Counterfeit Cowboy

by Lacy Williams

“I’m not lying,” the boy said defiantly, his chin jerking high. “I’m cold. Can’t you ask the man for another blanket?”

  “Here.” Jesse shoved the blanket from his own berth into the boy’s arms, tired of listening to him complain. Besides, it was plenty warm in the train car, and he’d slept in worse conditions during his incarceration.

  “Just go to sleep.” He jerked the curtain closed over Pete’s berth.

  Other than the few minutes earlier that afternoon, he hadn’t had time alone with the boy to figure out Pete’s motivation for blackmailing him. If the kid had stolen a wallet from someone, he should’ve had enough funds for a train ticket. But perhaps the conductor would’ve been suspicious if the boy was traveling alone?

  Jesse’s patience was used up; he wasn’t going to ask the boy now. He hoped to get a few hours of shut-eye before he tried again to gain Erin O’Grady’s trust. And maybe her wallet.

  And here she came down the aisle toward him now, her dark hair loose and flowing around her shoulders, her eyelashes spiked together and face pink as if she’d just scrubbed it.

  Jesse gulped. It was true he hadn’t been around women at all in the past five years, but awareness for this particular woman hit him like a fist to the solar plexus. What was it about her? He’d been attracted to plenty of women before, but nothing like this.

  Sensing his scrutiny, she looked up and those bright blue eyes seemed to connect with him somehow. A becoming flush crept into her cheeks.

  “It’s a little unnerving sleeping in a car with mixed company,” she whispered. “Although I understand it’s commonplace.”

  He looked down at his sock feet. He didn’t know much about fancy manners, but it probably wasn’t proper in mixed company. He couldn’t imagine getting his boots off in the small space inside the sleeping berth.

  “I suppose,” she went on as she drew closer, “having a sleeping berth is a little better than being in one of the passenger cars. Not that I would mind,” she hurried to say. “I don’t think there is a sleeping car between Omaha and Cheyenne, but I’m sure I’ll be fine in a passenger car... I’m blabbering. Sorry.”

  She stopped long enough to take a breath, her eyes guileless as she peered up at him. Darkness had fallen outside and with the lamps turned low, she’d drawn close enough that Jesse felt her warm exhale on his chin.

  “Is there anything I can do for you?” he asked.

  “No, I’m all right. I’m just... I haven’t been away from home, at least not alone, and...” Her voice trailed off.

  She should know better than to tell a stranger—someone who might intend her harm—that she was afraid. She seemed to trust Jesse already, which meant he’d have a good chance of success tomorrow if he wanted to part her from her wallet.

  He reached out and touched her wrist, the coolness of her skin a shock. He didn’t know if he meant to offer comfort, but part of him wanted to draw her closer.

  Jesse was brought out of his reverie by a softly cleared throat. The attendant stood slightly behind them in the aisle.

  “Water, miss? Sir?”

  Jesse blinked and noticed the uniformed man had the water pail in hand, offering the dipper to them. Erin took a small drink, then handed the dipper to Jesse, their hands brushing in the exchange. He sipped from the metal dipper, aware that her lips had just touched the same place.

  The attendant moved away and she shifted as awareness crackled between them.

  “Good night,” she whispered, sliding into the berth opposite Pete’s. She quickly pulled the curtain closed, leaving him to climb into his own berth above the boy’s.

  “Good night,” he answered softly.

  * * *

  Erin lay in the stuffy, confined space, acutely conscious that she was separated from the other passengers only by a simple curtain.

  She was half-afraid that she might roll out of the berth in her sleep and end up in a heap on the floor. She was used to her large, comfortable four-poster bed, with its clean, sweet-smelling sheets.

  The cot inside the berth was lumpy and the air stale and for a moment she wished she’d never left the comforts of home. And then she thought of the lies and machinations her father had perpetrated to try to keep her from following her heart and knew she’d willingly suffer this discomfort and much more.

  It wasn’t as if she’d wanted to elope with someone inappropriate or attend an opera he didn’t approve of. No, she’d wanted something more simple, more important.

  Her mother was a benefactor for several charities, one of which was a hospital, St. Michael’s, that served the indigent. Erin had accompanied her mother on a tour of the facility and stopped to talk to a small boy confined to a stark, white hospital bed.

  After being frail and sickly much of her childhood, Erin had a special affinity for that child and several others that she’d met. She’d come back often, sometimes daily. The doctors and nurses welcomed her as she visited with the children and sometimes enlisted her help in smaller chores like changing bed linens or helping at mealtime.

  And when her father had found out about her time at the hospital, he’d been furious with the hospital for allowing it. He’d discouraged her from returning, but Erin had tried to express how much it meant to her to help those who’d been just like her.

  How well she knew the loneliness of being bedridden for long periods of time. Her only companion had often been a hired nurse. And her birds, the ones she’d watched for hours outside the large windows in her upstairs bedroom. That’s where her love for bird-watching had begun.

  But her father hadn’t understood her passion for the hospital children. Instead, he’d filled her social calendar with teas, parties, and then a beau that he’d encouraged her to see socially.

