And then she skidded to a halt and just stood there, staring at both men, her mouth open.
“Hello, Hannah.” The farmer stood with his straw hat in hand, staring at her awkwardly.
She stood there and stared back, her face going pale.
Colt cleared his throat in the deathly silence. “I—I’ll wait out on the porch. If you need me, Hannah—”
“She don’t need you,” the other man snapped and gestured Colt out the door. He went out reluctantly.
Hannah stared at the man facing her. He was familiar, and yet not so in the fine new clothes. They’d always been so poor and he’d always worn beat-up overalls.
“Hello, Luther,” she managed to say after a few deep breaths.
“Well, you don’t seemed thrilled to see me,” Luther said.
She didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t thrilled to see him; in fact she had hoped to never see him again. She wiped her wet hands on her apron.
“What are you doing here?” she managed finally.
“Now ain’t that a helluva thing to say to your husband after not seeing him for almost four years?”
She squared her shoulders, deciding at that moment that she would not go with him, no matter what he said. She could see the blue of Colt’s uniform outside on the porch, and that gave her courage.
“Frankly, Luther, I’m not glad to see you. I reckon you never expected to see me alive again.”
“No, I really didn’t,” he admitted. “I figured after them Comanche bucks got through with you, they’d torture you to death or you’d kill yourself like any respectable white woman would do.”
She raised her chin, always determined and defiant. “They didn’t treat me any worse than you did, didn’t beat me as much, as I remember.”
He glared at her, tobacco juice stains on his thin lips. “You was never an obedient wife, Hannah. You always was too sassy and didn’t obey me like the Good Book says a woman should do.”
“I never respected you,” she seethed. “You were always a coward. You think I don’t remember you deserting me out there on the prairie, running past the women and kids to get back to the safety of the settlement? You had a rifle and you didn’t even try to use it. I was trying to get to your gun to shoot them myself when they overran me.”
“That’s no way to talk to me, you sassy piece.” He advanced on her.
She reached over and picked up one of the heavy irons off the stove. “You’ll never hit me again, you mean bastard. You come one step closer and you’ll get this hot iron in the face.”
Looking past his stooped shoulder, she saw Colt standing in the doorway, ready to come in, and shook her head at him. She could protect herself this time.
“You tart, you’re as ornery as ever. You always was too spirited for a decent woman.”
About that time, she heard small footsteps behind her and Travis toddled into the room carrying the small wooden horse Colt had carved for him.
“Mama?” he said in Comanche.
Luther’s face went white with shock. “You got a kid? You got a bastard pup by some Comanche buck? And you gave me a weakling son that died.”
“Because he was born early.” Hannah remembered that horrible day as she put down the iron and picked up Travis. “Because you knocked me down a flight of steps, or don’t you remember that?”
“You was sassin’ me,” Luther snapped.
“I’m not going with you.” She faced him, ready to fight.
“I didn’t ask you to. And if I’d planned to, I wouldn’t want some half-breed redskin kid in the deal. You should have killed yourself like a decent woman would.”
She would not cry. It never did any good. It only made her seem more vulnerable, and she could not trust any man not to exploit that weakness.
Behind Luther, Colt stepped into the room, his face stern and angry. “I think you’d better leave, Brownley, before I throw you out.”
She shook her head at Colt as Luther snarled, “This ain’t your business, soldier boy. I only come to get her to sign a paper, that’s all, and then I’m gone.”
Hannah sighed with relief. “What kind of paper?”
Luther brought out a folded paper from his pocket. “You got a pen?”
She put Travis down on the floor, and he clung to her blue skirt as she searched around on the table for pen and ink. “What’s the paper?”
“It’s a divorce,” he said, and laid the rumpled paper on the table. “I thought you was dead, so three months after you went missing, I married Mrs. Mailey.”
Hannah blinked. “The fat, rich widow with the big farm?”
“Emma is a wonderful, God-fearing, obedient wife,” he answered. “Now just sign this and I’ll be gone.”
