To Wed In Texas

by Jodi Thomas

  Karlee lathered up Daniel's strong jawline with the flare she remembered the barber used.

  The first swipe of the blade was perfect. The second disastrous. Blood dotted his chin as if he had a bad case of the measles.

  Daniel jerked away. “Did you ever shave a man before?” he snapped.

  “No,” she admitted. “I never had a man to shave, before you.”

  “Well, I won't be around long if you keep spilling my blood so freely.”

  His voice was hard, but she thought she saw a hint of a smile beneath the lather.

  “I'll try again.”

  Two strokes later, he jerked and grumbled again. “My jaw curves, the blade doesn't. Please leave some hide, Madam.”

  “Your skin is sensitive from the fire's heat.” She leaned close to work on his throat. For a man of few words he spared none in criticism. “I'm not cutting you that deeply. I've no wish to make myself a widow after one day of marriage, but you are starting to look like you're related to Wolf.”

  He didn't answer. She couldn't be certain he was breathing. Surely she wasn't frightening him with her shaving.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  His Adam's apple moved up and down slowly, but he didn't move.

  “Don't worry, I won't slit your throat. I think I may be getting the knack of this shaving.”

  He didn't move.

  “You've nothing to fear,” she reassured.

  “Spinster… I mean, Mrs. McLain.” His words were almost thick enough to be liquid. “Would you mind not pressing against my chest?”

  For a second, she wanted to laugh. She wasn't hurting this big man by pressing on his chest. She'd seen the wall beneath his shirt, touched it. He was solid as stone with muscles.

  Then, she noticed what was pressing on his chest. Her breasts. She'd leaned too close.

  “Oh.” She was thankful he couldn't see her embarrassment, for her cheeks were on fire. “I'm sorry. I didn't notice.”

  “I may be blind,” he explained. “But I can still feel what is pressed against me.” He seemed almost as embarrassed as she.

  Her hands shook so badly she couldn't hold the blade level. How could she have done such a thing? She wasn't used to being around men and certainly not this close to one. Her breasts had always been too large, getting in her way since she was twelve. Usually, she wrapped them tighter within a bodice, but this morning she'd worn her loosest dress.

  His hand covered hers, steadying her strokes even though he couldn't see where she aimed. He was in as much of a hurry to get the shaving done as she now was.

  It seemed hours before she finished and wiped the last of the lather from his chin.

  “I'll be more careful next time. Both with the shaving and the other,” she said with determination. “You do look a sight more presentable.”

  “I'll wait until I get this bandage off, and shave myself next time,” he answered coldly. “Or I'll grow a beard.”

  Wolf bellowed through the door before she could apologize again. When he rounded the corner and took one look at Daniel he yelled, “Did the savage get loose and try to kill you, Danny me boy?”

  “No.” Daniel didn't seem to appreciate the humor. “Karlee shaved me.”

  Wolf shook his head. “Your face is the best reason I've seen yet for staying single and keeping a full beard. If she'd cut any closer, you'd be missing a nose.”

  Karlee picked up the pan and razor. “It's not that bad,” she defended.

  “That bad! I've seen scalped men left with more skin.” Wolf watched her hand holding the pan carefully.

  She thought of tossing the pan of soapy water at him but decided against it. After all, she'd be the one to have to clean up the mess. “Want any lunch? I was about to bring Daniel some.”

  “Sure.” Wolf sat down by the bed. “One thing I will say, Danny boy. Your wife is a better cook than she is a barber.”

  Daniel pressed the towel to a trail of blood running down his chin. “That's not saying much. But I'll give her one thing, she tries. She's not a woman who lets not knowing stop her from trying.”

  Karlee closed the kitchen door and tried to figure out if Daniel's last statement had been a compliment or a complaint.

  Thirty minutes later, when she returned with a tray of food that could be eaten easily with one's hands, Daniel's bleeding had stopped. She thought of reminding Wolf that several of the cuts on her husband's face had been made by flying glass and not her razor but decided the subject was best left forgotten.

