“What . . . who are you?” Her elbows tightened against her side. “What are you doing in my house?”
His beard parted to expose a mouth of teeth headed in every direction. “This your house? You don’t say.” Outside, thunder rolled and rattled the fireplace poker against the stone hearth. “You all by yourself? That don’t sound safe.”
The hand on her shoulder nearly stopped her heart, but it was only Josiah. Only Josiah? What was the world coming to?
“She’s not by herself. I’m here.” Josiah pulled her to his side and draped his arm across her shoulders. The man’s eyes darted from Josiah to her and back again. It took every bit of Katie Ellen’s will for her to stand still and accept Josiah’s familiarity. Only imagining how she’d exact revenge made it possible.
Water ran off the man’s layers of clothing into an ever-widening pool. “And who are you?” he asked.
“Me?” Josiah squeezed her shoulder. She jolted back to the present, pushing painful memories aside. He was waiting for her to acknowledge him before continuing. With a barrel of misgivings and a thimbleful of trust, she met Josiah’s eyes. His smile was reassuring—until he deliberately let his gaze wander to her lips. “I’m only her husband,” he said.
Chapter Three
“You’re my what?!” Katie Ellen wrenched out of his grip. First a loathsome man wandered into her house and then Josiah lost his senses? This was not what she’d intended.
But Josiah wasn’t laughing. Instead he’d fixed the man with a chilling stare. “What made you think you could walk into my house? Don’t you know such doings can get you killed?”
The man’s beard waggled as he ground his remaining teeth. “I heard a crash and some yelling, and since the door was open . . .”
Josiah’s gaze shifted to her. Had she left the door open? Was it possible that she’d once again made a mistake in front of him? Katie Ellen shrugged.
His mouth hardened. “You can stay for a bite to eat, but then you need to be on your way.”
“Where am I going?” The man pointed out the window with dirt-caked hands. “I crossed that bridge this morning, but it’s washed clean away. It’d be death to cross the river now.”
“You’ve been here since morning?” Katie Ellen asked. The skin on her arms puckered like she’d just climbed out of the hip bath during winter. Wanderers in the woods were never up to any good. Ma and Pa had cautioned her against entertaining strangers while they were gone—but she hadn’t even known he was here. “Why didn’t I see you?”
“’Cause I didn’t wish to be seen.”
“Why are you hiding?” Josiah asked.
“Not hiding, exactly. Just lost my way.” The man narrowed his eyes at them. “You two are awfully jumpy,” he said. “Makes me think something suspicious is going on here. You got a secret? Something you don’t want me to know?” Thunder rumbled again as his eyes darted from Josiah to her and back.
Maybe appeasing him would be the best thing. “You can stay for just a spell, then,” Katie Ellen said. “But you have to hang your coat outside and leave your boots on the porch. You show some respect for my housekeeping.”
“My coat stays with me.” He sounded almost amused.
“Then you stay outside,” Josiah said.
Now the man’s face took a contemplative cast as he sized Josiah up. Even though Josiah was a hand shorter, the gaunt man paused. Josiah had swagger and cheek, that she knew, but when had he started intimidating grown men?
The man shrugged. “If that’s the way it’s got to be—but don’t think I’m feeling kindly about it.” He walked to the porch with Josiah on his heels.
“Knock before you come back inside.” Josiah closed the door and nearly stepped on Katie Ellen when he turned around.
“Who do you think you are?” she whispered.
Evidently he thought he was someone who could take her by the arm and drag her into the kitchen, because that was exactly what he was doing.
Her feet skidded across the floor until he stopped at the butter churn and leaned in close. “He can’t know you’re here alone. That means that until the rain lets up and the river goes down, you and me, we’re married.”
Something unhealthful was going on with her heart. “Why not tell him you’re my brother?”
Josiah frowned. “Of course you’d have a better idea, but too late now. Besides, I never pictured myself as your brother.”
“But you’ve imagined yourself as my husband?” she snorted.
The ornery gleam was back in his eyes. “I think I’ll be able to convince him. Can you?”
