by Jodi Thomas
“All right,” McCormick answered. “Get on with it, so I can get back to watching every man in the county line up to dance with Jennie.”
True leaned close and whispered, “Are you sure that fellow left town?”
“What fellow?”
True swore, using words Austin often used, but getting them out of order. “The fellow who was holed up in the barn. The one without any hair. Pay attention, Marshal! This is important. I ain’t got time to keep repeating myself.”
Austin smiled down at True. “The big, hairless man. Like I told you, I asked him a few questions and he said he was moving on.”
“And he didn’t tell you nothin’ else?”
“Most men in these parts aren’t too friendly with information.” Austin leaned against the porch railing. “Course it’s not as bad as it is in Texas. Sometimes I’ve got a feeling everyone in that state’s lugging around a secret so huge Texas is the only place large enough to hide it in.”
True danced around with impatience. “I ain’t asking about other folks. You said the big man was leaving town, and Henry told me he seen him hiding in the trees between here and the depot.”
“When?” Austin’s muscles tightened, ready for a fight, then he slowed his curiosity as he considered True’s past record of telling the truth.
“Tonight,” True answered. “He’s probably waiting out there planning to rob the whole town while all the men are at this dumb dance. I figure he might not be that Buck Lawton you’re looking for, but he could be working for him. Maybe Lawton sent this fellow into town to see just how easy these folks would be to take in a fight.”
Austin didn’t want to admit that he’d thought the same thing for a moment when he’d first heard about the man sleeping in the livery, but the idea didn’t hold water. First, the man in the livery was too much of a lowlife for even a weasel like Lawton to partner up with. Second, if he were just looking the town over, it would have only taken a matter of hours, not days.
“Sheriff Morris said Lawton was reported seen in Missouri.” Austin tried to reassure True. “If he’s heading this way, he’s taking his time. My guess is he’s smart enough to stay away from Florence, where we’re waiting for him.”
“Well, I’ll probably miss all the excitement.” True sounded disappointed. “But I’m going to have to leave you and Henry to help the sheriff. I got to go with Delta to Colton Barkley’s ranch.”
“With who?” Austin’s question stilled the night air to a corpse’s breath.
For the first time since he’d met the child True was perfectly still. “Did I say Delta? I meant Mary Elizabeth. You know how all these women look alike. I get the names mixed up sometimes. I got to go with Mary Elizabeth and Mr. Barkley.”
Austin turned toward the child, knowing he’d finally tripped over a way to prove he’d been right about Delta assuming Mary Elizabeth’s identity.
“True?” He looked across the porch. “True, I know you’re there, so you might as well come close enough for me to see you.”
No answer.
“True!”
Austin swore under his breath. The kid was harder to keep up with than a baby cricket. “I’ll talk to you when you get back, and you can tell Henry I want to see him in my office also. We’ve got a few things that—”
“Talking to yourself again, Marshal?” Jennie asked as she moved outside. “Why don’t you yell a little louder and maybe the folks in town can hear you?”
Austin swore again before answering. “I was talking to True.”
Jennie looked around. “True isn’t here.”
“I know that!” Austin snapped. “The child is as hard to talk to as his mother.”
“We’ve been through this before. I’m not anyone’s mother.”
“But the child never strays too far from where you are, and he’s as protective of you as I’ve ever seen a boy be. Add that the two of you both have the same loose grip on the truth, and I can see the family resemblance.” He didn’t know if he really believed Jennie was True’s mother any longer, but he still knew she’d lied to him about Delta, and he wanted so much for her to trust him enough to be honest.
Jennie turned back toward the door. “I didn’t come out here to listen to this.”
He took a step and blocked her path. “What did you come out here for, Jennie?” He wanted to ask if she’d like to live another dream, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear her answer.
“I …” She tried to step past him, but he was faster. “I thought we could have some peace between us.”