  When Erin had found out that her father had paid Fin O’Leary a sum to take up her time in order to keep her away from the hospital, her temper had sparked. Why should her father run her life, choose which activities were worthy of her time?

  But she’d bided her time for nearly a week. Or maybe it had taken her that long to gather her courage for the trip to visit her brother for Christmas.

  She wouldn’t regret coming on this trip, even if she was stuck in a tiny, airless berth for the night.

  Erin allowed her thoughts to turn to her two unexpected companions, hoping the distraction would allow relief from thoughts of being enclosed in this tight space.

  They seemed more like strangers than brothers, although a sharp sibling rivalry did seem to exist between them.

  Pete tried to put off a confident, uncaring air, but she could see beneath his outer veneer that there was a lost little boy inside.

  And while Jesse didn’t seem inclined to coddle him, she’d sensed the older brother’s concern when Pete had gotten sick at the noon meal.

  What kind of family starved a nephew or a cousin...? She hadn’t gotten the family relationships straight during that first conversation with Pete, but regardless, the boy was family and shouldn’t have been missing meals.

  It was good that Jesse had come for him, even if the brothers weren’t close. And what had Jesse said about his destination of Chicago? He hoped to find a fresh start there. Perhaps it could be a fresh start for both brothers.

  She shouldn’t allow herself to care so much about Jesse Baker’s plans. But she found she couldn’t help herself.

  She knew they’d part ways in Chicago. She would spend one more day in his presence and that was it.

  Erin knew she’d been sheltered. Only introduced to men her father deemed appropriate. She was expected to marry someone her father approved. She should ignore the sparks she felt for Jesse. Even now her heart pounded the same rhythm as the train’s clack-clacking as she thought about Jesse.

  But what if...God had put her on this train, to meet this man?

  What
if she wasn’t supposed to ignore the connection between them?

  And that thought wasn’t going to relax her enough to allow her to sleep.

  It seemed a very long time until the noise from the other passengers, the scuffling and quiet voices, settled to only the clack, clack, clickety-clack of the rails. Even longer until her heart calmed.

  * * *

  After five years sleeping in close confines among other inmates, Jesse was used to the noises of the night. Snores, gasps, groans, creaks.

  Even the small, claustrophobic space didn’t faze him, though he couldn’t straighten his legs all the way and if he sat up, he was likely to give himself a concussion.

  It was the girl sleeping in the berth across the way that bothered him enough to keep him awake.

  Something had ignited between them, and it was as surprising as it was strong. But he didn’t josh himself that they moved in the same social circles. She was from the upper echelon of Boston society. He wasn’t.

  She thought he was a cowboy, because he’d never corrected her initial assumption. That occupation was still well below her social strata, but it was loads better than the truth about him.

  He’d been raised in a small tenement apartment, lived on the streets, been in jail. Was responsible for his brother’s death. Daniel wouldn’t have gotten sick and might’ve been able to see a doctor if he hadn’t been living on the streets with Jesse. Jesse was trying to earn penance for Jim’s death with this trip to Chicago. Jim Kenner, who’d been sure of his salvation, even though he’d been a crook like Jesse. Sure enough to take the knife meant for Jesse.

  And Jesse was trying to figure a way to relieve Erin of the contents of her purse. Maybe.

  He felt a little twinge of guilt about it. He wasn’t sure if he would call himself reformed. Before Jim’s death, he had been questioning what his cell mate seemed so all-fired sure Jesse should believe. About God and the Bible.

  Jim was the kind of man that would stuff his opinions down a person’s throat until they were liable to choke.

  But some of what he’d said had started to make sense to Jesse.

  And then he’d died, saving Jesse’s life. A debt Jesse couldn’t repay, and one he didn’t want.

  Maybe the pinch of guilt was because Erin had been so kind to both Pete and himself. She was wealthy, like many of the other women Jesse had approached in the past. But she didn’t act like it. She spoke to the two of them as if they were friends, not merely acquaintances who had attached themselves to her.

  She was special.

  He’d thought Catherine was special. Not only was she someone like him, but she’d wanted him. At least, she’d pretended to, but it had all been a calculated betrayal. A double-cross. He’d thought he’d loved her, but she’d never loved him and had swindled his heart.

  Could he even trust Erin O’Grady? Experience had taught him to trust no one. He could only rely on himself.

  He couldn’t stop his thoughts from whirling. Tried to focus them into a way to get Erin’s cash for himself, but a plan never coalesced.

  Then, because he was still awake long after he should’ve been sleeping, he heard fabric rustling and a soft clunk like two shoes hitting the floor. Was someone up and about? He peeked out the curtain without opening it, and saw Erin sneaking away from her berth. What was she doing?

  He waited a moment, and then followed her. Without his boots, his sock feet didn’t make any noise on the carpeted floor. Erin hesitated near the outer door. He reached out for her.

  “What are you doing?” Jesse asked softly, realizing he’d startled Erin when she jumped.

  “Jesse!” she hissed. “You scared the life out of me.”

  “What are you doing?” he repeated.

  “I heard a noise. I thought it might’ve been Pete, sneaking out of his berth.”

