The Lady and the Texan

by Bobbi Smith

  “I’m serious about this, Ted. If something were to happen, would you be able to control the team?”

  He realized then that she was questioning his ability, and it infuriated him. “Don’t worry, Amanda.” He managed to sound easygoing, despite his anger. “I’ll take care of you.”

  She was just starting to set him straight, to tell him that she didn’t need taking care of, when shots rang out around her.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Amanda shouldered her rifle and fired. These murdering thieves had killed her uncle and seriously wounded her father, but she was going to make damned sure they didn’t kill her—at least not without some payback.

  “Faster, Ted! Get the team going!” she shouted as she kept shooting.

  The outlaws were showing no sign of giving up, despite Amanda’s accurate return fire.

  Ted slapped the reins as hard as he could and the horses jolted forward. He caught a glimpse of the outlaws as they came riding down out of the rocks, firing continually in their direction. Amanda ran out of ammunition in her rifle and tossed it aside. She braced herself and drew her revolver.

  “Get down!” Ted yelled at her. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

  “Just keep this stage moving!” she returned, never letting up in her firing.

  And then the bullet struck her.

  Ted was horrified when she cried out and collapsed beside him on the driver’s bench.

  “Amanda? Dear God—” He urged the team onward as he drew his own revolver and tried to fire back at the oncoming attackers.

  One of the male passengers was armed, and he, too, was firing out of the stage window. Ted heard shouts of pain and managed a quick glance back to see that two of the outlaws had fallen and the rest had stopped their pursuit. He kept going at a frantic pace until he was certain they were safely away. He didn’t slow the team until he was in the open where they couldn’t be ambushed again.

  “I need help up here!” he shouted as he took Amanda in his arms and climbed down. It was difficult, but he made it. Carrying her gently, he laid her on the grass at the side of the road to see to her injury.

  “Oh, my God,” a woman’s voice cried from inside the stage as she saw Amanda. “They’ve killed her!”

  Ted feared the worst. Blood was streaming from a wound on Amanda’s head. He brushed her hair back from her face, not knowing what to expect. Relief flooded through him when he discovered the bullet had only grazed her forehead.

  “She’s still alive!” he called back to the others as he quickly took his handkerchief and pressed it to the wound.

  Ted was thankful that she wasn’t dead. His whole point in setting up the fake robbery attempt today was to make himself look good. Isaac was supposed to have been along. If things had gone as originally planned, Isaac would have seen how well he’d handled things and been impressed with his courage and ability. He’d always felt the other man had suspicions about him, and today’s plan had been contrived to convince him otherwise. When Amanda had decided to take Isaac’s place, Ted hadn’t been worried. Either way, if things had gone according to plan, he would have come out looking like a hero. No one was supposed to have been injured.

  But now . . .

  “Shall we take her inside the stage with us? There’s nothing you can do for her out here,” offered the man who’d helped fight off the outlaws as he came to kneel beside Ted.

  “Yes. We’ll have to head back to town. She needs a doctor right away.”

  “What about the outlaws?” the passenger asked, fearful that they might be waiting for them.

  “They’re long gone by now. We’ll be safe.”

  “Will she live?”

  “I hope so.” Ted sounded suitably anguished as he lifted Amanda and carried her to the stage. With great care, he laid her inside. The passengers all did what they could to make her comfortable.

  The trip back to San Rafael was the longest Ted had ever made. Each mile seemed a hundred, and he wondered if the town was ever going to come into sight. When finally they reached the outskirts, he heard the cry go up in the streets that something was wrong, the stage was back. He didn’t even stop at the depot, but drove straight to the doctor’s office.

  “Help! There’s been a shooting!”

  Dr. Clayborne heard his call and came running out of the office.

  “Oh, my God! It’s Amanda Taylor! Bring her in here!” he directed as he saw Ted carrying her from the stage. “What happened?”

  “There was another robbery attempt, but I managed to get away from them. She was riding shotgun and a bullet grazed her head,” Ted explained as he laid her on the examining table.