Austin knew he should disappear into the night as fast as True had, but he couldn’t. Most of his life he’d been happy being alone, but all at once he longed to feel one woman in his arms. Longed for it so deeply he couldn’t sleep or concentrate. How could this headstrong, lying woman in this little nothing town make him feel like he’d just jumped off into uncharted waters and better be very careful or he’d drown?
“Is peace what you want between us?” he whispered, as his hands closed over her shoulders. He wanted to hold her so dearly he could feel the ache all the way to his boots. “If we don’t want to argue, maybe we shouldn’t talk at all.”
Jennie jerked free. “I wish you could understand.”
“Oh, I understand.” He’d known from the beginning that Jennie would never be an only-in-the-shadows kind of lover. That’s why it didn’t make any sense that she’d lie about Delta.
He suddenly wanted to hurt her a fraction of the amount her lies kept hurting him. “I’ve got the idea. Barkley’s a rich rancher around these parts. The opportunity was too good for Delta to turn down. And True’s not your child. The boy just hangs around because of the food.” He reached for her again. “Anything else I need to understand before we stop talking?”
Jennie twisted from his arms. “No,” she said, hurt that he could think so little of her. “In fact, I don’t think I ever need to speak to you again, Marshal McCormick. Good night.”
Before Austin could stop her, she vanished through the doorway. He took a step to catch her, then realized how hopeless it would be. Slamming his fist against the railing, he mumbled, “Another trait True and she have in common—vanishing before I finish.”
Chapter 18
Jennie opened the back door of the sheriff’s office without bothering to knock. “Austin!” she shouted as she stepped inside and closed the door behind her. The air was almost as cold in the office as outside. “McCormick, are you in here?”
Austin came awake all at once. He’d left Jennie two hours before at the Harvey House. As he’d walked home, he wondered if he’d be able to sleep after their argument. She might have vanished from his side, but the touch of her as they’d danced earlier remained in his memory as if it were a tangible presence.
Dear Lord, no woman had ever felt so right in his arms. Part of him wished he had just grabbed her and kissed her when they’d been on the porch. They’d spent the rest of the evening avoiding each other. She might be madder than hell, but a touch of heaven blended in the feel of her.
So he’d returned home more angry at himself than with her. After half an hour and almost half a bottle of whiskey, he’d finally gone to sleep in the back room of the empty jail-house office. It wasn’t much for quarters, but he preferred it to the chatty boardinghouse accommodations.
“Stay mad if you like, but let me know if you’re here. Time’s wasting.”
“Jennie?” Austin shook the wash of whiskey from his mind and pulled on his pants. He didn’t have to ask; he knew whatever had brought her here this late must be important or she wouldn’t have crossed the darkness between the Harvey House and town.
“Last I heard you were never speaking to me again.” He fought to keep his words from tumbling out atop one another. “Never’s a shorter span of time than it used to be.”
She stormed into his little room as a Texas dust devil whirled across open prairie. Moonlight from his window was bright enough to spotlight her in its yellow beams, making her
look more dream than real. She still wore her blue calico dress, but she’d tied an apron around her waist. “Stop talking like a fool and get dressed.”
Austin fumbled with the buttons on his pants. “How’d you get here?” She looked too beautiful to be flesh and blood before him.
“I walked over, of course. What I have to say can’t wait until morning.” She pushed a wool shawl away from her head. Shadows made her hair black velvet. “With the moonlight, it’s almost bright as day outside.” Venturing closer she added, “Austin, you’ve got to help me.”
He ran his fingers through his hair and tried to fit the pieces together. “What’s the problem that can’t wait?” A part of him longed to believe that she’d come for his touch.
Jennie paced his tiny room as if looking for the right words somewhere in the dusty shadows.
“Go ahead, tell me.” Austin watched her closely, trying to clear his mind of dreams and whiskey enough to deal with her in reality. “There’s nothing I can do if I don’t know what’s got you so upset.”
