“I’m shocked she’d do such a thing,” Isabelle said. “I taught her to have better manners.”
“You also said it was okay to shoot thieves, no-good drifters, and lying coyotes,” Drew cried, anger and frustration causing her voice to rise in pitch.
“This young man looks too presentable to be any of those things,” Isabelle said.
“Thank you, ma’am,” Cole said as he stopped before Isabelle. “Cole Benton at your service.”
“Nice to meet you,” Isabelle replied. “I’m Isabelle Maxwell, Drew’s mother. This is a friend of mine, Rose Randolph. Drew has told us so much about you.”
“All bad,” Drew snarled. “Now get back on your horse and get out of here. I’d hate to splatter your blood all over Isabelle’s new dress.”
“I came here to talk to you,” Cole said. “I’m not leaving until I do.”
“I’m not interested in anything you have to say.”
“You’re going to hear it nevertheless.”
Isabelle stood. “I think a cup of coffee would be nice right about now,” she said to Rose. “Would you like some?”
“Yes.” Rose stood.
“Don’t you dare leave me with this lying, cheating sidewinder,” Drew said.
“Please stay,” Cole said. “I’d like you both to hear what I have to say.”
Both ladies resumed their seats.
“You don’t have to remember anything he says,” Drew said. “It’ll all be lies.”
“I didn’t lie about the most important thing,” Cole said. “I love you.”
“The son of the richest man in Memphis can’t love a criminal. It wouldn’t be socially acceptable.”
“So you’re that Cole Benton,” Rose said. “My husband has had some business dealings with your father.”
“I hope he’s not a coiled snake, like his son,” Drew said.
“I was sent to join the Wild West Show and work my way into your confidence,” Cole said, directing his attention to Drew.
“See, he confesses to being a yellow dog.”
“But I soon knew you couldn’t be responsible for the robberies.”
“But you weren’t sure enough to tell me.”
“I couldn’t very well be an undercover agent if I told you.”
“You could have trusted me.”
“Did you trust me? As I remember, you did your best to get rid of me.”
“I knew by instinct you were rotten to the core.”
“When we were in Memphis, I tried to get my boss to take me off the case. He said I’d better stay on if I wanted to prove you were innocent, that anybody else would only be interested in proving your guilt.”
“How could they do that when I had nothing to do with the robberies?”
“Because the people behind the robberies were using you and your brothers as a cover.”
“How?” Isabelle asked.
“One of them is a woman who shoots well enough to be mistaken for Drew. The other two are men who’re always masked, but that fits in with Hawk and Zeke being so easy to identify.”
“That could be a lot of people,” Isabelle said.
“The robberies always took place within a short ride of where the Wild West Show was playing, or in a town just after it left. One took place in a bank Drew spent half a morning studying.”
“Your brother-in-law told me I ought to study the bank’s customers before I decided where to deposit my money,” Drew explained to Rose.
“That sounds exactly like something Jeff would say,” Rose said. “He doesn’t trust anybody.”
“But the last robbery took place the night we were on the steamboat,” Cole said. “That’s positive proof you didn’t do it. I was with you the whole evening.”
“Good,” Drew said. “You can tell your boss I’m innocent, and both of you can forget you ever heard of me.”
“No, I can’t,” Cole said.
“Why not?”
“Who’s going to believe me when I tell them the woman I intend to marry is innocent?”
“I’m not going to marry you!” Drew declared.
“They’ll think a husband would naturally defend his wife.”
“I should hope so,” Isabelle said. “Jake and the boys would take it very unkindly if you didn’t.”
“George and his brothers wouldn’t like it much, either,” Rose added.
“I’m not going to marry him!” Drew virtually shouted. “Nobody has to worry about anything.”
“I’m not so sure of that,” Isabelle said. “That looks like Jake and the boys coming. From the way Zeke and Hawk are riding, I’d say they had blood in their eyes.”
“Good,” Drew said. “All the way home Hawk kept begging me to let him go back and cut Cole’s throat. Fool that I was, I wouldn’t let him.”
“I knew you still loved me,” Cole said.
“The hell I do!” Drew snapped. “I stopped him because I didn’t want him to hang for removing your worthless hide.”
“You say the sweetest things,” Cole drawled. “Mama is gonna love you.”
“I wouldn’t go near your mama on a bet.”
“I don’t know how well she’ll get along with your aunt, however. Mama’s family is old Memphis society.”
“My aunt is just as good as your mother. No, she’s better.”
“Of course my father is new money, but that hardly matters. If we live on your ranch, we won’t have to see them more than once a year. This is a beautiful valley. Is your land nearby?”
Drew’s temper had been stretched to the limit. Seeing Isabelle trying unsuccessfully to smother a laugh caused it to break. She marched up to Cole, shoved her rifle barrel against his chest, and pushed. “Git before I forget it’s against the law to shoot society-bred skunks.”
Cole calmly pushed the rifle barrel to one side. “This may be the way you greet lovers in Texas, but I prefer the way we do it in Memphis.”
The rotten, low-down, belly-crawling traitor took Drew into his arms and kissed her ruthlessly, right there in front of Isabelle and Rose. He didn’t even have the decency to ask them to turn their heads.
