by Debra Cowan
Then killing him.
Up close Sheriff Holt was rugged and compelling and one of the most handsome men she’d ever seen. It wasn’t hard to imagine that his blue eyes would go razor sharp if he were crossed. And the stubborn jaw told her that the man could intimidate if he chose, tin star or no tin star.
Surely the sheriff was gone by now. She edged between a wooden crate full of brooms and a barrel of pickles. The strong smell of brine reached her as she peeked out the wide front window of the general store. When she didn’t see the tall, lanky lawman, she left and started across the street for the Whirlwind Hotel. Another hotel, still under construction, stood at the other end of town, but Josie would’ve chosen the Whirlwind anyway because of its view of the jail.
Halting for a passing wagon, she mentally calculated the money stashed in her hidden skirt pocket. Being as good a seamstress as her mother, Josie had taken on Virginia Webster’s customers after her mother’s death so she had money to pay for her stay at the hotel. But she didn’t know how long she might need to stay. She had to keep back a good part of her money for when she finished with McDougal and fled town.
Sunlight glittered off the windows of the town’s businesses. Josie shaded her eyes as she continued across the street, angling away from the jail and toward the hotel three buildings away.
How was she going to keep an eye on the outlaw now that she knew the sheriff was keeping an eye on her? Her spot in the alley had been perfect, but thanks to Holt, she couldn’t go back there.
She had passed the telegraph and post office when an idea hit her. Stepping back a few feet into the street, she peered up at the hotel then shifted her gaze to the jail.
Smiling, her heels clicking against the planked porch, Josie hurried into the hotel and approached the long waxed wood counter.
Penn Wavers, the elderly clerk, slumped in a chair in the corner, snoring. Josie knew the gangly man was nearly deaf so she stomped on the floor, hoping the vibrations would wake him if her loud voice didn’t. “Mr. Wavers!”
“Huh?” His head drooped and he bolted upright, his long white hair flying. He blinked a couple of times as he stepped to the counter. “Oh, hello, miss.”
“It looks like I’ll be staying longer than I planned. I wonder if I might get a different room? Maybe one on the west side and closer to the front of the hotel?”
“Is there something wrong?” Age filmed his blue eyes, but they were kind. “If so, I’ll fix it.”
“No, sir. Nothing like that.” She smiled. “It’s just that I’m a dressmaker and since I have to sit for such long periods, I like to watch the sights. It relieves the tedium.”
“I’ve been told it’s louder in those front rooms. Wouldn’t you rather have something else?”
“I don’t mind the noise. I’m used to it, being from Galveston and all. I’m a little homesick.”
“Well, miss, I don’t mind moving you, but those rooms cost a little extra.”
“Even though they’re noisier?”
“They’re a mite bigger,” he explained apologetically.
More money? She had brought a few pieces of sewing from Galveston to finish up for some of her mother’s regular customers, but she wouldn’t be paid until she delivered the items. What would she do after that? She stared out the window, finally registering that the curtain hanging there was faded and worn.
“What would you think about making a bargain with me, Mr. Wavers?”
“What kind of barn?”
“No, a bargain,” she said louder.
“Oh, a bargain.” He eyed her for a moment. “What did you have in mind?”
“A west room closer to the front of the hotel in exchange for new curtains.”
He glanced at the faded calico drooping limply at the two large front windows. “If I buy the fabric, would you be willing to make some new tablecloths for the dining hall, too?”
That would be perfect! She pretended to consider.
He leaned in. “You could trade that for room and meals, as well.”
Her one meal here, cooked by Mrs. Wavers, had been delicious. “All right, you’ve got a deal.”
They shook on it, both smiling.
Mr. Wavers reached into a pigeonhole beneath the counter and handed her a key to her new room. “When can you start on those curtains?”
“Today if you like. Would you like me to pick out the fabric or would you like to do it?”
“I’ll leave that to you. The tablecloths, too.”
“Should I ask Mrs. Wavers if she has a preference as to color?”