  She had no doubt whenever Daniel thought of her shaving him, he'd also think of the way she so boldly leaned against his chest. He probably thought her some scarlet woman pretending to be naive. After all, she'd acted shamelessly so many times in the past few days, he must think her the dumbest woman he'd ever met. Or worse, a flirt.

  No. Hugging him that first night could be considered flirting. Maybe even the kiss she asked for. But what she'd done while she shaved him could only mark her as a brazen harlot. Karlee wasn't sure exactly what that encompassed, but she felt certain she fit the criteria. The first morning after he'd married her, Daniel must be sure she was a fallen woman with countless sins to account for.

  She set the tray down and planned to exit as soon as possible when their conversation drew her.

  Wolf was explaining how he'd wired Adam and Wes, Daniel's brothers, for a second time and again had no reply. They were either on their way, or there was too much trouble for them to come. Adam was a doctor in Fort Worth with a wife and new baby to worry about. Wes lived in the middle of nowhere on a ranch that took the better part of a day to ride across. They might not be the easiest men to get a hold of, but Wolf knew they'd come as fast as they could once they got word.

  Gerilyn Whitworth Landau was another story. She and her husband had a winter place in New Orleans. They might already be in town looking for Daniel. It wouldn't be long until she found him. And once she did, Wolf was convinced, trouble would rain aplenty.

  “I thought I'd bed down in the barn tonight. The boy is getting tired of my hospitality. I don't think he knows why I'm keeping him captive. Probably thinks I plan to fatten him up for a winter kill.” Wolf shook his head as he bit off a chunk of apple. “It's just a matter of time before he figures out some way to get free. When he does, there's going to be the devil to pay, I'm afraid.”

  “It wouldn't do to have Allie on her way and me have to kill her brother before she gets here,” he added as he finished off the apple.

  “He knows why you have him tied.” Valerie's voice came from the kitchen doorway. The young girl stood with her arms folded as she leaned against the frame.

  “You think so, little lady?” Wolf laughed. He obviously irritated Valerie by treating her like a child and not the woman she thought she already was.

  “I know so,” she replied calmly. The girl knew Wolf well enough to have no fear of the man. “I told your Apache why he was here when I took him water yesterday.”

  Wolf knocked his chair over as he stood. “He speaks English?”

  “No.” She smiled. “I speak Apache. Or at least enough to communicate. My grandfather made sure I could, just as my father insisted I know a little French.”

  “And what does our friend have to say?” Wolf looked doubtful.

  “He says he has no white sister.” She glanced to see if the twins were listening, then lowered her voice. “And he says he will kill you all and sprinkle the ground with your blood before the next full moon.”

  “Did he tell you his name?” Wolf was starting to believe her story.

  “Niccohoma,” she replied. “It means ‘without fear.’”

  “I don't want you going near him again,” Wolf ordered as he realized just how dangerous the boy, still a year short of being a man, could be to all of them. “He might just kill you, little lady.”

  “He said he wouldn't harm me. The blood of his people flows in me.” Valerie held her head high.

  “But the blood of th
e Apache doesn't flow in that kid. He was captured during a raid on a settlement northwest of here. I talked to an Apache who remembered the day they dug him, half dead, out of a plowed field and took him home with them like a war prize.”

  “But how can you be so sure he is the brother of Allie all these years later?” Karlee interrupted.

  “The Apache described the same scene Wes's wife did of seeing the bodies of her family and others piled in front of the settlement. Then everything was burned. The old Apache that told me about John, not Niccohoma, also said another warrior carried a little girl about the same size over his saddle. Only he went to another village and by the time the two warriors met again to hunt, the little girl had been traded. Like I've heard of them doing, they adopted the boy as a son and traded the girl as a slave.”

  “I told him you thought him a captive,” Valerie answered. “He said you lie. He is Apache. He has no memory of any other world. Of any other people. His mother is the wife of a chief and she has no sons but him.”

  “He can say anything he wants, Valerie, but that doesn't make it true.” Wolf didn't like to be called a liar, even in another language.

