by Linda Broday
“I hope I can be there with you. I’m beholden for the loan of the clothes and the gun.” Rose worked at the buttons of her dress.
“Wait a minute. Let us help you get that last stain from your hair. That can’t feel very pleasant.”
“That would be wonderful. I tried to wash it in a creek, but I had no soap so couldn’t get all the blood out.”
Tally called to one of the women to heat some water. While they waited, Rose studied her new friend. It was difficult to pin an age on her. Her mouth bore only a few wrinkles around it. A wild guess put the woman somewhere in her mid to late twenties, but she could easily be older. She appeared ageless and the hard glint in her eyes said she’d seen far more than anyone should.
Rose wondered about her own age. How many winters had she seen? She picked up a small mirror on a crate next to the bed and studied her reflection. Her mouth appeared too wide, her brownish-green eyes too large, but she had nice, straight teeth that gleamed white. She shifted her attention to her blond hair and marveled at the mixture of light and dark strands. Aside from her teeth, definitely her best feature.
“Tally, how old would you say I am?”
The woman cocked her head to one side in thought. “Somewhere in your twenties, I think. You’ve done some living and I would say you’ve borne sorrow. The lines in your face reflect that. Just pick out whatever age you want to be.” Her mouth quirked up at the corners. “That’s one advantage of no memory.”
“I suppose. Still, I’d rather know things.” Rose returned the mirror to the crate and twisted the emerald ring from her finger. She held it up, letting the light shine through the small, green stone. If only the ring could talk. “If you don’t mind my nosiness, how did you come to be in that asylum?”
“My father’s new bride threw me in there the day after my father’s funeral. Lucinda hated me from the first but I knew as long as my father was alive, he’d protect me from her.” Tally dragged her toe in the dirt floor, leaving a small trench. “My father was a wealthy landowner and left me thousands of acres in his will, in addition to money. Lucinda wanted everything. So, she tied and gagged me, drove me to the asylum, and gave the overseer a goodly sum never to breathe a word of my existence. Two weeks later, the man showed me my obituary in the newspaper that stated I’d passed in my sleep. Died of grief.”
Rose sucked in a quick breath. How could anyone be that cruel? “How long before you escaped?”
“A little over a year, but I saw enough during that time to curl your hair. Things you’d not believe.” Tally wearily rubbed her eyes as though to wipe away the memories.
“I’m sorry.”
“Like I said, I’ll find a way to get to them, and death plays no favorites. Whatever you sow, also shall you reap. I’ll get the rest of those women out and burn that place to the ground as God is my witness. Then I’ll claim what’s rightfully mine.” Rage flashed from Tally’s eyes. Rose made a vow never to get on her bad side.
After settling Violet with her rag doll, Tally stood. “I’ll see what’s keeping the hot water.”
Rose’s gaze followed the woman through the opening, wondering what story awaited herself at the end of the journey. Had someone betrayed her?
Wrongs had to be righted. That was the way of things, no matter how long it took.
Luke Weston understood this, and now it seemed clearer than ever what she had to do. She tackled the buttons of her dress with renewed vigor.
* * *
As the last rays of the sun bounced off the walls of the canyon in a blaze of purple and orange, Luke sat with Sam, cooking over a campfire a large portion of a deer they’d killed. He was getting worried about Rose. She’d been with the women for hours.
Luke’s gaze wandered to Tally’s dwelling. “Sam, you’re going to stay the night, aren’t you?”
His brother glanced up at the sky. “I hadn’t planned to, but it’ll be dark soon and dangerous for travel. I just hate leaving Sierra too long, with the baby coming any day.” With a solemn face, he turned to Luke. “I’ll never forgive myself if I’m not there. I want mine to be the first face the little tyke sees, hear it cry.” Sam’s voice grew raspy. “Craziest thing you probably ever heard.”
Luke squeezed Sam’s shoulder. “A man needs to be there for the important things.” Like hearing a cry from someone’s heart when they didn’t even know their own name. “What do you suppose is keeping Rose?”
