“No,” Reese said, his voice low and tinged with disquiet. Once they’d all been Reese’s to command. Maybe he still felt responsible for them, their lives. Their mistakes.
“From what I hear, Cash is really making a name for himself,” Jed rumbled.
“And Nate is doing his damnedest to keep Cash alive. Watching his back, cooling him down when he can. When he’s sober,” Reese added softly.
Cash had always been quick with his gun and his mouth, and his reputation as a gunslinger had only grown in the past couple of years. It was only a matter of time before that reputation got him killed.
And Nate... Hell, Nate was more of a lost soul than Cash had ever been.
“I still can’t believe the kid is married,” Jed grumbled. Rico had always been such a charmer, such a ladies’ man. Married! It was almost as inconceivable as his sister married to that half-breed Sullivan.
“Eden’s going to have another baby,” Jed grumbled. “Like she needs another mouth to feed! Another kid to chase after and take care of and... and... Damn that Sullivan.”
“She seems happy about it,” Reese said calmly.
“You knew?”
“She told Mary a couple of weeks ago.”
Jed sighed tiredly. If Eden didn’t so obviously adore Sullivan, if she weren’t so happy, if Sullivan weren’t one of his closest compadres... he really would have to kill the man.
“So,” he said, just trying to make conversation, “tell me what happened with Clancy.”
“Not much to tell,” Reese said, his eyes trained ahead as if he couldn’t wait to get home. “There was some nasty gossip about Rose and Reverend Clancy. I don’t know if it was true or not, but you know what kind of man he was.”
“Yep.” A womanizer, a charmer... a lecher.
“Anyway, one morning Sylvia steps into the parlor and finds Baxter standing over Clancy’s body with a knife in his hand and blood all over his clothes. She screamed, people came running....” He shrugged. “I never would’ve thought it of Baxter.”
“Hannah thinks he’s innocent,” Jed said thoughtfully. “But the evidence is pretty condemning.”
Reese turned his head and squinted against the sun. “Who’s Hannah?”
Unconsciously, Jed grinned. “She’s Rose’s sister. I met her on the stage.” He rattled the vest pocket where the jewelry he’d recovered rested. “Most of this is hers.”
Reese smiled. “Is that why you were so damned and determined to recover everything, and not just the rifle and six-shooter?”
Jed’s grin disappeared. “Of course not. I did my best to recover everything because it was the honorable thing to do.”
“I see,” Reese murmured.
“Quit looking at me like that,” Jed grumbled.
“Like what?”
“Like I just sprouted another goddamn head!”
Reese turned his gaze to the road ahead, once again. “So, what’s she like, this Hannah?”
Jed took a deep breath. “Meanest woman I ever did meet,” he said fondly. “She’s also fearless, spunky, and right pretty.”
“Fearless?” Reese glanced briefly to the side. “Odd attribute for a right pretty woman.”
Jed’s smile crept back. “When I yell at her she looks me right in the eye and calls me names. She doesn’t so much as flinch when I glower at her and return the favor.” He shook his head in wonder. “She went after those bandits with nothing but a cane and her smart mouth.” The smile didn’t last. “If I hadn’t been there she probably would’ve gotten herself killed.”
“Sounds like this Hannah’s a handful,” Reese said in his wisest voice.
“You might be right about that.”
When Rock Creek came into view, they spurred their horses to a gallop. Reese was anxious to get back to his wife and kid, Jed imagined, and he... Well, he was just along for the ride. He was in no hurry to get back to Rock Creek for any reason at all.
The town was always crowded on a Saturday, as ranchers from the surrounding area came to shop and visit. People filled the street and the boardwalk as they took care of the weekend chores. Kids ran and shouted.
Through it all he saw her. Hannah, in a white blouse, dark skirt, and a silly little hat, stood outside Three Queens... practically nose-to-nose with a rough cowboy who had to lean forward and down to meet her. As Jed watched and approached on his borrowed horse, Hannah said something that made the cowboy mad. The young man responded hotly and Hannah whacked him on the side of his leg with her cane. His response this time was to smoothly draw his gun and point it at her belly.