“She can’t tell blue from green.” He gestured at Josie’s well-fitted cotton daydress. “Besides, you seem to know what you’re doing. I think she’d agree.”
“Wonderful! I’ll move my things then pick out something at Haskell’s.”
“I’ll go tell Charlie to put whatever you need on the hotel’s account. This will work out mighty fine.”
“I think so, too.”
“You must like Whirlwind if you’re planning to stay.”
“It seems like a nice place.” She glanced out the window, half expecting to find Sheriff Holt staring back at her. “I met the sheriff today. He seems…pleasant. What is he like?”
“Heh.” Mr. Wavers peered at her. “You sweet on him?”
“No! Nothing like that.” Just because she got a shiver when thinking of those piercing blue eyes did not mean she was sweet on him. She simply wanted to know what she was up against. “I’m…curious.”
“He’s a fine man. Had his share of troubles, but who hasn’t?”
Josie nodded, wondering what troubles the lawman had experienced. He had plainly wanted to know if she were married; she wondered the same about him. Perhaps his coming over to her only meant he was dedicated about doing his job, but Josie knew she couldn’t let down her guard around him.
“Thank you for letting me switch rooms, Mr. Wavers,” she said in a raised voice. “I’ll go move my things.”
She patted his hand and headed upstairs, smiling broadly.
Between the sewing she had brought to finish and the new curtains and tablecloths for the hotel, she would be busier than a one-armed bank robber. She needed to work quickly on the hotel’s items since she didn’t know how soon she would be leaving.
But for now she could watch the jail from her new room without attracting notice. When the time was right, she would make sure Ian McDougal saw justice. And that handsome sheriff wasn’t going to get in her way.
It had been two days since Davis Lee had seen Josie Webster’s pretty little hide in the alley. Since he’d seen her anywhere. So where was she? Was she still watching his jail? In case she was, he had taken the precaution of rearranging his schedule, which had caused him to miss his hot pie. If she had left town using the stage or a rig rented from the livery, he would’ve known.
Either she had left town by some other means or she was up to something. Intending to find out which, he shackled McDougal to the bars of his cell before going outside and locking the door to his office. He walked a slow but thorough path through town. No sign of her. When she’d left him the other day she had slipped into Haskell’s, so Davis Lee made the general store his last stop before the hotel. Maybe Charlie had seen her.
Davis Lee walked into the store, catching the sweet tang of apples as he said hello to Cal Doyle’s wife, Lizzie, who was leaving.
Charlie Haskell stood behind the scratched wooden counter, polishing his spectacles. The store owner was small-framed and spare. “Morning, Davis Lee. What can I do for you today?”
Mitchell Orr, Charlie’s eighteen-year-old nephew who helped in the store and kept the books, ducked through the faded blue curtain separating the store from the back office. He was dressed just as his uncle in dark trousers and a white shirt with suspenders. His wiry arms held several bolts of white fabric and a red, blue and yellow calico. “Hello, Sheriff.”
“Hey, Mitchell.” Davis Lee greeted the blond-haired boy before s
peaking to his uncle. “Just had a question, Charlie. A woman came in here the other day. She’s new to town. Has brown or well, maybe brownish-red hair—”
“You mean that pretty little thing who’s staying at the Whirlwind Hotel?” Charlie peered at him over the top of his glasses, his brown eyes sparking with interest.
Mitchell stopped at the edge of the counter. “Josie Webster?” he asked eagerly.
Davis Lee figured that a hundred unfamiliar women could have paraded through Haskell’s General Store, and Charlie and Mitchell would’ve known Josie. They weren’t likely to forget that heart-shaped face or that creamy skin. Or the graceful curves that made a man crazy to put his hands on her. He sure hadn’t been able to forget. “Yeah, that’s her.”
“She’s been in a couple of times,” Mitchell offered.
“When was the last time y’all saw her?”
Charlie thought for a minute.
“She was in yesterday for more thread,” the younger man said.
“And the day before to buy fabric for the hotel,” Charlie added. “She’s making new curtains and tablecloths for Penn and Esther.”
