Jodi Thomas

by When a Texan Gambles

  The clerk nodded and promised to have everything done.

  Sam walked into the cafe and took the first table. He needed both time and space between his bride and his temper. He thought about ordering whiskey, but wasn’t sure he could stand to face both Sarah and Ruthie with liquor on his breath.

  “Coffee,” he mumbled as the waiter neared. “Hot and black.”

  “Make that two,” a familiar voice said from behind Sam.

  He didn’t turn around. The Ranger was popping up more than locoweed after a rain lately.

  Dalton turned a chair around and took the seat across from Sam. He shoved his hat back and smiled that all-too-bright grin Sam was starting to hate. “You don’t deserve her, you know,” Dalton opened.

  Sam saw no point in arguing the obvious. “I know.” He frowned at the Ranger. “But neither do you.”

  Jacob raised his hands in surrender. “I make it a point to stay away from married women.” His steel gaze leveled with Sam. “But if you ever hurt her ...”

  “Don’t waste a threat.” Sam leaned back as the waiter placed two steaming cups on the table and hurried away.

  Jacob nodded once as though he’d said what he came to say. He started to rise, then remembered the coffee and relaxed back in the chair. “Sarah’s a beauty, she truly is, but I’ve got my eye on this young thing up in Clarendon. I’m just waiting for her to finish growing up. Then I plan to marry her before she becomes a professional.”

  Sam raised his cup to his lips thinking he would settle things with the Ranger if that’s what Sarah wanted. “What’s she planning to be?”

  “A whore.”

  Sam gulped boiling coffee. When the pain subsided enough for him to speak, he asked, “I thought you said—”

  “I did.” Jacob shrugged. “She wants to be a lady of the night.” The young man winked at Sam. “I guess you and I are just meant to marry criminals. Sarah confessed to murdering Zeb, and my girl dreams of being the highest-paid hooker in Texas.”

  Sam smiled. “Only Sarah didn’t kill Zeb Whitaker.”

  Jacob nodded. “I thought of that. If she’s not a murderer, then she shouldn’t have been fined. And if she didn’t owe a fine, she didn’t have to marry you to get out of jail.”

  Sam didn’t like the Ranger’s logic.

  “So I’m thinking that, unless there’s a baby on the way, Sheriff Riley might consider calling the whole thing off.”

  When Sam frowned, Jacob added, “Don’t worry. I bet he’ll even give you your money back.

  TWENTY-TWO

  SARAH PACKED ALL HER NEW CLOTHES IN THE TRUNK. but she placed her personal belongings in the carpetbag so that she could hang on to them. Part of her still feared owning more than she could carry.

  Norma talked continuously from the drawing room. Now that she knew her children were safe, she had found a reason to celebrate. The bottle provided by the hotel gave her the means. “I’m going to get my babies and get out of this town. Go somewhere and make a new start. Maybe I could be a cook. Back years ago I was fair at the job. Wasn’t much excitement to it, though.”

  Sarah tried to pay enough attention to her chatter now and then, but Sam filled her thoughts. She just couldn’t understand why he went into such a rage over her hugging Jacob. Surely he didn’t think that touching Jacob was anything like touching him. Sam was her husband, after all.

  “He’s the man I want to touch. Something about him draws me.” She shook her head. “I’m making no sense. It’s like wanting to pet a porcupine because no one else has ever touched him.”

  “Did you say something?” Norma yelled. “I didn’t hear you real clear.” Her words slurred together. “I’d come in there to talk while you pack, but I’m suppose to be keeping an eye on this door.”

  “Nothing!” Sarah shouted back. “I was just mumbling something about my husband.”

  Norma laughed. “Talking about that man of yours, huh? I don’t blame you. He’s one fine man, that’s for sure.”

  “He’s one foolish man,” Sarah said, more to herself than Norma. “Getting all mad and jealous of me hugging the Ranger, like I was the only woman he’d ever known.”