  Dr. Clayborne took a quick look at her wound. “Thank God, it only grazed her. Another inch over, and she’d be dead.”

  “Is Amanda going to live?”

  “I’ll know more after I examine her. I can’t tell right away with this kind of wound. Was anyone else injured?”

  “No, I managed to outrun them, and then I brought her straight back here.”

  “You’d better go tell Dan what’s happened. This is going to hit him hard, but I want him here at his daughter’s side,” Dr. Clayborne directed.

  Ted nodded and hurried off to get Dan. He rushed to the Taylor house and pounded on the door.

  Eileen had no idea why someone would be knocking so loudly at the door. She hurried to answer it.

  “Dear God! Ted, there’s blood all over you!” Eileen cried.

  “I have to see Dan,” he told her gruffly, walking past her.

  “What is it? Why are you back? Where’s Amanda?”

  He ignored her questions as he took the steps two at a time. He knocked on Dan’s bedroom door and opened it at his call to come in.

  “There’s been some trouble,” he said solemnly as he entered the room. He was shocked to find that Jack was with Dan.

  At the sight of Ted, so bloodied, Jack was immediately on his feet.

  “Amanda—” Jack’s tone was deadly as he moved toward Ted. “Where’s Amanda?”

  “There was a robbery attempt. She was shot.”

  “You son-of-a-bitch!”

  Ted had no time to defend himself as Jack hit him with all the power of a man in the grip of uncontrollable fury. Jack felt no satisfaction when Ted dropped to the floor before him, his nose broken and bleeding.

  “Where is she?” Jack demanded, standing over him, his fists still clenched.

  “You bastard! You broke my nose, and I saved the damned payroll!” Ted cried miserably, blood streaming from his nose.

  “I don’t give a damn about the money,” Dan snarled. “Where’s my daughter?”

  “She’s at Dr. Clayborne’s office.”

  Eileen had followed him upstairs, fearful of just such news, and she rushed to Dan’s side.

  “I have to go to her,” Dan said, a frantic look in his eyes.

  “I know. Let me help you get up and get dressed.”

  “How bad is she?” Jack hadn’t moved, but remained standing threateningly over the fallen Ted. It wouldn’t have bothered him at all to continue to pummel the fool.

  “It was a head wound.”

  “Oh, God.” At this news, Jack knew pain so deep and so cutting that he was surprised he was still standing. His jaw tightened as he fought for control. Amanda was his and she’d been shot! She might even be dead.

  “Dan’s ready to go, if you can help us, Jack,” Eileen told him as she kept a supporting arm around the older man.

  Jack went quickly to their aid. They quit the room, leaving Ted behind. It was slow going to Dr. Clayborne’s office. Dan was weak, but his iron-willed determination drove him on. He had to get to his daughter. She might be dying. They arrived at the office to find that the physician was still in the examining room with Amanda.

  Eileen and Jack helped Dan to sit in one of the chairs, and then she sat next to him. Jack could not sit down. He paced the waiting room like a caged wild animal.

  “I s
hould have gone after her this morning. I shouldn’t have left her alone with Ted—”

  “This is no time for that, Jack,” Eileen said soothingly.

  “I don’t understand why Amanda went off like that,” Dan said miserably. “The reason I hired you was just so something like this wouldn’t happen. And here she took off on her own . . . with Ted.” He added the last in complete disgust.

  Jack knew exactly why Amanda had done it. She’d done it to get away from him.

  Guilt filled Jack, along with a driving need for revenge. Whoever had shot Amanda was as good as dead. Once he knew she was going to be all right, he was going after the outlaws, and he wouldn’t come back until he’d found them.

  Ted arrived at the office a short time later with his mother, and Mona hurried to her brother-in-law’s side.

  “Dan . . . I’m so sorry about what happened. How is Amanda?” Mona asked.

  “The doctor’s still in there with her.” He nodded toward the closed door.