  The kitchen door popped suddenly as if the wind caught it and threw it open in a wood-splitting snap.

  A cry, not quiet human, shattered the air, frosting the stillness with fear. In one heartbeat, everyone turned toward the sounds from the kitchen and cried one thing.

  “The twins!”

  THIRTEEN

  KARLEE BUMPED INTO THE BACK OF VALERIE, AND Wolf ran into them both as they bolted into the kitchen. The twins were nowhere to be seen, but the wild savage Wolf had called John stood next to the pump with a knife in each hand.

  His body glistened with sweat. His eyes were wild with fear and hate. Bloodred rope burns circled his wrists, and dirt covered his body almost to his shoulders.

  “Now, hold on there!” Wolf ordered. “Put down those knives, son.”

  The boy raised the blades, preparing to fight.

  Karlee held Valerie's shoulders, pulling her back a few inches to the relative safety of the doorway.

  “No!” The girl jerked free and ran deeper into the room. “I can talk to him. He'll listen to me.”

  Niccohoma glared past her to the others crowded at the door. He obviously considered the girl little threat. But she drew his attention when she spoke Apache.

  Wolf inched his way along the wall. A knife would never stop a man like Wolf Hayward. Judging from the boy's gaze darting from Wolf to Valerie, he guessed as much.

  Someone from behind Karlee gripped her shoulder suddenly, causing her to jump and cry out almost as loudly as the captive had when he burst into the kitchen.

  The intruder hardly appeared to hear her. He backed against the counter and prepared to make a stand.

  “Help me,” Daniel commanded, pulling himself beside her.

  His hands were wrapped and the blindfold covered his eyes. He didn't seem to be able to put any weight on his injured leg, but still he moved forward.

  Karlee slid her arm around his waist and donated her strength to his useless quest.

  “What's happening?” he whispered. “Are the twins all right?”

  Karlee glanced around the room and noticed the blanket tent wall move slightly. “They're safe in the tent for now. Valerie is talking to the boy, moving closer as she speaks. He stands at the pump.”

  Karlee tried to keep her voice low so the Apache wouldn't turn his anger toward her. She wanted to argue that Daniel should be back in bed, but she knew it would be wasted time. “What can I do to help?” she asked.

  “Get us between him and the twins.” Daniel's powerful arm pulled her against him for strength.

  “Can you move with me?”

  “Yes!” The word came between clenched teeth.

  Guiding Daniel slowly forward, Karlee tried to remember to breathe. The table waited only five feet away. When they reached it, he leaned on it, allowing the wood to take as much of his weight as he dared.

  “He'll come toward me,” Daniel predicted. “When he does, it will be your one chance. Grab the twins and run to the front door. Don't look back, just run.”

  “He has a knife in both hands.”

  “Good.” Daniel almost smiled. “I can take several blows and still fight. With a weapon in each hand, he'll have no way to guard. I might get in a few swings. It'll give you more time. If he's been trained for battle, he's been trained to kill the men first. Even wounded I must be killed if I stand to fight.”

  The savage spit words angrily at Valerie in Apache, arguing with her.

  “Valerie, be careful!” Karlee cried. If she could have turned loose of Daniel, she would have run to the girl and pulled her back. Valerie was getting far too close. Her youth made her unable to see the danger of death so near.

  She took no heed of Karlee's cry. For her, there was only the boy, almost man, almost warrior. But for now, only a boy.

  She waved her hands in front of him as if erasing what she heard him say. To the girl's credit, she faced the man with no sign of fear. In fact, she placed her fists on her hips and raised her voice in argument. Her boldness might be the only thing keeping him from attacking.

  “Where's Wolf?” Daniel leaned closer to Karlee depending more on her strength.

  “He's moving along the wall. He's near the pie safe now, halfway.”

