“He could have an entire regiment camped across town for all we know.” He blew out an impatient breath and rubbed his chin. “How can you be so calm about this when you know what it means?”
Everything about her showed stoic acceptance. Except the spark of fear in her eyes.
“He hasn’t done anything yet,” she argued. “You can’t be the one to make the first move.”
“He came about as close as you can get to making an out-and-out threat against any Indian in Montana,” Christian growled on. “That includes you.”
“Perhaps.”
“Perhaps I’m not in the mood to sit idly by and let him make those threats.”
“Christian,” she cautioned him
He wasn’t in the mood to argue and stepped around her, heading to his office to fetch his coat and hat. It struck him after the fact that she had called him by his given name. Any other time that would put a smile on his face, but not now.
He threw the coat on over his shoulders and buttoned it as he strode back into the courtroom. Lily was at the far end of the room with her students putting on her own winter things.
He squared his shoulders, fit his hat on his head, and marched towards the door, figuring he had about a fifty-fifty chance of Lily and the kids getting out of his way.
“Thank you for escorting us back to the school, Mr. Avery.” Samantha stepped into his path. “You’re so gallant.”
A couple of the boys snorted and snickered. Christian glanced to Lily, who wore a victory smile. She wasn’t playing fair.
“I hope you can walk fast,” he muttered to her as he held open the door.
Lily and the children filed out of the courthouse and into the street. The flurries that had blown in with Wilkins were having a hard time deciding if they wanted to turn into a light snow or give up altogether. They were persistent enough to have formed a slippery dust at the edge of the porch. Christian had to rush to scoop up one unfortunate girl when she tripped stepping down into the street.
The feeling that he was a mother goose leading a chattering gaggle of baby geese back to the nest did nothing to soothe his impatience. He vowed he would find Samuel and Wilkins and demand they sit down and have a long chat with him about whatever they were up to.
He just didn’t expect it to happen so quickly.
“Christian, look.” Lily tapped his arm before they were twenty yards away from the courthouse.
“What?”
He followed the line of her sight to find the worst answer to his question that he could have imagined. Through the windows in the jail next to the courthouse he could see Samuel and Wilkins talking to Kent Porter. He swallowed the colorful curse he wanted to utter.
“I have to see what this is all about,” he said instead, half for Lily, but mostly for himself.
“Christian, wait.” Lily held out her hands as he swerved to head for the jail.
He turned back to her, loosening his frown a fraction.
Lily pressed her lips together and worked her jaw. She wanted to tell him off so badly that he could feel it racing across his skin.
At last she said, “Listen first. I don’t like the look of Lieutenant Wilkins either, but you may still be able to diffuse the situation. Don’t let this escalate.” She gestured subtly to the children.
He would have ignored her and pushed on except that Amos Wright added a firm nod of agreement from his spot by her side. An entire class of sixth graders was silently giving him advice on the heels of their teacher. He shook his head.
“I just want to get to the bottom of it.”
With a final nod, he headed on to the jail as Lily and her students continued on their way to the school. Wilkins hadn’t knocked when he’d entered the courthouse, so Christian didn’t knock when he reached the door to the jail.
“Evening, Kent,” he said as soon as he was through the door, taking his hat off to shake snow onto the floor, then putting it back on his head. “I saw you had some visitors.”
Kent looked as though he could have cried with relief at the sight of Christian. He strode across the cramped space of the jail office to shake Christian’s hand.
“Christian, could you explain to these two here that I do not need any help interrogating my prisoner or apprehending any other fugitives in the area?”
A prickle of warning raced down Christian’s spine. He shot a glance to the silent Indian still sitting in his cell. Whoever he was, he hadn’t moved from the spot where he’d been sitting since Saturday night. He was still clean and put-together in spite of it. If the man was aware of the danger he was in, he didn’t let on.
Wilkins stared at Christian with the same distrustful look he’d give Lily. The man was trouble, from the top of his stiff, army-issue hat to the heels of his over-polished boots.