  “This is so tragic,” Mona went on, casting a sad glance toward the examining room. “If only we’d sold the stage line after Asa was murdered, none of this would have happened. You should have listened to me, Dan. It isn’t worth it. None of this is worth it.”

  Dan glared at her, barely in control of his temper. “Amanda was on that stage because she wanted to be, Mona, not because anyone forced her to go. She cares as much for Taylor Stage and Freight as I do. She wants the line to continue. She doesn’t want to just cut and run.”

  “When will you see that it’s just not worth it? You’ve already lost your brother. Will it take losing your daughter, too, before you realize just how foolish you’re being?” she persisted.

  When she and Ted had originally made their plan, she’d thought they would be out of West Texas in a matter of a few short weeks. After the botched robbery that left Dan injured but alive, everything had changed. Now Ted was talking as if he wanted to stay on and keep his hand in the till, so to speak. While Mona didn’t care what her son did, she did want to make sure that she got what was coming to her and she didn’t intend to wait much longer to get it.

  “I think that’s quite enough.” Eileen spoke up with an air of authority that surprised everyone. She knew it was none of her business and she should keep her mouth shut, but she couldn’t help it. She’d understood when Andrew had sailed that last time that the sea was his love. Nothing could have stopped him from going. And so it was with Dan and Amanda. They loved the stage line.

  “I beg your pardon?” Mona was aghast that Eileen had spoken to her that way. “Why are you here? You aren’t even family.”

  Eileen had expected her to counterattack, but she’d never expected the defense that came her way.

  “No, she’s not family. She’s better than family. She’s my friend,” Dan said. “Family, you don’t get to pick,” he said pointedly as he sliced an angry look at Ted. “Friends, you do.”

  “Well, I never,” Mona huffed.

  “That’s right, Mona. You never have understood what all this means to the Taylors, and I’m coming to believe that you never will,” Dan said tightly. “Taylor Stage and Freight is not for sale, and it never will be.”

  Mona thought about getting up and leaving, but knew that would prove her insensitivity. She had to remain and find out about Amanda’s condition. She had to play the role of the concerned aunt. “I am only worrying about Amanda. She’s such a sweet young girl, and to have this happen to her—”

  Jack was standing alone, apart from the others, silently praying that Amanda would recover. He had only been half-listening to their conversation. He knew they were angry, but he didn’t care about them. Nothing mattered except Amanda. She had to be all right. She had to be.

  The door to the examining room opened and Dr. Clayborne came out. Jack started to go to him. His gaze was riveted on the doctor’s face, trying to read his expression. He needed to know. He had to know. And then Jack realized that he wasn’t a relative and so had no right to ask how she was. He hung back, watching and waiting for the doctor to say the words he so desperately needed to hear.

  “Dan?” Dr. Clayborne went straight to the older man.

  Dan got slowly, painfully, to his feet. He saw the doctor’s serious expression and feared the worst. “What is it? How’s my Amanda?”

  “It was so close,” he said quietly. “She’s a very lucky young woman.”

  “She’s going to be all right?” Dan asked, his eyes widening in hope.

  “Yes, she’ll be fine. She’s going to be groggy for a day or two, and certainly she’ll have a headache for a while. But she’s in no mortal danger. In fact, if you move her carefully, you can take her home.”

  “Oh, thank you, doctor,” Dan said, clasping his hand in a warm, hard grip. “Thank you. Can I see her now?”

  “Of course. Come on in.” He helped him into the examining room and closed the door behind them to give them privacy.

  Dan went to where Amanda lay on the examining table and gazed down at her with tears in his eyes. “Thank God, you’re going to be all right.”

  “Papa—” Amanda’s voice was soft and filled with pain. “I’m sorry.”

  “You have nothing to be sorry for.”

  She looked up at him. “Yes, I do. Eileen told me last night how you’d hired Jack to take care of me, and that just made me all the more determined to prove I didn’t need him guarding me. But Papa, I was wrong.”

  “It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you’re alive, and you’re going to be fine.”