Stopping suddenly, she stared at him. The kind of look that crumpled a man’s judgment. Her eyes filled with worry as she spoke. “I just heard Colton Barkley killed his first wife.”
Austin smiled and relaxed a little. He’d feared the problem might be far greater than gossip. From the way she looked at him, he’d been ready to promise to ride without hearing the quest.
Jennie saw his face and frowned. She couldn’t stop her hand from knotting as thoughts of taking a swing at him came to her mind. “Stop smiling, you vacant-brained lawman. Don’t you see, he killed his first wife. What if we just handed him another victim? I’ve read about his type of villain in books about the West.”
“There’s a deep crevice between the real world and books, Miss Munday. Who told you Barkley was a killer?” he asked, figuring half the folks at the dance had probably heard the railroad worker’s story.
“One of the girls while I was cleaning up. She said a man she danced with told her. It’s been years since the murder, but folks around here still talk about it.”
Austin tried to look worried. “Did the girl say her dance partner had any proof of such a claim?”
Jennie exploded. “His wife’s dead! What more proof do we need? Go arrest him and bring back Del—Mary Elizabeth and True.”
“True left with Colton then?”
Exasperation molded on her face with tools of frustration and impatience. She wanted him to act, not question. If he was always so slow at responding to trouble, she guessed most of his outlaws died of old age before they saw a trial. “True rode out with them tonight. We thought it would be all right for a few days. We didn’t know we were packing the child off with a killer.”
“True mentioned something about going.” Austin wished suddenly that the bothersome kid had stayed in town. “Did Colton agree to taking on the extra mouth to feed?”
“Of course, Mary Elizabeth asked him.” Jennie lifted Austin’s shirt off the room’s only chair and offered it to him, hoping to hurry him along. “Now, you’ve got to ride out to Barkley’s ranch and get them before it’s too late.”
“Already got him tried and sentenced?”
Moving closer, Jennie held out his shirt. “Of course not, but I’m not taking any chances with their lives.”
He took the shirt and slowly slipped it on over his shoulders, not bothering to button it. “Doesn’t it strike you as a little unusual that a man would agree to take a child along if he’s planning the death of his second wife? Seems to me he should at least wait until they’re alone after the wedding.”
“I don’t know. Who knows what goes through the mind of any man?” Jennie turned her face to the windows, not wanting him to see her doubt. She wasn’t about to admit it, but his logic was starting to sink in. Colton Barkley would hardly bring a future wife to a party, then kill her. Also, he’d never have agreed to allow True to come along if he were planning something. The girl’s dance partner had said he’d killed his first wife without witnesses. If there were no witnesses, how’d everyone know he was a killer? There were lots of reasons besides murder that folks die, even young ones.
Watching Austin, Jennie hated him suddenly for standing there looking like he was waiting for her mind to kick in. “Maybe you’re right,” she offered. “I don’t understand you, so how could I hope to second-guess a killer?”
“He’s not a killer.” Austin moved closer, jealous of the way the moonlight touched her face. “I heard the same story about Barkley and did some checking. There was no proof outside of her family’s gossip to indicate Colton did anything wrong. Sheriff Morris said as near as he can find out, Barkley’s never so much as cut a neighbor’s fence to move cattle. He follows every law around these parts, so Morris thinks it’s unlikely he killed his wife.”
Austin fought the urge to touch her. All covered in calico, she looked almost like a little girl ready for her first dance, not hard and proper as she did in her uniform. “Just because a man doesn’t want to talk about the way his wife died doesn’t mean he’s a murderer.” Austin lowered his voice. “Did you ask Delta if he’d mistreated her in any way during the two weeks she’s been with him?”
“Of course I did.” Jennie spoke before she saw the trap. “I mean, I asked Mary Elizabeth.”
Austin smiled. “I know what you mean.” He stood six inches away from her, listening to her lie, and still the need to touch her was so strong he couldn’t remember his own name.