But she saved her most scathing thoughts for herself. After all the rotten things he’d done—horning in on her show, lying to her, suspecting her of being a thief, waiting three days to follow her—her treacherous body melted into his arms. Her lips kissed him back—Kissed him back!—as if they had no memory of his treachery. Worst of all, her muscles loosened their grip on her rifle, let it fall to the ground, then drew her arms around his neck. Then her heart and body combined to throw themselves into an embrace her mind screamed was a horribly blatant case of backsliding, a perfect example of a woman acting like a fool over a man, the precise reason why women hadn’t taken their rightful place in the pantheons of power.
But her heart and body didn’t give a damn about pantheons, no matter what kind they were. She was back in Cole’s arms, and that was all that counted.
Drew felt Cole being ripped from her embrace. Zeke knocked him down and Hawk pounced upon him, a knife at Cole’s throat.
“I kill him now,” Hawk said.
“I think you ought to let him up,” Isabelle said. “It’ll be awfully difficult to introduce him to Jake and George with him lying on his back in the dust.”
“I want to kill him,” Hawk pleaded.
“He says he wants to marry Drew,” Isabelle said, unable to repress a grin. “I think she ought to have first choice.”
Drew had stood there, too paralyzed to move or speak. It was abundantly clear to her—and most likely to everyone else as well—that she still loved Cole. His treachery didn’t make any difference. She wasn’t any better than the women she’d scorned for so many years. She didn’t care that her man had faults, what they were, or how many. She loved him, and that was the end of it.
Okay, she loved Cole. She couldn’t do anything about that, but she didn’t have to let that ruin her life. She would buy her ranch and throw herself into
running it. She would be miserable at first, maybe forever, but she would at least have her self-respect.
But self-respect had never seemed so uninviting. Compared to the bliss of being in Cole’s arms, of his kisses, it seemed like cold sawdust.
“What was all the shooting about?” Jake asked as he and George Randolph approached the group.
“Drew was welcoming her lover,” Rose said, then burst out laughing. “I swear, she’s just like Fern.”
Drew had never met Fern, Madison Randolph’s wife, but she’d heard plenty about the Kansas tomboy, and didn’t appreciate the comparison.
“What’s this about being her lover?” Jake asked, his brow creased with a deep frown.
“He wants to marry her,” Isabelle said. “He’d just told her when you arrived.”
“What was your answer?” Jake said, turning to Drew.
“She didn’t get a chance to give one before Zeke and Hawk knocked him down,” Isabelle said.
“Why would they do that?” Jake asked.
“Let him up, boys,” Isabelle said to Hawk and Zeke. “Cole, this is my husband, Jake Maxwell, and his friend, George Randolph. This is Cole Benton.”
Reluctantly, and with growls of protest, Zeke and Hawk drew back. Cole got to his feet, dusted himself off, and offered his hand to Jake. “Pleased to meet you.”
“What’s this about you wanting to marry Drew?” Jake asked as he shook Cole’s hand. “She hates men. Says she doesn’t mean to have one on her ranch.”
“It’s a long story,” Isabelle said. “Why don’t we move inside out of this sharp wind? I’ll fix some coffee while Cole catches everybody up.”
Drew felt helplessly drawn along, especially when Cole put his arm around her. After the way she’d melted into his embrace, it seemed pointless to push him away. Besides, if she was honest—she hated it when she had to be this honest—she liked it there. His touch, his kiss, the warmth in his eyes, had undone all her resolution. She loved him. She couldn’t help it.
“That doesn’t sound so terrible,” Jake said to Drew when Cole finished explaining what had happened over the last few weeks. “You can’t blame him for following orders, especially when he didn’t know anything about you.”
Drew didn’t bother to explain she was just as angry at herself as she was at Cole. If she’d stuck to her principles, none of this would have happened.
“What happens now?” Isabelle asked.
“I want Drew to marry me,” Cole said.
“No.” Her answer was short and unequivocal.
“Why not?” Cole asked.
She couldn’t tell him she didn’t love him. She’d be doing what she couldn’t forgive him for, lying. Besides, after the way she’d kissed him, nobody would believe her.
“I told you from the beginning, I didn’t want to get married.”
“But that was before we fell in love.”
She wished he’d stop saying he loved her. It made it harder to stick to her resolution. “I still don’t want to get married.”
“Why?”
“I want to run my ranch without a husband telling me what to do.”
“I won’t interfere.”
“Yes, you would. Men just naturally feel they’ve got to tell a woman what to do. They can’t help it.”
Isabelle and Rose smiled up at their husbands. George smiled in return, but Jake’s expression remained serious.
“Besides, your mother doesn’t like me. She wants you to marry that Sibyl person.”
“I’m not marrying to please my mother.”
“I wouldn’t fit in with your rich friends.”
“I don’t know why not. If I’m any judge, your aunt is richer than just about anybody in Memphis. Not to mention Jake and Isabelle owning five or six valleys.”
“None of that makes any difference. Look, Cole, it just wouldn’t work. We’re too different.”