  “I did shoot two of them,” she managed with a weary smile.

  “That’s my girl. Good shooting,” he said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster under the circumstances.

  “What about the payroll? Did they get the strongbox?”

  “No. I have to admit, Ted did do a good job. One of the passengers was armed, so between the passenger and Ted, they saved the stage. He got you back here as quickly as he could.”

  She tried to nod, but it hurt too much to move her head. “I’m sorry I worried you, Papa.”

  Dan’s tears began to fall, and he made no effort to resist them. “Sweetheart, I just want you happy and well. Don’t worry about another thing.”

  “Yes, Papa.” She paused, wondering where Jack was and how angry he was with her. “Does Jack know what happened?”

  Since she knew how he felt about her after last night, Amanda assumed that he wouldn’t care. She thought he’d probably gone ahead with Isaac on the run to Comanche Pass.

  “Of course he knows!” Her father wondered how she could doubt that. “He’s furious.”

  “I can imagine,” she said more to herself.

  “Jack was with me at the house when Ted came to tell me you were injured. Jack was less than patient with Ted—”

  “I don’t understand.” She frowned painfully as she looked at her father.

  “He hit him.”

  “Jack hit Ted?”

  “I think he broke his nose.”

  “Oh, my . . .”

  “I have to tell you, I was angry with Ted, too. When I think of how you might have been killed . . . I don’t even care that he brought in the payroll untouched. I would have preferred that you had come back untouched.”

  “So you really did hire Jack to guard me.”

  “Yes, I did. You’re the most precious thing in the world to me. Everything I do is for you, and I want you to be safe and happy.”

  “Thank you, Papa.” It was wonderful to be loved this way—unconditionally and completely. Her father was a rare and gentle man, and she loved him very much. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too, sweetheart. The doctor said we can take you home now if you feel up to being moved.”

  “I’d like that, Papa.”

  “I’ll tell him. You just rest easy. He said it would be best if you just stay in bed for a few days until you’re all better.”

  “Right now, that sounds like great advic
e,” she said weakly. “But what about the stage line?”

  “Don’t you worry about the line. We’ll take care of it. You just get better.”

  Eileen went to Jack as soon as Dan had gone in to see Amanda.

  “Don’t you worry. She’s going to be all right. She’s a fighter.” She patted his arm reassuringly.

  “She is that.” Jack looked down at Eileen and had to smile at her. It was a tight smile, but one that let her know how much he appreciated her. Just by standing next to him, she had given him the strength he needed to stay in control.

  While he’d been waiting, he’d been silently planning what he would do once he knew Amanda’s exact condition. A few hours before, he would never have guessed that he would be so glad to have Stalking Ghost in town, but now he was. There wasn’t a better tracker in the state of Texas. Between the two of them, the outlaws who’d done this didn’t stand a chance. He was going to hunt them down and see them pay. They would not get away this time.

  Mona and Ted had been talking between themselves in low tones.

  Ted looked over at Jack, taking care to keep his expression one of concern for Amanda, and told him, “Once we’re sure she’s out of danger, I’ll go over to the sheriff’s office. I’m sure he’ll want to know the details. Do you want to come with me?”

  “No. You’re the one who saved the payroll. You talk to him. I’m going to be busy.”

  “Doing what?” Ted demanded, believing that the running of the line had fallen to him now that Amanda was injured. As terrible as Amanda’s being shot was, he was rather pleased with the way things were working out.

  Jack fixed him with a cold stare. “I’m going after the men who did this.”

  “That’s what the sheriff’s for,” Ted protested.

  “I don’t have time to wait for the sheriff. He’s still trying to find out who killed your stepfather,” he sneered.

  “And you think you can do better?”

  “I know I can.”

  Eileen was listening to the interchange between the two, and her heart swelled with pride as she gazed up at Jack. The man who stood before her was a man of confidence and determination. He was a man to be reckoned with, and she knew that if anybody could bring the outlaws in, Jack could. “You’ll do it. I know you will.”