“Is that right?” So it appeared she had decided to stay, at least for a while. Did that decision have anything to do with Ian McDougal?
Mitchell nodded at his burden. “This is the rest of the fabric Miss Webster ordered. We didn’t have all she needed so I had to go over to Abilene. I about cleaned out that store.” He edged his way out from behind the counter. “I’ll take this over to her at the hotel, Uncle. Won’t be long.”
“Hold up there, Mitchell.” Davis Lee stepped in front of him. “I already have to stop by the hotel. I’d be happy to deliver that for you.”
“Oh, I don’t mind.”
“Since I’m already going there, it won’t put me out.” He didn’t need an excuse to talk to her, but delivering the fabric provided him with a better chance of getting into her room, seeing if he could find anything to confirm his suspicions about her.
Charlie motioned for his nephew to give the cloth to Davis Lee. “She in some kind of trouble?”
“No.” She is trouble. And he aimed to find out how much. He took the stack from the boy, who looked disappointed. “Just saving you a trip.”
“If I were twenty years younger, I’d take it myself.” Charlie chuckled. “Can’t say as I blame you, Sheriff.”
Davis Lee grinned, not bothering to correct the man’s assumption that he was romantically interested in Josie Webster.
A few minutes later, Davis Lee stood at the hotel’s registration desk, loaded down with four bolts of fabric. “Penn, I’ve got a delivery here for Miz Webster,” he said loudly. “Is she here?”
“I believe so.” The man’s wizened features creased in a smile. “You working for Charlie now, Sheriff?”
“Just helping out.”
“She’s in room 214.”
“Thanks.” Davis Lee started up the scratched pine staircase, his boots scuffing the freshly swept wood.
“No, no, that’s not right, Sheriff,” Penn said. “She’s not in that room anymore.”
Halfway up the staircase, Davis Lee turned.
“She’s in room 200 now. I forgot she asked to move a couple of days ago.”
“Why would she do that?”
“Said she wanted a room at the front of the hotel so she could have a view while she sewed.”
Davis Lee’s eyes narrowed. That was why he hadn’t seen her in the alley since that encounter a couple of days ago. Since he already thought she was hiding something, this news made him even more determined to find out what.
“Thanks, Penn. I’ll get this stuff up to her.” He reached the top of the second-story landing and turned to the right, going down the hall until he got to the last room. A room he knew had a bird’s-eye view of town. And his jail.
She answered his knock right away, her eyes widening when she opened the door. “Sheriff!”
He couldn’t tell if it was surprise or dismay he heard in her voice.
Her hair was down, sliding around her shoulders in a silky curtain of rich brown with a shy touch of red. She recovered, her green eyes cool and unreadable. “You have my fabric.”
“I told Charlie I’d deliver it since I was coming over anyway.” He’d forgotten just how deeply green her eyes were. And how tiny her waist.
She stared at him for a minute. Long enough for her sweet, fresh scent—honeysuckle?—to slide into his lungs. Long enough for him to deduce by the way her lavender skirts clung to her legs that she wasn’t wearing petticoats. At least not more than one. A heat he hadn’t felt in a long time worked its way under his skin.
He cleared his throat. “You want me to put this down somewhere?”
She blinked. “Yes. Sorry. Come in.”
She opened the door wider and he walked inside, noting she left the door open. Which was a good thing seeing as how he had also just determined she wasn’t wearing a corset, either.
“I— You can just put them on the bed.” Her voice was breathy.
Davis Lee walked over to the neatly made bed that was pushed into the far corner of the room. Two lengths of fabric, one white and one calico, were folded neatly at its foot. He laid the new bolts next to them.
The room was bigger than most of the others in the hotel, but not grand by any means. On the wall beside the bed was a plain dressing table with a wall mirror and washbasin. A waist-high dresser backed against the wall across from the foot of the bed. The middle and right side of the room was empty except for a length of calico spread across the floor. A pair of scissors lay on top as if her cutting had been interrupted. A chair sat at the partially open window facing town.