Emerald eyes flashed in the moonlight. “Then you think she’s safe all alone out on that ranch?”
“As safe as you are here with me.”
Suddenly the cold room seemed summer warm. Jennie couldn’t lower her gaze. His eyes were golden brown with fire. His lips opened slightly, as though he fought the urge to kiss her. His hands, chained with self-discipline, shoved deep into the pockets of his pants. Every muscle in his body looked wire-tight, fighting for control.
She wanted to know if the night he’d kissed her had been as wonderful as she remembered. She wanted to have him touch her once more. The need to feel his arms around her, to believe he could care for her, was an ache within Jennie that quaked through her body, shaking her heart from hiding. She’d longed for such a man all her life, and now he stood a breath away, fighting to keep from moving closer. What did it matter if he thought she lied, as long as he held her.
“Am I safe with you?” she whispered, suddenly feeling as though the world had slowed in time and her heart would forever gauge its beats in the before and after of this moment.
“Yes,” he returned in a low voice hoarse with desire. “I told you once I could never care for a woman who wasn’t honest. I never go back on my word.” His hungry eyes screamed that he spoke a lie. “Nothing has changed.”
She slowly began closing the distance between them. The very air seemed reluctant to separate them. “Nothing?” she echoed. “Not even in your dreams.”
As he shoved his fingers deeper into his pockets, his hands threatened to rip the fabric. Bitter words brushed against her cheek. “You seem to have the same trouble between truth and lies as you do between telling right from left.”
His face was a battle of feelings. She could smell the hint of whiskey on his breath and feel the warmth of his body so near. Mustering all her courage, she moved closer. “What I feel now has nothing to do with right or left, truth or lie.”
“I could never care for a woman who placed no value on honesty.” His words were the only barrier between them, for he made no move to step away.
A smile trickled across Jennie’s lips. She didn’t have to argue with him. He was doing a grand job of fighting with himself.
“You could never care for me?” She leaned so close he felt her words against the hollow of his throat. The hour was late and she was tired of fighting. Even if she had to lie to herself, she wanted to believe he cared—if only for this night. She wanted to feel she was alive for at least a moment before her family fou
nd her and convinced her of the nothingness of her life.
“No.” He tried to swallow. “Never.”
“And you’re not attracted to me?”
“No.”
“You don’t come to the Harvey House to see me?”
“No.” The fresh smell of her was making his thoughts cloud more than the half bottle of whiskey he’d drunk earlier. He could almost taste the cinnamon blended in her hair and the night air fresh against her cheeks.
“And you didn’t come to the dance to see me?” A hint of doubt filtered through her words.
“Correct.” He raised his head slightly, knowing that if he looked into her eyes, he’d be lost. Even now he could feel her bare breasts pressed against his chest, though they were both still clothed.
“You weren’t thinking of kissing me when we were on the porch tonight?”
“No!” He forced the word out as though he meant it.
“And you’re never going to change or bend?” He could hear the doubt in her words. The self-assured woman he’d met was starting to crumble. She’d been bold to ask, but his response had chipped away at her confidence.
“Never.” He couldn’t allow her to draw him with her beauty. He had to stand by rules without bending. He’d always lived by the rules he’d made up for himself. He wouldn’t have been alive if he’d questioned or changed.
“Never!” he repeated, trying to make himself believe his words.
“I thought … I thought …” She couldn’t finish. She’d humiliated herself enough. How could she have believed he wanted to hold her as dearly as she did him? He must have had other reasons for coming to the Harvey House, for asking her to remain on the porch, for looking at her all evening. Each day she’d turned and saw him sitting in her section, she’d thought he was there because of her. Could there have been another purpose to his pestering?
Austin stared at her trembling bottom lip, the sight ripping him apart as no number of words could have.
“I must’ve been wrong,” she whispered.
“You must have been,” he added, but his voice was no longer harsh.