“Does the town council know about your friend here?” Christian asked Samuel. He crossed his arms. “Do they know you went behind their back to bring him in?”
“They don’t need to know and I went behind no one’s back,” Samuel insisted. “Carl Wilkins is a personal friend of mine.”
“Is that so?”
Samuel puffed in indignation. “We were at college together.”
Christian arched an eyebrow, unimpressed. “Deserted your post to pay a social call?” he asked Wilkins.
“For your information, Mr. Avery,” Samuel answered as Wilkins scowled, “Lieutenant Wilkins is on leave. I knew he was traveling in the area, so I sent him a telegram asking him to visit. As a personal favor.”
The answer was too innocent, too trite.
“Right.” He turned to study the unknown Indian, to see if the man had any thoughts about the new development. How many more would end up in those cells, men he knew and liked, with Wilkins on the loose?
“So your old college buddy is here for a vacation and not to interfere with the robberies?”
“Of course he’s here to investigate the robberies!” Samuel barked. “If I can’t rely on Cold Springs’s law enforcement to catch the other one, then I damn well have a right to explore my options.”
He wasn’t even going to deny it. Every fiber in Christian’s body wanted to dispute the man’s audacity. His hands clenched into fists and he glanced from Samuel to Wilkins. Wilkins watched the argument with a smirk. It wasn’t a stretch to see him and Samuel causing trouble in their younger days.
They would not cause trouble for him, or Lily.
“Kent, what are you doing to track down the real thieves?” He tried another option.
“I’ve asked around,” Kent defended himself. “I’ve sent men out to interview the other folks who was robbed. I’ve had them ask for descriptions and everything.”
“Who did you send?”
“Uh.” Kent swallowed. “Jed Archer.”
Christian rolled his eyes. Samuel must have known enough about Jed Archer to understand why. He exchanged a look with Lieutenant Wilkins to say “I told you so.”
“I won’t tolerate this kind of incompetence and neither should you.” Samuel turned the tables on him.
The problem was that Samuel was right. He never should have let the town council appoint Kent as sheriff. He should have argued them into replacing Kent ages ago. But “should haves” bought him exactly nothing.
“Right,” Christian drawled. Underneath his bullish exterior he writhed with regret. “I think it’s about time you and your good friend from college left Kent alone to do his job.”
Samuel snorted. “Yes, his little guest there needs entertaining. We wouldn’t want the criminal to feel rushed on his way to confessing.”
“I’ll get him to confess, you can be sure of that!” Kent declared. He looked sideways at Christian then added, “Uh, if there’s anything for him to confess.”
“If we have to have a trial, we will,” Christian added. “In the meantime, at least one other thief is still at large.”
“Yeah,” Kent added, “and I won’t need any help from your soldier there to catch him!�
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“No, you won’t,” Wilkins said. “Because I work alone.”
Christian clenched his teeth. There was nothing he could do to stop Wilkins or Samuel from poking their noses around town.
“Investigate all you want,” Christian growled, “but remember which side of the law you’re on.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Wilkins narrowed his eyes.
Christian met him stare for stare. “It means that you can’t cross legal lines for the sake of pseudo justice. Like I keep trying to tell your friend, you need solid evidence to bring accusations against anyone, no matter what they look like. There are people throughout these parts who just want to make their living and feed their families and they have every right to do so. I won’t have you disturbing the peace of my town.”
“But it’s not your town, Mr. Avery,” Samuel challenged him. “It’s all of our town now. And some of us have a different version of peace than you do.”
It would have been much simpler if he could have punched Samuel in the face to sort things out.
“My version or your version,” he said instead, “the law’s the law. Don’t cross it.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Wilkins said. He touched the brim of his hat to Christian with a look that could freeze a lake in July, then nodded to Samuel. Without a word, the two men saw themselves out.
Christian sighed and turned to Kent.