Hannah smiled a rare smile. “So if I don’t sign, you’re not legally married and have committed bigamy.”
“I don’t want to lose Emma,” he said. “Just sign it.”
“You mean, you don’t want to lose all that money and farm land?” Hannah picked up the pen.
Luther raised his fist. “Just sign it, damn you, so I can get you and your Injun bastard out of my life—”
Before she could protest, Colt grabbed him from behind, whirled Luther around, and hit him in the mouth. The two went tumbling out onto the porch.
Colt couldn’t remember much of anything except the red rage that enveloped him when he saw the farmer raise his fist as if to strike Hannah. He had saved her from the Comanches and he sure as hell didn’t mean to have some white man to hurt her now, even if he was her husband.
They tumbled out onto the porch, where Colt grabbed him again and threw Brownley off into the dust in front of the tiny cabin. Then Colt landed on top of him, hitting him in the mouth until blood mingled with the brown tobacco juice that ran down his beet-red face.
Behind him, he heard Travis crying and Hannah yelling, “Stop, Colt! Stop! You’ll get in trouble!”
“I don’t give a damn! It’s worth it!” Colt stumbled to his feet, hauling Brownley to his, noting the fine coat was now covered with dust and chicken droppings.
Brownley came at him, cursing, but Colt dodged the blow easily. In the background, he saw people gathering to watch, soldiers running and even Olivia and the messenger driving up in the light buggy. She looked horrified.
They were fighting in front of Brownley’s fine rig now, and Colt hit the farmer again, knocking him down and under the fine gray horse’s legs. It reared, startled, as the two men rolled around in the dirt under its hooves.
He took Brownley by the coat collar and dragged him to his feet. “You mean bastard! Get out of here and don’t ever come back!”
Then he grabbed him like a sack of potatoes and threw him up on the buggy seat.
“I’ll get the law on you!” Brownley waved his fist from the fancy rig. Colt started up into the buggy after him, but one of the other officers grabbed his arm.
Olivia was suddenly on his other side, pulling at his coat sleeve. “Darling, are you out of your mind? You can get court-martialed for this!”
“I don’t give a damn!” Colt shook free of her and tried to shake free of the other officer. He realized then that his arm wound was throbbing and probably bleeding again.
There was a large crowd gathered in a circle to watch and more coming all the time, but Colt didn’t care. He wanted to kill the farmer for the way he had treated Hannah.
Hannah ran up just then, grabbed Colt’s arm. “Don’t hit him again, Colt. Let him go.” She turned to Brownley. “Here’s your paper. I signed it and good riddance to you.”
“Now I can go back to my respectable wife,” Brownley snarled, wiping the blood from his mouth, and clutching the paper, “and be glad I ain’t still hitched to a Comanche buck’s whore!”
A gasp from the crowd as Colt went after him again, trying to drag him down from the buggy, but Brownley, clutching the crumpled paper, backed his rig away from the hitching post and took off down the dusty road toward the front gate.
>
Colt tried to go after him. “I’ll kill the son of a bitch!” But two officers held him back and now Olivia was holding onto his sleeve again. “Colton, have you lost your mind? This is no way for an officer to behave.”
Behind him, he heard Hannah’s soft voice. “Let him go, Colt. There’s been enough trouble.”
There was a murmur through the crowd as he took a deep breath and looked past Olivia’s beautiful face to Hannah’s blue eyes. “Are you all right?”
She nodded and picked up her toddler. Any other woman would have been weeping and hysterical by now, he thought, but she only had a small muscle near her mouth twitching and he saw her fist clench.
It was Olivia who was crying like a fountain. “Oh, Colton, dear. You’re going to be in trouble for this. Couldn’t you just have let him go?”
“No, I couldn’t.” Colt took a deep breath and the officers let go of his arms. He stood there, brushing the dust off his uniform. His wounded arm throbbed hard.
The officers shooed the curious crowd away. “All right, there’s nothing more to see, folks. Everyone should go home.”