Jed groaned out loud and spurred the horse forward.
Chapter 6
Rock Creek was populated by the most uncivilized, crudest forms of humanity imaginable, as evidenced by the young man, one Oliver Jennings, who pointed a revolver at her midsection. All she’d done was ask him a few questions, then reprimand him when he’d been uncooperative. For that he drew his weapon.
“You hit me,” Oliver said, incredulity in his eyes as he jabbed the six-shooter’s muzzle against her. Again.
Surely he would not shoot her here, in the middle of a crowded street! “You were insolent,” she defended herself. “If you would simply answer my question...”
“What’s going on here?”
The sound of that voice, as Jed sneaked up behind her, sent chills dancing down her spine.
“This danged woman hit me with her cane,” Oliver said, his eyes following Jed as the larger man placed himself beside Hannah.
“It’s a bad habit she has,” Jed said, apparently supremely unconcerned about the dire situation before him. “One of these days I’m going to take that cane away from her and break it over my knee.”
“You will not,” Hannah protested.
Oliver grinned as if he liked the idea just fine. While he smiled and nodded in agreement, Jed’s hand shot out and he smoothly snatched the weapon from Oliver’s grasp.
“But if anyone’s going to threaten her,” Jed finished as he expertly spun the confiscated six-shooter, “it’s gonna be me.”
The young, hotheaded Oliver was no match for Jed Rourke, Hannah thought proudly. Oliver was not much taller than she was, and he was downright skinny—a scarecrow of a man next to Jed. He backed down sheepishly, taking the six-shooter after Jed spun open the cylinder and emptied the bullets onto the street, mumbling in a boyish voice the apology Jed demanded.
She was just about to thank Jed for his assistance when she noticed the expression of fury on his face.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m investigating Reverend Clancy’s murder,” she said sensibly, “since no one else in this horrid town has seen fit to do so.”
He took her arm and steered her toward the hotel, which was directly across the street from the entertainment house where she’d found Oliver. Walking a bit too quickly, he all but dragged her along. Dignity was impossible.
He stopped in the lobby and glanced around, frowning at the folks who milled about, socializing on this mild December Saturday. The grip on her arm did not loosen. He peered into the dining room and saw the few patrons who were enjoying a late luncheon. With a curse, he dragged her toward a door at the rear of the lobby.
Beyond the door an enclosed garden awaited. No December bloom added color to the day, but the plants were well cared for and laid out in neat rows, and there were several benches, one against the hotel’s outer wall, others scattered through the garden. Jed dragged her to the bench situated farthest away from the door.
“Sit,” he commanded, all but shoving her onto the bench.
“I will not,” Hannah said as she burst to her feet to face him.
He laid two big hands on her shoulders and gently forced her to sit. When she had complied, since she had no other choice, he continued to lean forward, placing his face close to hers.
“Hannah Winters, I want you to tell me exactly what you’ve been up to.”
“I told
you, I’ve been...”
“Investigating,” he interrupted. “Yes, I got that. Exactly how have you been investigating?” His blue eyes narrowed threateningly, and a muscle in his beard-roughened jaw twitched.
And still Hannah was not afraid. “I’ve been talking to people, asking questions. Your Reverend Clancy was a horrible man,” she said. “There are any number of people in Rock Creek, and no doubt beyond, who might have wanted him dead.”
“But only one who was found standing over his body with a knife in his hand.”
“Clancy seduced Oliver’s sister. Were you aware of that fact? He offered to counsel her after her husband died, and while she was mourning and looking for support, he took advantage of her. From what I’ve heard, I doubt she was the only one.”
“I didn’t say Clancy was a nice man or a good preacher. I just said they found Baxter standing over his body with blood on his clothes and a knife in his hands.”
She lifted her chin. “Purely circumstantial,” she argued. “And I know Baxter Sutton would never commit murder, just as I know Rose is too smart to be taken in by a philanderer like Reverend Clancy.”
Jed sighed tiredly and sat beside her. Close. Too close. She scooted away, just a few inches.