“I learned long ago that it’s best not to know.” Sam turned the meat. “I’m sorry you didn’t get to keep your meeting with Ned Sweeney.”
“Makes two of us. I’ve got to find him soon. I can’t outrun the law forever, and with each sunrise my chances grow slimmer. Sam, I have these dreams where I hear a shot, feel a bullet ripping into me, taste blood on my tongue, and know I’m dying. I wake up in a cold sweat.” Luke hated the panic and fear those nightmares brought.
Sam nodded. “I had bad dreams for a long while after the hanging, feeling the rope around my neck, and would wake up with my heart pounding clear out of my chest. I wish you’d let me do more to help.”
“What kind of man would I be if I let Stoker and my brothers take care of me? I have to earn the right to claim the Legend name and a piece of the land that you’ve all bled for.”
Sam shot him a look of admiration. “You’re one fine man.”
Luke reached into his pocket for the little book detailing his sins and pitched it to Sam. “I paid back some of the stolen money and intend to pay it all.” Luke’s quiet admission brought surprise to Sam’s face. Clearly, his brother hadn’t expected this.
“You will.” Sam flipped open the book and glanced through the pages before handing it back. “I’m impressed.”
“I find some honest work now and then. Redemption is slow in coming, I’m afraid.” If his luck and time held out, he’d see the end of the darkness one day. He was short on patience but long on determination.
“For the hundredth time, I wish you’d let us help.”
“You’ve beat that poor horse to death. Give it a rest,” Luke growled.
In the growing shadows, the firelight played across a lower section of canyon wall, illuminating some scratchings. Curious, Luke got to his feet and sauntered over to look. Sam followed.
“Looks like pictures or something.” Luke struck a match and held it closer.
“They’re drawings of some sort.” Sam struck another match. “People. Women.”
Luke’s match burned to his fingertips. “I’m going for something to give better light.” He hurried to the fire and made a torch by wrapping a piece of cloth around a stick, then returned. He held the light to the wall.
As he made out drawings of each woman in the canyon with their names scratched below, his chest tightened.
“It’s a remembrance wall,” Sam said quietly. “To mark their time here so others will know they once lived.”
Deep sadness enveloped Luke. He traced the outline of Tally, Darcy, Holly Beth, and the others with his fingernail, saw the faint drawings of tiny tears on their faces, felt their pain. Everyone had a need to leave their mark behind in some fashion or another. His was the carving on the handle of his gun that said Legend. This was these valiant women’s efforts. They were hunted like dogs, despised for being in the way, eliminated as though they were worthless.
Luke’s voice was husky. “I have to do something. I won’t leave them here to rot.” He felt the weight of Sam’s hand. “Damn it to hell! They never expect to leave this place. They’re going to die down in this canyon like Estelle. These drawings make it clear they’ve given up hope.”
Somehow, someway, Luke would get them out. Not today, but soon.
The door to Tally’s small dwelling finally opened and she stepped out with Violet in tow. The others followed. Maybe their powwow was over. As Luke and Sam returned to the fire, a young man caught
his attention. He wore a large, floppy hat that concealed his face.
Just one thing wrong…he had curves.
“Damn it, Rose!” He jumped to his feet. The tall, long-legged beauty wore pants that hugged her hips and she’d strapped on a gun belt. As she neared, she pulled off the floppy hat and long blond hair tumbled down her back and over her shoulders. He sucked in a breath. The colors of twilight washed each strand in brilliant gold.
Smiling, she strode toward him. “Hell, Luke. Close your mouth or you’ll catch flies,” she teased.
“The answer is no.”
“Had you fooled, didn’t I? Just a little?”
He glanced at Tally. “You were supposed to give her a clean dress. Not pants. Not a shirt. And damn sure not a gun.”
Tally shrugged. “Clothes are clothes. I let her choose and this is what she wanted.”