  Her words sank in slowly. The only woman. Could it be possible that what he’d told her was true, he’d never cared about another? If he thought he was losing her to Jacob, no wonder he was so angry. No, that couldn’t be right. He was almost thirty. He must have cared about at least a few other women. Hadn’t he called a woman’s name when he’d had the fever? Sarah could not be the only woman Sam Gatlin had ever called his own.

  “... he is for sure.” Norma’s words reached Sarah.

  She stepped to the door and looked at the now rosy-cheeked Norma. “I’m sorry, what did you just say?”

  Norma’s whole face wrinkled in thought as if she’d just been asked to take some kind of test. “I was saying”—she pointed one chubby finger at Sarah—“that your husband might be one fine man and all, but he’s married to the core. I knew that the night I met him. There ain’t many a man who’ll turn down a free ride between the sheets, but he did without hesitating.”

  Now it was Sarah’s turn to look confused. “You offered him ...” She wasn’t sure she knew the right words to say what she needed to ask.

  Norma waved her hands in front of her. “I didn’t know he was married to a fine lady like you. I thought he was just a man looking to get a little relief from the urges all men have. It’s a service I provide. It don’t mean nothing.”

  Sarah nodded. Now she was on ground she understood. Granny Vee told her all about how a man has a need sometimes and he’s got to satisfy it. She said that if you are his wife, it is your duty to lie still and let it happen. Sarah had been in Norma’s shoes once: She’d provided a service for Mitchell and it hadn’t meant anything. She had made up her mind when Mitchell died that she would never do it that way again. Not even for a second husband. If it didn’t mean anything to her, it wasn’t happening.

  She turned her attention back to Norma. “You offered to bed Sam?”

  Norma grinned. “I guess you could call it that, ma‘am. But he wasn’t interested.” She winked. “My guess is he’s getting what he wants at home.”

  “But he’s not,” Sarah admitted before she realized she’d said the words out loud. “I asked him to wait.”

  Norma wiggled her eyebrows as though she’d just come to the discovery that they were loose. “Does he want to? I’ve heard of men who ain’t all that interested in any woman.”

  “He’s interested. He touches me sometimes in a way that makes me melt inside. And he looks at me with such hunger, like he might die for the need of me.”

  Norma snorted. “If he’s interested, but he’s waiting just because you asked him to, I hate to be the one to have to tell you, but your man must have that terrible illness called love.”

  Sarah didn’t see how that could be possible. They’d only known each other a matter of days and most of the time he’d been wounded or fighting with her. Didn’t peo pie who love act differently? If Sam was acting like he was in love, yelling and screaming at her about nothing, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know what he’d be like if he didn’t love her. She loved him, of course. She had to. It was a rule.

  “I don’t think it’s love,” she finally said. “Maybe, like you said, it’s just because he’s a man and has needs.”

  Norma laughed. “I could have taken care of him if all he had was a need. My guess is he’s got a hunger for far more than I can offer him.”

  Sam opened the door before Sarah could ask more. He didn’t look as angry as when he’d left. He checked that Norma still had the rifle in her lap and frowned at the half-empty bottle of whiskey.

  When he looked at Sarah, his dark eyes seemed to be searching for something. “You ready? I’ve got a buggy waiting, and the men will be up for the trunks soon. I’ve talked with Dalton, and our plans have changed a bit.”

  “Yes, all packed,” she answered. “But could I have a wor
d with you in here for a minute before we leave?”

  He followed her into the bedroom and closed the door. “We don’t have much time. If you’re planning to yell at me, it may have to wait until I get you two to safety.”

  Sarah turned and wasn’t surprised to find him glaring at her. She wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d reached for one of his Colts. Their argument still lingered in the air, like the words were floating above them, too high to pull back, too low to forget.

  Before she changed her mind, she closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around his neck.

  He didn’t bend down, so she had to stand on her toes to kiss him. Her lips pressed hard against his.

  He didn’t respond.

  She leaned closer, allowing his body the feel of her from hip to shoulder, then she pressed her mouth to his once more.