  Karlee watched as Valerie took a step closer and pointed her finger at the savage's bare chest. She'd been raised in this wild country with generations of pioneers in her blood. “One savage with two kitchen knives isn't going to kill my friends!” Valerie screamed, more angry than frightened. Rapidly, she translated her own words into Apache. “And I'm not going to let you commit suicide by rushing Wolf.”

  The words of several languages blended as she spoke, drawing the boy's full attention.

  Karlee's low voice told Daniel of each movement. They stood at the end of the table, protecting the twins. He held his head high, listening. If the savage sprang toward them, he would not be taken unaware.

  “Talk to the twins.” He fought to maintain his balance. “Tell them not to be afraid and to be ready if you call them.”

  Karlee nodded. She knew if Daniel spoke above a whisper, he would draw the boy's attention. Yet the youth paid no more notice of Karlee than if her voice had been a gnat's buzz around the room.

  The savage seemed fascinated with Valerie. Karlee wasn't sure if he thought the girl brave or crazy. The beauty of several cultures flowed in her along with the fire.

  “Where's Wolf?” Daniel brushed Karlee's ear with his words.

  “Six feet away, on the left,” she answered. “He's ready to move.”

  “When I yell, step back and dive under the table with the twins.” He touched her hair with his cheek. “And stay there.”

  Karlee opened her mouth to argue, but there was no time.

  Daniel braced himself against her and shoved hard, almost knocking her off her feet. In one step, he covered a third of the distance between the table and the sink.

  “Move away, Valerie!” Daniel yelled stumbling toward the well-armed intruder. “Move away now!”

  The sight of a blind man with wrapped hands charging across the room caused the boy to hesitate. Karlee had no doubt he would have fought another. But he was like everyone else in the room. All he could do was stare as Daniel made his way across the floor like a raging bull.

  All were frozen except Wolf, who jumped from his corner like a mountain lion. Before Daniel was within a knife's blow of the savage, Wolf slammed against the kid at full force from the side. The two tumbled, knives spilling across the floor.

  Karlee ran to Daniel's side, helping him out of the way while Wolf and the boy wrestled. Arms and legs thrashed across the kitchen in a wide path of destruction. Valerie screamed for them to stop. No one listened.

  In all the madness, fear, and panic, Karlee heard the front doorbell chime… a touch of normality in the midst of insanit
y.

  It rang again.

  The thought flashed that she should answer it. “ Excuse me,” she'd say. “We can't entertain company right now. We're in the middle of being scalped and murdered in the kitchen.”

  “Don't hurt him!” Valerie shouted as she tried to hit Wolf on the back. “Don't kill him. Oh, please, Mr. Wolf, don't kill him.”

  Wolf wrestled his way on top of the savage. “I'm not trying to kill him, girl. I'm trying to keep him from killing me! Maybe you should tell him a few things. Like, stop trying to kill poor old Wolf.”

  Suddenly, Daniel's weight slid against Karlee's side. He'd used all his energy. Blood from his leg pooled at her feet. His effort to distract the savage had cost him.

  Karlee fought to hold him upright but his weight made it difficult. He grew heavier as consciousness left him.

  As they crumpled to the floor, she twisted, trying to take the fall first so that his injured body would land atop hers.

  Without warning, the kitchen door flew open. The crackling pop of wood splitting was becoming a familiar sound in the room.

  Two men covered in dust and leather charged into the room, their Colts drawn.

  Daniel's unconscious body made it hard for Karlee to breathe or see all that was happening. She twisted, but couldn't free herself. The world began to spin as a man with a long scar across his face knelt above her.

  The stranger smiled as if he'd simply come to dinner. “Howdy, ma'am.” He touched the tip of the barrel of his Colt to his hat. “Mind if I have a word with my brother here?”

  He rolled Daniel off Karlee as a tiny woman stepped timidly through the door. She had golden brown hair and huge blue eyes that reflected her fear. Though her riding clothes were as dusty as the men's, she looked far too fragile to ever belong to the scarred man.

  Karlee scooted to a sitting position and stared at the three strangers who invaded her home. Not a one said he was sorry, or seemed to feel the need to introduce themselves.