  Jesse turned to the lower berth where Pete had been and pulled back the curtain. Sure enough, the boy was gone.

  “Where would he have gone?” she asked softly.

  Jesse shrugged, although he had some idea that the boy would be hunting for easy pickings...wallets, purses, watches, anything of value that sleeping passengers hadn’t secured adequately.

  For a brief second, he considered telling her Pete wasn’t his responsibility, but Erin was already moving toward the door. “Should we notify the conductor?” she asked over her shoulder.

  And he realized that’s the direction she’d been heading in the first place. He caught up to her and halted her with a hand at her elbow. “Were you just going to go off by yourself? At night?”

  He saw the answer in her expression.

  “You were. What if an unsavory character were to come upon you?”

  She couldn’t know he considered himself in that category.

  But she looked up at him with those innocent eyes.

  Soft yellow light flashed on her face in a pattern. The moon shining through a narrow window, he realized. It gave her smooth skin a golden glaze. She looked up at him with luminous blue eyes turned silver and he found himself leaning closer, his focus on her lips...

  A draft of cold air brushed the back of his neck and pushed Erin’s unbound locks against his jaw and her skirt against his legs, breaking the moment.

  And the conductor came through the open door, clutching Pete’s arm and dragging the boy behind him.

  Chapter Five

  “He was sneaking around the next car over,” the conductor said, mouth set in a stern line.

  Erin stepped back, ready to allow Jesse to deal with his brother.

  She was still trying to catch her breath from the way Jesse had looked at her. They’d been standing so close together, his hand warm at her elbow. For a second, she thought he’d been going to lean down and kiss her...

  Now Jesse stood silent while Pete stared defiantly between the conductor and his brother.

  “I was hungry,” the boy said belligerently.

  Jesse looked skeptical.

  “Can’t have passengers wandering about in the night,” the conductor said, a disapproving frown on his face.

  A muscle in Jesse’s cheek jumped. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t wander off again.”

  As Erin watched, they seemed to have one of their mysterious silent conversations again.

  “Pete and I will switch bunks. That way if he tries to sneak down, I’ll hear it.”

  Jesse’s solution seemed to pacify the conductor, but Pete remained upset with arms crossed.

  Erin knew it wasn’t her business how Jesse disciplined his brother; if it had been her father, his temper would’ve already gone off and he’d be blasting her ears with his shouts.

  But Jesse simply waited for the conductor to retreat, not saying anything.

  Not wishing to interfere, and still shaky from the almost-kiss, Erin slipped into her berth and pulled the curtain so she could no longer see the two brothers.

  But she could listen, and she did.

  “Did you take anything?” Jesse’s voice was low, but even over the clickety-clack of the train on the rails, she could still clearly hear his words.

  “If I did, I would’ve lost it between that passenger car and here,” came Pete’s grumbled response.

  The cryptic words didn’t make much sense to Erin. If Pete had been hungry and found some food, why would he have gotten rid of it? The brothers didn’t say more, which was a surprise, because Erin fully expected Jesse to lecture his brother or threaten to “tan his hide” or whatever the Western equivalent of a thrashing was for wandering off in the night.

  But Jesse said only, “Get in the bunk.” He muttered something else too low for her to hear, even though he was probably standing in the aisle right outside her own berth.

  She bit her lip and stared at the thin line of ligh
t that crept into her berth between the curtain and wall. It was obvious the brothers didn’t get along. Maybe they didn’t know how to relate to each other, after being apart for so long. Maybe she could help them get to know each other better tomorrow. Perhaps a good deed like that would make up for the visits with the children she would miss while she was in Wyoming.

  The long day of travel finally caught up to her, and she succumbed to sleep.

  * * *

  After removing the two blankets from Pete’s lower bunk and shoving them into the upper berth with the kid, Jesse settled into the bottom bunk. Or attempted to.

  He was furious.

  It was obvious the kid had gone on a stealing spree, thinking that passengers wouldn’t notice if their wallet had disappeared while they slept.

  At least the kid had had the good sense to get rid of any evidence—anything of monetary value—before the conductor had dragged him back to his “brother.”

  Part of Jesse admired the kid’s brains. It actually wasn’t a bad plan, lifting valuables in the night, if Pete had planned to get off the train early in the morning before he could be caught red-handed.

  But his actions could have gotten Jesse in trouble. He was trying to live right—mostly. What would Erin think if he allowed Pete to steal from other passengers and she found out about it?

  Thinking about Erin muddied the waters. He’d almost kissed her, standing in the aisle of a moving railcar. What had he been thinking? He hadn’t, that much was clear. He’d been caught up in the moment, in her beauty.

  Forgotten she was a potential mark.

  In the morning, he would start gaining her full trust, so that if he needed that wallet he could get it.

  No matter if he would rather have the kiss.

  * * *

  Between the late-night adventures and the little sleep she got in the confined, stuffy berth, Erin woke bleary-eyed and groggy when the attendant informed her he needed to make up the bed.

  She stumbled to the women’s lavatory, blinking against the bright morning light, only to find the corridor packed with other women waiting. And when she finally took a turn in the small closet, there was only a splash of tepid water in the pitcher.