“Why would I want to?”
“Look, I can’t leave you alone. I’m doing this for your own good.”
Banging sounded against the door. At least the man would keep Josiah busy, and maybe she’d get a chance to make some dinner. “Fine,” she said. “But don’t expect me to like it.”
Because enjoying Josiah’s company had already proven to have serious consequences.
When he’d woken up that morning, Josiah had thought his biggest challenge of the day would be besting his pa at checkers while waiting out the rain. Instead he was hanging fire, waiting to see when the blast would come. Not since those bushwhackers attacked his home had Josiah felt this heightened sense of danger—and danger called for action. Emergencies made him shine, and a little shine in front of Katie Ellen wouldn’t be amiss. And while Josiah didn’t hold with telling falsehoods, certain situations should be granted some leeway.
Josiah tensed as he crossed the spotless cabin. He’d have to work to keep his bluff in on this fellow . . . and Katie Ellen.
Josiah swung the door open. “I’m Josiah Huckabee,” he said. “I figure we need to start out anew.”
“Silas Ruger.” Silas tried to enter, but Josiah stepped in his way.
“Where’re you from, Silas?” Yes, he’d used this man’s given name, and Ma wouldn’t be proud, but if he was carrying on like the owner of the place, he’d best buck up from the get-go.
“Nowhere in particular. I travel around apiece.” Silas shoved his hands into an overcoat. Not the long coat he’d left outside, but yet another layer. And even the bulky jacket couldn’t hide the lump strapped against his ribs, beneath his arm.
Josiah’s throat went dry. He was unarmed, didn’t even know where Mr. Watson kept his shotgun. Had he bit off more than he could chew?
Never.
“What are you doing here?”
“I heard someone needed burying. I’ve come to do the job.”
“Somebody died?”
“No, not yet.” Silas flashed a knowing grin.
He was on his way to kill someone? Josiah blinked. Deciding it was better not to ask any more questions, he nodded toward the kitchen. “Let’s see what Mrs. Huckabee has cooked up for us.”
He waited until Silas walked past him. Maybe this was all some sort of misunderstanding, but they didn’t need to wait around to find out. The only way to keep Katie Ellen safe was to put some distance between them and Silas. Climbing down the bluff was no church picnic, especially in this rain, but he knew she’d done it before. All they needed to do was get Silas distracted and they could escape.
Katie Ellen busied herself at the stove. She steadied the iron skillet with a hot pad, having learned her lesson from the kettle earlier. The kitchen floor shined from its recent scrubbing; the dirty rag in the basin still smelled of poke salad. Poor lady had to cook for them twice in one meal. Silas reached for the nearest chair. Josiah intercepted him and pointed to the chair in the corner. He was not going to let that man sit between him and the door.
“I’m frying up some eggs,” Katie Ellen said. The skillet sputtered with popping grease. “I know it ain’t breakfast time, but I wasn’t expecting company.” She lifted the pan, her eyes growing tight as the heat from the iron handle worked its way through to her burn.
What would a husband do? Josiah wanted to hop up and take the heavy skillet for her, but if they were mar
ried, that wouldn’t be his job. Instead he rearranged the mugs of milk on the table. She scooped an egg and served him first. Sunny-side up. Josiah didn’t even bother picking up his fork.
“What’s a matter?” Katie Ellen asked.
“I don’t like my eggs like this. I like them scrambled.”
She rolled her eyes as she pulled out her chair and sat down at her own plate. “They look delicious to me.” And she took a big bite.
“Ain’t you’uns praying folks?” Silas asked.
Josiah brushed his hair out of his face. “Of course we are,” he said.
Katie Ellen’s second forkful stopped midway to her open mouth. Then she lowered it. “Of course we are.”
“You best be.” Silas fixed them with a stern eye. “Someday you’ll be standing before the Mighty and Fearful Judge. . . . And it might be sooner than you think. I’ll not have it on my conscience that I sent someone into the great beyond without a chance to prepare.”