Hannah started to say something to Colt, then turned and carried her toddler back into her cabin.
Olivia looked up at him, wiping her eyes. “Colton, sometimes I think I don’t know you at all. What got into you, meddling in someone’s personal business like this?”
“You wouldn’t understand, Olivia,” he sighed and dusted his coat off, strode back to his quarters, leaving her standing there by the messenger’s buggy, looking humiliated. He was in trouble all right, maybe facing court-martial or at least discipline from the major. He didn’t give a damn. Seeing that blood smeared on Brownley’s face and the chicken shit all over his fine coat had made whatever punishment he got worth it.
It wasn’t long in coming.
Colt was ordered to report to the major’s office. When he got there, the major looked up and sighed. “At ease, Lieutenant.”
Colt obeyed, realizing for the first time that he still had dust on his coat and his sleeve was torn.
Major Murphy said, “By Saint Mary’s blood, what am I to do with you? You attacked a civilian?”
“He was mistreatin’ Hannah,” Colt said.
“And as a lieutenant in the U.S. Second Cavalry, that was your business why?”
Colt felt the flush creeping up his face. “Because she’s a helpless woman, and since I rescued her, I feel responsible for her.”
“And nothing more?” The major leaned back in his chair and surveyed Colt.
What could he say? The major probably thought Colt was still engaged to his daughter. “Well, sir, it’s this way—”
“Never mind. I don’t want to hear it.” The major gave him a dismissing wave of his hand. “You created a public scene, brawling like a hooligan in the dirt with a civilian with half the post watching.”
Colt didn’t answer.
“I’ll have to punish you as an example to the others,” the major said, “so you’re confined to quarters for a week. I’d do more, but you’re one of my favorite officers, Lieutenant. You almost remind me of myself before ... never mind. Now get out of here, and next time, I’ll break you in rank.”
“Yes, sir.” Colt saluted and left the office. Now what was he to do? There would be patrols going out against the Comanches and they really needed his expertise. This trouble was his own fault, but he would do it over again. No man was going to mistreat a woman while Colt Prescott was around.
The grounds were quiet now, and he decided to stop by Hannah’s cabin on the way back to his quarters.
“Hannah? Are you here?”
She came out of the back room. “I just put Travis down for a nap. Thank you for what you did. Are you in trouble over it?”
“A little bit,” he admitted. “Confined to quarters for a week. Are you okay?”
She bit her lip and didn’t look at him. “I’m embarrassed over the ruckus it caused, but I’m relieved not to be married to Luther anymore.”
“I hate the way he talked to you.”
“I’m used to it.” She shrugged. “At least this time, he didn’t hit me, thanks to you.”
He stepped closer and she looked up at him. She looked so slender and vulnerable. Without thinking, he took her small face between his two big hands. Her skin was so warm and tender and her eyes as blue as Texas bluebonnets in the springtime. Her lips were slightly parted, and he leaned down and kissed her very gently.
Her soft lips trembled under his and for a moment, he thought she would come into his arms so he could hold her close against him and protect her forever from anyone or anything that might harm her, but Hannah pulled away from him. “Did you think fighting for me gives you the right to bed me?”
“No, Hannah, I’m sorry.” He stepped back and realized she was trembling, whether from emotion or rage, he couldn’t be sure. “I kissed you without thinkin’.”
“I think you’d better leave now.” Her voice was cold. “Your fiancée might not like the idea of your being here.”
He started to apologize again, then realized it would do no good. He started out the door, turned, and looked back at her. “Hannah, I promise I meant no insult.”
She didn’t say anything, only looked at him, disappointment in those blue eyes.
“Oh, hell,” he muttered and strode off her porch and toward his own quarters. So Hannah thought he was trying to claim her body as a prize. To the victor go the spoils. He’d made a mess of things. “What else can go wrong?” he whispered and then realized Olivia stood near the major’s office, and judging by her angry face, she had seen him come out of Hannah’s cabin.
Chapter 12
He merely touched the tips of his fingers against the brim of his hat by way of greeting and kept on walking toward his quarters, which meant he would have to pass her.