He didn’t have to walk over there to confirm that she had a clear and close view of the jail, but he did. A short lacy curtain hung at the top of the window and he ducked his head to keep it out of his eyes. Yep, sure enough, this window provided a direct view to the jail. And anyone going in or out.
“Uh, thank you for bringing the fabric. You certainly didn’t have to do that. I’m sure you have things you need to get back to.”
The shimmer of unease in her voice had him leaning one shoulder against the window frame as if he had all day to spend. So far he hadn’t seen anything in here except fabric and furniture. And her. “You gettin’ settled in?”
“Yes.” She offered him a tentative smile, staying over by the door.
Her gaze dropped to his badge and he got the distinct impression she was wishing him gone. “Penn said you changed rooms.”
“I— Yes.” She gave a stiff laugh. “I wouldn’t think that would merit him giving a report to the sheriff.”
“He just mentioned it. Any reason why he shouldn’t?”
Her gaze searched his, her fingers tangling in the folds of her skirt. “Of course not.”
He hooked a thumb into the front pocket of his trousers. “Interesting that you would want to move.”
“I don’t know why.” She shrugged, leaving the door to walk over and snatch a lavender ribbon from the top of the dresser. She pulled her hair back and secured it with jerky movements.
He tried to ignore the way her bodice pulled taut across her breasts. “It’s noisier in this part of the hotel.”
Her chin angled slightly. He had obviously come for a reason besides delivering her fabric. “I like noise.”
“You’ve got a view of the whole town from here.” His gaze slid down her body then back up, his eyes glinting.
Under his hot scrutiny, her pulse hitched. “I—I like to have something to look at while I’m working.”
He stroked his chin. “Like me.”
“I did not change rooms to watch you!”
He grinned and she felt a slow pull in her belly. “I meant I like to have a view while I’m working, too.”
“Oh.” Heat flushed her face. The man flustered her six ways to Sunday. And he was entirely too amused.
She wanted to get his handsome self out of h
ere. “I hardly see what you find so fascinating about the whole subject.”
“Don’t you?” he asked softly.
That set off a flurry of panic in her stomach and it wasn’t due strictly to the fact that he might know the real reason she had moved into a room overlooking the jail.
Curling her fingers into her damp palms, she asked tartly, “Is changing hotel rooms against the law, Sheriff? Are you planning to haul me to jail?”
His gaze moved slowly, leisurely over her as if he found the prospect appealing. “If I did, I’d have to put you in a cell next to my prisoner. Which wouldn’t be good.”
“No, it wouldn’t.” She bit back the temper that threatened, her nerves snapping. She moved to the open door, not caring if she appeared rude. “If that’s all, I really have a lot of work to do.”
He started toward her, moving with a smooth grace for such a large man. His gaze swept the fabric that lay on the floor, then the bed. “It appears you’ll be busy for quite a while.”
“Yes,” she murmured, her hand tight on the doorknob.
He definitely unsettled her. She told herself it was because of the suspicion in his eyes. Not because they were alone in her room with only a deaf old man downstairs if she needed help.
Davis Lee stopped at the door, close enough that his shirtsleeve brushed hers. Her fresh scent teased him, bringing to mind the last time he’d purposely gone to a woman’s room. It had been over two years, but not long enough to make him forget how a pretty face and sultry eyes could hide betrayal and lies. “If you need anything, Miz Webster, you just holler out that window. I’m sure I’ll be able to hear you.”
“Yes, all right. Thank you.”
Tension bowed her shoulders and he could feel her urging him out the door. Even though he didn’t like the way his body tightened at her nearness, he grinned and tipped his hat. “Good day, ma’am.”
She mumbled goodbye and nearly closed the door on the heel of his boot.
He gave her door one last look. Yeah, she was definitely up to something.
Three days passed before Josie felt confident enough to make another try at McDougal. Since the sheriff had been to her room, she had been careful to do her spying as discreetly as she could, keeping to the corner of the window.