Her fork clattered when it hit the plate. Josiah grabbed her hand. He’d only meant to comfort her, to let her know he was there for her, but she yanked away.
“I’m trying to pray with you,” he said.
“You don’t need to hold my hand to talk to God,” she snapped back.
Josiah’s head was going to burst. Why was she not allowing for the danger they were in? He bowed his head, but he wasn’t going to close his eyes with Silas in the room. And he wasn’t too all-fired excited about talking to God while he was perpetrating a lie. If he had his druthers, he’d wait until the whole scheme was past before addressing the Almighty.
“Dear Lord, thank you that we got Buttercup and her calf across the bridge. Please keep us . . . safe . . . for the rest of the day. Let no harm come to my family—to Katie Ellen, that is. And thank you for these fine eggs. Amen!”
Silas tucked his napkin beneath his beard; Josiah simply pushed his eggs around on the plate. He was powerful hungry, but the runny yolks turned his stomach.
“What kind of wife don’t know how her man likes his eggs?” Silas reached for his mug with a knotted hand.
“He’s so particular,” Katie Ellen said. “Nothing I do pleases him.” She shoveled in another bite.
So that’s how she was going to play her hand? Nagging wife? Well, he wasn’t going to be a henpecked husband. Couldn’t look weak in front of Silas. “If you’d just give half an effort instead of lazing around the place with your feet up, drowsing the day away, it’d help. I never saw such a lazy woman.”
He bit his lip to stifle the grin. Her chair creaked as she leaned back. Primly she pressed her napkin against her lips. She fixed him with those large brown eyes, her little face smooth as her brain churned. Oh, the suspense of what she had planned for him, and he knew that what Katie Ellen planned would come to fruition just as sure as the sun came up in the morning.
“I’ll try to do better,” she said at last. “If the two of you would stay outside today I’d stand a chance at cleaning this place up.”
Rain continued to run off the roof and pour down in front of the window. Josiah twisted his mouth to the side. “You can’t expect me to stay outside in this weather.”
She smiled, even showed her teeth this time. “Why ever not? You’ve barely stepped foot across this threshold since we’ve been wed. A more delicate lady might protest your decision to spend every night in the barn with Buttercup, but I’ve been most understanding.”
With his fork in his fist, Silas stabbed at the last of the egg on his plate. “You sleep outside?” He chuckled.
“I do not.” Josiah itched to get her alone. They had some talking to do, and they needed to do it fast before they dug themselves into a pit too deep. “I’d like a word with you . . . dear.”
She looked the other way. “I’ve got to tidy the kitchen before you get fed up with my laziness. Remember?”
“Now.”
Her smirk disappeared. “I won’t leave Mr.—?”
“Call me Silas.”
“I won’t leave Mr. Silas in the kitchen alone.” She widened her eyes and jerked her head toward the grinning man, who’d been ripping off pieces of toast and dipping them in the runny egg yolk like he was eating locusts and wild honey.
“I think you two might need a moment alone,” he said. “Besides, nature calls. I’ll step outside.”
“The outhouse is down the hill,” Josiah said.
“It’s raining,” Silas said. “With so much water around I thought I might as well just stand on the porch—”
“Use the outhouse,” Josiah said. Good grief. Had he just met the only man in the hills more uncouth than himself?
Silas grinned, but it was crooked, hairy, and more than a little creepy. This man wasn’t to be trusted. Josiah had best be on his toes and not let Katie Ellen distract him or they could both pay the price.
She should have never let Josiah cross that bridge. She could’ve thought of some way to handle Silas without him. Some way much less complicated and uncomfortable than Josiah’s solution.
Just like Josiah to get her into this mess. Generally he flew around like a whirlwind, but when they were younger he seemed genuinely interested in her contraptions and celebrated when she accomplished something new. His visits to her tree house were the only chance she had for companionship most days, and he was always bringing her gifts—a geode crystal he’d found, or butterfly wings. Without him, her childhood would’ve been very lonely indeed.