“Yeah,” Rose said. “Did you ever consider my thoughts?”
He thought about plenty where she was concerned. Too much, in fact. Things he had no right thinking. Things that would get him in deep, very dangerous water. Things that would make it very hard to say goodbye.
“You look…nice,” Luke admitted. The scent of her freshly washed hair and skin swam around him, luring him as a bee to honeysuckle. He studied her closer.
Where were her breasts?
Could a woman just hide them like that?
Sam stood, grinning like he’d eaten locoweed. “Rose, I wouldn’t have known you in those clothes and hat. I’ve never seen a lovelier woman. Next to my wife, that is.”
“Thank you, Sam.” She put her hat back on. “I’m ready to find out who I am. I think this disguise will fool anyone.”
“No, you’re not going.” Luke found Rose’s skill at going around him more than a mite unsettling. And she used a crowd in which to do it. Anything he said would find him in an enemy camp. He saw red. “You went to an awful lot of trouble for a get-up you won’t need.”
Rose put her hands on her hips and glared. “Is that so?”
“I’m not taking you and that’s final.”
“This is a free country last I heard,” Rose huffed. “You don’t get to tell me what to do, Luke Weston.”
“Hey, brother. Think this over.” Sam pulled Luke aside. “Maybe Rose should go along. It’s her life that’s at stake here. Treading familiar ground seems the best way to regain her memory.” He lowered his voice. “Besides, you know she’ll strike out on her own anyway as soon as you leave. Wouldn’t it be better if she’s with you? It’ll save time trying to find her later.”
“Sam, if we run into that posse…” He’d kill anyone who touched her, lawmen or not, jail or not, hangman’s noose or not.
“They’ll never recognize her with those clothes and her hair up under that god-awful hat. You should think about changing your appearance some too.”
“I do, almost always when I go into a town. As fast as my beard grows, two weeks of not shaving and I’m the spitting image of a buffalo hunter. I keep some ragged clothes in my saddlebags.” Luke rubbed the growth already on his jaw and grinned. “How do you think I managed to slip by you when you were a Texas Ranger and chasing me to kingdom come?”
Sam groaned. “I’m just now finding this out?”
“Yep.” Luke listened to Tally’s conversation with Rose.
“Luke is concerned for your safety,” Tally said. “He’s afraid you’ll get hurt. He cares about each of us like we’re his family. I think maybe we are, in a way.”
“You’re right, Tally,” Luke said quietly. “You’re my family. Rose, it’s up to you. If you want to come, I’ll protect you with my life.”
Rose met his stare, raising her chin. “I’ll never ask you to die for me. I only want you to listen to my side. I promise not to whip anyone or cuss them up one side and down the other.”
He raised a brow. This he’d have to see.
“You’ll be amazed what I can do when I put my mind to it,” she finished in a rush.
Heat pooled low in his belly as he recalled her sultry mouth and the feel of her in his arms. And that was when she’d been at her worst, in a torn and blood-spattered dress. If that was not putting her mind to it, she’d have him twisted in knots before they made a full day.
His gaze lazily slid along her curves and down each long, shapely leg that the pants did nothing to hide. He let out a loud groan.
Eight
After a night spent tossing and turning, his mind planning every move, Luke finished saddling Major John. Now that Rose was coming, she’d need a horse of her own. He strode to where Sam was getting his buckskin ready to ride.
“Sam, I was going to ask you to take the two roans we found back to the Lone Star, but now that Rose is coming, we’re going to need one.”
His brother glanced up. “You can always return the other later. It’ll give you an excuse to stop by. What will you do about a saddle?”
“Do without. Will you see what you can find out at the ranch about these horses and the wagon?”
“I’ll talk to Pa and Houston.” Sam scowled, looking like the lawman he was. “If there’s corruption at the Lone Star, we’ll find it. Most of the men have worked for us for a number of years but they may have hired someone new. You take care of yourself and Rose. Let me worry about stuff here. I’ll ask around and see if anyone knows her.”