“Hannah, you don’t know Baxter and Rose anymore. Twelve years is a long time,” he argued sensibly. “People change.”
She pursed her lips and turned her head to study the garden. Jed Rourke’s face was too disconcerting. How was she supposed to argue with him! “Maybe,” she said softly. “But people don’t change that much. Inside, where it counts, they stay the same.”
“I could argue with you about that one,” Jed said tiredly. “But I won’t. Not now, anyway.” He reached into his vest pocket and drew out a handful of gold and sparkling gems. “I believe these belong to you.”
She held out her hands and he dropped the jumbled fistful of jewelry onto her waiting palms. “However did you manage to retrieve this, and so quickly?”
“I recognized Junior,” he said calmly.
“Why didn’t you say something while we were being robbed?”
Jed set cold, blue eyes on her face. “Because I didn’t want everyone there to end up dead.”
He was right, of course. Not that she would tell him so. “Well, thank you,” she said softly. “I am particularly pleased to see my mother’s brooch here. Everything else can be replaced, but that...” She choked back the tears that threatened. She was not normally so sentimental! “Well, thank you.”
Hannah wondered if a kiss on the cheek was in order, simply as a thank-you. She leaned slowly and hesitantly toward Jed, her eyes on that hairy cheek of his. She stopped long before her lips came near his cheek.
“You’re welcome,” he said gruffly, and then he squirmed. Had no one ever thanked him before?
“I wish I could convince you,” she said softly. “I know with all my heart that Baxter is innocent.”
Jed rotated his head slowly to look at her. His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Don’t try that old trick on me,” he grumbled.
“What old trick?”
“A pretty girl batting her eyelashes at me isn’t going to make me change my mind,” he said with a shake of his head. “You can pout and quiver all you want, but I’m too damn old to fall for that one.”
Hannah shot to her feet. If her hands weren’t filled with the jewelry Jed had retrieved, she’d slap his face. “I am not pouting or quivering,” she said indignantly, “and I never bat my lashes. I am not a girl. I’m a fully grown woman.”
She turned to stalk away, then realized that she’d left her cane leaning against the bench. She’d leave it and return later, if she weren’t afraid Jed really would break it over his knee as he’d threatened to do earlier.
Sheepishly, she turned to face him. “Would you slip the cane through my arm?” she asked.
He smiled, as if he could see right through her, as if he knew she was shaky on the inside no matter how calm and unyielding she appeared to be. “Of course, Miss Winters,” he said as he stood, retrieved the cane, and slipped it between her elbow and body.
Cane securely caught in her arm, she turned about and stalked away. She had almost made it to the hotel door when she realized that in addition to all the insults, Jed had also called her pretty.
“Miss Winters,” Jed called.
Her heart skipped a beat just before she turned to face him, the hotel door at her back, the garden between them. “Yes, Mr. Rourke?”
“Join me for dinner?”
With great effort, she withheld a smile. “I’d be delighted.”
* * *
Jed didn’t know what had possessed him to ask Hannah to join him for dinner. She was the most infuriating woman he’d ever met. Most men probably ran away from her in terror when faced with the prospect of sharing a meal with her.
He’d also been possessed by the need for a long, hot bath, and he’d dragged some of his best clothes from the bottom dresser drawer of his room on the third floor. Nothing fancy, just a pair of brown twill trousers and a clean shirt.
Maybe Hannah was the most infuriating woman he’d ever met, but he liked her anyway. She stirred his blood; she made him laugh. She surprised him. It had been a long time since anyone had truly surprised him.
He walked into the dining room at precisely the arranged time. Since it was Saturday, the dining room was crowded. The hotel guests, as well as some of the folks from outside Rock Creek who had come to town for the day, ate and visited over roast beef, boiled potatoes, and dried apple pie. Eden had set aside the best table, the one in the far corner, for him.
And Hannah was nowhere to be seen.
Jed paced in the dining room for about five minutes before Eden shooed him out. Ejected from the dining room, he paced in the lobby for another ten minutes.
She wasn’t coming. She’d changed her mind, or... He came to a halt as he realized what she’d done. She’d accepted his invitation just so she could make him squirm when she didn’t show! Just like a woman!