  The hard line of his lips softened slightly as her mouth continued to tease, but he did not kiss her back.

  “We don’t have time for this, Sarah.”

  “Then stop me,” she whispered against his lips. “Push me away.”

  “Sarah, we can’t.”

  “Push me away, Sam. Turn me down.” She spread her fingers over the cotton of his shirt, loving the feel of his solid chest. “I’m not stopping unless you push me away.”

  “Not likely!” His strong arms circled her and locked her against him. His kiss was wild with need.

  Sarah felt him lift her off the ground and moan as she opened her mouth. She knocked his hat off as her fingers moved into his hair. He wanted her, she almost laughed. This strong, powerful, maddening man wanted her.

  They kissed until Sarah felt weak with a need for more. When he finally broke the kiss, he moved to taste her throat as though he couldn’t get his fill of her.

  She whispered in his ear. “There’s a world of difference between hugging a friend as a thank-you and holding my husband, Sam. It’s not the same at all.”

  He didn’t answer, he just continued planting light kisses along her throat as his hand moved up to tighten around her breast.

  “I’m your wife, Sam,” she whispered as she kissed his ear. “I’m your woman and no one else’s.”

  He raised his head and stared down at her. “But what if ...” he asked, as though he knew of some reason her words might change.

  “There is no what if. I want no other man to hold me and touch me. And when I’m ready, I want no other to bed me.”

  “Now seems like a good time.” Sam smiled, but she couldn’t miss the hunger smoldering in his eyes.

  She laughed, moving her cheek against the hard line of his jaw. “I thought you said we have to hurry. If we don’t get Norma out of here soon, she’ll be too drunk to walk.”

  Sarah pulled away and turned toward the door.

  Closing his hands around her shoulders, Sam drew her back against him as if he couldn’t bring himself to share her with the world.

  Leaning her back against his chest, she circled her hands around his neck. As she knew he would, Sam let his fingers roam the front of her dress.

  “I want to touch you without all these clothes in the way.”

  She sighed, agreeing as his hands warmed her through the material.

  “I want to taste your whole body, Sarah.” He lowered his mouth to the side of her neck. “Dear God, how I want you.”

  Before she could answer, a loud thud sounded from the drawing room.

  Sam reacted first. He shoved Sarah behind him and drew his Colt as he reached for the doorknob. “Stay here!” he ordered.

  Sarah followed him into the drawing room. All was silent. The door was still locked. Not even the air seemed to have stirred.

  Except Norma. The chubby barmaid lay flat out on the floor, the whiskey bottle still in her hand.

  Sam glanced back at Sarah. A smile lifted his mouth, but she could still see the embers from the fire they had started a few minutes earlier in the bedroom smoldering in his eyes. “Next time I’m ordering you to come along. Maybe I’ll have a better chance at getting you to stay put.”

  Sarah shoved her way around him. “Something’s wrong with Norma.”

  “Yeah, she’s out cold. Probably not used to whiskey that hasn’t been watered down.”

  “What do we do?”

  Sam heaved the woman over one shoulder. “If you can hand me my saddlebags, I think I can carry her to the buggy. You’ll have to get that bunch of clothes behind her chair. When she wakes up, she’ll probably want her things.”

  Sarah did as he asked, then ran to get her carpetbag.

  “Maybe if we walk out slow and easy no one will notice I’ve got an old barmaid on my shoulder.”

  Sarah giggled. “It’s worth a try.”

  Unfortunately, they only made it halfway down the stairs before Norma woke up. She moaned and groaned about being carried out of a fine hotel like a sack of potatoes. Then, when Sam refused to stop and put her down, she started waving at everyone and yelling “hello” as if she were riding in the Fourth of July parade. To Sarah’s surprise she seemed to be on a first-name basis with a few of the gentlemen in the lobby. Several more ducked their heads and hid behind hats as Norma passed.

  Sam dumped her into the back of the buggy.

  Sarah calmly handed him his hat and smiled. “I guess we won’t be going back there again.”

  “Too bad,” Sam whispered. “I had a real nice time there.”