“Think you can manage to keep an eye on that soldier while he’s here?”
“Yes, sir.” Kent bobbed his head in a nod.
“Don’t let him ride roughshod over you.”
“I would never,” Kent replied with all the ferocity of a baby owl.
Christian shook his head and turned to go. He checked on the unknown man in the cell as he went. Whoever he was, he was the one man in the room who looked calm, even though anger hovered just under his surface. Christian paused, narrowing his eyes in thought. He looked familiar. Or maybe it was just that he’d been trying to get the man to speak all week.
He took a breath and rubbed a hand across his jaw. At least Lily would be happy that he hadn’t started a war with Wilkins. Yet.
Chapter Thirteen
It had been one of the longest afternoons of Lily’s life. After taking the children to the school and dismissing them, she had marched back into town to find Christian and make sure he hadn’t caused more trouble than he needed to. He was nowhere to be found. The woman who did the filing at the courthouse told her he had returned for a short time after they had left only to head out again. Lily had searched for him in town for half an hour before returning to the school to finish her work.
Now she stood at the counter in the boarding house kitchen, drying the last of the dinner plates and regretting her decision. She stared out the window into a black and uncertain night. If Christian truly wanted to protect the man in jail, protect Sturdy Oak’s people and even her, the last thing he needed was to jump to the offensive. Samuel had already proven he was tenacious and Lieutenant Wilkins didn’t look like the type to be trifled with. Something had to be done, but what?
“Did you forget something at the school?” Jessica asked as she stacked the dry dishes in the cupboard. “You seem at least that far away.”
“No.” Lily gave her an honest answer before she could censor herself.
Jessica shifted closer, lowering her voice. “Are you thinking about Mr. Avery?” she suggested. Her attempts to hide a smile fell apart.
Lily glanced over her shoulder and into the hall. Miss Jones and Gladys were in the front room. Miss Jones was lecturing about something, too loud to overhear a conversation in the kitchen.
“I’m concerned about him,” Lily admitted. It wasn’t comfortable, but the need to trust the young woman pulsed through Lily’s veins. “I’m concerned about the man who was apprehended after the academic games and worried about my students as well. A soldier showed up in town today and I think he’ll cause trouble. I know Christian sees him as a threat. He’ll do something rash.”
“Do you think you could talk him out of it?” Jessica asked.
Lily shook her head and returned to the dishes.
“There isn’t time. I can’t very well skip school tomorrow to discuss the matter over tea.”
“What about tonight?” Jessica lowered her voice.
Lily’s skin prickled. The suggestion was far too close to River Woman’s story about her first husband, the story she couldn’t stop thinking about. She could do it. River Woman had said she had the spark. She could slip into Christian’s arms and….
What was she thinking? Her concern should be for Wilkins, for the trouble he was sure to cause. If she stole away to Christian’s house in the dead of night, it should be to plan a defense against Samuel and Wilkins.
Then again, none of it really mattered.
“I could never walk out the front door without Miss Jones catching me and questioning me from here to next week,” she said, irritated by the truth. “If she asked why I was going out, any honest answer I gave her would cause her to pack up my things and throw them out the window and me after them!”
To Lily’s surprise, Jessica giggled.
“The trick is to wait until she’s in bed, then to go out the back way.”
Lily turned to look at her, eyes wide. “The back way?”
Jessica nodded. She put the plate in her hands away then gestured for Lily to follow her. The two of them checked the door to the hall then crossed into the pantry. Jessica flipped on the electric light at the top of a narrow set of stairs.
“The cellar?” Lily whispered.
Jessica motioned for Lily to come with her down the stairs.
The cellar was dark and smelled of mildew. It was cold and Lily didn’t want to think about the source of the squeaks she heard as she and Jessica rounded the corner. She didn’t want to think about the thrill of possibility that beat in her chest.