A rustle on the stairway made him turn his head. The emotion that shot through him felt oddly like relief. Maybe relief tinged with pleasure. Hannah, in a fancy dark green silk gown, descended the stairs slowly. She was as bundled up as ever, with silk and lace to her chin and long sleeves covering her arms. The gown showed off her shape though, and a fine shape it was. Her hair had been twisted up with more curls than usual, and at her throat she wore the brooch he’d recovered. Damn, she was gorgeous.
And she had left her cane behind.
“I hope I didn’t keep you waiting,” she said, her voice soft.
Suddenly his collar seemed too tight. “No,” he answered. “Not at all.”
He offered her his arm and she took it, and together they headed for the dining room.
“You look good,” he said softly as he held out her chair and she sat down. The full skirt of her fancy dress rustled. She blushed.
“Thank you,” she said. “So do you.” Impossibly, she blushed a deeper shade of rose.
He’d never met a woman who had the uncanny ability to look right through him the way Hannah did. Even when she blushed, her eyes remained steady and strong.
“That’s your mother’s brooch?” he asked, nodding to the cameo she wore at her throat.
She touched the brooch with pale, easy fingers. “Yes. She passed away when I was six and Rose was nine. I don’t remember her well, but when I hold her things sometimes she seems... closer, as if I can smell her perfume or remember the sound of her laughter.” Her fingers fell away and she lowered her hand to her lap. “I’m sorry. I guess that sounds silly.”
“No,” he said. “That doesn’t sound silly at all.” And he was doubly glad he’d been able to recover the cameo.
Eden brought two plates to the table, and that girl she’d hired was right behind her with wine and two glasses. If his little sister didn’t wipe that smug grin off her face, he was going to... Hell, he wasn’t going to do anythi
ng. Let her enjoy watching her big brother make a fool of himself. After all, it didn’t happen often.
Dinner was good, as always, and the wine was tasty and not too sweet. Hannah was agreeable, as she talked about her home and her mother. When she relaxed and talked about her yearning to someday travel the world and her dreams of seeing the places she read about, her face lit up and her eyes sparkled.
“Why don’t you just do it?” Jed asked as Eden placed two slices of apple pie and two cups of coffee before them. “Just pack up and go.”
The question seemed to put Hannah off. She straightened her spine and her lips thinned. “I can’t just run away from my responsibilities,” she said primly. “People depend on me.”
“You’re here,” he argued.
“I had no choice. My sister sent for me, so I made arrangements for the foreman and the housekeeper to see to the running of the plantation in my absence. This is not a very busy time of the year for us, in any case.”
He didn’t quite buy it. Hannah hadn’t seen Rose in twelve years, but she’d come running when her sister asked. “Why can’t they run things while you go to Egypt or Spain or one of those other places you want to see?”
She shook her head in a crisp denial. “It’s just a silly dream,” she said. “I can’t actually pack up and... and take off on a whim.”
Jed pushed his pie aside and leaned forward. “Why not?”
Hannah’s gray eyes went wide. “For one thing, it’s irresponsible.”
“I do it all the time,” he argued. “When the spirit moves me, when I get bored with one place or curious about another, I just go.”
She smiled. “As I said. Irresponsible.”
He smiled back. “Face it, Hannah. That’s the reason you’re really here. You were sitting at home in that big ol’ lonely house, and here comes Rose’s telegram, an excuse to get out. You don’t care if Baxter is found guilty or not. You’re just out here looking for a little adventure. So you... you antagonize bandits and cowboys and all but dare them to shoot you, all for a little fun.”
Hannah bristled. “If you think being threatened at gunpoint is my idea of fun, Jedidiah Rourke, you don’t know me at all.” Her eyes snapped and crackled. The color rose in her cheeks. “And if you think I don’t care if my sister’s husband is falsely convicted of murder, that I would come here for my own entertainment with no regard for the only family I have, then I have no desire to see that you get to know me any better than you already do.”
Jed (The Rock Creek Six Book 4) Page 7