“Thanks, hermano. Next time, don’t come looking for me,” Luke growled. “You’re becoming too much like Stoker. I’m not a kid.”
“To take a page from Rose’s book—I’ll do as I damn well please.” Sam lowered the stirrups. “So will Pa.”
“Do what?” Rose asked.
Luke whirled and found himself drowning in her wide eyes. “Just a brotherly disagreement. Are you ready?”
“I am.” She put her hands on her hips. “Luke Weston, if you’re going to start out as grouchy as an old mountain lion, I’ll ride by myself. The morning’s too young for us to get off to a bad start.”
Sam winked at her and grinned. “You tell him.”
“Can we go? Or are we going to stand around and talk all day?” Luke didn’t want to admit that the tall beauty had him already unsure of which way was up. He had no idea how he was going to manage to keep his mind on the danger ahead. If the group of lawmen didn’t get them, outlaws would. And if they didn’t kill him, Rose might.
Tally, then each woman, gave Rose endless hugs and wished her good luck. They all invited her to visit again soon. Clearly the women had bonded, which would come in handy if he had to hide her here in the future.
“Bye, Rose,” Violet said shyly. “I wish I could see you. Would you bend down and let me feel your face?”
Luke watched Rose get on her knees. Violet ran her fingers across Rose’s face, feeling each curve and indentation.
“You must be real pretty,” Violet announced. “You try to talk mean, but you’re very nice.”
“Violet, I think that’s probably the best thing anyone ever said to me.” Rose wrapped her arms around the little girl and held her for a long moment.
Tally moved Rose aside for a word. Though Luke tried not to listen, he heard the woman’s advice. “Rose, don’t avoid facing yourself to worry after him. You can’t run away forever. Our problems always catch up with us. Take care and come to visit.”
The words of wisdom slammed into Luke and he realized that’s what Rose was doing. She couldn’t fix herself, so she was trying to fix him. He’d have to set her straight.
Finally, Luke got her on the horse and they left, parting ways with Sam once they were out of the canyon.
“Luke, I want to come back here and try to help those women,” Rose said, riding beside him.
“Like how?”
“I don’t know. It’s just not fair that they’re being hunted when they didn’t do anything wrong.”
“You’ll get no argument from me.” He glanced ahead a hundred yards where the trail passed between two large boulders. It was a good place for an ambush. He rested his hand on the butt of his Colt. It paid to be ready.
“Luke?”
“Hm?” He listened closely for sounds that might indicate movement. A flock of buzzards circled high above. Damn those birds. They seemed intent on following him.
“What’s wrong?” Rose whispered.
“Nothing yet. Trails like this make me a bit jumpy.”
She slid her pistol from the holster at her hip. More unease settled over Luke. He didn’t know if she could hit the broad side of a barn. Women with weapons made the inside of his mouth as dry as cotton. Besides, the one Tally gave her could blow up in her hand or go wide and hit him. In his opinion, a female with a loaded gun was a recipe for disaster.
“Put that away. Do you even know if it’ll shoot?”
Rose’s back stiffened. “Tally said it would and that’s good enough for me.”
“I figure she’d know, all right. When we camp for the night, I want to test it and see how you shoot, but for now, I need to listen for trouble.”
When she didn’t argue and returned the pistol to the holster, he breathed a sigh of relief. They lapsed into silence and rode slowly through the narrow passage. He kept Rose close beside him, so close their legs touched. The contact sent warmth rushing through him that he tried his best to ignore. On the other side of the passage, he relaxed, grateful to encounter nothing more deadly than a big, sticky spider web.
Luke shot Rose a smile. “Now, what did you want earlier?”
“I had a flash of memory while I was with Tally Shannon.” She met his surprised stare.
He didn’t know what this meant, but it made sense that her memory would return in little fragments instead of all in one big chunk. He waited for her to continue.
“It happened when Tally handed me this gun and my hand closed around the butt. I knew I’d done it before. I think many times.”