Only a few steps to the side was another wide and shallow set of stairs. Certain of her footing, Jessica climbed two and pushed up on something. A thin door swung up.
“I come out this way all the time to meet Matthew,” Jessica whispered. “I’m not sure if Miss Jones even knows about this door anymore. It opens into the back garden. When I first found it, it didn’t look like it had been used in ages.”
“You come out this way all the time?”
“Yes.” Jessica nodded. “After Miss Jones has gone to bed. Her room is on the front side of the house, so she doesn’t see.”
Lily shook her head in amazement. “No one catches you?”
“They can’t catch you if they don’t know to look,” Jessica answered, showing her back through the dark cellar to the stairs up to the kitchen. “Fortunately for us, the one thing Miss Jones does not do in her iron rule of the house is check to be sure we’re in bed after we’ve turned the lights out.”
“As far as you know,” Lily added. Already her heart was beating faster and her mind was spinning with ways she could slip out to meet Christian. She fought to push the thoughts aside, to dismiss them as the reckless insanity they were.
She saw Jessica shake her head as they emerged into the light of the pantry. “She’s usually asleep herself. ‘Early to bed, early to rise,’” she quoted.
“You have a point there.” She returned to the sink to tidy the last remnants of the dishes.
No. She wouldn’t entertain the idea. She couldn’t. It was too big of a risk. One false move and her life and livelihood would be in danger. Besides, she had school in the morning.
Of course, she wouldn’t have to stay out long. All she needed was to check on Christian, to discover his plans to keep Wilkins contained. If she could just talk to him and share her fears, he could keep her safe.
Unbidden, the memory of Christian’s lips against hers as he kissed her in her classroom came to her. It wasn’t enough. The feeling of his body over hers, his hands caressing her the night of the academic games rose up to replace the simple
r memory of his kiss. His scent of tobacco and cedar seemed to fill her. It had felt so right to be pressed under him in the solitude of the storeroom. If River Woman could steal away to her beloved’s tent to learn the mysteries of love and Jessica could sneak off to her beau, surely she could too?
“This is madness!” she hissed at her rebellious thoughts. “People are in danger and I can’t shake the memory of a kiss! What kind of fool does that make me?”
“A fool in love.” Jessica shrugged. “Love has terrible timing and is as persistent as a fever.”
Lily arched an eyebrow. Jessica had that right.
“Love is also as reckless as a child. Not that I’m in love,” she corrected herself.
Jessica remained silent. Perhaps she was smarter than Lily gave her credit for.
She shifted her weight, twisting her fingers together. “You wouldn’t say anything if I tried it tonight?” she asked.
No, she couldn’t do this. She shouldn’t, as desperately as she wanted to.
“Not on my life!” Jessica whispered.
Her conspiratorial grin set off a wave of strange, bubbling sensations in Lily’s chest. Those waves emerged as giggles. She slapped a hand to her mouth even as Jessica giggled with her. It was madness to entertain these ideas and to laugh about them. They weren’t twelve years old. They were grown women. And yet again, for the second time in a week, Lily had the unmistakable sense that the woman standing across from her was a friend.
“I’ll say I’m going to bed now,” she told Jessica to put some distance between herself and the dangerous feeling. “If she asks, tell Miss Jones I have a headache and am making an early night to get rid of it.”
“So you’re going to do it?” Jessica asked, eyes bright.
Lily bit her lip. “I don’t know.”
She started across the kitchen, but stopped when she reached the door to the hall. She turned back.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Jessica smiled.
The unfamiliar lightness of having a partner in crime, a comrade, carried Lily all the way up to her room. Surely if a woman who might consider her a friend didn’t see any harm in slipping out at night to visit Christian it couldn’t be all wrong, could it? She was only going to talk to him, nothing more. No kissing, no touching, nothing else. People were in danger and needed her, that was all. The lie was easy to tell. She wasn’t doing this for herself, she was doing it for her friends.
In Your Arms (Montana Romance) Page 16