“You don’t really know anything about me. I enjoyed working in Texas. I don’t like Memphis society any more than you do.”
“She doesn’t want to marry you,” Zeke said. “Get on your horse and ride.”
“I make sure he go,” Hawk offered.
“I think we ought to hear more about him,” Jake said.
“This is not a group decision,” Drew said. “It’s between Cole and me. Since I refuse to marry him, there’s nothing more to be said.” She looked at Cole. “You might as well leave now.”
“I can’t leave without you.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t believe you don’t want to marry me. I think you’re still angry at me.”
“You’re damned right, I am.”
“Before long, you’ll stop being angry. I want to be with you when that happens.”
“Why? Nothing will be any different.”
“I believe it will. Besides, even if you’re right, I still can’t leave without you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re still under suspicion.”
“You said she couldn’t have committed the last robbery,” Jake said.
“I also said I’m not sure my captain will believe me. He knows I’m in love with her.”
“Do you know who the robbers are?”
“I think so.”
“Why can’t you prove it?”
“Because all the evidence points to Drew. They’ve been using her as a cover. I have to catch them in the act. If she doesn’t come back to the show, there won’t be any more robberies. They’ll get away with a couple hundred thousand dollars.”
Jake whistled. “That much?”
“Maybe more. We can’t be sure of all their robberies.”
“How did you figure this out?” Drew asked. “When?”
“In bits and pieces,” Cole replied. “Once I decided you weren’t the robber, I looked around to see who was the most likely culprit. It was obvious it was somebody in the Wild West Show. It was also obvious that the two masked robbers could be almost anybody, but I couldn’t figure out who the woman could be. You are the only sharpshooter in the show. One of the other women might have been able to shoot well enough to pretend to be you, but they were all either too old or had alibis.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this when we were on the boat?” Drew asked.
“Because I didn’t know any more than that. It’s not even a good theory, much less any sort of proof.”
“Well, who is the woman?” Jake asked.
“I think it’s Earl Odum.”
The noise Zeke made was coarse and contemptuous.
“He’s a man,” Drew said. “And he can’t shoot.”
“He’s a little man,” Cole said. “And he’s very pretty. With all the makeup and costumes readily available, it wouldn’t be much of a problem for him to dress up as a woman.”
“But he can’t shoot.”
“That’s what everybody thought,” Cole said. “Until you left.”
“What happened?”
“He was auditioning a new sharpshooter for the New Orleans shows. The man is nowhere near as good as you. He said your tricks were impossible, that he didn’t believe anybody could do them, especially a woman. Earl got so frustrated, he snatched up a gun and did one of the tricks himself. If I hadn’t been setting up the tricks, I’d never have known.”
“So arrest him,” Isabelle said.
“I can’t without proof. I need you to come back,” he said to Drew, “so he’ll attempt another robbery. We’ll be watching him. He won’t get away this time.”
Drew didn’t say anything.
“You’ve got to clear your name,” Cole said. “All the evidence we have points to you. I’m positive Earl is the thief, but right now the captain considers it an unfounded suspicion. Unless we can lay a trap for him, you and your brothers are still the prime suspects.”
“It looks to me like you don’t have any choice,” Jake said. “You can’t leave that sort of thing hanging over your heads. It’s not fair to Zeke and Hawk.”
/> Drew felt as though she were sinking into quicksand. She knew she ought to refuse, was certain she wanted to refuse, but Cole had fixed it so she couldn’t without appearing callously indifferent to the reputations of her brothers. “Is that all you’re trying to prove?” she asked.
His gaze didn’t waver. “No. I want the chance to prove you love me so much you can’t take a chance on losing what we could have together.”
“I’ll only come back if you promise to leave me alone.”
“I won’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because I can’t.”
Hell! She couldn’t accuse him of lying to her now. He had laid it on the line right in front of everybody. But that didn’t upset her as much as her reaction. Her heart beat faster; she could feel a flush in her cheeks. Regardless of what she believed in her mind, the rest of her was eager to give Cole the chance he wanted. She felt as if she were being torn into two pieces, each unable to tolerate what the other wanted.
“Okay, I’ll go back.”
“Zeke and Hawk will have to come, too,” Cole said.
“We come,” Hawk said.
“But I’m warning you now,” Drew said. “You take one step in my direction outside that arena, and I’ll shoot your ears off.”
“Get your rifle ready,” Cole said, that damned irresistible smile on his lips. “I never could stay away from you.”
Chapter Twenty-three
“I don’t understand why you don’t want to marry him,” Drew’s aunt said. “He’s a charming young man, and he adores you.”
“He lied to me before. He could be lying now.”
“You can tell by the way he looks at you he’s sincere.”
“Cole is an accomplished actor. It’s one of the reasons he’s so good at his job.”
“I think you’re being much too hard on him.”
It was getting harder and harder to resist Cole’s entreaties. He’d convinced nearly everyone he was desperately in love with Drew. They were equally certain she was just as deeply in love with him. She was, but she wasn’t about to admit it to anyone. It was her own stupid mistake, but that didn’t mean she had to share it with the world.
Drew (The Cowboys) Page 29