However, he could see in her angry face that Olivia didn’t intend to let him get past her without conflict. She caught his sleeve. “How dare you!”
“Miss Olivia,” he said softly, “I don’t think we should make a public scene.”
“A public scene?” Her voice rose to an unladylike screech. “A public scene? After you behaved like a common soldier while half the people at this fort saw you brawling and rolling around in the dirt? What are you trying to do? Humiliate me?”
He tried to placate her. “Olivia, it had nothin’ to do with you. You are so much more refined than I am and you deserve better. I’ll tell everyone you broke up with me.”
“Don’t you dare! I haven’t even told my father yet. As far as everyone at this fort is concerned, we are still engaged.”
“You don’t want a man who is often in as much trouble as I am, Olivia. I’m sorry if I’ve hurt you, but I’m afraid I can’t be the man you want.”
She burst into tears and was still weeping loudly as he brushed past her and strode to his quarters. He slammed the door and flopped down on his bunk. Damn it. He’d made a mess of things with two women. He was an officer, but he was still behaving like some wild cowboy. Maybe he needed to give up on relationships and go back to whores on a drunken Saturday night. But that’s not what he wanted. He wanted a love that he could call his own waking up beside him every morning for the rest of his life. He wanted kids and a life in Texas. It dawned on him then that what he really wanted was Hannah. But she didn’t seem to believe he wanted anything but a roll in the hay. He shouldn’t have kissed her, knowing her past with men. He should have waited.
Hannah had straightened the overturned furniture, given Travis a sandwich, and put him in the back room to play when she heard a knock on her front screen. She took a deep breath as she realized when she went around to open it, that it was Miss Murphy. “Yes?”
“We need to talk.” The major’s daughter opened the screen and without an invitation, came inside.
Hannah caught the other girl’s mood and stiffened. “About what?”
“Oh, you know about what.” The pretty brunet
te bristled. “You just caused a public scene and got Lieutenant Prescott in trouble.”
“I didn’t mean to,” Hannah said. “It all just happened.”
“And somehow, my Colton just came running to get in a fight like some knight of old?”
Hannah shrugged. “He was out on the porch, and I guess he could tell things weren’t going well.”
“Well, now he’s in trouble for the second time over you,” Olivia snapped. “Mrs. Brownley, you have brought a lot of conflict to this army post. What are your plans for the future?”
“I don’t know. I don’t see how I can leave.” Hannah decided she must control her temper. “I have little money and as you know by now, my husband only came here to get my signature on divorce papers.”
“You shouldn’t set your sights on my fiancé,” Olivia said. “Everyone is talking and it may keep him from getting promoted.”
“I have not set my sights on the lieutenant,” Hannah said, “and I wouldn’t do anything to harm his career. Now, Miss Murphy, if you’re leaving, I’ve got more laundry to do.”
“Are you dismissing me?” Olivia’s patrician nostrils flared.
She must not slap her; that would only bring more trouble. “I thought you had said everything you needed to say.” Hannah tried to keep her voice even, while gritting her teeth.
“Did I make myself clear?” Olivia snapped.
“Yes, you did.” Hannah stepped around her and went to the screen, held it open. “Good-bye, Miss Murphy.”
“I am engaged to marry Colton and don’t you forget it!” Olivia turned on her heel and marched out the door.
Hannah slammed it behind her. It had been all she could do not to slap the snooty socialite. That would only make things worse for her and Travis, she realized as she returned to her ironing. She had to add more money to her small stash, or she could never leave the fort. Either that or marry someone who would take her away.
Marry. Yes, that would solve her problem. But who? Although there was a shortage of women in Texas, there was no one at the fort that she could even imagine sharing a life and a bed with. In fact, the thought made her shudder. No one but Colt Prescott, and he was engaged. Plus he was already in trouble since he had come to Hannah’s defense. She thought about it while she ironed and decided there was no man available who could take her away from here. It was up to her to solve her own problem.
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