “Leave it unbraided. It looks pretty down.”
Odessa quit braiding her hair, not because he’d told her to, but because of the frank appreciation in his voice. She’d heard many a man’s excitement for a woman echoed in her mother’s place of business. It had been difficult to miss no matter how many doors away she’d slept. But there was something purely innocent in the way Shadow offered his compliment about her hair. Something fine and clean and good. One of the best experiences he had given her since she’d met him and certainly one she would treasure long after he left Jerkwater.
Realizing she was staring back at him in a daze, she rose from her crouched position in the buffalo grass and dusted her bottom. “Want me to get the beef jerky?”
He shook his head and motioned to the trail coat. “I will. Go ahead and get some shade.” He reached up as if he was going to touch her cheek, then didn’t. “You’re blistering.”
The rest of the clothing he’d worn in the cell lay beneath the trail coat, forming a cushion over the grass beneath it. Shadow’s thoughtfulness pleased her and she thanked him. “I’m just sorry I missed that shot.”
“You tried your best.” Shadow searched through the saddlebag, then sat down beside her. The lean-to rose behind them shielding off much of the sun, but the great scorcher still glared from the other side of Dollar. Despite her reasoning that they would have more shade angling the tent from the east, Shadow had insisted the open end face the western horizon so he could look between Dollar’s legs and still see anything coming by.
He unrolled the jerky, took a piece himself, then handed her the rest. “At least you scared him off. Lucky for us we noticed him or we wouldn’t have found this waterhole.”
“He won’t try to claim his territory, will he?” Boars were mean and nasty, from everything she’d heard about them. She didn’t want to find out personally.
“I’ll take first watch.” His right hand gave her a couple of reassuring pats.
“And I’ll wake you up if he comes back while I’m on lookout.” She patted right back, too quickly to make it the jest she’d planned.
“How about we eat, then get washed up.” He laughed as she strained around him to look at the arroyo and the welcoming oasis of water springing between two rolls of the prairie. “I can’t promise how long we’ll have it to ourselves. It may be the only water for miles.”
“I can’t wait to get out of these clothes,” she admitted, then realized how that had sounded. “I mean change my clothes. The serge is hot.”
Shadow’s attention slowly swept from her face, down the slim column of her neck, over her breasts, and ended at the top of her knees, where she wrapped her hands. She was grateful for the cloth of jerky she held for it gave her something to hide her trembling fingers with.
“Greasy jerky,” she muttered, hoping he couldn’t discern the utterly black lie she used to ward off the attraction those glorious blue-gray eyes of his now stirred within her.
“So you’ve decided not to go into Jerkwater dressed as a married woman?”
“We’re kind of worse for wear, don’t you think?” She eyed him closely now. His shirt might be stained, his dark hair could use a good cut and combing, and his scruff of whiskers needed the sharp edge of a razor strop. But the man was better looking than any she’d seen duded up for money spent at Maddy Kilmore’s Gilded Garter. “Maybe that wasn’t the best plan after all. It only got us in trouble.”
“Could have worked. It just didn’t.”
“You don’t worry much about anything, do you?” She took another bite of the jerky and handed him back the cloth, waiting for him to answer.
“Try not to. It just makes a man old.” He accepted the cloth and remained silent.
She wanted him to talk. “Tell me more about yourself, Shad.”
He stood, looming over her. “Talking’s for later. Time’s wasting and we need to wash off and get to sleep. We’ll have to be on our way at sunset.”
He was right, of course, but she couldn’t help feeling disappointed. They seemed settled for a moment there, and she thought he was willing to reveal some things about himself. Things she was sure the dime novel had wrong. “Okay, but before I go to sleep I want us to have that talk. I’m the boss, remember?”
He helped her up, his fingers lingering a moment too long just to be offering aid.
“You’re not going to leave it alone, are you?”
She shook her head and withdrew her hand. “Not if we’re going to spend time out here sleeping. In case you decide to do something in your sleep, I need to know a little more about this Laurie person and a whole lot more about Lambert.”
“You might lose sleep if you do.”
“Let me worry about that.”
Though no one he knew would consider him a gentleman, Shadow found himself being one despite the great desire to watch Odessa bathe. He’d thought it best that they bathe at the same time, just keep their backs to each other. That way, they could get done quicker, have their talk, then get some badly needed sleep. But he knew from his time in the Pullman with her that a turned back didn’t mean he could stop thinking about what she might look like in all her naked glory.
The past two days had tested him to the limit in several ways, most of all maintaining his willpower not to demand the last term of their agreement every time he got the urge. Odessa needed rest if she was going to survive what miles separated them from here and the next sign
of civilization. That needed to remain foremost in his thoughts. He hadn’t told her, but he’d just pretended to eat. The jerky was just about gone, and he’d put the rest away to save it for her.
Not wanting to be too long without the peacemaker, he’d rushed through his bath and hair washing and cleaned the shirt she’d bought him. It now hung over Dollar’s saddle, drying. He’d also made sure the canteen was filled. It had taken everything within him not to join Odessa to wash the dirt from her hair. Everything in him to keep his back turned to her bathing.
But if he had joined her, he would have been the kind of no-good Laurie had called him. The kind of man who hadn’t been good enough for her after his prison stay. The kind of man whose nearness no genteel woman would ever want. The words Laurie had yelled when she left him lashed like a jerk of a bullwhip.
Odessa might not be able to hit the wide side of a barn with a bullet. She might not handle a rope well, but she wasn’t ignorant by any means. The minute she started learning anything about Laurie, she was going to figure out that he’d demanded Odessa’s closeness for more reason than just to convince people they were married. She would know it was some kind of test he’d made of her. Some kind of soothing to his ego. The truth tasted sour and he thought maybe Laurie was at least partly right. No gentleman would have lied to someone like Odessa.
“That was worth the wait.” Odessa startled him from his thoughts.
He glanced up and watched her approach, dressed in trousers, shirt, and the lacy something she wore beneath her slightly unfastened shirt. But she looked like no man he’d ever seen. Her hair shone like wheat ripening in the sun, curling past generous bosoms and brushing against the top of her hips. When it completely dried, it would look like a shawl of gold about her.
Her face and slender neck glowed pink from the cleaning, and her eyes had taken on a deeper shade of green, enhanced by the color of her shirt. “Beautiful,” he whispered, not caring that she heard it. The truth demanded to be heard this time.
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