But then things changed. They grew up. The little tree house didn’t have enough space for the two of them, and every time they bumped into each other there was an awkward moment that even Josiah’s jokes couldn’t erase. Neither one of them knew what to do with each other until that day three years ago at the church raising when Josiah chased her down and asked her to meet him behind the well. She’d never forget the look on his face—the only time she’d ever seen him scared.
And what had spooked him? Knowing that he was planning to kiss her. And that’s exactly what he did. And then he didn’t speak to her again for nearly two years. Must have been completely horrified at the thought that an uptight bluestocking like her had kissed him back.
And now he wanted to pretend that they were married? No, thank you.
Silas stood. Josiah stood and moved his chair so Silas could pass. He’d best hurry because hot words were piling up behind her clenched teeth and they wouldn’t be contained much longer. Josiah followed Silas to the front door.
“If I catch you relieving yourself at the house . . .”
Grabbing the tin plates, Katie Ellen rattled them into the basin so she wouldn’t have to be privy to the rest of that conversation. Honestly, where did these men come from?
She hadn’t been joking about wanting to clean the kitchen. She sloshed water through the kettle to rinse it, then pumped it full of water to heat for washing. Dropping it on the stove, she nearly jumped out of her skin when Josiah touched her arm.
“Shhh,” he said. “We’ve got to talk.”
She spun around. “You ain’t kidding. If you think I’m going to let you stay here—”
“Let’s leave. You and me, now. We can get to the bluff before he knows we’re gone and back to my house before he tracks us.”
“Leave him here with the house and the barn? I can’t do that. You go if you want, but my parents—”
“I’m not leaving without you. It isn’t safe. This man is on his way to kill someone.”
“What?” She rolled her eyes. “He’s just pulling your leg.”
“Why would he do that?”
She could think of at least a dozen reasons that a person might want to pester Josiah Huckabee, but what this man held against him, she couldn’t guess. All she knew was that if this sharp-boned man was as ornery as he looked, she wasn’t about to leave him to run reckless through her home. “I can’t. I was left in charge. I won’t abandon my post,” she said.
“Because you don’t want to disappoint your parents or because y
ou really, really like being in charge?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He looked over his shoulder. “I’m trying to help you, but we have to convince him that you’re my wife and that I’d die protecting you.”
“You’d have better luck convincing him you’re a two-headed goat from a sideshow than that you’re in love with me.”
Josiah’s face went blank like someone had wiped his slate clean. The moment stretched before them. Katie Ellen lowered her eyes.
“Are you sure you don’t want to make a run for it?” he asked.
Still looking at the floor, she shook her head. She’d like to remind him that he didn’t have to stay there with her, but thought better of it. Without him . . . she shuddered.
“Where’s your pa’s gun?” he asked.
“He took it.”
Josiah’s jaw worked. His shirt was drying and showing which stains were permanent. Then suddenly the concern vanished from his face and his confident manner returned. “We’ll just have to outsmart him. You can help me do that, can’t you? Just keep an eye on him?”
It’d been three years since the two of them had worked together on anything, but it seemed they had no choice.
Chapter Four
Keeping an eye on Katie Ellen was no sacrifice to Josiah’s way of thinking. He’d always kept track of her, knew what days she checked the trout lines, knew when she and her pa would journey into Pine Gap, knew where she was likely to go when she meandered through the woods. After that kiss, he’d cut a wide swath around her, but he still couldn’t stay away. Not completely. When he was feeling low, he’d wait until he could accidentally-on-purpose stumble across her in the forest between their homes. He’d thought himself clever the way he always acted surprised to see her. If she had any notion of how long he’d been waiting for her to pass, she never let on. Usually she only gave him a few curt words as she hurried on her way. Funny thing was he used to be a blamed nuisance, always underfoot, messing up her tree house and shooting that rabbit. How was he supposed to know it was her pet? But once he started to mature, she started acting strange. He thought he’d just straighten it out and go ahead and kiss her, but that didn’t work out the way he’d planned, either.
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