  He lifted her into the buggy and took the reins. Neither of them seemed to hear Norma mumbling about being treated like freight.

  Within minutes they pulled up to a mission just outside of Dallas. The aged adobe walls covered with ivy made the place seem like the most peaceful setting on earth. A solid wood door, six inches thick, waited for them at the end of a garden path that could have been a painting.

  Sarah helped Norma down as Sam grabbed her bundle of clothes.

  “I’m giving up drinking.” Norma hiccupped. “It feels good going down, but it always wants to come back up.”

  Sam rapped on the door when the women finally caught up to him.

  The whiskey must have reached Norma’s tear ducts, for she began to cry and confess all her sins. By the time the heavy wood door creaked open, she’d made it through the first twenty or so years of her life, but Sarah guessed she was just getting started.

  When Norma saw the robes of a nun before her, she knelt down and kissed the woman’s hand.

  Sarah watched as the slender nun cradled the woman beneath her arm and welcomed her with kind words as though Norma were coming home.

  “Now, there will be no more drinking, dear,” the Sister said. “But you and your children will be safe here for as long as you need to stay.”

  Norma cried softly as they moved through a small room and into a hallway. “I never started out to make such a mess of this life. I meant to be a good mother, I swear I did.”

  “You’re a fine mother. All you need is a little help, and that’s what we specialize in, a little help.” The Sister spoke to Norma, but her dark eyes watched Sarah.

  Sarah wondered if she looked as if she needed help and didn’t know it, for the nun continued to stare at her.

  “I’ll show you to a room where you can rest,” the nun told Norma. “Your Ellie is sleeping just down the hall, and last time I looked your boy was eating in the kitchen. We’ll see that no harm comes to them while you rest.”

  Norma let the Sister lead her into a room almost devoid of furnishings. Without a word the old barmaid crawled into the small bed. The kind nun covered her and whispered, “I’ll wake you if Ellie needs you.”

  Sarah looked up at Sam and smiled. He’d found the perfect place. She couldn’t help but wonder how many other times he’d brought lost souls here. Sam wasn’t quite the ruthless bounty hunter he claimed to be.

  As they moved back into the hallway, Sarah noticed the nun still stared at her, but couldn’t figure out why.

  “Have you room for one more, Ruthie?” Sam broke
the silence. “I’d like my wife to stay here for a few days while I take care of some business.”

  The Sister smiled at Sarah. “I’d love to have her stay. I’d like a few days to get to know the mother of my future nieces and nephews.”

  Before Sarah could ask what was going on, the Sister hugged her. Sarah had no intention of staying behind, but the Sister’s welcome felt so sincere.

  When Ruthie pulled away, Sam put his arm around the tall nun and said with pride. “Sarah, I’d like you to meet my baby sister.”

  Sarah couldn’t believe it. A hundred questions came to mind. As she looked at them side by side, she saw the same dark eyes, the same strong chin. All at once they were all talking. Ruthie wanted to know everything about how they met. Sarah wanted to hear about how she became a nun and how she kept up with Sam. If he’d been ten when their father died, she must have been two, for Sam had said once that his mother died in childbirth two years before his father had been killed in the war.

  They moved into a large kitchen and circled a table. Ruthie brought hot tea and pumpkin bread. While they ate, Sam’s sister packed a five-pound cloth sack with basic supplies.

  Sarah thought of how strange it was to think of Sam having family. She’d guessed that he was all alone like she was. But he wasn’t like her. He had someone who cared about him and loved him. From the way they talked, their parents had loved each other.

  Sarah had had none of that. He had a base to grow from and she didn’t. She could say she loved him if she wanted to, but in truth she knew nothing of the feeling. She realized how wrong she’d been to believe there was a rule that could make someone love another.

  Sam and Ruthie talked of their childhood, of growing up being passed around from family to family. They talked of having each other, of how when things got bad they would stand by each other.

  When Sam enlisted to fight along the frontier, Ruthie moved into a mission, and there she found her home.